I have had a GMRS Repeater for over 20 years on 462.600 in Central Texas. Recently Bell County government decided to use up 3 of the 8 GMRS Repeater pares with a networked GMRS System. The local head of the EOC used a license in his name, since a government entity cannot be licensed for GMRS. See screen shot below of the Bell County Ownership in their own words. Bell County EOC already has Ham Repeaters, Cell Phones, and a County Wide P-25 System, so they already have several layers of communication. Linking of GMRS has never been allowed so this is not something new. This why there were never any phone patches back before cell phones became common. GMRS was designed for Family/Individual use with or without repeaters. Two guys talking who are separated by 1 mile bring up every GMRS Repeater on the network which is a supper waste of resources and blocks locals from using the repeater system. Often, as in my case, someone decides to throw up one or more repeaters without checking to see if the repeater pare is in use so they can build a network. Often the "EMERGENCY USE" Card is played to justify a system, when there are already multiple systems in existence, to cover emergency situations. Also, EMERGENCT USE is not legal if there are any other systems available such as cell phone, amateur, or government radio systems. No matter how hard you want to be able bend the rules to fit your desires, there are rules that will eventually be enforced by the FCC. As a commercial radio operator and an amateur radio operator I am glad to see the FCC step up and put a stop to linking GMRS Repeaters. Now I would like to see the FCC enforce the rules about Government Entities not being able to use GMRS as Bell County Texas has decided they will. Look up the GMRS call sign in the jpg below and you will find it belongs to the Bell County EOC Director. The guy also has an amateur extra class ham license so he should know how to read the FCC rules and know better. He just decided to "BEND" the FCC rules to get around the prohibition of Bell County getting a GMRS license from the FCC by using his GMRS license.
