As the owner and founder of the USA GMRS Association (www.usagmrs.com), I myself, would be totally against any GMRS repeater(s) becoming part of or having access to any part of the ASL network(s). Opening that can of worms would unleash a rabbit of terror that neither the Amateur world or the GMRS world would want or care to deal with. I say that with all due respect to both bands of radio operators.
As a person who has over many years experience within the RF industry (30+) as RF Engineer, over 26 years as a Software Engineer, along with being the owner of many two-way radio sales & service centers, answering services, call centers, ISPs, Data warehouse(s), etc… putting together a GMRS linked system for me would be like riding a bicycle, easy peasy. So I think I can say with certainty, based on my years of experience and my education, that allowing a portal that would give radio operators of both GMRS and Amateur to sign up and apply for a “number” to be issued for their repeater/base/nodes (or any other name you want to call a linked set of Rf equipment) on the same network system or even a website shared for such would be one of the biggest mistakes ASL would or could make.
I have said from the beginning in many of my circles, both privately and within the social media world, that there would be no way I would allow for or provide for the ability to use any software on the USA GMRS linked system that could/would allow for interconnection or connection to the EchoLink or AllstarLink networks. Maybe ten years down the road it might happen — but not today.
Lets face it, Amateur radio operators of today are not anything like the Amateur radio operators of 60 years ago. Educated and responsible individuals. Back then it required individuals with a little more smarts and abilities to build their own radios (and yes I mean build their own radios), repair their own radios, and know more about the FCC rules than the Amateur operators of today. Most of the Amateur radio operators of today are for the most part ex-CBers that managed to memorize about 180 questions to a 35 question exam and received their tech license. I would estimate that about 60% or better couldn’t fix their own radio (let alone repeaters) today if they had to. And, for the most part, a lot of Amateur radio operators look down on any other radio operators (can we say GMRS) that don’t have a Amateur radio license. I see and hear it daily, especially when I mention the letters GMRS. Just look at the responses here at the beginning of this post when some heard that a GMRS repeater or link radio might be on a Amateur channel. No offense intended to Amateur radio operators but is just true facts. The same could be said for the GMRS radio operator. GMRS operators of today are also, for the most part, ex-Cbers that didn’t feel they should have to take a test and don’t care about talking on 200 or more frequencies around the globe and only wish to be able to communicate with family and friends locally and/or around this country. So they pay a $70.00 license fee and (unlike Amateurs) they can talk to ALL their family members without having to require each member to have a license of their own. Again, no offense to the GMRS operator but the facts are the facts. I was at a ham club a few months back to give a talk (I’m invited to many each year to give talks on many different subjects) about bonding and grounding. When I was asked if I was a ham operator by several members there and I said I’m a GMRS operator three of those members made the statement “who the hell wants to mess with that crap?”. I’ve also received the same responses toward hams when talking to a group of GMRS operators. Both worlds, just like any group of people, have their share of squirrels. I must say though, at least I haven’t seen any of the Amateur operators putting “talk back” and reverb units on their radios like I’ve seen with some GMRS operators of late…not yet that is.
Look, I have many a Amateur radio operator asking me how to install and use ASL. Some of them that ask (about maybe 60%) know something about software and coding so working with them to get ASL up and running is not that big of a deal. I also have many, many GMRS operators that ask me to setup their link network and about 98% of them have no software coding abilities what so ever. Many don’t even know what linking means except that they heard something about it on a social media site and want it on their radios. Just stop and look at how many are putting up simplex repeaters and that should tell you something. I don’t care what you say or think, buying/building a “simplex repeater” setup and attaching it to a network of associated real repeaters is about as stupid and idiotic as the day is long (my opinion of course) — and that my friends is happening more and more on “networks” within the GMRS world daily. Even one individual on here has bragged about how they offer “simplex nodes” (which are really simplex repeaters). Is that something you want to have to deal with on a ASL network… I don’t think so. And do you really want to deal with providing tech support to a bunch of radio operators that don’t even know what kind of radio they can use or even know how a repeater works? Again, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t… I’ve done that type of tech support before, back in the day (starting in 1997) when the dial up Internet first came about. You haven’t had any real fun till you gotten hold of a few 60 year old people that couldn’t understand why you needed a computer to get on the internet. Now try explaining to them why they need a repeater.
In ending let me say this, when I turn up the state/nation wide USA GMRS network of linked repeaters (as seen at http://www.usagmrs.com/repeaterlistings.html) it will be because I own those repeaters and the master servers. I will only allow other privately owned repeaters to join the network if and only if I install the software and am the only one who has access to service or make modifications to said repeater controllers. That way the network will be maintained in a proper manner, I can control the type of ROIP equipment on it, and insure it never ever has the ability to interfere or cause interference on any Amateur RF network. Now even I know I can’t control what a squirrel does in their own home by installing a node that can do both, but at least I can prevent it from occurring thru our servers. There are now many privately own networks of GMRS repeaters, many of which the owners/operators know nothing to speak of about Asterisk software and which will probably be the leading cause of why FCC might be changing it’s mind on GMRS linking because of the interference caused by a few idiots that know not what they are doing.
I hope that the powers to be at ASL will give it some serious consideration before moving forward with allowing GMRS to coexist on the same webpage or portal as that of the ASL network. I think there are areas that GMRS and Amateur can coexist but not on this play ground. We must all remember that Amateur radio is a hobby by design, and no matter what you say or think — GMRS is not — and that must be considered every time one thinks of doing something “different” within the GMRS world.
William R Howell
USA GMRS Association
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