E1742: FCC Vague Rules = Future GMRS Enforcement Actions

*🚨 Is NGGMRS Linking GMRS Repeaters Over the Internet LEGAL? FCC Rules Breakdown**

In this deep dive, we examine the massive North Georgia GMRS Network (NGGMRS) — one of the largest linked GMRS repeater systems in the US — and ask the big question: Is linking repeaters across the internet allowed under FCC Part 95 rules?

Whether you're a NGGMRS member, a GMRS operator frustrated with linked networks, or just curious about the legality — this video delivers the facts, FCC website quotes, and community debate you need.
If you use GMRS repeaters, like or dislike linked systems, drop your thoughts in the comments! 👍
Today's video is sponsored by ABR Coax - save 10% off of their products with code ABR10KC5HWB at this link - https://abrind.com/?sld=kc5hwb


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ham-radio-2-0--2042782/support.

Speaker 1: North Georgia GMRS. I've talked about them before. They are

basically linking GMRS repeaters together over the internet, an all

Star type system, an IAX or an Asterisk type system.

They're not supposed to do that. It's been pretty clear.

They say they don't care, and people say the FCC

doesn't care. But I just found this information and I'm

wondering if maybe that was all wrong. I wonder if

the FCC part is wrong. I want to clarify that

real quick. Does the FCC care? That is the age

old question. I think yes, the FCC cares, and I

think yes, they're very undermanned and underpowered and they just

don't have time to do everything. And the issue of

to a radio is one small sliver of everything that

the FCC covers and encompasses. So, but I was sent

this article by one of you guys. This is on Reddit.

It's in the GMRS subreddit, which I don't frank with

very much, but maybe I should start doing that a

little bit more. Okay, So the title is FCC doesn't

look kindly on this. It's written by worried Area five

oh three three. Okay, reading down through this, this guy

claims to be with the FCC. Okay, and we're going

to read some of the posts he made on this form.

We're going to read some of the comments, some of

the things he says and some of the things other

people say. So to start out, he says, Hey, North

Georgia GMRS, not only are you breaking the law linking repeaters,

but your quote club is sponsored by North Georgia Amateur

Radio Club and an extra class licensee holder in the

Amateur Radio Service. You're linking grms GMRS and accepting money

for access to use. FCC is going to have a

field day with you. WB four GMB. That's a Ham

radio call sign. The first comment is one of the

better ones quote if those kids could read, they'd be

very upset. And then the original poster he says for

North Georgia. I'm shocked they can even identify letters. Okay.

Some of this guy's come this worried area guy. Okay,

he claims to be from FCC. I'll show you this

in a second. Some of his comments scene kind of unprofessional.

I don't disagree with what he's saying. He says some stuff.

I think a lot of it's very accurate. Home Wrecker

says four of the six repeater frequencies are linked in Chattanooga.

First of all, there's eight repeater frequencies fifteen through twenty two.

There's eight repeater frequencies that are viable for repeater use.

There's more than four of them that are linked together.

Of course, that's going to be dependent on area. This

guy's in Chattanooga, Tennessee. If you're in Tennessee or parts

of Southern Georgia or North Georgia across the border, then

you might not hear all of the eight repeater frequencies

that they have linked together. But it's darn near all

of them. And the reason I know that it's not

because I'm out there, but it's because you guys have

sent me videos just like this one. Check this out

real quick GMRS channel sixteen, two, three, five, six, And

if you see a little snippet of that video, he

actually dropped down to channel fifteen, sound like he was

far away from the repeater. There's a lot of static

in there, but you could hear kind of the same

conversation going on in channel fifteen as well. He went

channels sixteen through twenty two and heard the same conversation

and when he briefly touched on channel fifteen, you could

kind of hear the same conversation over there also eight

repeater frequencies all linked together, essentially eliminates seven of your

repeater frequencies. Now you've got one GMRS repeater channel in

that area and it's controlled by one group, and if

you want to put up your own GMRS repeater, the

channel's already used, So too bad for you. I read

this mental chef sixteen seventeen. They know and they don't care.

Who is the day they're talking about. I think he's

talking about North Georgia GMRS because the original poster posts

about North Georgia GMRS. And his response is they know,

they don't care. But the original poster says not really

pays to works in DC, So he's talking like which

a lot of other people say the FCC knows and

doesn't care, But I don't think that's what that comment meant.

He says not really pays to work in DC. Third

guy comes in Okidoki. They haven't exactly been flying under

the radar since the rules about linked peters were clarified,

So I'm not sure what sway you think you have

to get the FCC to actually give a damn and

he said the original poster again, the actual complaints received.

The desk next to me has three, and I had

one forwarded here today from last week. And know that

doesn't violate anything. I guess that means he can tell

you that on the public forum. Well, best of luck

to you. I expect they'll receive a strongly worded letter

that they'll continue to ignore any day now. Very well,

said Charlie Marlowe. So keep on going. Okay, makes sense.

It's not the FCC cares, it's that someone cares that

might have an ear. And he says I am the ear. Okay.

So again, this guy says he's working with the FCC. Okay. So,

and you know, some of his responses in here a

little bit off if you ask me. But hopefully he's correct.

Hopefully he actually does. I hope that he does work

for the FCC, and I hope he addresses this problem.

Mister FCC, mister worried area five oh three three, Turn

on a Ham radio and spin the dial and go

down to seven two megahertz from anywhere, on any day,

anytime of day, seven point two megahertz. Give that a

look see, let me know what you think. I'd love

to hear a comment from you in my video about that. Now,

if you guys are setting up a GMRS station and

doing it correctly in your vehicle or at your home base,

don't link a bunch of crap together. But if you're

doing it correctly, okay, you're gonna want to run some

really good coacts to your radio from your intenna. Hopefully

your intenna is outside of your home and you're not

in n HLA and you got a good intenna on

top of the car. I highly recommend ABR co ACX.

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They have some of the best coacts in the amateur

radio world. But it works great for any type of

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for being such a great supporter of the Ham Radio

and the GMRS. Communities post back here. If the FCC

actually does any thing about it, not going to hold

my breath understandable. Okay, I'll uptick that one, he says, Sure,

see reason I posted this as well. Guess what kind

of complaint comes across our desk last week? He's hinting

that he worked for the FCC. I'll uptick that one too,

that he works for the FCC and this complaint came

across their desk last week. If this complaint just came

across their desk last week, what about the last year

and a half of complaints about this crap? This is

not new information, okay, So I'd be curious to see

what that is about this one. Right here is an

incredibly good comment, Clarkin Junior. Okay, so you work for

the FCC, then go do your job and get these

guys shut down. Then come back to Reddit and let

us know very well. Said that's good, because, yeah, the

strongly worded letter thing is an accurate state. Send him

a strongly worded letter. Okay, and that's about it. So

down here he posts again the original poster. The FCC

guy Okay, North Georgia gmrs dot org, pages dollars and cents.

They admit to linking right on the public facing page

fancy map and all. Well guess what again, not new information.

Of course, they admit to linking. Okay, They've done videos

on YouTube about linking. I've done videos on YouTube about linking.

I just showed you this video right here about them

linking there that was sent to me. Okay, so yeah,

of course, I mean it's common knowledge that they linked.

Then down here this Clarkin junior guy once again. Okay,

you do realize that the issue is linked at the

top of the subreddit right right here reference North Georgia

GMRS and the FCC. Lee Browning, Senior Agent for the

Atlanta Office of the FCC. This is written five months ago.

The comment that I just read, and this is not

a new article. When was this article originally written? This

article is from two hours ago. Okay, so this was today.

This was posted today. This video is not going to

post on my channel today, but that's when I'm recorded it. Okay,

so five months ago. Lee Browning, Senior Agent for the

FCC Atlanta Offices, is aware of the concerns expressed by

redditors of abuse of code compliance by North Georgia GMRS.

He has responded to an email I sent by the

information provided by Purple Fail seventeen seventy five. This is

reddit name. His response is as follows. Thanks for reaching

out concerning North George DMRs. We do have an open

case concerning the violation the FCC rules by NGGMRS. If

you want to file a complaint, it can be added

to the open case. We are working to get them

into compliance. He means it he typed agt. He means

get gt to file a complaint. Go here, include a

link to this subreddit. So if you guys are in

North Georgia, I'm not gonna do this because I'm not

in North Georgia. I have not seen this account firsthand myself.

I haven't experienced this first in myself. I've got a

lot of comments from you guys and emails from you

guys my watchers that have told me about this, and

I've said in a previous video before, I'm like, Okay,

I want to get in my truck and I want

to drive to Georgia, or at least to Tennessee, somewhere

close where I can hear these and I want to

just start talking on the GMRS repeaters. I'm in Texas.

So this is gonna be like a two day drive.

And I don't have time to do this right now.

I wish I did. Because gmrs are open frequencies. I

have a legit GMRS license that allows me to talk

on those frequencies. And if they complain, we're gonna shut

the repeater down if you don't pay us, Okay, shut

the repeater down. Please please shut the repeater down. How

are they going to make me pay for their service?

Like serious question? How are they going to make me pay?

They're gonna come find me. They're gonna direction find me

and come find me. Okay, Well, if they do, Texas

boy doesn't travel light. Read into that what you want.

Let's say you found me in a parking lot. What

do you go do we need you to write us

a check. I'm not writing a check, bud, Okay, I'm

talking on free, open frequencies. They're not gonna come find me.

You're gonna put that much effort into it? Come on,

how are they going to force that? GMRS linking rules

are mentioned at the following site under the operations tab.

This is FCC dot Gov Wireless Bureau Divisions, Mobility Division,

General Mobile Radio Service GMRS right there mentioned the following

site under operations tab. I saw a video the other

day on YouTube, a livestream on YouTube from the North

Jeorgia GMRS guys saying, yeah, I don't think we're really

breaking any rules by doing this. I haven't seen any

rules that say we can't do this. Here you go

right here. A GMRS user can expect communication range of

one to twenty five miles, depending on station, et cetera.

GMRS stations cannot be interconnected with the public switch telephone

network in other words, over phone lines, or any other

network for the purpose of carrying GMRS communications that includes

the Internet, it says, any other network. But these networks

can be used for remote control. Yes, that's been said before.

In other words, repeaters may not be linked via the Internet.

An example of an other network in the Rules to

extend the range of communications across large geographic area, Linking

multiple repeaters to enable a repeater outside the communications range

of a handheld or mobile device to retransmit messages violates

section ninety five Dot seventeen thirty three Alpha eight and

ninety five Dot seventeen forty nine of the Commission's Rules

and potentially other rules. In forty seven, CFI repeaters may

be connected to a telephone network or other networks only

for purposes of remote control of a GMRS station, not

for carrying communications signals. I knew it was out there.

I didn't have a link. I'm gonna save this link.

There you go. There's proof that they don't want you linking,

or they're saying that linking is against the rule. I'm

not going to use the word illegal. I'm going to

say against the rules of your GMRS license that you

agree to and I agreed to when I signed my

name online and paid my thirty five dollars. You're agreeing.

It says you got to check a box. It says

I agree to these rules before they'll give you a

liceyse all right. So an hour after I made the

first part of this video, after i'd already sent it

to my editor, i'd already gotten going with it, the

mods on Reddit locked the post, which I didn't think

really anything about because they said this guy's role playing,

he's not actually with the FCC, which I had mentioned

that some of his comments were a little bit off

and he was being rude, so that doesn't surprise me.

It seems like someone actually representing the FCC wouldn't be

so blatantly rude. And but you know, I don't know.

And I said that a couple times during the video.

I was like, you know, this guy seems kind of odd.

But the next day, the next morning, I pull this up,

fake FCC poster or someone ask you a question, Hey, guys,

just wondering if anyone has any insight, what happened to

the alleged FCC insiders NGGMRS post yesterday? Was there mod

activity la la la just for fun? How likely do

you think it is for nggmrs link network to be

forced into dismantle in twenty twenty six? I think is

about a one percent chance. Sadly so the third and

I already replied this, I said, okay, and we'll get

to this in a second. The second article that I

had shared in my video from yesterday, the earlier part

of this video you're watching right now. This is GGMRS

in the FCC. This was posted five months ago. As

I said earlier in the video, okay, so de file

a formal complaint. You click on this link if you

are in Georgia or Tennessee or somewhere you can hear

these repeaters. I suggest clicking on this link and filing

a complaint. Whether they look at it or not, I

don't know. They're never going to do anything if we

don't do anything, if we don't complain about it. Okay,

here are the GMRS rules. There's some other stuff going

on down here. There's a lot of comments in that

article as well. So that article still stands, the one

from five months ago, but this new one near The

first comment was yes, I locked the post once it

was clear he was role playing and just overall being

very odd. Odd is what the word I used. As well.

If the FCC does send in GGMRS a letter in

the enforcement database, I will make sure it's pinned on

the sub on the subreddit in a mega thread as

a sequel to the currently pins GMRS post which I

just shared with you. Several other comments going down here.

They're talking about the poster yesterday and how he I

guess they removed the thread now the thread is not

even there anymore. So you can click on the link

that I shared in the video, but it's probably not

going to be there. This is a good post right here.

It says if it gets enforced this year, I think

there will be an attempt to enforcement, but honestly don't

think it will go anywhere. The reason being the rules

are too vague as written and currently don't prohibit GMRS

network or remote control via me other than PSTN. That

is not true. That's not I'm going to reply to

this guy. If you read these rags which I shared

this in the earlier part of the video. Two. Okay,

so I'm not going to go over this loot right now, okay,

but if you go to operations here, it very clearly says,

in other words, repeaters may not be linked via the Internet.

An example of other network in the rules to extend

the range of communications across a large geographic area, so

it's not vague when you dig into the service, such

as land mobile Radio Part ninety for example. The actual

definition of interconnection Part ninety dot seven only applies to

systems connected to the PSTN. Specifically, attempts of other types

and links remote control solutions and linking is considered remote operation.

This actually lines up with the interconnection prohibited rule in

the nineteen eighty seven to twenty seventeen rules Yes ninety

seven dot one three three A Alpha states that messages

conveyed via wire control link and transmitted GMORS transmitter via

GMRS transmitter are prohibited. But nowhere in Title forty seven

of the Code of Federal Regulations is the definition of

a wireline control link. I don't think that's true either.

This is problematic. Okay. So he goes on. It sounds

like the rules need to be rewritten. Okay, So I'm

going to reply to this guy. So this is a

good comment, and I've heard other people say this before

that it's not clear. Well, the article yesterday that I

found was clear. So you guys are gonna watch me

reply to this. This guy's name is Zapp P twenty

five Okay, so P twenty five user, I assume if

you pull up this article and choose the operations tab

from the top, it clearly states that repeaters may not

be linked over the Internet. I think this is a

recent update, but not sure. I know it used to

be used to be more ambiguous spell that than this,

but it seems pretty clearly defined to me now. And

we're going to quote this here bump bump, okay, comment.

Be curious to see what he has to say. About that. So, uh,

let's see, you guys can see there's my post. So

I will share a link to this FCC fake poster,

which is in the GMRS subreddit on Reddit. I'll share

this here, and I'm going to kind of watch this

and see what other kind of fun drama, because this

has been a drama fest. What kind of fun drama

we can find about North Georgia gmrs and the linking

of their repeaters. And to me, what do you guys think?

To me, that seems pretty clear. Pull up the article

that I just quoted is on the FCC dot gov's website.

It's not a Reddit article, it's not a Facebook post. Okay,

So the article on the FCC website clearly stay that

this means you can't link repeaters over the Internet. It

says PTSN, which is telephone lines, and it says also

other networks, And then it goes on to define what

other networks, and it says that means you can't link

repeaters together over the Internet for purposes of long distance communications. Now,

maybe that part's ambiguous. Purposes of long distance communications. Okay,

let's put up five repeaters in the same town and

just link them all together. You're all in one town. Yeah,

but how far are you reaching outside of that town?

I don't know. Maybe that's a little bit misleading, but

it seems pretty clear to me that you're not supposed

to be linking these over the internet. But it also

seems after reading these three Reddit posts and that article,

it seems clear to me that the FCC is aware

of it but hasn't really done anything about it yet,

which that shouldn't really surprise anyone. So I stand by

the words that I said earlier in this video about

what the FCC should be doing and looking at seven

out two megahertz seventy two hundred kiloherts on HF and

that kind of stuff. And I stand by what I

said about linking having the ability to link one, maybe

two channels. I stand by that. I do not stand

by this whole let's link all repeater channels together and

make one channel out of eight, which is ridiculous. Okay,

So I think there needs to be a little bit

of leeway, a little bit of give and take here.

The FCC needs to either enforce what they've the rules

that they put in place, or maybe make them a

little bit clear. Again, I think they're pretty clear right now,

and assuming that I am correct in my assessment of

the rules, I think they need to enforce that or

they need to change the rules. If you're not going

to enforce it, then why is it there? Just get

rid of it? Okay, So put a comment in the

video below. I cut this video off short and I

added the second segment to it because I know a

lot of you would have come along the comments to

say when I post is there that guy's fake. I

didn't use the word fake, but I kind of suspected

he was fake. I did say he was rude and

obnoxious and a little bit odd. So yeah, turns out

the guy's on Reddit think he's a role player and

he's fake. So we're gonna go with that right now.

But I'm going to keep watching and see what other

news we can pull up about North Georgia gmris in

this linking habit. So seventy three guys put a comment

the video below. Let me know what you think, and

check out these videos up here. YouTube things you want

to watch those next Catch you next time.