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year i got my call 1989

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n1das

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Nashua, NH
I'm KAE9013 on GMRS.

Our GMRS callsigns predate the FCC's Universal Licensing System (ULS) and resemble an old CB callsign. That's actually what they are since GMRS was previously known as Class A CB. KA = Class A.

KAE9013 was issued to me in December 1992. Still have it today.

We witnessed the creation of FRS in 1996 and the invasion of the bubble packs which followed.


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W8UU

Pilot of the Airwaves
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Wellston Ohio USA
My original GMRS call was KAE-6139. It expired and I was given KAE-9978 (my current call) when I reapplied.

I believe the original CB Class A calls may have been those weird ham radio-like calls like 19W2134. They didn't follow international protocol and the FCC changed them to KAA series in the very early 1960s.

The KA calls were reserved for Class A licensees.

Regular Class D CB calls started at KBA-0001 and were supposed to end at KZZ-9999. The CB craze of the 1970s exhausted those callsigns so another letter was added: KAAA-0001, and so on. All that went away with "license by rule", something I fear may eventually happen with GMRS.

Rick
Wellston Ohio USA
KAE-9978, KBA-3151, W8UU
 

Hans13

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All that went away with "license by rule", something I fear may eventually happen with GMRS.

Since we just had a round of GMRS rule changes, I doubt this service will be going license by rule any time soon. However, that was a very realistic concern before the last changes.
 

n1das

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Messages
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Location
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Since we just had a round of GMRS rule changes, I doubt this service will be going license by rule any time soon. However, that was a very realistic concern before the last changes.
License by rule and rendering GMRS a bubble pack only service like FRS could still happen but I don't see it happening in the near future. It looks like GMRS will remain a licensed service for a while.

It doesn't really matter to me much anymore because I abandoned GMRS and went to FHSS digital on 900MHz with Motorola DTR and DLR radios. The vast majority of my use of GMRS over the years has been for local simplex type use. The Motorola DTRs and DLRs handle this very nicely and work excellent and outperform conventional radios on simplex. A coworker recently asked me why not just use FRS? My answer was that I have already been doing that since FRS was created in 1996 and longer than that as a GMRS licensee since 1992 and using good commercial gear. I want a secure digital end to end solution that is higher quality and more professional than GMRS/FRS and not have to worry about FCC licensing.

I still have GMRS/FRS as a backup and for interoperability but it is no longer my default go-to mode for my local on-site simplex type use with family and friends. I don't use analog radios at all anymore except for amateur radio on 2m and 440.


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Hans13

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Dec 30, 2014
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995
Yup. We agree, not likely in the near future.

Quite a bit of my GMRS usage is repeaters so...
We have a healthy amount of local bubble pack users but they tend to not use the repeater outputs because there is often traffic. It works out well as they tend to stay on the lower channels so there is little issue for either group. We do scheduled repeater nets and at least one operator talks on the repeaters from about 60 or so miles away. Our GMRS community is growing fast once again. More than a few local amateur operators are adding GMRS licenses to their toolboxes.
 
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