In My View

Editorial Opinion
by Doug Smith
KAF9830
WA6GON

Community Repeaters

Or are they?

Read from the FCC Rules and Regulations: 95.33 Cooperative use of radio stations in the GMRS. (Thanks to PRSG for the FCC ruletext.)

(a) Licensees of radio stations in the GMRS may share the use of their stations with other entities eligible in the GMRS, subject to the following conditions and limitations.

(1) The station to be shared must be individually owned by the licensee, jointly owned by the participants and the licensee, leased individually by the licensee, or leased jointly by the participants and the licensee.

(2) The licensee must maintain access to and control over all stations authorized under its license.

(3) A station may be shared only:

(i) Without charge;

(ii) On a non-profit basis, with contributions to capital and operating expenses including the cost of mobile stations and paging receivers prorated equitably among all participants; or

(iii) On a reciprocal basis, i.e., use of one licensee's stations for the use of another licensee's stations without charge for either capital or operating expenses.

(4) All sharing arrangements must be conducted in accordance with a written agreement to be kept as part of the station records.

(b) Participants in a cooperatively shared GMRS mobile relay or base station may obtain a license for their own mobile station(s), provided that the licensee of the shared GMRS station consents in writing to the issuance of such authorization.

Be real careful.

The FCC rules are very clear. The intent even clearer. Community repeaters were intended to be a community resource and not a money maker for a radio shop or an individual. Owning a community repeater is a break-even proposition at best. What every GMRS licensee needs to be very careful of is entering into any kind of agreement with a radio vendor or private individual licensee that is selling community repeater time to GMRS licensees for a profit. It is against the law.

Access to another's GMRS repeater is ultimately controlled by the licensee, but allowed access must be free, or the users must share the costs of maintaining the repeater equally among the members of the group.

The repeater owner should be willing to show you financial records that substantiate the monthly sharing cost. If he or she isn't willing to do so, or if the records are of a phony or questionable nature, walk away. If the cost of sharing a repeater is more than $8-10 per month be very suspicious. Likewise, if you find GMRS community repeater services advertised be careful making a commitment. Sign only a letter of agreement that can be terminated at ANY time. The repeater owner should also hold a valid GMRS license. If he doesn't hold a valid license that's another clue the deal is a shady one.

What's interesting is that some vendors and licensees treat these community repeater systems as their own private GMRS gold mine. They enable ALL CTCSS tones to discourage others from putting up repeaters and go out of their way to be uncooperative when coordinating tones is necessary. If they can maintain their selfish grip on a channel they become the sole provider of GMRS community repeater time for a particular area. In my view these idiots are not qualified to be Commission licensees. They are nothing more than slick opportunists out to make a quick buck at our expense.

It's time to end the fraud. Licensees who suspect system sharing abuse should not support the good old boys that advocate it. Real community repeater licensees are generous respectable people that are in a position to offer a terrific service. All of the respectable licensees stay away from the shady world of fraud. I consider myself very lucky to have met and worked with the good guys, REAL GMRS licensees. The bad guys are out there though and we should all do our best to stay away from them.