Business use of GMRS

[SteveShannon]

12 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Since you can't recall it's just speculation they might have been licensed to use that frequency at the time.

I remember having an on-air disagreement with a person using a radio at the now de-funked Troys-R-Us store a mile or so from my old apartment on the MURS service. They said it was a licensed "Private" 900MHz frequency and I had to get off the air. Dah!! 900MHz? They were smoking something. I informed them it wasn't 900MHz, it's a VHF frequency now a part of the MURS service and is shared between users, then bluntly told them I wasn't leaving the frequency. I wasn't interfering with their communications, they apparently didn't like the idea they had to share it.

I'm sure there are many other cases where old business users still think they have exclusive use of a particular frequency.  For example the local mall by me is still routinely operating under GMRS, they have a repeater in operation (462.575/467.575), but their license expired years ago. They continue to operate unlicensed to this day. Since it expired they can't get it renewed for business use. See attached files from the FCC database.

Before anyone gets tied up in a knot I would recommend researching the business/frequency first to see if they are in fact licensed. There could be a few legitimately grandfathered licensed users out there. 

Lakeside Mall KAB1523 GMRS - Admin.pdf 490.3 kB · 0 downloads Lakeside Mall KAB1523 GMRS - Main.pdf 462.01 kB · 0 downloads

That’s true, but while a grandfathered license limits them to a specific frequency it doesn’t grant them exclusive use of the frequency now. I don’t know if it did in the 90’s when the incident occurred. 

[Lscott]

14 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

That’s true, but while a grandfathered license limits them to a specific frequency it doesn’t grant them exclusive use of the frequency now. I don’t know if it did in the 90’s when the incident occurred. 

Unfortunately the typical user thinks that a licensed frequency grants them exclusive use of a frequency. That might be how it was explained to them when they got the radios. Some will be receptive to an explanation. Others, unfortunately, will tell you to go bugger off and quit using "their" frequency/channel. Their learning experience will be longer and more stressful. 

[jeffsimmons1960]

10 hours ago, Lscott said:

Unfortunately the typical user thinks that a licensed frequency grants them exclusive use of a frequency. That might be how it was explained to them when they got the radios. Some will be receptive to an explanation. Others, unfortunately, will tell you to go bugger off and quit using "their" frequency/channel. Their learning experience will be longer and more stressful. 

That's what I mean, it's one thing if they are polite about it and say "hey, we do business on this channel, would you mind moving?", but when they try and throw an authority trip on you like "you need to vacate this frequency NOW, or you'll get arrested for interfering with our official business" that kind of changes things. Like I said, I have all the respect in the world for law enforcement, but these local warrant servers around here with their antics are laughable.

[WQAI363]

What's there to misunderstand, very little. Licenses that were issued prior to 1987 are grandfathered. Meaning they can still use the GMRS frequencies for commercial use. I doubt that there are businesses out there with GMRS licenses, but you never know. I guess the Town Watch that I was a member of were bending the rules and regulations when we went from CB to GMRS in 1993. Only two board members were licensed, and we piggybacked off of their licenses. Plus the radios we had were YAESU FTH 7008,which I'm sure were Part 90 Typed Accepted.

 

I confused when the FCC changed the channel allocations. I knew GMRS was simplex and repeaters. I thought the FCC add 

464.5000 / 469.5000

464.5500 / 469.5500

 

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, Adamdaj said:

I thought the FCC add 

464.5000 / 469.5000

464.5500 / 469.5500

Nope.

[AdmiralCochrane]

I didn't think it was legal to "piggyback" other than family members.  

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

I didn't think it was legal to "piggyback" other than family members.  

Businesses were allowed to have their employees use their GMRS license. It’s still permitted in the regulations for grandfathered licenses. 
 

“Any non-individual person that holds a grandfathered GMRS license may allow individuals to operate its grandfathered GMRS station(s) only in accordance with the following paragraphs: 

(i) A partnership may allow its partners and employees to operate its GMRS station(s). 

(ii) A corporation may allow its officers, directors, members and employees to operate its GMRS station(s). 

(iii) An association may allow its members and employees to operate its GMRS station(s). 

(iv) A governmental unit may allow its employees to operate its GMRS station(s).”

[WRUU653]

It seems likely to me that many if not most of these grandfathered licenses have not been kept up and fallen by the wayside. That’s not to say that there aren’t businesses forging ahead without licenses. I just think that is the exception. Certainly FRS gets used out there like in construction or roadwork but as for GMRS I think it is not that prevalent. This is just my unsubstantiated opinion based on what I see and hear or rather don’t hear around me.

[Lscott]

8 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

That’s not to say that there aren’t businesses forging ahead without licenses.

Yeah, the house keeping employees at a local mall are doing exactly that, since 10/2015.

[gortex2]

17 hours ago, Adamdaj said:

I confused when the FCC changed the channel allocations. I knew GMRS was simplex and repeaters. I thought the FCC add 

464.5000 / 469.5000

464.5500 / 469.5500

 

No those are licensed part 90 frequencies.

 

[WQAI363]

 My Explanation for my Post on 11 April 2023. I was referring to Radio Shack Pro 96 and 106 scanners had preprogrammed frequencies, which a handful of them were not in the services that listed as. Of course, they have CB radio, FRS / GMRS and MURS, they also have Part 90 VHF/UHF channels that piggybacked off of the Part 95 Services. 

That's what had me confused. I those Frequencies that I listed were Part 90 Business Band