This U.S. Coast Guard approved 2-Way Radio Life Vest features dual, 14-channel two-way radios that are integrated into the chest area of the life vest, with another unit located on a boat or on shore for instant communication purposes no matter the situation.
(Click read more below to read the article referred to.)
(PopWireless: This radio escaped the radar of this magazine since the advertisement makes no mention whatsoever of the radio service in which these devices operate. We suspect this an FRS radio being sold to the public as a save-your-life radio.
At the magazine we have a problem with this device. There is no emergency frequency in the Family Radio Service that we know of but we suspect this is indeed a Family Radio Service radio. The Family Radio Service is now cluttered with levels of radio interference so high in some urban, park, and recreational areas that controlling that interference in order to monitor and find a person gone over board would probably result in tragic circumstances. It is absolutely bizarre that any clear-thinking company or the Coast Guard would would suggest this radio is good for, “instant communication purposes no matter the situation.” A tragic suggestion.
The maritime enthusiast should always have a marine VHF radio on board to signal the Coast Guard in an emergency. We suspect that the Coast Guard’s radio-direction finding resources are focused in the marine VHF service. We do not know for sure how they would respond to a person missing wearing an FRS radio. The person gone over board would be far more likely to attract attention if they broadcast for help on Marine Channel 16 than if they broadcast on a Family Radio Service channel. This radio is all about marine rescue on the cheap. We feel differently about the value of your life.
Where we see this vest having some utility is for skier to boat communication. Any situation where you can see and wave to someone wearing this vest is a great place to use a radio to also hear them. “We’re coming around to pick you up, or Are you OK after that wipe out,” are likely scenarios. In each case you can get immediately back to the swimmer. What an FRS radio is not is a radio to make up for lack of planning or to use in lieu of common sense an acceptable practice or out of visual range!
Explore the use of this vest but be careful how you choose to use it. We would also love to know why the advertisers of this life-saving device failed to disclosed the frequencies on which the device operated. Odd indeed.)
Gary Forsee steps down as CEO of Sprint Nextel
(Click read more below to read the original story.)
(Popwireless: How come? The behavior of of the cellular companies never ceases to amaze. The cellular market is SATURATED. Everyboby who has a cellular telephone has a cellular telephone. The vast numbers, huge growth, and big profits are PAST PERFORMANCE. Stock holders should have seen this down turn coming. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. Harassing and replacing CEO’s or pushing sales people to extremes will NOT force a market change. The cellular market should now focus on keeping the customers they already have and in wooing customers from competitors with that service. Sprint is one of those companies that has out sourced customer service off shore to GREAT DETRIMENT. The stock holders should be asking the Board of Directors WHY in no uncertain terms. A company that has PIONEERED cellular as they have has no business being in the business of yanking customer’s chains. This move just tells us that SPRINT has just not seen the light. SPRINT and national retailers acting as agents for SPRINT think that sales today should be the same as two and three years ago – same gains same profits. That rate of growth is simply over. The paradigms are shifting and no one is noticing.
One major shift that we see coming is a consumer shift away from the big store to the neighborhood cellular store. The smaller cellular vendors have the time, inclination, and the motivation to serve their cellular customer. From a truth-in-disclosure perspective I sell cellular telephones and I frankly believe SPRI NT is one-cool company. The company is feeling what every retailer in America that sells cellular is feeling – a loss of cellular business. I do however believe and have always believed that customer are often better served by the ombudsman-like qualities of the local vendor as opposed to the carrier’s vendor.
It has been extraordinarily hard for local vendors to survive when the big vendors build company stores a few miles away. We continue to be amazed though at the number of customers to return based entirely on the local guy’s ability to deliver service and results. The consumer has some serious choices to make when they elect to get a cellular upgrade. )
ICOM did what Motorola, Cobra, and RadioShack did not do and that was continue to market a license-free Family Radio Service two-way radio for families. The others might all refer to the GMRS/FRS hybrids as FRS radios but we all know that is not true. The companies that sell twenty-two channel hybrids are all bargaining that the FCC declares GMRS license free by rule. ICOM, however, is living up to its name as a real and quality-radio company with a serious concern for the radio services as each currently exists under the FCC Rules. ICOM is selling a real Family Radio Service radio. No license required.
When the FCC OET unilaterally authorized the twenty-two channel bubble-pack radio with no objections from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau the assault on the General Mobile Radio Service began. It was the first time in history that a licensed radio service was combined with an unlicensed radio service. What did the FCC expect the major national retailers to do? Wow what a gift! We believe the FCC expected and even anticipated what has actually happened. The assault on the General Mobile Radio Service was planned by American marketers on behalf of off-shore manufacturers and executed by the bureaucrats of the FCC in Washington D.C. It was all about economy building.
The moment the twenty-two channel bubble-pack radios hit the market GMRS was doomed and the FCC knew it and frankly didn’t care. They decided long ago GMRS should be licensed by rule whether or not the individuals licensed to use GMRS had a chance to publicly argue the merits of the move. Walk into a local retailer and ask them if a license is required to use any of the channels in the twenty-two channel bubble packs. We believe the majority will say no or tell the customer that no one will care. Ask the retailer if a school or business is allowed to use the twenty-two channel bubble pack and the answer will be sure no problem! Most retailers now have no clue that the ONLY license-free channels in most twenty-two channel bubble-pack radios are FRS channels eight through fourteen. There are actually SEVEN FEWER license-free channels in the GMRS/FRS hybrid bubble-packs!
Do not suggest that the market place made the decision, that the hand writing was on the wall. or that at the end of the day it’s what the people wanted. This was planned and executed before a GMRS advocacy group like the Personal Radio Association, Inc. could object on behalf of GMRS licensees. People always want something for nothing. Manufacturers and retailers gave away something that did not belong to them because no one was there to object. This was ultimately a for-profit spectrum grab, nothing more nothing less. A grab that the FCC thought was cool! This was one spectrum grab the government bureaucrats felt was socially acceptable so they engineered a way for it to come true for all radio retailers – eventually.
Had the truth been told to the customer at the point of sale, and had stores observed the licensing laws the big three could have continued to sell license-free radios and license-required GMRS radios. That idea was never explored. The nation might now be building new nation-wide GMRS radio repeater systems. Imagine if the public had access to radio systems other than subscription cellular service. Families could be using radio repeaters, base stations, mobile radios, and hand-held radios in national parks, state parks, amusement parks, tourist areas and even in America’s neighborhoods. The American public believes a cellular subscription is necessary to communicate effectively and exclusively with family members!
Keeping the license-free FRS radios would have meant that a TRUE license-free option was available for families desiring simple no-hassle personal radio communication. Instead we now have interminable interference problems in the GMRS related to the illegal use of the twenty-channel bubble packs radios by everyone and anyone. Families have no clue how to use their new GMRS hybrid radios or how to comply with licensing laws.
The retailers – AMERICAN BUSINESS EXECUTIVES made the choice to co opt GMRS. This was a move to do the wrong thing looking at future business quarters of climbing profits. The retail industry had its eyes on GMRS and they were taking it over. Their fingers were crossed behind their backs and the FCC was giving them the wink.
Interestingly enough the FCC OET and WTB did not approve requests for a dual band LICENSE-FREE radios using MURS and FRS! Draw your own conclusions. We DO NOTE that OET approved a marine VHF radio with FRS included but not before the Personal Radio Association objected through channels to rumors of a combined marine GMRS/FRS combo units. Mark our words. We believe that that the Marine/FRS combo radios are going to appear on the nations ski slopes. The FCC OET has opened Pandoras box and now the Marine Radio Service is in serious trouble. The public is going to ASSUME that the license free FRS channels mean using the marine channels on land is no big deal either! You guessed it. Using marine channels on land is not legal unless you have a special license to permit such operation.
Thousands of licensees in the General Mobile Radio Service who have millions of dollars invested in their family communication or personal-family-business systems do care. I believe that every licensee takes notice of ICOM being the only major radio manufacturer still selling a license-free Family Radio Service two-way radio. Every licensee that has ever given up trying to communicate with a family member because little Johnny and Sally were using the GMRS Mr. Microphone to sing silly songs cares a lot. We think ICOM rocks!
In a way it makes sense. I own quite a bit of ICOM’s stuff. Two R8500 receivers and an ICOM 756 PRO III at the high end and a hand-held ICOM GMRS radio at the low end. Their radios have always impressed me as has their customer service. It just doesn’t get any better than ICOM! A company with this kind of quality would as a matter of course do the right thing by the laws of the United State.
Thanks to Motorola, Cobra, Audiovox, and RadioShack American consumers no longer have lots of license-free FRS radio options. Now it’s a trust issue. You sell the 22-channel bubble pack radio and cross your heart that your customer will only use SEVEN of the 22 channels to stay legal. It is absurd. Only seven of the of the channels in most of these radios are actually license free and those channels are FRS 8-14. FRS 1-7 in a bubble pack are often now at GMRS power levels making the channel ineligible as a license free channel.
By the way, not one of the radios we are talking about is even made in the United States. The 22-channel bubble pack boom never benefited anyone BUT foreign manufacturers and the pocket books of US based marketing folks.
None of the major retailers ever bought into helping build GMRS the right way. The little guys under them like AudioVox and Garmin followed in lockstep pushing the 22-channel radios which have devastated the GMRS with horrendous interference levels in urban areas. The FCC is marching alongside. While license applications have gone up and continue to rise the numbers don’t equal radio sales. Humans follow the path of least resistance just like electrons. Most people will not (and have not) license a 22-channel bubble pack.
We think that individuals, businesses, or organizations considering the purchase of license-free radios should consider the ICOM FRS radio before any other. You can use it without a license. You will not be tempted to operate without a license and if you want to upgrade the licensed radio service will still be there waiting for you. Truth be told, the higher powered bubble packs do not provide the significant mileage claimed by the manufacturers. That is unsupported marketing hype. It always has been and always will be marketing hype. Dropping the license free radios and manufacturing only 22 channel bubble packs was also a marketing decision. One that focused on the future – asking the FCC to license GMRS by rule. A future that we believe will doom GMRS to the same fate as CB radio.
We might already be doomed but until then we think you should buy ICOM FRS if you need a license-free option. You can choose your own ICOM dealer or our preferred ICOM dealer, PopularWireless advertiser NSI Communications. We suggest that RadioShack redeem their own reputation after having helped create FRS by selling a REAL FRS radio and then properly train all of their employees. Retailers should STOP referring to the GMRS hybrids as FRS radios! These are NOT FRS radios they are GMRS radios that require a license for FIFTEEN out of the twenty-two available channels. Signs in stores should tell customers that an FCC license is required and that there is a fee. Until then contact NSI Radio. NSI is the the dealer doing the right thing by the GMRS community and the FCC Rules.
The ICOM IC-4088 is still available:
With rapid charger $145
With overnight charger $124
Radio only, no charger $95
ICOM is a TOP manufacturer of two-way radio equipment and systems. This radio is not a GMRS chew toy. It is a quality product that will give you or your organization excellent service and utility. NSI Radio is ready to take your orders so you can stay license free!
Around 4AM this morning I heard a large passenger ship and a cargo ship talking about a much smaller vessel in the deep water shipping lane of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Choptank River. This smaller boat was actually in some peril because both big boats were converging upon the smaller boat at about the same time. In order to avoid a collision, the big boats had to determine how to pass each other and then guess how the smaller boat would react. They needed to know the intentions of the smaller craft. This maritime radio-ballet is heard many times during the day at all hours. The dance is however a lot more successful if all parties on the dance floor are aware of each other or more accurately on the same radio channel so they can enjoy the dance together.
There was some real life drama to this event. Why isn’t the operator of the little boat listening? Why isn’t he responding? Is he intentionally causing a problem or is he just an inexperienced boater? Is something big about to happen and am I listening a fateful event about to unravel. Leaning into the radio I turned up the volume.
Both big boats hailed the operator (I hesitate to use the word captain) of the smaller boat for a good twenty minutes on VHF marine channels 16, 13, and 9. In the Bay, large vessels have to monitor channel 13 for navigation purposes. Finally the smaller boat answered up on channel 16. One big boat heard the smaller boat and the other big boat did not. The first big ship asked the small boat to move out of the way off to the west immediately and to stay out of the shipping lane as the big boats passed. The Master of the second big ship was more firm. He told the small boat operator to PAY ATTENTION to and to MONITOR the correct channels on his VHF marine radio if he was going to sailing in the real world and to better yet stay the heck out of the deep water shipping lanes with his tiny vessel! It was a classic butt chewing for an amateur seaman that made everyone else’s life more dangerous.
The little boat got out of the way and the big ships sailed on. Thank you captains!
Failing to keep a proper watch on VHF marine radio really is a big problem on our waterways here, and one problem the Coast Guard and local law enforcement should worry about more. It is, in my view, an obvious security vulnerability as well as a threat to basic safety and the continued safety of maritime commerce. The local mariners that do not understand navigation or how to use a VHF marine radio for navigation safety should be back in boaters school learning what they need to know before being allowed back on the water.
It is incredulous to hear on our water ways that the policing of bad habits is predominantly self policing. The Masters of larger ships, some from foreign countries, are educating local residents in smaller boats on the finer points of inland navigation and boating safety. Local law enforcement officials remain mysteriously absent. We see the Coast Guard aircraft patrolling the Bay on weekends. Occasionally we hear the Coast Guard boarding pleasure craft conducting inspections. You don’t often hear officials chasing down the errant sailor that put the lives of everyone aboard two large ships at risk by failing to keep a radio watch.
FCC Part 80 Rules do say that a VHF marine radio is not required on pleasure craft of a certain size but if the vessel is equipped and the radio is on the operator MUST maintain a watch. Perhaps the rules should read if you plan to play with the big dogs you best be ready to chat with them at a moment’s notice!
Do you live in a marine community? Are you listening to marine VHF radio to find out how safe your waters are? Are you a boater? Are you teaching everyone in your family how to maintain a radio watch? Do they know the purposes of the various marine channels? Are you the master of your vessel or just a local nuisance? Good questions.
(Huntingtown, MD 080307) – GMRS is not Ham radio. It is also not the private playground of hobby buff groups, long-winded super heroes with a delusional sense of self importance, or national public service organizations that consider family communication ((FCC 95.1(a) The General Mobile Radio Service.)) unimportant on their own radio-activity scale. But today I wondered.
Tropospheric ducting ((See William Hepburn’s Tropospheric Forecasts)) is in big time this morning. I can hear the illegal periodic Morse ID’s (( Repeater ID not required see FCC R&R 95.119(e) )) from free-running automatic GMRS repeaters ((Automatic operation prohibited. FCC R&R 95.103(a) )) ((FCC R&R 95.171 Station Operator Duties. Control operator required)) and then comes the DX’er from Virginia. In a blaze of glory and with great enunciation and fanfare he announces his call sign, his national public service affiliation complete with unit number (in the single digits wow!) as though it gives him some special right to access a repeater for which he happens to have the squelch access tone — a repeater hundreds of miles or more distant. ((GMRS repeaters are private property see FCC R&R 95.103(b) )) He’s DX’ing! (Amateur radio lingo for talking by radio to distant stations.) Woo hoo! Look at me I can talk long distances on a radio intended for short distance family communication! Wowee zowee!
It’s one thing to be using your GMRS radio and find that during tropo you are accessing the wrong or multiple repeaters. It’s another to go fishing for QSO’s. ((FCC 95.33 Cooperative use of radio stations in the GMRS.)) The multiple repeater problem occasionally happens to me and my wife as we use a local 575 repeater. When we find ourselves bringing up more than one repeater we leave the air very quickly so as not to compound the obvious interference problem.
Today, the entire East Coast of the United States of America had to listen to what amounted a Ham radio QSO on 462.550 MHz between two hams that happen to also use GMRS. ((FCC R&R 95.181 Permissible Communications)) ((FCC R&R 95.7 Channel Sharing))
I believe that hams should take advantage of UHF tropo on 440, 220 or 2 meters. Hams have MORE THAN ENOUGH SPECTRUM to enjoy their hobby. That said how about knocking off the repeater DX’ing done solely for self aggrandizement and curiosity. It makes you look foolish and silly and it accomplishes nothing, nada, zip. You make it harder for the rest of us and our families to use our family communication systems.
When tropospheric ducting is active, GMRS licensees should make a conscious decision to reduce their talk time with their local users. ((FCC R&R 95.7(a) Channel Sharing)) Keep transmissions to the point, communicate and leave the air. Use common sense. Be polite. Remember that our rules require all of us to share a VERY TINY resource among thousands of families, and hundreds of UNCOORDINATED repeaters and simplex operations. If you can be heard across thousands of square miles while you discuss the health of a mutual acquaintance maybe you shouldn’t be talking! ((FCC R&R Part 95.7(b) ))
I’d like to know what others think of this. Should we add an item to the PRA GMRS Operator’s Code of Ethics that spells it out? What should our reaction be?
It is hard to take the national public service groups seriously while their members and leadership are DX’ing on GMRS. Those groups should consider a POLICY STATEMENT forbidding repeater DX-ing and insisting their members follow the GMRS rules. It’s the courteous thing to do.
Flash! A repeater owner in New York state sent the blog a recording of this same person’s access to the New York repeater. Hard to believe.
This obnoxious video pretty much covers everything. Keep in mind our government, our FCC that is supposed to manage our valuable radio services and enforce the rules allowed and continues to allow this to happen despite our pleas to end the madness:
http://popularwireless.com/blog1/I2
In this video a GMRS radio is used without a license. This is against FCC Rules.
In this video the presenter suggests that GMRS can be used as a baby minder. This is not legal.
Since the FCC unilaterally allowed the creation of the twenty-two channel license required/license free GMRS/FRS hybrid radio the license required part of the service has suffered. The FCC knew they were doing this. The entire thing was a spectrum grab by industrial interests who saw a sales and marketing opportunity to off-load cheap toy-like two-way radios produced off shore.
Now that the damage is done those of us that have built a family communications system using repeaters, commercial quality mobile units and hand-held radios are competing for channel time with little Johnny down the street singing to his mom and dad with his Mr. Microphone GMRS radio!
The sales and marketing hype is exemplified to the extreme in this video by two self absorbed and very excited presenters who have NO CLUE what they are selling or what impact their silly presentation might have on the people that pay an $80/5 year license fee for their families to use GMRS.
The company that makes these $29.99 GMRS toy radios also is responsible for selling so-called 10-meter radios that illegal CB radio operators modify for use on the CB band. That spectrum was co opted by big business back in the 70′s and is pretty much useless today. The FCC and big business are in cahoots again. Odd how the FCC will fine a retailer for selling modifiable radios for the CB band but actually helped big business destroy a working radio service that didn’t need or want their help.
Sad isn’t it what our government will do for big companies to make a buck. We think the GMRS bubble packs should be terminated by FCC Rule and business should focus on again selling license-free FRS radios. GMRS can still be saved and American families can still learn to appreciate the value of a shared spectrum resource. They will not learn how to do that from our current FCC. We think the Congress ought to be looking very hard at the FCC now. They have made a mess of things and need to be held to account.
Have you seen the FCC activity list for June 2007? Valuable FCC Field Office Resources have been tied up inspecting RETAIL stores to make sure that retailers are placing the required Analog TV Consumer Warning next to TV sets and other devices with analog TV tuners. The FCC that has told GMRS licensees for the last 12 years that resources are tight, budget is small, and travel allowances tiny. Field Office’s cannot be tied up with GMRS complaints, but now the Enforcement Bureau is inspecting RETAIL STORES to make sure a piece of paper is posted next to an analog TV tuner. Analog TV does not even go away until February 2009. This is not consumer protection this is just wacky.
The FCC was and remains singularly responsible for the horrendous levels of interference from unlicensed use in the General Mobile Radio Service. In cahoots with industry, the FCC gave away the GMRS to off-shore factories and United States marketing and sales concerns hoping no one would notice. Now the FCC refuses to talk with the Personal Radio Association about it before they actually issue a new rule making that the PRA anticipates will complete the destruction of GMRS as we know it. The first dual service radios in history combining unlicensed and licensed radio services have almost decimated GMRS in some urban areas. The Enforcement Bureau was gracious enough to allow Riley Hollingsworth to deal with those problem that could be dealt with my mail, but Field Offices have been largely unavailable for action on GMRS complaints requiring their help. GMRS is not a priority. It’s one notch above the Citizen’s Radio Service (CB) so we have been told. The PRA has Field Office complaints on record for which there has been no response or update for two years or more. But the FCC has time to chase product labels.
Other radio services have been faced with the ever increasing size of the FCC excuse list all pointing back to Congressional funding. Assigning what few FCC Field Office resources they have to what amounts to a product labeling issue makes no sense. This is an issue for the FTC. Oh that reminds me. When the FCC unilaterally approved twenty-two channel bubble pack radios that plague the GMRS with interference problems to this day the FCC later refused to deal with the issue of product labeling at the point of sale. Licensees wanted “FCC License Required” prominently displayed on product packaging . The FCC said it was not their job to do that and suggested we contact the FTC!
Congress has made the FCC impotent. The FCC is confused and apparently unable to accomplish the important tasks under its own FCC Rules and Regulations. The FCC now looks for ways to write off radio services completely so they won’t have to worry about enforcement. The FCC however is OK with verifying product warning signs are posted. The Congress could have designated an industry association or other volunteer industry watchdog to this task. The Congress should be keeping the FCC on track! What possible good can come from this current warning-label program of inspection and intimidation? By February 2009 none of this will matter much. The current situation is foolish.
It is mind boggling. Over fifty retailers received Citations and government threats that the next violation could mean an expensive fine. Serious and very valid GMRS complaints against commercial intruders or rule violators are handled with kid gloves or not at all and the perpetrators are often allowed to continue their law breaking activities.
In the meantime PRA complaints referred to Field Offices go into a black hole. The Personal Radio Services are not a current priority. Amateur and GMRS complaint letters sent by the FCC are no longer even publicly available. The PRA cannot point to this correspondence as enforcement examples in their efforts to educate licensees. Licensees never really know for sure what the Commission is doing or has done. We do know the FCC is now chasing little pieces of paper in retail stores instead of DF’ing GMRS intruders. Citizens with valid complaints against illegal CB operations are routinely turned away at the FCC Call Center because Congress allowed the FCC to refer away those complaints to a law enforcement community that had no intention of picking up the FCC’s slack.
Congress, not only have you failed to deal with immigration as the American people would have you deal with it but you also have the FCC chasing their tail to please you. I don’t blame the FCC I blame Congress for this incredible mess.
The GMRS community should be writing or calling their Congress persons to complain about this absurd waste of valuable resources. The FCC does not have the time or interest now to respond to our needs or to do what it is required to do. Only a handful of concerned and conscientious FCC employees actually hold the agency together at the seams! It is an intolerable and almost unbelievable situation.
Wait, I’ll pinch myself. Maybe this is just a bad dream. Oh my goodness it isn’t I’m still here and Congress you just gave yourselves a fat 4% raise!
(Huntingtown, MD) Monitoring of the General Mobile Radio Service in the North East United States here at PopularWireless HQ is raising some serious concern about how some repeater owners, that are also Amateur Radio licensees, allow their GMRS systems to be used. It raises concerns because Amateurs who own and operate GMRS systems should hold themselves to a higher standard but from what we hear some Amateurs take full of advantage of GMRS to use it in ways they would never tolerate on their own repeater bands. The behavior also does not bode well for GMRS generally since it leads the general public to believe that this is what GMRS is all about when some of these Hams are not at all good examples.
During the first two years of the PRA Enforcement Team Program the PRA has forwarded GMRS complaints to the Federal Communications Commission involving Amateurs including:
Clearly, at least to PRA members, the behaviors of some Amateurs that own and operate or just use some GMRS repeaters is way out of line and does not speak well of the Amateur Radio Service. These Amateurs behave one way in the Amateur Radio Service and enjoy letting their hair down in GMRS. They also do not mind deceiving others into believing their way of using GMRS is the accepted way rules be damned. These Amateurs have established what has become a dangerous double standard. It is a standard that is attracting attention.
Given that the FCC has been considering for more than a decade of de-licensing GMRS through license-by-rule and perhaps even terminating repeater operation completely — it does not help build our case that family repeaters are still a viable communications option.
Granted, not every abuse of GMRS or FRS is by someone that holds an Amateur license and there are quite a few very good GMRS systems owned or operated by GMRS lciensees that happen to be Hams, but far too many of the complaints we see involve Amateurs. It is enough to be very concerned. Amateurs that own and operate GMRS systems had better start behaving according to the FCC Rules or their bad behavior may be one big reason we eventually lose the service as we know it. PopularWireless also encourages every licensee to subscribe to the Personal radio Association’s GMRS Code of Conduct.
Visit this link to see how Iraqi terrorists are using the GMRS bubble-packs to kill American troops on patrol. These inexpensive radios not only generate horrendous interference to licensees in the USA but are used to trigger the weapon of choice in Iraq – the IED or Improvised Explosive Device.
The radios are disposable in the minds of the enemy. Easy to buy and easy to attach to bombs. The magazine cannot help but try to wonder why the Federal Communications Commission failed to ask themselves some obvious questions about the twenty-two channel hybrid radios before they allowed the big manufacturers to mass market them. Surely one might assume that these cheap toy-type GMRS radios might be used for unintended purposes when mass marketed? Now these radios not onoly cuase horrendous interference in America, interferenced to licensed radios services in other countries when carried by tourists, but now the radios are used for mayhem.
I know it’s a stretch. How can you blame a cascading series of seemingly unrelated events on the adminstrative decisions of bureaucrats supposedly acting in our best interests? The IED trigger aside, the FCC did not act in the licensee’s best interest but only in the interest of building foreign technology jobs. Most of these radios are not even made in the USA. Do you suppose that makes delivery to Iraq that much easier?
Using the blog I hope to increase the editorial and news content of the PopularWireless site. The site has come a long way since the home page at DougWeb.com where this all got started in 1995. Twelve years! During that time much has changed in personal radio.
GMRS popularity has increased. FRS was created. MURS was born. The twenty-two channel bubble-pack radios were approved unilaterally by the Federal Communications Commission and massive interference levels on GMRS resulted. Licensees organized to form the Personal Radio Association.
Where is it all going from here? Using the blog, pages of the magazine, and the Personal Wireless BBS we hope to continue chronicling the personal radio options available to the American public. Stay with us.
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