Reminder, GMRS is NOT for commercial use.
06/24/2013
The FCC has assessed Remel Inc and its parent company Thermo Fisher Scientific Company Inc $30,000 for “willful and repeated” unlawful radio operations on a General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) frequency for more than 9 years. The Commission issued the Notice of Apparent Liability and Forfeiture (NAL) on June 13. According to the FCC, GMRS is a land mobile radio service available to individuals for “short-distance, two-way communication to facilitate the activities of licensees and their immediate family members.” Part 95 GMRS licenses are only available to individuals. “Entities primarily engaged in communications associated with commercial activity, such as the companies, must instead apply for Commission authorization under the Industrial/Business Pool of the PLMRS [Private Land Mobile Radio Service],” the FCC told the companies. The FCC warned Thermo Fisher in 2012 about its operation of an unlicensed base station repeater on 462.575 MHz at its facility in Lenexa, Kansas. Thermo Fisher told the FCC that it had operated handheld radio transmitters “for a number of years” but discontinued their operation last year as soon as the firm became aware that the radios were not properly licensed.