Why I got a GMRS license, and why you should, too. - YouTube

So I got a GMRS license. I’ll tell you why,  and why I couldn’t wait, and how to get one.  

Coming up today on Ria’s shack.

So hey, Ria here, and welcome to the shack. Here  we talk about ham radio primarily but there are  

a few other personal radio services too. And I’ve  talked about them briefly, primarily in how they  

differ from amateur radio. But today I’m going to  tell you why I, personally, got a license for GMRS  

and even got some GMRS radios. These radios were  kindly sent to me by my friends at Retevis and  

I’ll be doing a full review on all of these radios  very soon, so if you don’t want to miss out,  

hit that subscribe button, and the notification  bell and you’ll be notified of every new video.

So we’re going to talk a  bit about GMRS, the General  

Mobile Radio Service, and FRS  - the Family Radio Service.

What is GMRS? Well, remember in my CB radio  video, I talked about how the FCC wanted to put  

CB radio up in the UHF bands, but due to  cost reasons they had to come down to 27MHz.

But actually the FCC did enact a UHF CB service.  The FCC set aside frequencies from 450 to 470 MHz,  

and enacted the Class A  Citizens Band Radio Service.

In between then and now, FRS and GMRS shared  some channels and frequencies, with FRS being  

lower power and GMRS being higher power.  GMRS required a license, and FRS did not.  

But it was becoming hard to enforce that, so…  

in 2017 the FCC amended the rules, FRS  radios were bumped up to 2 watts of power,  

but the FCC also eliminated radios that could  be used on both FRS and GMRS. So no more combo  

FRS and GMRS radios, apart from those that  were grandfathered before this new regulation.  

And I know a lot of people ask me, why can’t  we just have one radio to rule them all,  

but the FCC doesn’t like that.  They don’t think that way.

So why did I get a GMRS license?

Well, the first reason has to do with an important  restriction in amateur radio. As you may know,  

I’m a part 107 drone pilot. I actually do a fair  amount of commercial drone projects and it’s a  

nice side gig to have. I enjoy flying drones a  lot and taking breathtaking video from up above,  

and photos, too. But sometimes I don’t work  alone, and I may have a visual observer or  

some other person on my flight crew. And  yes, these are legal definitions by the FAA.

So amateur radio really doesn’t  allow commercial activity  

on amateur radio frequencies,  with very rare exceptions.  

Those are for teachers, a limited exception  for hospital drills, and finally, the control  

operator for the ARRL headquarters bulletin  station at W1AW in Newington, Connecticut.

GMRS on the other hand, can be used for  commercial purposes. But there is a nuance  

you need to know about. One of these nuances is  that a company itself cannot have a GMRS license.  

At least not anymore. A few are grandfathered in.  

But an individual can have a license, and it’s  perfectly legal to conduct commercial activity  

on GMRS. And, you can actually use one  license for an entire household. Pretty neat.  

Especially since it costs $70 today but  will be dropping to $35 in the future.

But that’s not the only reason. One of my brothers  moved somewhat nearby. He’s now up in Connecticut  

and specifically asked about radios. He’s not  interested in ham radio but he wants to keep  

in touch with his immediate family when he’s  there. And that’s valid. So I got to thinking.  

My kids will get licensed eventually but for now,  I probably want to give them a radio when we are  

out and about so we can communicate.  And if we’re doing commercial activity,  

because, spoiler alert, sometimes they are my  drone flight crew, we can use GMRS, legally.

But perhaps another more important reason -  it is a tool to have in your comms toolbox.  

There may come a time, when you need to have  people who want to help with communications  

but don’t necessarily want to  take an amateur radio exam.  

That’s where GMRS fits in perfectly. I  was told by a few people that GMRS radios  

are already being used in some public events  like the New York City Marathon and others.  

Of course the marathon does make extensive use  of ham radio as well but GMRS has its place.

Or if you’re into prepping and you need  radios that aren’t on the ham bands,  

because hams are very particular  about intruders, and rightfully so.  

So you get on GMRS, and hopefully those  you talk to have a license as well.

So just how do you get a license.

You do need to first sign up for an FCC  Registration Number, or FRN. This basically  

is a digital ID that the FCC uses to  conduct business with you. The old method,  

especially for amateur radio licenses  was to supply your Social Security Number  

and the FCC would keep track  of you that way. No more.  

They’re requiring FRNs now, and I think this  is better for many reasons, especially privacy.

If you have an amateur radio license, you already  have an FRN and you can go on the FCC website,  

log in to the Universal Licensing System, or ULS,  with your same FCC Registration number or FRN,  

then apply for the license there. You’re  looking for the service code ZA which is  

for GMRS. Fill out the info, then continue  to certify, pay your fee and you’re done.  

Your license will be issued in a day or so.  By the way, you do need an Email address,  

because the FCC has gone completely paperless. It  saves them a ton of money in printing and postage,  

so they’ve eliminated pretty much all  paper forms and license documents.

The callsign format is basically four letters  and a number. I got the callsign WRNY816.  

It’s different from my amateur callsign.  And yes you do have to use this on air.

Once your license appears in the FCC database,  you can transmit right away. You do have to  

identify your station and you need to say your  callsign at the end of your transmissions,  

and every 15 minutes in between. It’s same  concept as amateur radio, but a bit more lax.

You do have repeaters in GMRS, some of them  run by off road clubs, because it’s popular  

with off road vehicle enthusiasts. Some of  these repeaters are closed, some are open.  

Better to ask for permission. There’s a website  below I’ll link with details on repeaters.

But anyway, so that’s why I got a  license, and why I got into GMRS.  

I’ll have the reviews of these  radios up soon, so look out for them.

Thanks for watching, if you did like the  content, please hit that subscribe button  

and give us a thumbs up. Until next time,  This is N2RJ… and WRNY816. See ya round!