On January 14, 2008, the Philadelphia Pennsylvania FCC Enforcement Bureau Field Office cited WestCom Wireless, Inc., (westpenncomm.com) located in McKeesport, PA, a mobile radio sales and service company, serving public safety and business users In the Pittsburgh, PA area, for programming General Mobile Radio Service frequencies into radios operated by the Harrison Township Water Authority, licensee of Land Mobile Radio Station WQCC972. See EB-07-PA-397 Citation No.: C20083240001.

The FCC made a departure from past practice in this citation. In the past the FCC had not taken action against the radio shops programming GMRS channels into customer radios but rather cited or fined the shop’s customers for operation on frequencies on which the customer had no license. The FCC said in the citation:

“Section 90.427(b) states “[e]xcept for frequencies used in accordance with S: 90.417, no person shall program into a transmitter frequencies for which the licensee using the transmitter is not authorized.” WestCom Wireless, Inc. programmed eight Kenwood TK-8160K mobile radios with a frequency for which Harrison Township Water Authority is not authorized.”

Full text of the FCC action is available at the FCC website at: http://popularwireless.com/blog1/aL