Leaderboard

Where they went wrong in their petition was bringing up amateur transceivers. Any commercially marketed amateur transmitter (in the US) has to be type certified for operation in Part 97 and the receivers have to be at least Part 15. However, being amateur radio, any home brew or "modified" (this includes Part 90 gear running in ham land) equipment just needs to meet the technical standards of Part 97. Most of the current petitions out there (or most recent) are from hams who won't suck it up and get a radio without VFO. There is tons of surplus Part 90 (and 95) equipment out there that simply did not meet narrow banding. Ham's either A) trying to petition the FCC to allow Part 97 equipment or trying to petition the FCC to allow hams to use GMRS without applying for the licensing and using equipment that meets or exceeds the technical specs won't get anywhere. Also if you look into the emergency side of the statement, you'll realize that many of the guys who are a part of RACES/ARES and utilize GMRS also hang up their Part 97 FM transceivers in an emergency in favor of Part 90 FM transceivers because they are more or less idiot proof, much more rugged, and allow for easier interoperability between all emergency personnel.