What and Why:

In recent years, the use of General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) repeaters has surged, offering individuals, families and small businesses across the United States a valuable alternative communications tool. However, an ongoing issue with bad actors undermines the integrity of the GMRS service and the public's free access to it: the prohibited linking of GMRS repeaters across a wide area.

FCC Rules Intended to Prohibit This

Linking GMRS repeaters over the internet and then charging an annual fee for their use is not only against FCC rules, but against the very spirit of the GMRS service's intended purpose. The FCC clarified this very use case in an updated statement on their official General Mobile Radio Service page of fcc.gov in 2024, where they state explicitly that the intention of the original Part 95 rules is to prohibit linking repeaters via the internet, in order to create a wide area of coverage from linked GMRS repeaters. 

Example of Prohibited Use by Bad Actor NGGMRS

Although FCC Part 95 rules prohibit individual stations and repeaters from carrying and transmitting voice via the internet (95.1733(a)(8)), bad actors in the Southeast part of the US have and continue to operate a large, wide-area GMRS linked repeater network, comprised of approximately 20 GMRS linked repeaters, connected together via the internet. By their own acknowledgement, they estimate their "pay to play" network covers approximately 40,000 square miles in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, western North Carolina, and South Carolina. 

These ~20 repeaters are owned and operated by one Georgia company headquartered in Newnan, GA, and this company is monopolizing the limited 8 GMRS high-power channels and charging annual fees of no less than $90 for an individual member for their use, which inhibits the ability of Georgia residents, Georgia families, non-profit radio clubs, hobbyists and enthusiasts, and small businesses to setup their own GMRS repeater, or to utilize those 8 high-power channels for radio-to-radio use (simplex) without interference from the linked repeater network. 

While the company, North Georgia GMRS, Inc claims on their website to be a non-profit organization, no Form 990, the official tax document required to be filed with the IRS by non-profits, charities, and political organizations, can be found for North Georgia GMRS, Inc over any time period since its self-reported inception in 2007. Documents filed with the State of Georgia indicate the company was registered as a Georgia Domestic Not-for-Profit Corporation in 2012. The company does not have a Board of Directors, does not allow members to vote, and does not provide any visibility into its financial costs, revenue, donations, or expenses. 

Lack of Enforcement by the FCC

The lack of enforcement of these rules by the FCC not only compromises the intended use of GMRS, it allows bad actors such as the North Georgia GMRS Network to monopolize and monetize the limited radio spectrum allocated to GMRS without repercussion for more than six (6) years. 

To address this issue, we urge the FCC to step up its enforcement efforts regarding the prohibition of internet-linked GMRS repeaters. Clarifying the intent of official Part 95 rules, as the Commission did last year, has proven to not be enough. This company, and surely others like it, flout the Commission's rules boldly and openly, because they've operated for 6+ years with impunity. 

This matter requires urgent attention to restore and maintain the integrity of GMRS channels, not only in the example used here for the state of Georgia, but nationwide. By signing this petition, you are urging the FCC to take decisive action to enforce their own Part 95 regulations and protect GMRS channels allocated specifically to the public, not to a corporation to monetize.