Question: Paid Subscription Repeaters?

[WRYZ926]

29 minutes ago, wilbilt62 said:

Yes, I see that now.

Unfortunately, where I live in rural Nor Cal, you can't swing a dead cat around without hitting somebody's "private" repeater.

Often on the same frequencies and tones.

Might as well shut my radios down and throw them away. A shame that "public" frequencies aren't "public".

One advantage of amateur radio is that there are repeater counsels to help prevent that kind of mess. Though that is harder to do with GMRS repeaters since there are only 8 repeater channels available.

[WRCR724]

On 4/28/2025 at 7:38 PM, OffRoaderX said:

If that makes you sad, you should set up your own repeater so everyone can use it for free and teach them all a lesson.

[WRKC935]

On 4/29/2025 at 3:08 PM, wilbilt62 said:

If no rules or laws have been broken, what would be the basis of the complaint? A serious question. 

Well, if you are operating on someone's repeater, and have been 'told' (documented) to NOT use their repeater, then the complaint is malicious interference with the repeater.  Which is one of the few things that the FCC will in fact look into.  But the repeater owner needs to have documented proof that you have been informed that the repeater is for private use, which is also legal under GMRS, and you are still interfering with the repeater.  Randy mentioned that there are FEW enforcement actions in the GMRS service. But those that do exist are for interference. 

Now here's the rub.  If you are contacted by the FCC about interfering with someone's private repeater and you tell them it's a paid repeater.  Then, since they are doing an investigation, they MIGHT look into that.  If the owner has his documentation together and can prove it's either a club machine and he collects 'club dues' or he can show that the money collected is ONLY for the maintenance of the repeater, he's in the clear.  If not, then he might get a notice too.  But YOU are getting a notice if it goes that far.  Regardless of what he's going or not doing legally, you are interfering with his repeater. 

Interference is one of those really broad regulations that most anything fits into.  Broken radios that are transmitting off frequency is interference.  Putting up a repeater on the same frequency as another one in your town when there are other pairs open.  Again, interference.  This one needs a bit more to it, like the new repeater owner needs to KNOW there is another repeater there, or at minimum your repeater needs to be well documented as preexisting the new one.  And your not gonna get any assistance with this if your repeater is on your garage and talks 2 miles.  But a high profile machine that is documented and public, yeah, the FCC is gonna be on their side of it. 

But, in this case, being told, with documented notice (first class mail with signed receipt) that you are interfering with the operations of a private repeater can get the FCC's attention.  But it's gonna need to be more than a telephone call to the FCC office to get the ball rolling.  But if the repeater in question is well used by other's and they are paying their fee, and you aren't.  It's not difficult for the owner to request the membership file complaints, and actually get part of them to do so.  If you get multiple complaints from multiple license holders, you are going to get a letter from the FCC about your actions. 

[WRUE951]

Although I've never really used it, my repeater is set up to remotely disable/enable and i can even send the commands via my cell phone.