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“The General Mobile Radio Service is a solution without a problem. ”

As I was doing my best to sell a friend on GMRS repeaters he shared the perspective above. How can one argue with that logic? The real GMRS takes advantage of local repeater stations that improve communication over a wider area in a community. Families have the ability to use commercial-quality radio equipment on a radio system similar to those used by business and public safety. They own it, support it, and generally have no monthly fees to keep it going. How could a terrific opportunity like this be anything but a terrific solution to some communication need? Surely it could solve some communication problems.

Well to some the time for GMRS has come and gone. Those of us with families taking advantage of the service are presented with a daunting challenge when asked to justify using a radio repeater when there are so many unlicensed bubble pack radios out there. The FCC knew this would happen when they approved FRS and the bubble packs. I believe they fully intended to put GMRS as we know it out of its misery. But that’s a another rant.

A GMRS repeater is not a CB radio. CB radio is understood by most folks. It is characterized as a lawless radio service popular in the sixties and seventies. The FCC washed its hands of CB for the most part back in the 90’s. No license is required. Anyone can buy one, turn it on, and talk. It’s so useless now it is actively discouraged as a viable communications medium in Coast guard Boating Safety classes. Interestingly GMRS is not covered at all.

The death of two-way radio was first signaled with the creation of Nextel ’s Direct Connect feature. All of a sudden their SMR based walkie talkie look-alike was the two-way radio of choice. The major difference to businesses was their range could be extended beyond tehir repeater range and they could carry a phone into a building without having to own expensive portable radios. Business also had a to pay a monthly subscription price tied to a contract. Even so people flocked to Nextel. Nowadays people probably don’t even know they can “walkie-talkie” without Nextel. Nextel solved a problem. Range was improved and radios were eliminated.

Then came cellular telephones which did the same thing for the masses.

So how does going backwards in time with a two-way radio repeater technology solve local communication problems? That’s the question in context. Lets’ consider a few problems and justifications and then you tell me whether it’s enough to stimulate real growth in GMRS or should we just let the FCC have its way with GMRS?

1. Cellular is expensive and contract based. Two phones on a family plan typically runs about $75 a month for service. I pay $900 per year for the privilege. Again the advantage is I can take cellular anywhere, it’s a phone and not a walkie talkie that might annoy others, (Ooh like Nextel!) it’s small, vibrates when I want it to, and even the kids can carry one. So I guess the cost is worth it? OK not a good problem. A repeater system doesn’t have the coverage in all areas of the US. In California where I used to live I could carry a hand-held radio from Fresno, to San Francisco, to Sacramento and be in touch with a family base station at home. Here in Maryland the range of our repeater system is considerably reduced and often limited to the more powerful mobile radio and home base station. Hand-held use is limited to within a finite range around the repeater tower. It’s great for neighborhoods close to the radio tower.
2. OK, here’s a problem. I said neighborhoods above. Is there a need to have great local communication in a neighborhood? We have our cellular telephones remember. But what happens when cellular goes dead in an emergency situation? When the cellular system fails your family communication is dark. You wait for the cellular system to come back up, just like power, and cable TV. Hmmm, is your VOIP going to work? When the TV cable goes so goes their telephone service. Your GMRS radio system works with the emergency batteries you keep at home and the batteries in your car, or the batteries in your hand-held radios. This might just be a situation where having a communication system you control makes sense. It’s available when everything else fails.
3. Another issue for me is going places where cellular doesn’t work well. I like toi use GMRS or MURS. Person to person communication is supported by the bubble packs but in some areas repeaters are available. What if repeaters were more available in rural areas, large parks, or cities? Families could communicate out of bubble pack range on their own system or sharing a repeater belonging to someone else. Oh but we do have cellular I keep forgetting. The other big benefit to cellular now is GPS. When you use a cellular telephone emergency services know approximately where you are when you use your phone. That isn’t true on GMRS repeaters. GPS only works on low-power simplex only GMRS radios.
4. We’re not having much luck here. Well what about CERT? These volunteers need to communicate back to a headquarters as they provide that first look at the neighborhoods after a wide-spread emergency. Many jurisdictions are not about to put hundreds of volunteers on a public safety radio system. That costs big money and the training required to observe protocol is time consuming and difficult. There is a system families can license to use and repeaters are possible if not available. That system is GMRS. Volunteers can buy their own portable, mobile and base radios. GMRS licensees staffing the county EOC can communicate with CERT families on GMRS in time of disaster. This justification might have some merit, but I still suspect cellular is the way to go if cellular and land-line service is available.
5. Now there are families in groups. Americans volunteer to do a lot of great things. We have CERT, CGAUX, and other public service groups. Groups cannot license in GMRS by rule but tehir members can. SO it is possible that groups with lot sof members that need to stay in touch could do so with GMRS repeaters.
6. OK here’s one. We all know that it is against FCC rules to use a marine VHF-FM radio on land. A family cannot legally use a marine base station to talk to family members on the water. You CAN use a GMRS system. Oh yes in many areas you can also use a cellular telephone, but if you could use another two-way radio wouldn’t you? GMRS is not generally plagued with the same kind of interference CB is plagued with. Thanks however to our own FCC’s approval of the 22 channel bubble packs there are many unlicensed folks using GMRS as toys but even in my area interference from bubble packs is seasonal. A fifty-watt boat based mobile radio on GMRS is going to go as far as a VHF radio especially through a repeater located near the water. The problem a water based GMRS repeater solves is allowing radio communication from ship to land. It does not take the place of marine VHF as a safety radio on your boat. GMRS allows reliable family communication or in some places reliable family business communication from ship to shore when the business has no shore license for marine VHF. This is an as yet unexplored solution.

There is a consensus among communications people I talk to that the end-of-life is here for GMRS as we know it. I’m perpetually skeptical on this point. I do agree that we as licensees are now in the unique position of having to find a problem that GMRS can solve in order to make it a viable medium for American families.

GMRS repeaters must be shared to be of value. Closed repeaters should be discouraged. GMRS cannot survive as a haven for buff groups and private communication systems for just a few people. Users have to recognize that the service is a shared service subject to periodic review by a government that is not really sensitive to anything but dollars.

There is a major problem setting up a GMRS repeater. The companies that own the towers hold a large monopoly. They make big bucks renting tower space. While GMRS licensees cannot make a profit from users of their repeaters they can charge enough to make a monthly rent payment. GMRS may not take off until tower companies recognize the community value of a local repeater system used in neighborhoods. I’m thinking that many low-level repeaters may be a better value than a few high-level sites. We won’t see that unless tower companies can help us with realistic rents. (You don’t suppose a cellular company would entertain allowing GMRS repeaters on their cellular towers do you?)

GMRS is not dead. It’s just stagnant. It is a radio service looking for a problem that it can solve if given the opportunity. GMRS licensees are going to have to help define the problem and the solution because everyone else is satisfied with their cellular subscription service. GMRS was, like commercial two-way radio , rendered almost obsolete by Nextel/SMR and cellular telephone. There is still value in having a two-way radio service you control especially for communication around the home. Maritime and rural areas and perhaps even areas with high tourism can potentially benefit from this option.