 |
The PRA Personal Radio Service Emergency FAQ Updated April 30, 2006
|
| The Personal Radio Association promotes the use of the General Mobile Radio Service and the Family Radio Service (all of the Personal Radio Services) within the scope and definition of the services contained in the Federal Communications Commission Rules and Regulations Part 95. (FCC R&R Part 95) There is a growing interest among large and small organizations to use the inexpensive bubble-pack GMRS radios for neighborhood emergency response teams, including CERT. We have found there are misconceptions about the purpose of the GMRS and a potential for these groups to operate their radios in a fashion that is incompatible with the services. These questions are designed to help you understand the role the GMRS can play for these groups and exactly what the responsibilities of the licensee are operating a GMRS system. The PRA believes that GMRS and FRS, in particular, is an excellent communication resource for our neighborhood volunteers as long as our neighbors use the services according to the rules and in a cooperative way.
GMRS Service Definition
Definition of an Emergency in GMRS What is the definition of an emergency in the General Mobile Radio Service? Why is this definition important to licensees?
This regulation was written at a time when cellular telephones were not popular. It was likely that a GMRS operator would come across a road related emergency and use his/her radio to alert police, fire, or medical authority through a radio relay, either by mobile to base or mobile through repeater relay. (At this period in time bases stations were not permitted to talk to each other as well!) The licensees could hand a portable radio to a person communicating through that relay allowing that person to use the radio. All other licensees sharing that same frequency had to cease transmitting until the emergency was over. An emergency was then and is defined today as a situation where there is an IMMEDIATE threat to life or property. An emergency is not an anticipated event, a practice drill, the day-to-day routine radio traffic of a service club or volunteer group. or disaster related tactical communication not immediately associated with the protection of property or human life.This means that a group organized to provide assistance to the public or others in an emergency is not permitted to monopolize, secure, or own a GMRS channel for their routine tactical communication. Groups may not openly discourage others from sharing the frequency or interfere with the activities of others or preclude others from conducting useful communication. Groups may not reserve channels by busying-out channels through the use of frequent drills, network-like activity, beacon identifiers, public-safety-like dispatch operations, conducting public safety training activities, Skywarn networks etc.. Such activity is inappropriate and inconsistent with the definition of the General Mobile Radio Service and suggests that the group should apply for a frequency in a more compatible radio service. GMRS licensees are required to share (FCC R&R 95.7) our tiny allocation of eight repeater pairs and seven interstitial frequencies. Sharing cannot occur if public-safety-oriented groups declare that GMRS channels belong to them and their volunteers twenty-four hours per day three-hundred-sixty-five days per year. The Frequently Asked Questions I have been told that since I am a CERT volunteer I do not have to obtain a GMRS license to use my twenty-two channel GMRS/FRS hybrid radio. Is that true? No. You must obtain a GMRS license to use a twenty-channel hybrid. The misconception that no license is required is perpetuated by irresponsible retailers so they can sell the more expensive hybrid twenty-two channel radios. Visit the FCC GMRS web page and you will see the FCC's position on this matter.
The FCC created this confusion by allowing a hybrid radio at the request of manufacturers, and in the PRA's view, waited way too long to make sure manufacturers and retailers understood the impact of the GMRS certification. The PRA believes the hybrid radio was not a good decision but we are forced to live with it. You are not required to have a license for FRS-only radios. Manufacturers, however, are driving the sales of GMRS hybrids because profits and sales are better with these units. It is becoming more difficult to find FRS only radios that do not require a license. Your organization can support the PRA, GMRS and FRS by asking manufacturers to continue making and selling FRS only radios. Ask them to be a responsible retailer.
What are the benefits to obtaining a license? The benefits are many.
Doesn't the license cost too much? The PRA favors a reduced-cost for the licensee fee as well as a simplified licensing process but we do not believe the license is expensive. A license is $85 for a five year period. A family of five or more shares this license for five years at which time a renewal fee is paid. That is $17 per person for five years or $3.40 per year! When your family system has more immediate family members using it the license fee is negligible. Put the fee in perspective. Put the benefits of the license in perspective. It is really one of the best communication deals in town. You are responsible for the communications system. You depend on no one except yourself to make it work for your family. There is no subscription fee, no customer service hassle.
Is Family Radio Channel One the national FRS distress channel? No. The FCC was asked to write such a concept into the rules but it was rejected. We occasionally read about others perpetuating this myth. FRS has no call channel or emergency channel. We believe that it is not in the public interest, convenience, or necessity to create an emergency channel in a radio service where the operational behaviors of the unlicensed users and the physics of short range radio propagation preclude its usefulness in that regard. The idea persists among proponents that do not fully understand the physics of radio and how the service is used today. The PRA does not believe it is a practical or reasonable idea for the following reasons:
The PRA believes that families should plan for communication emergencies. In their family plan they should agree on a calling channel and a protocol for attracting attention if they become separated from the group and get into trouble. Cellular telephones should be available to call for public safety assistance or the locations of land-line telephones should be identified ahead of time. The PRA does not support proposals advocating FRS Channel One as a public "help me" channel after a disaster. This decision was made for the same reasons we objected to the FRS emergency channel one proposal made to the FCC in 2003. CERT actually stands a better chance of getting FRS radios in the hands of the right folks in neighborhoods through its organized programs. Pie-in-the-sky promotions that have not been thought through only place our citizens as greater risk. A reasonable person cannot expect to randomly summon assistance using an FRS radio or relay that call through an imaginary Amateur Radio operator. Likewise how could one expect to make a relay through an untrained network of imaginary and unidentified civilian volunteers? An organized neighborhood (part of a real city or county disaster plan) is another story altogether. Persons should be careful about creating or supporting programs for the general public, especially programs outside their span of control, without the participation of OES/OEM officials and the GMRS/FRS community. Throwing FRS radios at the general public with unrealistic expectations is not a productive idea. Confusion, death, or potential injury will be the end result. The public's expectations must be set properly and organized disaster preparedness planning organizations are in the best position to do just that. It is their business!
As a CERT volunteer may I use a GMRS radio? Yes, as long as you have a GMRS license.
May my public service GMRS group furnish the Red Cross with GMRS radios? No. The Red Cross is not eligible to license in the GMRS. They have no legal standing to use GMRS transceivers. GMRS licensees have no legal authority to furnish ineligible persons or organizations with GMRS radios for any purpose. Emergency support organizations that rely on supplemental communication services from outside service groups should make it a point to understand what they can legally do with these organizations to avoid later problems with FCC violations.
We're also looking for volunteers to help local police and fire stations acquire GMRS radios that they can use in emergencies. I am sure you mean well, but these agencies are ineligible to license on GMRS and cannot use these radios. Concentrate your energies on becoming an Amateur Radio Operator so you can train to provide supplemental communication to these agencies properly and with effect.
In an emergency, we tell everyone to tune their FRS/GMRS radio to the Emergency Radio Network on channel 1. ERN may be your pipeline to emergency help and information. ERN works on the principle that the simplest means of communication is the most reliable in an emergency.
Unless neighbors who know each other have organized and planned to use their radios in a disaster, FRS 1 will be of little value. You cannot just wish such a program will work the way you imagine it and then promote it. Setting expectations that FRS or GMRS will be full of information in a disaster is not helpful and in fact it is reckless! Using these radios is only helpful if your neighborhood groups have established procedures to use the radios and have practiced using them. Resist the urge to be everyone's radio hero with devices intended to talk across the street! See the FCC's Emergency Communications site, and do read the FCC page that gives you other disaster resource related information.
But our university CERT program leaders wrote in our radio instructions the following, "Since only channels 8–14 have transmission power of 0.5 watts, we will limit our use to those channels. The other channels on the radio have 1 watt of transmission power, which requires a license from the Federal Communications Commission for use. They will not be used except in exceptional cases, as described under Channel Allocation. Channel 7, Subcode 53 This is a 1 watt channel, which will not be used normally by CERT. It should be used only when a person finds themselves in a truly emergency situation and cannot get a response on the normal CERT channels. This channel will be monitored by the Incident Commander." Your CERT leaders do not have this authority. The University, in this case, has no authority to use or issue GMRS radios to anyone. Anyone using a radio approved as a GMRS radio must have a GMRS license, and the University has NO authority to allow anyone to use GMRS without a license no matter how well intentioned. The university should license in a business radio service and issue their CERT volunteers business radios. Using MURS radios is also an alternative since no license is required.
We understand the enthusiasm for two-way radio and the potential it has for neighbors to help neighbors but take these points into consideration as you think about using FRS and GMRS:
Can my CERT group reserve a GMRS channel for our use in a specific area? No. You have no specific right to a channel. You are required to share this resource with other users just like everyone else does.
We have an area channel coordinator that makes sure other people don't set up repeaters or communications in our immediate area. He works with the FCC. We don't have problems.(Actually someone's understanding.) GMRS has never had a formal frequency coordination body assigned by the FCC to watch over GMRS. Interestingly enough even the FCC Call Center was confused enough at one time about GMRS to try and refer GMRS licensees to the PCIA that represents business licensees. So no, whomever in your area that acts as a so-called coordinator has no power to tell others they cannot use GMRS. I suppose that is wishful thinking on your group's part. A volunteer area coordinator could certainly work with area licensees to coordinate tones, but don't even try to restrict another's operations to protect your own. GMRS is not commercial radio or Amateur Radio. You have no gurantee of exclusive use!
The police, fire, or OEM department that issued my CERT GMRS radio said I don't need a license when working with them. That is not true. The police agency has no authority to grant such a privilege.
Does my Amateur Radio license grant me the right to use GMRS under the authority of my Ham license in an emergency? No, you must have a GMRS license. There is a wholesale misunderstanding of Amateur Radio regulation FCC Part 97.405(a&c) This regulation DOES NOT permit any Amateur to anticipate operating out of authorized Amateur allocations or to modify Part 97 radio equipment anticipating such operation. What the FCC is saying is that an Amateur radio station can do what is necessary to attract attention. As an example that could mean that a General Class licensee could call an Extra Class licensee in an Extra Class band segment if that Extra Class station is the only one that could possibly help the General. Hams that have this question need to read their rules and the GMRS rules. Out-of-band operation by Amateurs is likely to lead to criminal prosecution and equipment confiscation as it already has in a specific case in Southern California some years ago.
May we do CERT emergency drills on GMRS? Unlike the Amateur Radio Service, you may ONLY drill at the direction of a civil emergency organization. (FCC R&R 95.181(d)(3) Amateurs can, and are expected to drill frequently on their own using Amateur Radio Service frequencies. GMRS licensees may only drill when asked to do so officially.Drills are not an emergency so when conducting these drills you must continue to share the radio frequency you are using. You normally get your practice using your GMRS radios by using the radio for its intended purpose, and that is conducting your personal business among those in your family radio system.
May we use GMRS to talk among our families and other families in the neighborhood? Yes! Nothing in the rules prohibits you and your neighbors from using GMRS around your neighborhood. Using your radios to stay in touch about neighborhood issues and events gives you the practice you need to use your radios in a bonafide emergency. Such communication is considered your personal business.
How can radios help me? Families and friends can stay in touch. They can keep an eye on each other's property, children, and vehicles. Your communication can serve as a terrific crime prevention tool. When you anticipate very bad weather you can also check on neighbors, including the elderly and infirm. (As long as you have trained them to use a radio.)
Is there a GMRS emergency channel? No. There is no need for such a channel in this day and age. During normal time, virtually every local emergency is reported to authorities by cellular telephone or land-line telephone. Two-way radio does not play the role it once did prior to the popularity of the cellular telephone. The emergency channel concept was removed from the GMRS Rules in 1999. Prior to that time licensees could only license on one or two GMRS channels or channel pairs. Then the FCC allowed the GMRS community to declare 462.675/467.675 as a national calling frequency (NOT an emergency channel) that all licensees could use for roadside assistance or reporting emergencies. This ONLY worked if local licensees desired to participate. (Some radio manufacturers still perpetuate the myth that 675 is an emergency channel by marking radios in that manner.) Now all licensees can use all GMRS channels and cellular telephones are very popular. There is no need to make such a declaration. The concept of maintaining a large high-level repeater system and scheduling operators to monitor the frequency waiting to report an emergency is a concept lost in time. GMRS is handy in local directed situations among families or neighbors who set up their own monitoring schemes in anticipation of bad weather etc. The PopularWireless Magazine has promoted the Travel Tone concept for all GMRS repeaters. Under this concept a traveler could attempt to make a radio call on simplex or by repeater on any GMRS channel to ask for local travel information. The suggested Travel Tone is 141.3 Hz. There is no guarantee that anyone will hear your Travel-Tone call for information.
What type of interference is likely to cause problems when I use my radios in my neighborhood? There is a notorious lack of personal discipline among children and among some adults that use the twenty-two-channel bubble-pack GMRS radios. You are likely to hear unsupervised children singing on their radios, playing cops and robbers with their radios, sneaking up on friends etc. Some adults get carried away with their radio usage and you hear foul language or other inappropriate content. Many of these folks are using tone-coded squelch and fail to listen before transmitting. The end result is a mishmash of undisciplined users that neither share or care about others trying to use the same frequencies. One of the reasons we believe licensing is important is that when a person or family pays to license in this valuable and limited resource they treat it with more respect than if it was free.
What is the most efficient way to use my radios before, during, and after an emergency? Plan ahead, use appropriate identifiers (tactical call signs, first names) so you know who is who, agree on a communications protocol and relay mechanism for your neighborhood and get your local Amateur Radio Service operator and GMRS licensee involved in the planning! Be polite, listen before transmitting, and communicate quickly and precisely so that others can also use the channels. Use your radios to stay in touch with your children as they play and encourage your neighbors to do the same with their kids. Use these useful radios during neighborhood events. use your radios to help you with communications in your family business. Always listen carefully before transmitting. Never yell or shout into a radio and avoid the use of call tones.
Should my local jurisdiction declare a GMRS and FRS emergency channel? Can we tell others not involved in our public service communications to vacate the frequency? They may not and should not. Only the Federal Communications can grant a Special Temporary Authority or designate a communications emergency (called a temporary state of communication emergency in FCC Pat 97.401) to accomplish this purpose. What a local jurisdiction can do is a create a communications plan for neighborhoods that includes FRS and GMRS channels. This plan may direct that certain neighborhoods meet on specific channels to pass messages and organize their response during a disaster. Likewise a civilian repeater group of GMRS licensees or a grandfathered organization has no right to tell others to leave a frequency.
I was told that as long as I use the FRS channels on a twenty-two channel GMRS/FRS hybrid radio that I do not need a GMRS license. Is that true? That is not true. The FCC website clearly states that if a radio was approved/certified by the Commission as a GMRS radio then the operator requires a GMRS license to operate the radio. The presumption is that you will use all of the channels in the radio not just the FRS channels. There would be no requirement to use a GMRS call sign on FRS channels 8-14 on a twenty-two channel radio; however, there may be a requirement to use a GMRS call sign on FRS 1-7 IF the 22 channel radio you own uses more than the FRS legal power of one-half watt on those channels. Some do! An FRS-ONLY radio requires NO FCC license.
My local fire department has an old UHF repeater and a bunch of UHF portables they want to issue to our CERT team. Can they do that? We assume you mean that the agency has what is know as an FCC Part 90 repeater and wants to move it and the portable radios to GMRS under FCC R&R Part 95(a). The Fire Department may not license as an organization in GMRS. The department is not eligible under the FCC Rules to operate the GMRS repeater. A GMRS licensee, potentially a member of the department, would be required to assume personal responsibility for the operation of the new repeater. This means that he would need access to the repeater to shut it down in the event of a malfunction. Every CERT member would require an FCC license. If multiple family members of one member were issued radios then they could operate under the same license. The license of the person responsible for the repeater does NOT cover anyone but other members of his immediate family. Each person using an issued radio is also responsible for the proper operation of that transmitter. The department has NO culpability under the rules since they are not the licensee.
When is CERT operation likely to become incompatible with the definition of the GMRS? It is likely to become incompatible if the amount of group activity begins to monopolize the channel and the use is at the expense of other licensees in the area, particularly if use of the channel becomes exclusive to the CERT group.
Does the ARRL play a role in the GMRS or FRS? No. The ARRL represents the Amateur Radio Service.
May Amateur Radio Operators use modified Amateur Radio equipment on GMRS and FRS in an emergency? No.
May Amateur Radio operators use GMRS during an emergency? Are there benefits? There is a benefit for GMRS licensed hams to use GMRS. Hams may NOT conduct personal business in the Amateur Service but they MAY conduct personal business on GMRS. This means Amateurs could conduct support activities for their groups requiring purchases and deliveries of supplies etc. without seeking an STA from the Commission (under 97.401) to allow same in the Amateur allocation. The Amateurs must not use modified Amateur equipment on GMRS.) The Amateurs using the GMRS in this fashion are NOT considered to be using GMRS in an emergency so they must still share the service with other licensees. The Ham MAY NOT talk cross band to the Amateur Radio Service. This is specifically forbidden in Part 95 of the FCC's Rules.
What is a Special Temporary Authority? A Special Temporary Authority issued by the FCC suspends various FCC Rules for a very short time in order to facilitate the handling of a communications emergency. These have been used in the Amateur Radio Service and once that we know of in the GMRS after hurricane Katrina when power company crews were granted the right to use readily available GMRS radios to communicate between each other.
We have decided just to use our radios whenever we want and not worry about licensing. No one is really going to care right? Not true. The GMRS licensees in your area will care very much.
We want to set up a repeater for CERT. Is that a good idea? The resource would be more compatible with GMRS if all licensees in the area were allowed to use the repeater for family business as defined in the rules. It could then be used in time of emergency by those same families that are also CERT volunteers. This is a common practice ALREADY among various REACT groups across the United States.
Can the local jurisdiction issue GMRS radios to volunteers. Only if those volunteers are licensed in the GMRS or if the FCC issues a Special Temporary Authority. The latter is typically only done under very serious circumstances and only for the period required. This would preclude issuing radios for practice drills unless every user is licensed in the GMRS. Any radios issued to volunteers must also be radios approved for use in the GMRS. (FCC R&R 95.603, 95.129) The licensed operator of that radio is also responsible for the proper operation of that radio.
Why does it seem so difficult to use GMRS in an emergency? Isn't that what it is there for? The General Mobile Radio Service was not created as an umbrella communications service for emergency service organizations. There has been a trend for groups to define GMRS in that way for their own purposes. Some of these groups have run afoul of the FCC Rules and have been contacted officially by the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau. The result has been a clash across the country between these groups and legitimate personal licensees. Large "buff" groups operate outside the definition of the service discouraging individuals from using buff-group frequencies. These groups claim superiority over the FCC Rules because of who they think they are and because of what they think they do. These groups are now becoming the exception rather than the rule.
As a CERT volunteer shouldn't I be able to use any repeater I want to? No. GMRS repeaters are private property. You must have a prior written agreement to share the GMRS repeater of another licensee. You have no right or special authority to use the GMRS system of another based on your CERT affiliation.
May I rebroadcast NOAA Weather over GMRS or FRS. No. That is against FCC Rules. FCC R&R 95.183(a)(14)
May I rebroadcast public safety broadcasts over GMRS or FRS. No. That is against FCC Rules. Specifically it is a violation of the Electronics Communications Privacy Act, United States Code, USC Title 18, Part I, Section 2511. Refer to definitions provided in Section 2510. You may not rebroadcast calls directly nor may you summarize and rebroadcast fire or police calls. This PRECLUDES fire-chasing and police-call hobby groups from discussing private police and fire communications on GMRS at any time. Those broadcasts are considered private and may not be divulged if you are not the intended recipient. Read the Act because no matter how you rationalize it you should not be doing it. GMRS rules also prohibit broadcasting. These broadcasts, since they are illegal, are not considered paging. The FCC Rules still prohibit GMRS licensees from transmitting radio messages intended for live or delayed public broadcasts see FCC R&R 95.183(a)(11). It makes no difference that your hobby is scanner monitoring and you claim your "personal business" is sharing your hobby with friends. In this case your hobby runs afoul of the ECPA which is federal law. You cannot rebroadcast private communications.
May I rebroadcast Amateur Radio broadcasts over GMRS or FRS. No. That is against FCC Rules.
May I communicate cross band with an Amateur Radio station? No. That is against FCC Rules, FCC R&R 95.183 (a)(13), UNLESS it is an emergency as defined in the GMRS Rules. It is the PRA's interpretation that this does NOT include typical disaster aftermath tactical radio traffic. Based on the current FCC Rules this should never happen since an Amateur should never be transmitting on GMRS and a GMRS licensee will never be listening on the Amateur bands for a reply.
What is the best way for me to get communications for my CERT group? Don't reinvent the wheel and KISS. Hopefully the agency sponsoring your group has a committed leader with better- than-average disaster planning experience, excellent knowledge of communication systems, and the ability to manage diverse resources and supervise volunteers to accomplish the mission. Leadership makes all the difference in disaster planning because the biggest mistake any jurisdiction can make is allowing poor leadership to Balkanize critical communications resources. RACES/ARES all need to be the SAME organization- just the same guys with different hats and types of assignments. You do not want separate groups with egos that cannot or will not talk to each other confusing emergency communications by competing with each other! The service providers like Salvation Army, Red Cross, and CERT should benefit primarily from communications service provided by the Amateur Radio Service and that should be organized in concert with the local OEM/OES as part of a local disaster communications plan. Your jurisdiction's disaster plan should have the Amateur Radio Service volunteers providing you with links back to your OES/OEM headquarters. In many cases the Hams can also advise new CERT volunteers on organizing communication at the local level showing you how to use GMRS and FRS radio equipment properly. Many Hams also hold GMRS licenses. There are GMRS licensees in a community that would be happy to help your group. Someone in your neighborhood could become a Ham if a Ham volunteer cannot be assigned. Your local Ham Radio Operator can relay important radio messages back to an OES or OEM headquarters if your neighborhood is cut off in an emergency. Your neighborhood and CERT team should be a part of a Multi-Hazard Functional Plan and everyone's role should be defined. Setting up a communications system on your own won't help you if it is not part of the larger plan and frankly you will just be trying to reinvent the wheel. CERT volunteers are trained to provide valuable first-on-scene disaster related services prior to the arrival of public safety personnel. You were not trained to recreate pre-existing communications resources or systems. Setting up competing communications groups is not productive. Setting up neighborhood communications plans IS productive; however, you need to use existing resources effectively. Plan a very-local method of communicating for each of your neighborhoods. Your disaster preparedness officials should be dealing with your communications issues now and not later. Do it wisely and work within the FCC Rules.
When a repeater is set up on a GMRS frequency pair is it good operating practice to avoid using either channel of that frequency pair in the regular coverage area of the repeater? No. That's the Amateur Radio way of looking at the GMRS. There is a strong likelihood that more than one GMRS repeater shares or crosses over into the coverage area of another. The practice you describe is one Amateurs use in areas served by one repeater on a given frequency. They can do this because they have hundreds of frequencies to use. GMRS has EIGHT repeater pairs and seven low-power Interstitials (FRS 1-7). FRS 1-7 have largely been rendered worthless in urban areas with the proliferation of bubble-pack radios. Simplex is often carried out on the eight GMRS repeater outputs. In GMRS we do things a bit differently. We work at making sure we do not monopolize air time. GMRS is a directed communications service for personal licensees conducting their personal business and not a QSO based service like the Amateur Service. When we keep our transmissions brief and to the point (for the most part) we make it possible for channel sharing to occur. Remember that the FCC expects licensees to SHARE and not monopolize a frequency. A service group operating a high-level repeater with non-stop chatter about the service is monopolizing a channel over a wide area. So no. Other licensees are NOT expected to avoid using a repeater output for another repeater or even simplex use within the foot print of a particular GMRS repeater.
Are simplex users on a repeater output frequency interfering with repeater users who are listening for calls on a local repeater and not transmitting? No. Again, the GMRS licensee is going to listen for on-air activity and transmit if no activity is heard. This is channel sharing. Where it might be considered rude to do the same in the Amateur Service it is not considered rude on GMRS. In areas with busy radio channels licensees do their best to keep on-air activity short and to the point.
When a distant repeater is transmitting on GMRS and a person on simplex transmits is that considered interference? No. Portable radios and mobile radios may not hear what a base station hears. A licensee gets to know the GMRS in his/her area and knows how far away the users of distant repeaters are. We do this because we want to share the resource effectively. We are also aware of the "capture effect." Simplex transmissions many miles from the user of a repeater are not going to cause interference. Repeater DX'ing is not part of the GMRS so there is NO expectation that licensees are going to be repeater hopping looking for conversations. |
||||
| |
