George12345
Newbie
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2018
- Messages
- 2
Hello,
I've done some reading and I'll be honest, many of the answers are quite confusing to me.
So for some background...
I coach ski racing for a 501c3 with about 300 racers, and 40 coaches. We've been a 501c3 for the last 25 years or so, and used analog radios that had been "orphaned" to us by the resort ski patrol when they were done using them or upgraded their own (currently about 50 radios from all over the map).
Originally, our radios and frequencies were licensed by the resort and we were "given" their old radios on old frequencies the resort no longer used.... but since then we have grown much larger and now run independently (although still very aligned with the resort).
The old radios (and frequencies), we have continued to use over the years from default, but as I'm now looking at everything, it seems we have not licensed the frequencies, and hence are "illegal". Not purposefully, just as a matter of using "old" donated radios - and not knowing the fcc rules.
Over the last several years the resort has expanded and is one of the largest in the US. We have athletes all over the resort (several mountains), and now lose signal in a basic "simplex" radio setup. So I was tasked with "updating" our radio communications and am looking at all the options, and definitely need to be legal.
From a terrain standpoint we cover 3 valleys separated ridges (base is 7,000ft, peak is 11,000ft), the race arena is at 7,000 ft, but we have racers on the backside of the mountain (2-3 miles away as the crow flies).
We currently use 5 separate frequencies 461.xxx to 464.xxx that were assigned 20+ years ago to the radios. These are necessary as we have several subgoups of Ski Racers, Snowboard Team, Freeride Team, all training at the same time.
What I want to do is make it so that we don't lose reception when coaches/athletes go over the ridgeline, preferably keeping 5 separate communication lines...
From what I understand we need to...
1) Use a repeater (can we use GMRS on a public repeater?)
2) Update our radios to digital
3) Obtain a FCC license for GMRS, and/or further?
where I'm confused is...
4) Do we need a license for all our frequencies, if so is that the same as our license for GMRS, or do we need a different one? or additional one. I think GMRS may be a better use, instead of installing 5 repeaters?
5) Many of our radios are advertised for over 5w, does this require a different license?
6) Do we need to install a repeater on top of the mountain (we should be able to do this as we work closely with the resort and they already have 8 installed)?
7) Is there another way to do this instead of trying to install 5 repeaters for our 5 frequencies?
Most important, we want to be legal and on the "correct" side of fcc rules.
Any pointers are appreciated,
Thank you!
I've done some reading and I'll be honest, many of the answers are quite confusing to me.
So for some background...
I coach ski racing for a 501c3 with about 300 racers, and 40 coaches. We've been a 501c3 for the last 25 years or so, and used analog radios that had been "orphaned" to us by the resort ski patrol when they were done using them or upgraded their own (currently about 50 radios from all over the map).
Originally, our radios and frequencies were licensed by the resort and we were "given" their old radios on old frequencies the resort no longer used.... but since then we have grown much larger and now run independently (although still very aligned with the resort).
The old radios (and frequencies), we have continued to use over the years from default, but as I'm now looking at everything, it seems we have not licensed the frequencies, and hence are "illegal". Not purposefully, just as a matter of using "old" donated radios - and not knowing the fcc rules.
Over the last several years the resort has expanded and is one of the largest in the US. We have athletes all over the resort (several mountains), and now lose signal in a basic "simplex" radio setup. So I was tasked with "updating" our radio communications and am looking at all the options, and definitely need to be legal.
From a terrain standpoint we cover 3 valleys separated ridges (base is 7,000ft, peak is 11,000ft), the race arena is at 7,000 ft, but we have racers on the backside of the mountain (2-3 miles away as the crow flies).
We currently use 5 separate frequencies 461.xxx to 464.xxx that were assigned 20+ years ago to the radios. These are necessary as we have several subgoups of Ski Racers, Snowboard Team, Freeride Team, all training at the same time.
What I want to do is make it so that we don't lose reception when coaches/athletes go over the ridgeline, preferably keeping 5 separate communication lines...
From what I understand we need to...
1) Use a repeater (can we use GMRS on a public repeater?)
2) Update our radios to digital
3) Obtain a FCC license for GMRS, and/or further?
where I'm confused is...
4) Do we need a license for all our frequencies, if so is that the same as our license for GMRS, or do we need a different one? or additional one. I think GMRS may be a better use, instead of installing 5 repeaters?
5) Many of our radios are advertised for over 5w, does this require a different license?
6) Do we need to install a repeater on top of the mountain (we should be able to do this as we work closely with the resort and they already have 8 installed)?
7) Is there another way to do this instead of trying to install 5 repeaters for our 5 frequencies?
Most important, we want to be legal and on the "correct" side of fcc rules.
Any pointers are appreciated,
Thank you!