The original was from October 1978 and was KAD 9847 on 675. When I added a second frequency, somehow I became KAD 3216, and the original was deleted. In later years when I renewed, it took them so long my license expired, so now I am WPTV 577, and my wife is WPSM 915. I know, she could use my call, but it goes back to the days when we were allowed only 2 frequencies. Now I guess 2 watts un-licensed is going to be allowed on the seven regular channels! UG! Now I will listen to traffic flaggers all day! And cranes! And likely other such businesses that all belong on MURS or regular business channels. For ages I listened to a maintenance people at a hotel until the FCC shut them down after my complaint. Both the hotel and the party that sold the radios got nailed!
Like me, you were licensed back in the days where you picked two GMRS primary channels and put them on the license application. Bases and repeaters as part of the system had to be on the application. This was back in the days of site-based licensing for GMRS, similar to Part 90 services. Frequency coordination was required like in Part 90. You were probably licensed before rule 95.29 was added to allow the 7 GMRS interstitials (shared w/FRS 1-7) and use of 675 for emergency and traveler assistance if 675 wasn't already one of your primaries.
I got licensed in 1992, well after rule 95.29 was in effect. I had to use the old paper Form 574 application form. The application fee was $35 and the paper application had to be typewritten. It took about 2 months to get the license. I was told to not worry about it taking a while because if there was a problem the application would have been returned immediately. No news was good news in this case.
I got licensed during the time when the radio manufactures had agreed to make some cheap GMRS equipment by leveraging some of their Part 90 designs. These radios were the early start of the bubble pack radios and before FRS was created in 1996. The manufacturers agreed on a simple 10 channel plan where the first 7 channels were the GMRS interstitials (now shared w/FRS 1-7), 462.575 (channel 8), 462.625 (channel 9), and 462.675 (channel 10). 675 was listed as reserved for emergency and traveler assistance. Many REACT groups operated on 675. Radios like the Motorola TalkAbout Distance models followed this channel plan although they came after FRS was created. The TalkAbout Distance models were based on the Motorola Spirit cheap business radios. The predecessor to the TalkAbout Distance models was also based on the Spirit and required you to install an optional CTCSS board in them to have CTCSS capability.
I purposely licensed myself on 575 and 625 for availability of equipment and so that I could also have 675 if needed in emergencies. I was using Motorola GP300 handhelds. I wanted to use only good Part 90 gear right from the outset. I purposely licensed as mobiles only, no base station or repeater, so I could use the full 50W legally on 575 and 625 and get around coordination issues.
GMRS changed to all-channel licensing in 1999 where 675 is no longer reserved for emergency and traveler assistance use and can be used like all other GMRS primaries. The change made it harder to find GMRS repeaters but it added a lot of flexibility with GMRS channel usage.
This topic brings back lots of memories.
