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It started last year (2000), and it is
not necessarily a bad thing. Manufacturers again entered the GMRS market by
introducing inexpensive simplex and repeater capable radios. Not since the
early Maxon radios or the Radio Shack Model PRS101 have we seen such a
resurgent interest in GMRS. It came about after FRS was carved from the GMRS
Interstitial channels. AudioVox claimed in July 2001 that GMRS could be as much
as fifteen percent of the company's new business. (This Week in Consumer
Electronics Newspaper) Cobra, Uniden, Unwired, Wireless Marketing, Motorola,
and Kenwood have all added FRS and GMRS radios to their product line up for the
general consumer.
The consumer appeal for potential
applications of old-fashioned analog non-subscription two-way radio is rising.
People with many different interests find two-way radio very useful. New ideas
for using family oriented two-way radio are driving a broader market. The cost
barrier usually associated with UHF commercial radio products used in GMRS
systems has finally broken down. Entry-level products have given consumers a
taste of what reliable and powerful radio devices can do for coordinating
family activities or personal activities with friends. Until the creation of
FRS, families and sportsmen had no clue that two-way radio was this useful. It
never occurred to consumers they could use two-way radio and be happy,
especially after the bad press CB has received in the last 30 years. As far as
consumers knew, only public safety and businesses needed sophisticated
communicating devices. Such gadgets were out of reach in their mind.
Entry level products are a good thing.
Getting more people into GMRS means the service less likely to be auctioned out
from under us. The surge of popularity does have ramifications and increased
popularity has had some deleterious effects. The entry-level GMRS radios range
from "disposable toys" to very sophisticated radios for the price.
Manufacturers are experimenting with ideas from dumb to dumber and smart to
smarter. At GMRS Web we were completely unimpressed with the AudioVox GMRS
Model 1525. On the other hand, we are about to publish a very good review of
the Cobra PR1000 and PR-2000. The Kenwood TK3101 knocked our socks off , and
even more surprising was how modest the company was about the radio and its
capabilities. Pryme's PR460 hand-held GMRS radio, is a terrific radio for its
price point. The good inexpensive radios frankly took us by surprise. We were
expecting most of the radios to follow the Audiovox lead. We can now say with
confidence that inexpensive does not mean radios are automatically garbage.
Inexpensive means that manufacturers have to be up front with consumers about
GMRS licensing eligibility and licensing fees in their advertising and at the
store sales counter.
What has always had us worried at GMRS
Web is the potential for the proliferation of unlicensed use and commercial use
of GMRS channels. GMRS could become another chaotic unlicensed no-man's land
like CB. Low-cost means more people can afford GMRS radios. Pirates in the
commercial sector already use commercial-quality portable radios sold or leased
by radio shops that should know better. Pre-consumer era licensees have a
significant investment in their GMRS systems. In fact, at stake over the new
popularity is the GMRS as we knew it, a reliable repeater oriented radio
service that kept our families in touch.
We are also concerned about
compatibility of newer radios with legacy systems. Manufacturers are already
designing new radios for super-narrow band (same as FRS radios) but are not
building the receivers in these radios to be fully compatible with existing
wide-band GMRS systems. That is going to tick off lots of customers
We still worry that the shenanigans of
a few moneygrubbers will destroy GMRS. The new GMRS is moving towards a
repeater/simplex radio service with many of the simplex users failing to
license. One company's desire for quarterly gains in the short term just might
be the nuke that ruins everything for everyone. Low-cost GMRS radios are
turning up in commercial use. Families and sportsmen buy the radios not
realizing a license and license fee is required. The consumer's distinction
between the GMRS and FRS is now blurry and confused thanks to poorly written
advertising messages at retail. Advertising directed at purchasers of GMRS and
FRS radios continues to be vague and misleading. Retailers have no clue what
they are selling. In some cases they cannot even rely on the information
printed on the box or from the manufacturer. It used to be that you bought a
GMRS radio from a real radio dealer. Now you can buy a radio almost
anywhere.
Manufacturers have us concerned. We
think the deleterious effects of their advertising actions and inexpensive
poorly made products hurts the service by confusing the consumer about
licensing and quality issues. The already blurred distinction between FRS and
GMRS created by the marketing of early inexpensive entry-level GMRS radios gets
blurrier not clearer. The market confusion is tough to deal with after the
fact.
There are obviously competing interests
here. On the one hand, consumers want a long-range, reliable communications
tool, free from the annoyances and abuses present in CB. They also want their
investment in GMRS hardware and repeater systems protected. However,
manufacturers and their representatives want their products to appeal to the
widest range of consumers to maximize profits. The short-term corporate outlook
could create a flood of low-cost, disposable radios into the service, ruining
the long-term viability of GMRS. Or, more responsibly, these corporations could
consider a longer-term and constant return on their investment by producing
high-quality products, and/or by clearly noting that the service requires
licensing.
How can this serve everyone interests?
By keeping the service "civil" and useful, families (read: CONSUMERS)
will realize how valuable wireless communications can be, and they will
continue, over the long-term, to purchase GMRS and related products. Families
will also become increasingly quality-conscious, and will likely purchase more
expensive and reliable hardware once they realize how useful GMRS is. Such an
approach will generally increase "consumption" of radio products
nationally, and not contribute to an inevitable consumer rejection of all
things "radio" because of a bad experience.
The "me-too" marketers
selling GMRS radios that look like toys have no apparent plans for product
upgrades or expanding marketing effort to more sophisticated users.. They have
done nothing to develop a vertical market. All we see happening in some
instances is the dumping low-quality product for short-term profit. Where's the
long term benefit? Marketing managers need to start thinking outside the box if
they want to succeed.
What do we want from manufacturers? Let me
bullet a few points.
- Integrate new features in your
products that do not blur the distinction between a licensed and unlicensed
radio service. Such actions do the service an injustice and only confuse the
consumer. Design new GMRS products for specific sports or consumer activities.
Design clothing to accept the radios and the radio accessories. Do we have a
bike helmet with a UHF antenna on top yet? Do ski jackets have radio pockets
where the antennas are in the clear over a shoulder? Design a high quality
low-loss mobile antenna system for UHF that a consumer can benefit from. Where
are the GMRS base station antennas and high quality feed lines? How many of you
marketing types know that moving RF to an antenna at UHF is NOT the same as CB?
Some real old fashioned product brainstorming is in order! You need to know
your market, its potential, and then plan for long term commitments to
it.
- Avoid styling ALL new GMRS radios like
FRS radios or toys. Come up with something unique for GMRS radios that benefits
users and the service. Put your product managers to work looking beyond
"me-too" marketing. Copying everyone else is not original!
Entry-level GMRS radios can be made less like toys. Put a sturdy case on the
outside and use simple controls. Test your radios before you sell them. Make
sure you are living up to your claims.
- Test your radios before you sell them.
Make sure you are living up to your claims and meeting FCC specs. One of the
entry-level GMRS radios we tested could not come close to the advertised
two-watt output power. Are you going to take pride in your product or just take
pride in your marketing regardless of what you sell?
- Go along with GMRS licensing.
Regardless of what you think about GMRS licensing, GMRS licensees believe it
has value. We believe that people respect things they have to pay for. The CB
service as an example. After eliminating licensing, CB became a wasteland.
Please do not use market place activism to turn this radio service into an
unlicensed service. If you have an idea about changing GMRS, notify the
Personal Radio Steering Group and share it with the GMRS community. Tell us
what you want to do and why. The FCC Rules and licensing structure were
designed to give the service life, utility, and order over the long
term.
- Before you put bells and whistles in
your products ask around. Is it something that a marketing or product manager
believes is cool or is it something our culture really cares about, e.g. call
tones. Do your employees really know anything about the service or are they
just experts with statistics and marketing mumbo jumbo? Are you a radio company
or a marketing company? Did you know for instance that FCC Rules &
Regulations Part 95.181 Permissible Communications, item (h) says: A station
operator may not communicate a tone-only page (tones communicated in order to
find, summon or notify someone). Further, in FCC R&R 95.183 Prohibited
Communication item (a.6.) Music, whistling, sound effects or material to amuse
or entertain. Call tones are not and have not been used as intended by the
consumer. Call tones are one way tone paging if used as intended but more often
substitute as sound effects to amuse, entertain, or annoy! Some of the
manufacturers have actually designed in recognizable musical selections to use
as "call tones." The feature is a complete nuisance to GMRS and FRS
and probably is not entirely legal. So why do we have call tones? Because the
radios are being marketed like toys and marketing managers are not using their
noodles. We could have digital call alert! We could invent a new scheme that
didn't annoy! Are you designing products or just marketing them?
- Please do not promote your products
with potential customers that are not eligible to license in GMRS. GMRS
licensees are watching for these ads and we are calling them to your
attention.
- Promote GMRS as a personal radio
service for families. Sell to families. There are more families that could use
radios than there are businesses. Sell systems! Sell installations! Sell base
stations and mobile units as well as hand helds and repeaters. Think about
engineering standards and how you will help your customers achieve positive
results with their family GMRS system. Build a market around the current rules
instead of building a new market to change the rules. The FCC is going to
remember the MURS fiasco. That hasn't ended yet. Are they going to continue to
allow marketing departments to dictate the rules?
- Train your retail sales teams. It is
such a bummer to visit a store and find blank stares when you have product
questions.
- Consider cooperating with GMRS
licensees and sponsor a community repeater. Invent new ways to market, and
activate community repeaters so you can sell radios to families that take
advantage of repeaters. Sell GMRS repeaters to licensees that will install them
near parks, tourist areas, and in the countryside. Sell them to licensees that
will allow other families to use the repeater. Make the repeaters available for
general use by GMRS licensees.
- Develop new uses for GMRS that enhance
the utility of the service for family activities. Camping, sports, driving etc.
Work with GMRS Web and PRSG to promote CTCSS 141.3 as the default traveling tone for GMRS
simplex and repeaters.
- Work with the GMRS community to reduce
the license fee and make the licensing process faster and easier. What about
point of sale licensing?
GMRS has faced and faces a number of serious
problems brought about through changes introduced by industry:
- Radio shops sell and lease GMRS radios
to companies and organizations ineligible to license in GMRS. Unlicensed users
interfere with GMRS licensees. In Northern California alone over 115 unlicensed
users were found put in service by traditional radio shops and dealers. Local
and national dealers.
- Radio shops install "secret"
simplex systems on GMRS repeater inputs thinking no one will notice. These
systems interfere with GMRS repeaters.
- Marketing sell sheets promote GMRS
radios as suitable for business use even though non-individuals have not been
allowed to license on GMRS since 1987.
- Retailer websites and catalogs promote
GMRS radios as suitable for business use.
- Retailers fail to advise customers
that a GMRS license is required.
- Retailers fail to tell consumers that
an $75 license fee is required for a five-year-renewable license and that the
fee is paid every five years. One company actually claims on their box that the
fee is a one-time fee. It is painfully obvious the marketing and product
managers for some entry-level GMRS products are clueless. If the behavior is
not intentional it ought to be embarrassing.
- There is massive interference to GMRS
repeaters brought about by placing FRS channels 8-14 in-between GMRS repeater
inputs. We are living with this now by re-engineering our GMRS systems. The
cost in time and equipment has been considerable. Maybe FRS radios on channels
8-14 need their own CTCSS or DCS tone scheme?
- Congestion of portable-to-portable
channels, FRS 1-7, in metropolitan areas and highways. The advent of unlicensed
use on the GMRS Interstitial channels has turned FRS into a short range CB
service with similar interference and silliness. It is very hard to get through
to your family member on the radio when a child is singing into his FRS radio
on top of a 3800-foot mountain. Marketing managers are NOW touting GMRS
channels as less congested! Dumb to dumber! If the consumer does not understand
the difference between GMRS and FRS GMRS will be just like FRS in no time and
it will not be less congested! The unlicensed parent is still going to give the
kid the radio and let him sing into it!
- Advertising of GMRS radios as GMRS and
FRS hybrids. Consumers think the new breed of GMRS radio is just a more
powerful FRS radio that does not require a license! Every manufacturer is
copying every other in this regard.
- Building GMRS radios with incompatible
receivers making communication with legacy systems difficult or
impossible.
- Dumping of very cheap poor quality
toy-like products on the market created a new glut of bubble-pack pirates. In
one case, the radios did not meet FCC Type Approval claims. An advertised
two-watt radio could barely reach .9 watts.
- Introducing call tones to GMRS. Call
tones are rarely useful. Children use them as an annoyance device. We think the
musical tones also leave them with the impression that playing music from a
broadcast radio into a two-way radio is OK. It is against FCC rules.
- Retailers are often non-responsive to
complaints from licensees. Problems get worse instead of better.
- Catalogs promote a certain FRS radio
model as good for room monitoring or baby monitoring when FCC Rules forbid this
type of one-way use. Despite complaints, this national radio retail marketing
company continues the campaign. Can you imagine the interference that would
result if all fourteen FRS channels in an area were re-broadcasting the noises
from baby's room from high altitude homes!
- Some radios come shipped to consumers
and radio shops fully loaded with GMRS channels. One can reprogram these radios
for other commercial channels so the radio is also marketed to the commercial
user. There are two big problems with this approach. Some retailers are
uninformed or lazy and sell the radios with GMRS channels to anyone who will
buy them. Others market the radio as a commercial radio but fail to make the
distinction that the radio really isn't a GMRS only radio it just comes
programmed by default that way. Manufacturers either have to end
default-programming, and ship all channels blank, OR be honest about what the
radio can do before the sale and reprogram it for the client!
Here are some of the cool GMRS and FRS
features we have seen:
- Introduction of GMRS and FRS radios
with NOAA Weather channels.
- Introduction of narrow band
transmitters with receivers capable of receiving wide band legacy GMRS
systems.
- Proposed use of GPS technology.
Currently under developed by Garmin.
- Introduction of FRS and GMRS helmet
radios for motorcyclists and bicyclists. The HJC Chatter Box.
- Automatically adjustable squelch that
works.
- Easily selectable CTCSS and DCS
tones.
- Voice scrambling on FRS.
- The FRS mobile radio.
- The FRS table radio.
- Jabra focus groups testing exciting
new accessory products.
They came to us and asked.
Three manufacturers had their marketing
and product people initiate contact with GMRS Web. We have appreciated the
opportunity to engage in a dialog with these firms. We see the interaction as
an opportunity to promote the radio service. We think it also helps each
company make good marketing and product decisions. They put their products on
the line by submitting products for review. Pryme Inc., Kenwood USA, and Jabra
Inc to their credit, are listening, asking questions and taking criticism where
warranted. Impressive when you consider the size and market power of each
company. We encourage vendors, manufacturers, and radio shops to take part in
the forums at GMRS Web. Ask our readers questions, set up surveys, conduct
product testing, or focus groups. Take advantage of GMRS Web and our readers so
we can help you improve what you sell. And if your company sees the magazine of
value - advertise with us. We can use the support.
When we call or write you do, not blow us
off.
I am still baffled over one company
that argued the legality of selling GMRS radios to business users. Despite FCC
rules to the contrary, this company's support organization argued that they
were following all applicable FCC Rules in the marketing of their devices. They
insisted their marketing experts were experts when their sell sheets blatantly
demonstrated otherwise. If you hear from a GMRS licensee, or GMRS Web, take
notes and check out the story. Our community wants to help you do your job
right because we want to protect the radio service. Your actions and your
products shape the service. As we expand to include more people on 15 GMRS
frequencies we ask that you think very hard about what has gone before your
entrance into the market and what will come after as a result. We want you to
be successful and we want GMRS to be a useful family communication tool.
Do your homework.
We know the market is competitive and
that advance knowledge of new product design is something you need to protect.
All we ask is that you do the homework on your product. Do the right thing.
Help build GMRS but also help keep it uniquely useful.
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Doug Smith
KAF9830
WA6GON
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