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Local communities in all of the US have depended on LINKED GMRS repeaters for years. GMRS radio has been a great help, especially for rural communities, in terms of public safety and coordination of community members and emergency resources. Just last year, living in a rural area of northern Arizona, someone intentionally cut a trunk line that caused an outage of both cellular and WIFI services, in a large area of northern Arizona. It was virtually impossible to call 911 in the event of an emergency. The outage lasted nearly 48 hours and affected tens of thousands of Arizona residents. I personally know of an individual in our community that was unable to get help when her father was having a heart attack. She had to get a neighbor to drive herself and her father to the closest hospital that is over 30 minutes away. Fortunately, her father survived but it could have easily been fatal. We in the southwest are in great danger of potentially devastating wildfires. Insurance companies are leaving major areas of our state due to the potential of wildfires, leaving thousands of residents without the ability to purchase insurance. Linked GMRS repeaters give us the ability to coordinate better with first responders and have more communications with our neighbors in an emergency, essential to saving property and lives. PLEASE allow owners of GMRS Repeaters to again link their repeaters to assist our communities to better protect ourselves in the event of emergencies.
Sincerely,
Steve Cavender
FCC Licensed GMRS radio operator, WSDC435
Steve supported: Demand FCC to Allow All Network Connections to GMRS Repeaters and RadiosI'm new with GMRS. I work for a telephone company and understand the importance in communication during an emergency. Denying the ability for GMRS Repeaters to link with one another would be the same effect in the phone industry as not having a BACKUP infrastructure. GMRS is & used by 1st Responders. Nobody plans when an emergency occurs and where it may occur. As a Central Office Network Technician, it doesn't make any sense not to use an infrastructure that exists as a BACKUP or an ADDITIONAL system that works without any additional $$$.
Tom supported: Demand FCC to Allow All Network Connections to GMRS Repeaters and RadiosIn response to the "DELETE, DELETE, DELETE" memorandum, I am petitioning the FCC to allow all network connections to GMRS repeaters and radios by striking Part 95.1733(a)(8) and Part 95.1749 of the Personal Radio Services Rules, enacted in May 2017. These regulations led to the shutdown of once-thriving GMRS repeater networks, including those run by REACT International, MyGMRS, the New York State GMRS Alliance Club, the North Georgia GMRS Network, and others. These networks provided significant public benefit, especially in times of emergency, but their utility has been severely limited by overregulation. When Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina in late September 2024, these repeater systems were already offline due to enforcement actions taken in August 2024. Natural disasters and climate change are increasingly threatening traditional wireline infrastructure—such as coaxial cable, fiber, and terrestrial cell towers dependent on wireline backhaul. If the GMRS networks had remained operational, emergency response during the storm could have been significantly improved for the residents of North Carolina. Part 95.1733(a)(8) should be revised to clearly permit wireline control links—including Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) technologies like the Pi-Star Hotspot—as long as they operate below 50 watts ERP. Furthermore, Part 95.1749, originally implemented in 1988 to protect long-distance toll revenues, is outdated. In today's world of unlimited long-distance plans and widespread VoIP services, this restriction no longer serves the public interest. Therefore, I urge the FCC to remove Part 95.1733(a)(8) and Part 95.1749 to permanently allow GMRS repeaters and stations to link via the internet or other networked systems.
Sean supported: Demand FCC to Allow All Network Connections to GMRS Repeaters and RadiosYou’re not alone — a community of supporters is ready to back you.
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