Dump GRMS license fee since FRS only radios are not available anymore.
Why should we have to pay $85 for a license to use an FRS radio when all you can buy today is an FRS/GMRS radio that nobody is getting a license for anyway?
46 comments
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Arlo commented
The PEOPLE OWN the airwaves. How about charging businesses, for-profit entities, to use OUR airwaves.
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Anonymous commented
lower the fee add to the cost of radio and then requ. the purchaser to show a lic. for that class of radio if it has gmrs or higher could be done cheap and easy you suppose to have a lic. to drive a car and before you can regest. the car you have to show proof of insurance to the clerk at dmv so why cannt we reque. showing a radio lic. at time of purchase to the salesman
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Anonymous commented
Sooo... if I buy a 3-pack GMRS radios, I need to pay 3 times $70 bucks = $210 bucks.
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Anonymous commented
I think the FCC would bring in a lot more money if the license was just $10, think about it, if a million people paid $10 that's 10 million dollars, or how about just allow people with 2 watts or less handhelds have no license required and over 2 watts you would need the license, that would make more sense. I don't think any of the high powered people with 50 watts would mind letting people use those bubble pack 2 watts or less without a license, I mean they really only get out a few blocks, it's really a joke, but they require a license for a joke.
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Anonymous commented
They can give away Billions of Tax Payers money to Israel to kill unarmed men women and children, Give aid to illegal fence jumpers. But charge us citizens for a GMRS radio. Land of the Free yeah right.
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Anonymous commented
I have my license and i respect the law. SIMPLE!
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EIRPSurfer commented
Just wondering...do illegal aliens need a license? If they don't need an ID card to vote, why should any free-blooded American? Why pay a fee for "enforcement" when the only people who will come find you and turn you in are your "fellow citizens". $85??? D-U-M-B
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Anonymous commented
The license was to keep GMRS from turning into the same mess as Class D CB, the irony being that GMRS was Class A CB in the first place. By keeping licensing, at any price, one must agree to abide by rules they might not abide by otherwise. I agree with other posters, charge $10 for 10 years...at least the FCC will get SOME money out of the deal.
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Anonymous commented
I am a ham I listen to the local uhf and vhf frequencies. I have never, not once, heard someone use a call sign on GMRS. No one gets the license. Simply compare the number of bubble pack radios sold to the total number of licensees. This has been a pending rule change for half a decade. Get rid of the requirement.
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Anonymous commented
I've seen several posts here that say there is a fee for a a ham (amateur) license. That is not true. The FCC DOES NOT CHARGE 1 PENNY FOR A HAM LICENSE OR IT'S RENEWAL. Some confusion may exist because the volunteer examiner is permitted to charge a fee to cover his expenses for administering the licensing test. The FCC does not receive any of this money. When I was licensed, the tests were administered by the FCC for no charge. Under certain circumstances, and for certain license classes, the test would be supplied by the FCC to be administered by a volunteer licensed ham for free. I seem to also recall that all FCC licenses were at one time free, then sometime during my lifespan in the 20th century, congress authorized the FCC to collect license fees, but the $9 testing and renewal fee for amateur licenses was dropped in 1977, along with the $20 CB license fee.
As far a GMRS goes, I don't believe there has ever been a case of the FCC busting anyone for the use of an unlicensed bubble pack GMRS radio. There is even less chance of that happening now, as the FCC has greatly reduces it's number of field agents. Unless someone is intentionally, repeatedly causing interference, I think the chances of them being fined or prosecuted is totally nil. They should just admit that it won't happen and drop the fee.
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Bruce Parshall commented
Licensed amateur radio operators should not be required to obtain an additional license when using GMRS radios.
If that is not workable, at least make the fees the same. $15 for 10 years would be a reasonable fee, would encourage compliance and would be more readily perceived as being in line with the other licenses.
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Anonymous commented
Please allow licensed amateur radio operators to operate GMRS radios without a GMRS license.
utter foolishness of charging $85 or $90 for a GMRS license when an Amateur Radio License is just $15. Set the license fee at $10 for ten years so it will encourage others to get licensed. -
John Spitta commented
Please drop the fee. Or lower it to $5. It is out of scale.
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Ace commented
Remove the GMRS license requirement for public volunteer groups such as CERT, ARES, etc. Furthermore, allow licensed amateur radio operators to operate GMRS radios without a GMRS license.
Set the license fee at $10 for ten years so it will encourage others to get licensed.
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Bryan commented
The FCC screwed up letting the combo FRS/GMRS radios go to market. Since the cat is out of the bag, a more sensible proposal would be to unlicense the simplex channels and limit them to 2 watts like MURS. And then keep the repeater pairs and 5+ watt simplex operations to licensed users.
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steven commented
UHF Cb like Australia would be real fun.. Just my 2 cents
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Carlos Trujillo commented
GMRS should be free, please drop the license requirement.
Thank you.
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Waldorf Astoria commented
I highly concur with the March 2, 2015 12:38 PM comment made by Anonymous, and would like to reiterate the utter foolishness of charging $85 or $90 for a GMRS license when an Amateur Radio License is just $15.
That's beyond absurd.
Given the relative benefits between GMRS and Amateur Radio, a $5, 5-year license would be acceptable.
The "Redlight Review" is probably what's eating up all the funds. What moron of a criminal or a subversive element is going to apply for a license, anyway? Perhaps 2%? Probably the same moronic onesies and twosies that get caught in the firearms background checks.
Both systems are horrendous and grossly ineffective wastes of American citizens' dollars.
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Christopher Nordstrom [W7CFN] commented
Why does the FCC charge a license fee for GMRS but no license fee for Amateur Radio operators which actually takes a lot more resources?
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Anonymous commented
Per my previous comment, The GMRS/FRS system is primarily a standby emergency network and cost for licenses should be FREE ! That being said, perhaps a repeater should have a license fee of $12 every 8 years.