Frequently Asked Questions

1.  What is the GMRS?
2.  What are GMRS repeaters?
3.  What kind of stations have been listed in the Guide?
4.  Are stations other than repeaters shown?

Questions Frequently Asked by GMRS Travelers

5.  What GMRS frequencies may I transmit on?
6.  May I communicate directly (not through a repeater) with another GMRS station?
7.  May I transmit through someone else's repeater?
8.  If I have permission to use someone else's repeater, with whom may I communicate?
9.  What communications may I transmit?
10.  How should I identify myself through someone else's repeater?
11.  How do I conduct or respond to emergency communications?
12.  Are all repeater stations available for traveler use?
13.  Is the information in the Guide available electronically?
14.  Why are some entries in this publication more complete than others?
15.  Why are some repeaters shown in the current edition of the Guide not operating?
16.  Why are some currently operational repeaters not shown in the current edition of the Guide?
17.  Is the current edition of the Guide still useful?

Questions Frequently Asked by GMRS Repeater Operators

18.  Do these "visiting" users need to be licensed for my particular repeater or channel?
19.  Must I allow just anyone to use my repeater for just any purpose?
20.  Do I need to maintain "control" over these visitor communications?
21.  Must I reveal all of my repeater's CTCSS, DCS or other control tones or methods for publication in the GMRS National Repeater Guide?
22.  How can a repeater operator maintain some semblance of security if some or all of the CTCSS or DCS code information is made public?
23.  How may add or change information about my own repeater for publication in the next GMRS National Repeater Guide?
24.  Should I submit information about others' GMRS repeaters with which I am familiar.
25.  How often is the GMRS National Repeater Guide updated?

1.  What is the GMRS?

GMRS (or General Mobile Radio Service), formerly known as "Class A of the Citizens Radio Service," was the original Citizens Radio Service created in 1947. GMRS is a personal radio service available for the conduct of an individual's personal and family communications.

GMRS is currently allocated eight channel pairs in the 462 and 467 MHz bands, and seven individual, non-paired "interstitial" frequencies in the 462 MHz band. Click here for more information about GMRS.

2.  What are GMRS repeaters?

A "repeater" is a special kind of base station that retransmits the signals of other stations. A conventional repeater receives on a GMRS frequency in the 467 MHz band, and simultaneously retransmits that signal on a GMRS frequency in the 462 MHz band. The separation between those two frequencies is usually 5.000 MHz.

Most repeaters retransmit only those signals on which is imposed one or more of the approximately three dozen subaudible tone codes, or one or more of the approximately six dozen subaudible digital codes.

There is also a new kind of repeater that retransmits not simultaneously, but in a time-delay mode. There are only a few such stations in the current edition of the Guide, but there will likely be many more in the future. This kind of repeater can be distinguished in that the user will hear that station retransmit his or her own signal back shortly after he or she releases the local microphone "push to talk" button. This kind of repeater can be configured to receive the signal on either the a 462 MHz frequency or a 467 MHz one, but the retransmitted signal must still be on the 462 MHz frequency.

3.  What kind of stations have been listed in the Guide?

The current edition lists only repeaters. In this edition, for the first time the PRSG sought to list all currently operating GMRS repeater stations.

Determining what is and what is not a repeater station from the FCC licensing records alone was not always possible. Prior to the early 1980s, the FCC would license a repeater only as a conventional "base station," even though that station was usually remotely controlled from another location, and even though that station functioned primarily or exclusively to repeat the signals of other GMRS stations.

As the FCC subsequently modified or renewed these older licenses, the "base station" designation ("FB") was often not corrected to the "repeater" category ("FB2" or "FB4," called a "mobile relay station" in the FCC rules prior to 1999) because the licensee failed to indicate (or the FCC failed to recognize) that the station was actually a repeater.

Some GMRS licenses authorize the operation of a repeater but that station is no longer in operation. Some repeaters authorized by FCC license may never have been implemented in the first place. PRSG relies on field monitoring reports and personal correspondence to identify those repeater stations that should no longer be shown in the Guide even though they may remain authorized by some FCC license.

Some licenses authorize GMRS repeaters to operate on specific channels but at unspecified locations within a given area. The license itself does not describe the actual location. Although this kind of license permitted only temporary operation (for up to a year), some repeaters operated under such an authorization have actually been in use for many years without the user having modified the licensee to show a permanent site. Again, PRSG relies on personal correspondence and field monitoring reports to identify and describe the operation of these allegedly "temporary" repeaters.

In early 1999, the FCC implemented the Universal Licensing System (ULS) for GMRS. Under this revision in the licensing process, information on specific frequencies, and on the types and locations of stations, is no longer collected. Once the current Master Frequency File (MFF, the FCC's master pre-ULS licensing database) has purged all pre-ULS GMRS licenses (in about five years), all MFF technical information on GMRS station frequencies and locations will be gone.

Future efforts to collect and publish information about GMRS repeaters will therefore be dependent on voluntary information submissions from the public.

4.  Are stations other than repeaters shown?

In some areas and on some channels, there is no local repeater coverage for traveler assistance and emergency communications. In some of these areas, local GMRS licensees maintain a "monitoring watch" from their individual base stations to assist nearby GMRS travelers, especially on the GMRS frequency 462.675 MHz.

PRSG collects information about these public-service stations. We will included them in a future edition of the GMRS National Repeater Guide. In this edition, however, our intent has been to show only actual licensed and/or operating repeaters.

Questions Frequently Asked by GMRS Travelers

5.  What GMRS frequencies may I transmit on?

The GMRS is now an all-channel radio service for persons operating under a license issued to an individual person. If you are operating under a personal license issued before the ULS all-channel rules went into effect (Spring 1999), you are still permitted to operate on any GMRS channel, even though your current license specifies only certain frequencies.

If you are an eligible operator of a station licensed to an individual person, you may also transmit on any of the seven low-power, non-paired GMRS "interstitial" frequencies in the 462 MHz band.

Persons operating only under a "grandfathered" license (one issued to some entity other than an individual person) may operate only on the frequencies specifically authorized on that license.

6.  May I communicate directly (not through a repeater) with another GMRS station?

Yes. You may communicate from your GMRS base or mobile station with any other GMRS base or mobile station, on any 462 MHz GMRS frequency. The current FCC rules no longer prohibit communications from one GMRS base station to another.

However, the current GMRS Rules do prohibit you from transmitting on any of the eight 467 MHz GMRS frequencies except to communicate through a repeater station.

7.  May I transmit through someone else's repeater?

Yes. You may communicate from your licensed person-carried or vehicle-mounted mobile station unit, or from your licensed control station, through someone else's repeater, but only if you meet each of the following conditions:

• You may communicate only with another licensed station. You may not communicate with any unlicensed station, with any amateur radio station, or with any foreign station.
  
• You must first obtain the permission to use that other repeater station. (The information published here in the Guide can be useful in contacting the repeater operator for that purpose, although in many cases you can also obtain "over-the-air" permission.)
  

8.  If I have permission to use someone else's repeater, with whom may I communicate?

Once you have permission, you may communicate through someone else's repeater with:

• Any other party to whom the repeater licensee has also given permission to use that repeater, subject to any limitations imposed by the repeater operator; and,
  
• Another one of your own stations, again if and as permitted by the conditions imposed by the repeater owner.

9.  What communications may I transmit?

If you are yourself personally licensed (or you are an immediate family member who is personally licensed), you may communicate about any personal, family, or personal business activity.

If you are operating under the authority of any other license (such as one issued to a business or commercial entity, a public-service team, a user cooperative, a partnership, an association, etc.), you may communicate only about the business affairs of that entity, or to report an actual emergency or to seek road directions or traveler's assistance.

10.  How should I identify myself through someone else's repeater?

You must state the FCC-assigned callsign of the license under which you are an eligible station operator. As a minimum, you must give this callsign at the end of each exchange of transmissions.

PRSG recommends that when you are away from your normal home operating area, you should give your FCC callsign also at the beginning of your exchange of transmissions, and to identify your city of origin and your local unit identification name and number, if you have received one from your local GMRS user organization. For instance, "Chicago 502."

For initiating a call as a visitor on someone else's repeater, you are more likely to receive a rapid response if you initially give your callsign and a brief description of the communications traffic that you wish to conduct. For example:

"The is KAC2651, Detroit unit 67, calling any station about a traffic accident with injuries here in Des Moines, Iowa."

11.  How do I conduct or respond to emergency communications?

FCC Rules [¶95.143] require that GMRS users give immediate priority (that is to say, that they immediately yield the channel) to any emergency communications pertaining to the immediate safety of life or to the immediate protection of property. This means that you must not transmit if communications pertaining to an actual emergency are in progress.

Furthermore, you must cease transmitting if someone else on the channel begins communicating or requests to communicate about such an actual emergency.

To qualify as an "emergency" under FCC Rules, the communications must pertain to a situation or a condition that threatens the immediate safety of life, or the immediate protection of property. Merely observing or updating information on a previously reported situation does not constitute an emergency itself.

For instance, merely commenting on a situation to which local public-safety authorities have already responded and are on scene would not constitute an emergency unless there is some additional information or request that needs to be conveyed to this authority pertaining to the immediate safety or life or to the immediate protection of property.

12.  Are all repeater stations available for traveler use?

PRSG encourages all repeater operators and users to respond to non-frivolous requests for assistance from the traveling GMRS public. Some repeater operators have also chosen to make certain CTCSS tones available primarily or even exclusively for such use.

Although responding to routine requests for information is optional for the local repeaters' users, FCC Rules require that all communications must immediately yield to those communications pertaining to the immediate safety of life or property. Yielding to emergencies is not a local option -- it is required by the FCC Rules!

13.  Is the information in the Guide available electronically?

PRSG maintains extensive databases about GMRS licenses and about GMRS repeater operations. However, this information is not currently available on line.

General information about GMRS licenses from the FCC licensing database is available through the FCC's Web site: http://www.fcc.gov.

14.  Why are some entries in the current edition of the Guide more complete than others?

PRSG collects and verifies information from numerous sources. We have actual paper copies of most GMRS licenses issued, modified or renewed from 1985 through late 1993.

Although the FCC licensing database formerly included much technical information about individual repeaters, under ULS licensing the FCC collects virtually no information about these technical operating parameters.

PRSG relies on reports from the GMRS user community to provide additional data on CTCSS or DCS access codes, coverage range, requested operating conditions or restrictions, etc. For those entries lacking this additional data, PRSG has not yet received or verified this information.

15.  Why are some repeaters shown in the current edition of the Guide not operating?

In the tenth edition (Spring 1997, red cover), we sought to list all repeaters that were either authorized under FCC license, or that we had reports about as being operational. We acknowledge that perhaps 15% to 20% of the listings are probably not operational, but we have not yet received confirmation of their operational status. If you know that certain listings are for stations that are no longer operational, please let us know.

16.  Why are some currently operational repeaters not shown in the current edition of the Guide?

The information in our tenth edition was accurate to the best of our knowledge and ability as of its date of publication (Spring 1997). We know that in some areas (especially in certain urban areas, most notably in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area and the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area), there has been a proliferation of mostly low-profile repeater systems since then.

Identifying and collecting information about new repeaters has long been a challenge. It has become even more difficult by the FCC's implementation of the Universal Licensing System (ULS), under which the FCC no longer collects technical information (frequency, location, antenna height, etc.) about GMRS stations.

We will soon have an online questionnaire that you can use to report about new repeaters, and to update information about existing ones already shown in the Guide.

17.  Is the current edition of the Guide still useful?

Some have asked why PRSG is still selling copies of the Spring 1997 edition of the Guide. Even though the current edition shows some repeaters that may no longer be operational, and fails to show other new ones, the Spring 1997 edition continues to be accurate for most areas. Even in those areas where there have been changes, the current edition provides names, mailing addresses, and contact phone numbers for persons and local orgnizations that can provide useful information about additional local repeater operations.

In addition, the update that PRSG is working on, scheduled for a Fall 2001 publication, will be a supplement to the Spring 1997 edition, not a replacement. A complete replacement would take far more time and have much greater costs than we can justify at this time.

Questions Frequently Asked by GMRS Repeater Operators

18.  Do these "visiting" users need to be licensed for my particular repeater or channel?

If the visitor is authorized to operate under a callsign issued to an individual person, he/she does not need to be licensed for your repeater, or even your repeater's operating channel.

If the visitor is authorized to operate only under a callsign issued to some entity other than an individual person, then he/she may communicate through your repeater only if that license authorizes transmission on your repeater input frequency.

19.  Must I allow just anyone to use my repeater for just any purpose?

No! As the repeater licensee, you have the authority to place any limitation that you might wish on these communications. For instance, you may wish to limit the length or the topics of conversation, the hours of day for the operation, the other parties with whom the visitor may communicate, etc. You may, if you wish, even limit "visitor privileges" only to true emergency communications, or just to emergencies and to traveler assistance communications.

For communications other than those pertaining to an emergency, or other than those requesting traveler assistance, you may also request that the visitor contact you prior to using your repeater. You may ask that the visitor request this permission by telephone or in writing in advance. You may also permit the visitor to request privileges right over the air, if you wish.

In granting this permission, you may want to request that any temporary user who will be in the area for more than just a few hours or a day provide you with a local telephone number where he or she can be contacted. You may also want to request that the visitor give you a home phone number where his or her identity can be confirmed by a collect telephone call.

You should also request that the visitor to identify the GMRS license(s) under which he or she will operate. You are responsible for assuring that only licensed GMRS users may use your repeater, and you must shut your repeater down if it is used by any unlicensed station.

You may also limit "visitor privileges" just to true visitors, and deny them to others who are already licensed for or regularly operate in your local area.

You may also deny or revoke any of these privileges to any particular user or group of users.

Remember: It's your repeater, and it's your choice as to which privileges to grant, and to whom, and under what conditions or restrictions. In the GMRS National Repeater Guide, PRSG will attempt to reflect your particular preferences. As a minimum, however, we would hope that you would at least make some provision for true emergency communications.

20.  Do I need to maintain "control" over these visitor communications?

Yes. As a licensee of the repeater, you must take reasonable steps to maintain control over all communications retransmitted by your repeater, whether by a visiting "transient" user or by your regularly authorized users.

The same control methods that you should use for your repeater's regular users should also be adequate to supervise transient users as well.

Remember that although the visitor's communications must be conducted under the authority of his or her own station license (or under the authority of the license under which he or she is an eligible station operator), the transmissions of your repeater are governed by your license, and you must take the responsibility for your own repeater's operation.

21.  Must I reveal all of my repeater's CTCSS, DCS or other control tones or methods for publication in the GMRS National Repeater Guide?

No. You should tell us which ones you want listed (and for what purposes or with what restrictions), and which specific other ones not to publish.

In some areas, PRSG has information about the CTCSS or DCS codes in general use, although we have not been told which codes are in use by particular repeaters. If there are certain codes that you do not want published, we need to know the specific codes (attributed to specific repeaters) not to publish.

PRSG recommends that the CTCSS tone code 4A (141.3 Hz) should be used for traveler assistance and emergency communications. If your repeater has a multiple-tone capability, and if code 4A is not already in use on your channel in your immediate operating area, we recommend that you enable code 4A specifically for this purpose. If code 4A is already in use through another repeater with overlapping coverage of your station, you must cooperate with the licensee and users of that other station.

22.  How can a repeater operator maintain some semblance of security if some or all of the CTCSS or DCS code information is made public?

With the growing proliferation of multiple-tone, programmable-tone, and synthesized mobile transceivers, the traditional policy of preserving tone-code confidentiality no longer provides much security. However, as the repeater operator you may still reasonably request that transient visitors use just those specific tones that you have authorized for publication in the Guide.

If there are certain users (or groups of users) who recurrently abuse the privileges that you have granted, you may deny or revoke those privileges, and encourage other repeater operators to do the same for those who repeatedly abuse the privileges.

23.  How may I add or change information about my own repeater for publication in the next update or edition of GMRS National Repeater Guide?

PRSG will have an on-line questionnaire available in the near future.

In the meantime, you can also request a copy of a printed questionnaire by writing:

Click here to send us an E-mail.

24.  Should I submit information about others' GMRS repeaters with which I am familiar.

Yes, please! We will then attempt to contact the repeater owner to verify this information, and to encourage the owner to help us maintain a current and accurate repeater database. Individual and independent reports help us keep our database as complete as possible, even if we are unable to verify the information.

If you know the operating channel, the coverage range, and/or the CTCSS or DCS use of some local GMRS repeater, even if you do not know which particular repeater to which to attribute this information specifically, please still provide this to us. We will attempt to identify the applicable repeater; or failing that, we may list this information as pertaining to some unidentified repeater on that channel in the general area.

25.  How often is the GMRS National Repeater Guide updated?

The number of GMRS repeaters is slowly growing as this personal and family-oriented radio service continues to expand. The entire PRSG data-building and printing process is now substantially automated. We hope to publish future editions or updates every two to three years.

The next scheduled update (supplement) is Fall 2001.

Announcements of publication of future editions will be sent to all subscribers to the PRSG newsletter, the Personal Radio Exchange, and to all registered purchasers of prior editions of the GMRS National Repeater Guide. Click here for more information about the PRSG newsletter.

A subscription to our electronic newsletter service is $10 per year. A printed version for domestic USPS delivery is available for $40. Canadian subscriptions to the printed version are also $40 per year.