(New Jersey/New York) – PRA members in New York and New Jersey heard a steady carrier on 462.700 MHz for about two days, January 10-12,2008. The signal showed no signs of going away so members put their RDF capability to work. In a stunningly short time, just thirty minutes, the repeater site was located. The member locating the repeater determined that there was no signal on the repeater input causing the repeater to hang. The probable cause was believed to be a defective repeater controller.
The owner of the repeater could not be immediately determined by making calls on the repeater itself. Not a soul was listening on any active tone. There were an astounding number of CTCSS tones active on the system which begs the question are these tones all necessary?
The repeater antenna was located on a tower belonging to a television broadcast station. Contact was made at the station and the situation explained. Station staff were very helpful providing the telephone number of the manager for the station technical staff. Station staff did not know at the time who the repeater belonged to but assured the PRA member it would be turned off by Saturday morning.
The repeater did turn off finally and is no longer causing interference. The PRA Enforcement Teams would like to remind all repeater owners that you have an OBLIGATION to monitor your GMRS system to PREVENT such occurrences. Situations like this should not take days to resolve by other licensees. The repeater itself had no control operator on duty to monitor it’s functions and control operator is REQUIRED.
When no one is using a GMRS repeater system it should be turned off by a control operator to prevent unauthorized operation or malfunctions when no operator is on duty. This is particularly true in areas like New Jersey and New York where there are numerous GMRS repeater systems sharing the same frequency. It is the polite and courteous thing to do.
(PopularWireless.com) A member of the Personal Radio Association’s Enforcement Team for the State of Virginia found this parking-lot call box and several others like it broadcasting on General Mobile Radio Service frequency 462.575 MHz from a college campus. An official complaint was
filed with the FCC Enforcement Bureau office in Gettsyburg, PA. by the PRA after units were found in multiple campus locations.
Two of the call boxes attracted considerable attention after broadcasting recorded emergency announcements every few minutes, one after the other, twenty four hours per day for over a week in November 2007. The call boxes were heard from a considerable distance and did interfere with licensed GMRS users attempting to use their family’s repeater in the vicinity of the college. At least one of the boxes was off frequency tolerance as measured by a sophisticated two-way radio measuring instrument. Subsequent to filing the complaint the Commission contacted the college administration. Transmissions from the malfunctioning boxes ceased after that contact was made. The FCC is currently investigating.
The college had no FCC license to operate the call box transmitters on the GMRS frequency. These call boxes have manufacturer identification plates indicating the boxes are CALL24 brand, a division of RCS Wireless Technology. The identity of the company that sold and installed the boxes is not known to the PRA as of the date of this article.
General Mobile Radio Service frequencies require an FCC license. Organizations, companies, schools, or associations have been ineligible to license in the GMRS since 1989. Only individuals are eligible to license in the GMRS.
Schools are eligible to license such devices within a large pool (hundreds) of radio frequencies set aside for commercial or local government use. Obtaining the proper FCC license does require the expense of a frequency search and use of a frequency coordinator as well as an FCC license fee.
GMRS licensees share just eight repeater output frequencies. Across the USA GMRS licensees have found unlicensed use by commercial GMRS pirates as they were coined. Presumably unscrupulous radio shops put unsuspecting victims on GMRS channels to reduce the fees charged to their customers and to maximize their profit.
Technorati Tags: GMRS,CALL24,FCC,PRA
(PopularWireless – Huntingtown, MD) Mom’s and dads should always remember that GMRS and FRS can be monitored by others on their cruise ship and on shore when close enough. Tonight the Grandeur of the Seas went by. A mom was telling the kid the night’s schedule and then what mommy and daddy were planning for the next hour – a long shower. Anyone listening would have known where the kids are, what they were doing, how long mom and dad were going to be and perhaps how attentive they might be during the shower. The magazine has written before on the do’s and do nots of using family oriented two-way radio. We cannot over emphasize the utility two-way radio provides but we also have to remind everyone to use good common sense. In this family’s case it might have been better to sit down with the kids before they left the state room and share the night’s organizational details. Tonight the humor was in the details. Happy sailing!
He’s changed his mind. Not sure for how long but we are sure happy to see him stay for Amateur radio and for GMRS! Riley Hollingsworth rocks! (Click read more to read the latest.
(PopWireless: SouthGate ARC. Click read more!)
(Old News) The manufacturer’s take over of GMRS began with the creation of the twenty-two channel bubble pack. In 2003 TWICE chronicled the major shift by the big guns in the consumer radio toy industry to the bubble packs from real FRS radios.It’s old news but today’s GMRS licensees should never forget. This was written almost five years ago when the manufacturers made the business decision to forget about GMRS licensing and full speed ahead with the confusing bubble-pack.
Two way radios can add thousands of dollars to your bottom line. Selecting the proper walkie-talkie system is crucial. There are four basic elements to consider in choosing the right 2-way radios: VHF vs UHF, Power, # of Channels, and Durability. Here’s how to choose the right two-way radios for you and your business. (Click read more below to read the article referred to.)
(PopWireless: This is article is written only with a partial understanding of the truth. This article is vague enough to convince us the writer really has not read the FRS FCC Rules. The only thing the writer got right was that many of the bubble-pack toys made today are toys when compared to real commercial quality radios. That advice is excellent. Toys do not hold up in business environments. Where the article flops is in licensing information. It doesn’t even begin to deal with the confusion created by the Federal Communications Commission when they unilaterally approved the infamous twenty-two channel bubble pack.
The FCC fully expected and supports businesses using the Family Radio Service. There is no license required to use Family Radio Service radios. That has been in OUR FAQ since day one. There is only ONE FRS radio left on the market that we know of (There may be one other type sold with a life vest. Read our blog) and that is the ICOM model discussed in this blog in another article. All of the other so-called “FRS” radios out there are the twenty-two channel hybrid radios or bubble-pack radios. These radios, according to the FCC website are technically GMRS radios that have FRS capability and that capability is FRS channels eight through fourteen.
Manufacturers have design the majority of these twenty-two channel toys so that the the channels formerly known in FRS radios as channels one through seven are at GMRS power levels. FRS was carved out of the General Mobile Radio Service. FRS one through seven were always portable and small-base station frequencies in the GMRS. FRS 8-14 are channels in-between the eight GMRS repeater input frequencies. The GMRS rules allow up to five watts ERP (Effective Radiated Power) on what have always been known as the GMRS interstitials. The only true license-free channels in most twenty-two channel bubble-pack radios are the last seven FRS channels. Seven out of twenty two. Seven out of twenty two require a GMRS license and those are considered GMRS channels not FRS channels.
We do agree that business is better served using real two-way radios. Radios that are built tough and built for long service.)
Just in time for hurricane season, worlds first Crank Powered FRS/GMRS radio.
(PopWireless: It still requires an FCC license to use on GMRS channels. We have not seen this radio so we cannot say we have reviewed it. We do however like the concept!)
read more | digg story
(Plum Point, MD) A GMRS pirate with several radio users operating as an unlicensed ineligible entity was identified by the Personal Radio Association on the evening of Friday, September 28, 2007. The pirate was operating a GMRS repeater located in the vicinity of Cambridge, MD on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. As of Saturday morning the same organization is operating the illegal radio system despite having been warned that they are operating without a license and may cause serious interference to GMRS licensees. Radio operation is occurring at a park on the Choptank River.
An organizer of the Chesapeake Man Triathlon event in Cambridge, MD was contacted on his cellular telephone. He identified the Race Director as Robert Vigarito. A law enforcement agency on the Eastern Shore provided the telephone number. The contact the PRA spoke with refused to shut down the radio system or to call the radio company that rented them the system citing safety concerns as their event was already well underway and would continue on Saturday, September 29.
GMRS licensees in the DelMarVa area including other unlicensed persons using GMRS are requested to avoid interfering with the event’s communications on 462.675 MHz. The Columbia Triathlon Association, Inc, appears to be the victim of their radio provider as is the case with most instances like this one. The United States Coast Guard is providing law enforcement support on the river and the the Cambridge Police on land near Great Marsh Park. This is a large event. The pirate repeater may only be in operation one more day.
The PRA has filed an FCC complaint form regarding unlicensed use of GMRS by an organization ineligible to license in the GMRS naming the Columbia Triathlon Association and the radio company that rented the repeater to them. The radio company information was provided by the association organizer contacted by the PRA.
A GMRS Pirate is a person, organization, or business that operates two-way radios on the General Mobile Radio Service without having first obtained the required license from the Federal Communications Commission. Organizations and businesses have not been allowed to obtain GMRS licenses since 1989. Only a few grandfathered business users remain that have since renewed licenses obtained prior to 1989. The General Mobile Radio Service is regulated by Part 95 of the FCC Rules and Regulations. Individuals are permitted to obtain GMRS licenses for their personal business and that of their family.
An all too common GMRS piracy problem has existed across the United States for years. Radio companies seeking to avoid paying license fees and performing frequency coordination filings put temporary and even full-time customers on GMRS frequencies hoping no one will ever notice. This fraudulent practice was pernicious enough to encourage GMRS licensees across the United States to form the Personal Radio Association Inc., a Maryland not-for profit corporation. The PRA actively reports GMRS rules violations and unlicensed users to the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau.
GMRS licensees authorized to use GMRS channels pay a license fee and observe radio regulations designed to facilitate channel sharing of the eight repeater frequency pairs allocated to the service. The business radio services have hundreds of channels to choose from but also have specific rules to follow under FCC Rules Part 90. It is not uncommon for a GMRS licensee to have spent thousands of dollars on their own repeater system that they in turn share with other area families. GMRS licensees are forbidden by rule to rent or to take any renumeration other than actual operating costs to/from others.
The unscrupulous radio companies rent radios on channels they are ineligible to use at the expense of those licensed to use the channels. When a local radio shop breaks the rules to put a pirate on the air the pirate is often uncooperative with GMRS licensees pretty much clueless and unaware of any rules or licensing regulations. Pirates typically operate with unacceptable radio practices causing harmful interference to licensed users of the same channels. Pirates are a persistent nuisance in the GMRS. More information on this topic can be found using our blogroll in the Bubble-Pack Pirate FAQ and GMRS Intruder Help. The PRA website is http://popularwireless.com/blog1/go
There are many areas of the United States still considered rural and very rural. Residents are isolated from civilization and often each other by choice. Living this way can present communications difficulties when land-line or cellular telephone services break down in inclement weather or, perish the thought, don’t exist at all.
The General Mobile Radio Service can be a viable communication tool in rural areas particularly if neighbors build a radio system together. Multiple families can purchase and install a repeater system with back-up battery power to use in the event of a communications outage. During the rest of the time the two-way radio system serves to link families and friends for social and business purposes. The family radio is a link to another family group since neighbors often count upon each other just for company as well for emergencies.
This is where everyone is reminded that the GMRS is more than just the two-way radio chew toys for sale at big-box stores. GMRS can be a sophisticated yet easy to use communication option complete with base stations, mobile units and hand-held radios. Let’s look at some possibilities.
The Family Farm
GMRS is a radio service that the licensee can use to conduct his or her personal business. As long as the licensee allows his or her immediate family to use the radio system and not unlicensed employees the family farm or ranch can use the GMRS system for the family business. Individual employees not related to the licensee can use the same system as long as they too are licensed and use their FCC assigned call letters.
The General Store
Wouldn’t it be great if you could call your general store on the two-way radio to give them your shopping list? As long as the store owner and his family have a GMRS license he or she can use their radio to chat with customers, friends and family.
Rural Churches
Rural pastors can use GMRS to stay in touch with the flock as long as each family has the appropriate GMRS license. Rural churches are important centers of activity and support for families living in isolation. As long as everyone (individuals) are licensed properly members of the church could sponsor and share a local GMRS repeater so that everyone in that area had a lifeline to one another.
Travel in Rural Areas
There might be cellular coverage problems traveling in rural areas that GMRS could solve. A well placed local system might provide families with communications on long or potentially hazardous local road trips in rural areas. Where conventional communication fails a GMRS system built by neighbors might provide two-way radio communication to people that travel.
Your own monitoring network.
It is certainly conceivable that neighbors who count on one another could establish a local monitoring schedule so that anyone traveling actually had someone to talk to. When you set the expectation it is a very good idea to make sure someone is actually ready to respond. It might not hurt to get important local folks licensed and equipped with a GMRS radio so that communication is even more meaningful. How about the local sheriff’s deputy and his family, local volunteer firefighters and medical personnel and maybe eve the country doctor. As long as these individuals license as individuals they can use the GMRS to be part of the community back-up system.
(Huntingtown, MD) On the morning of August 28, 2007, just before 8:00 AM, during a rather strong tropospheric ducting event a radio system on 462.5375 MHz was heard and recorded. What was unusual about this radio system? It is a pirate commercial system, one of several brought to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission in the first few years of the Personal Radio Association’s Enforcement Program. This particular system is still in the process of being identified. (This system is probably in New York or New Jersey.)
A scofflaw radio business placed a customer on a radio frequency pair for which the customer holds no FCC license for operation. The frequency is a band-edge channel that no person, company, or organization is authorized by license to use anywhere in the USA. The responsible company did so to avoid charging the customer commercial frequency coordination fees and FCC license fees. The company makes more money for themselves and suckers the customer. The radio shop chose this channel probably thinking that no one would notice. The trouble for this radio shop is that licensees of the General Mobile Radio Service that snugs up against this band-edge channel did notice. The trouble for the customer-company using the unlicensed system is that they are now at risk of receiving an expensive FCC fine.
It has been a sad but true story of continuing illegal and fraudulent activity for the American two-way radio business nationwide. Members of the PRA, even before its creation in 2005, have reported such systems to the FCC. The radio companies responsible are not limited to tiny independent mom and pop radio shops. Large regional and national companies identified by licensees have been at this for years – some more than most. It is one major reason why the PRA Board of Trustees had representatives meet with the FCC in Washington D.C. Enforcement Bureau in 2005.
It is not uncommon for GMRS licensees to find very sophisticated radio systems illegally positioned on frequencies not intended for use by companies and organizations. There is another as yet unidentified system found by licensees in Edison , NJ. An extremely active pirate radio system is located somewhere within the major industrial park located in this city. This system uses two Family Radio Service frequencies for a radio repeater system! FRS channel 4, 462.6375 is the repeater output. During tropospheric ducting events this system can be heard in Maryland! This channel is allocated ONLY to one-half watt FRS radios or five watt ERP GMRS radios and is intended for short range family communication. That did not matter to the scofflaw radio shop that put their customer on that frequency.
The sad truth is that many victim-companies are placed in the position of being unlawful intruders without their knowledge. This occurs across the GMRS and business radio service bands. Responsible are radio companies with little or no moral interest in obeying communications law. Their own commercial interests matter not the customer. It is one reason the FCC exists today, to manage spectrum and protect it for those licensed to use that spectrum.
In the last two years the personal Radio Association asked the FCC to look at:
The FCC is helping and the PRA is happy for the assistance. What would really be nice is that all the radio shops would obey the rules so everyone could enjoy and use the tiny slices of spectrum assigned to them without unnecessary interference.
(Huntingtown, MD -) I just renewed my FCC GMRS license for another five years and thought I would share with GMRS applicants and those renewing the current certifications required by ALL applicants including grandfathered licensees that are renewing their licenses. Granfathered licensees in particular need to make sure they have NOT modified their radio system in ANY WAY since their license was first obtained (before 1989.) You are specifically asked to certify that you have MADE NO CHANGES. You are subject to federal penalties if you certify you have not when in fact you have.
In the FCC’s own words:
Certification
General Certification Statements
1 The applicant/licensee waives any claim to the use of any particular frequency or of the electromagnetic spectrum as against the regulatory power of the United States because of the previous use of the same, whether by license or otherwise, and requests an authorization in accordance with this application.
2 The applicant/licensee certifies that all statements made in this application and in the exhibits, attachments, or documents incorporated by reference are material, are part of this application, and are true, complete, correct, and made in good faith.
3 Neither the applicant/licensee nor any member thereof is a foreign government or a representative thereof.
4 The applicant/licensee certifies that neither the applicant/licensee nor any other party to the application is subject to a denial of Federal benefits pursuant to Section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, 21 U.S.C. § 862, because of a conviction for possession or distribution of a controlled substance. This certification does not apply to applications filed in services exempted under Section 1.2002(c) of the rules, 47 CFR § 1.2002(c). See Section 1.2002(b) of the rules, 47 CFR § 1.2002(b), for the definition of “party to the application” as used in this certification.
5 Amateur or GMRS applicant/licensee certifies that the construction of the station would NOT be an action which is likely to have a significant environmental effect (see the Commission’s rules 47 CFR Sections 1.1301-1.1319 and Section 97.13(a) rules (available at web site http://wireless.fcc.gov/rules.html).
6 Amateur applicant/licensee certifies that they have READ and WILL COMPLY WITH Section 97.13(c) of the Commission’s rules (available at web site http://wireless.fcc.gov/rules.html) regarding RADIOFREQUENCY (RF) RADIATION SAFETY and the amateur service section of OST/OET Bulletin Number 65 (available at web site http://www.fcc.gov/oet/info/documents/bulletins/).
Certification Statements for GMRS Applicants/Licensees
1 Applicant/Licensee certifies that he or she is claiming eligibility under Rule Section 95.5 of the Commission’s rules.
2 Applicant/Licensee certifies that he or she is at least 18 years of age.
3 Applicant/Licensee certifies that he or she will comply with the requirement that use of frequencies 462.650, 467.650, 462.700 and 467.700 MHz is not permitted near the Canadian border North of Line A and East of Line C. These frequencies are used throughout Canada and harmful interference is anticipated.
4 Non-Individual applicants/licensees certify that they have NOT changed frequency or channel pairs, type of emission, antenna height, location of fixed transmitters, number of mobile units, area of mobile operation, or increase in power.
Signature
Name of Party Authorized to Sign.
Name First MI Last Suffix
Title
Failure To Sign This Application May Result In Dismissal Of The Application And Forfeiture Of Any Fees Paid.
WILLFUL FALSE STATEMENTS MADE ON THIS FORM OR ANY ATTACHMENTS ARE PUNISHABLE BY FINE AND/OR IMPRISONMENT (U.S. Code, Title 18, §1001) AND/OR REVOCATION OF ANY STATION LICENSE OR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (U.S. Code, Title 47, §312(a)(1)), AND/OR FORFEITURE (U.S. Code, Title 47, §503).
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Grandfathered licensees that need additional reference should also read:
FCC Rules and Regulations Part 95.5b and 95.5(c)(3) Prohibition against major modifications by non-individual licensees.
Also FCC Rules Section 1.929 Classifications of filings as major or minor. (The FCC’s definition of a major modification.)
The two most frequently heard FCC Rules violations heard on GMRS in the north-east United states are:
1. Radio stations/repeaters operating in automatic mode like Amateur Service repeaters and
2. Failure to identify with FCC assigned GMRS call signs.
FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth has contacted GMRS repeater owners that have morse code or voice ID’ers set to broadcast as periodic beacons. Beacon ID’s have been heard at intervals of 10, 15, and 30 minutes. Both grandfathered and personal licensees have been heard using beacon identifiers. More than one remains active in the Washington D.C. area. GMRS repeaters must have a control operator. The control operator’s ID is sufficient to meet ID requirements in Part 95. There is NO requirement that the repeater itself be identified. Nevertheless, if you listen to GMRS channels during a tropo event on the east coast you hear a cacophony of beeps and squawks from repeaters blindly broadcasting with no control operator on duty. Your repeater can have a CW ID but it should only broadcast during periods of use. The ID it broadcasts does not excuse the operators using the repeater from identifying with their own station call signs.
It is all too common to hear persons using GMRS repeaters using only self-assigned identifiers. Part 95 requires each station to identify by FCC assigned call sign and not a self assigned identifier.
Following the rules takes discipline. Discipline reflects a positive character and a polite concern for others. The rules regarding automatic operation of repeaters prevent unnecessary interference to users of the same frequency, particularly persons actively using other repeaters and simplex operators in the immediate vicinity. A beacon ID hollers, “This is my frequency get off.” That is not being a good radio neighbor. Visit the PRA website to read the PRA Repeater ID FAQ for the legalese involved. Take action to terminate your beacon repeater ID and always remember to ID with your assigned call sign. It helps us share this limited spectrum resource.
There is a unique, web-based, resource for GMRS repeater owners and travelers using GMRS with their families. That resource is myGMRS.com. This site allows owners to add their repeater to a database searchable by users of the site. The site also tracks repeaters that want to be part of the PopularWireless.com Open Repeater Initiative! We recommend that you enter your repeater into myGMRS.com today! Allow the rest of us to make use of the valuable communications resource that is GMRS! The creator and visionary behind this great site is Rich Dunajewski, WQEJ577.
The following image is created by the link to our repeater record at myGMRS.com:
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