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15 August 2018

FCC Says NO to FM CB Radio and Increases Power Output on FRS


The FCC has published an update to it's Part 95 rules which mainly concern personal radio services such as the Family Radio Service (FRS), the US equivalent to the EU's PMR446, and the main headline is that FM (Frequency Modulation) will NOT be coming to the CB Radio service in the US.

(Click to enlarge)


Radio manufacturers, importers and sellers had been lobbying the FCC for a change to allow the use of FM (Something which I actually agree with) but the FCC appear to have closed the door on that happening anytime soon.

However they have decided to lift the long standing restriction which made it illegal for US CB Radio operators to DX (Talk over long distances). The current rules state that no communications over 155 miles are allowed, this rule will be removed from the new legislation when it comes into force thus legalising DX-ing!


Changes to FRS (Family Radio Service):

The FCC have also said that they intend to reform the Family Radio Service by allowing in increase in output power and adding more channels. 


(New FRS Channels - Click to enlarge)


Currently, FRS radios are allowed to TX with an output power of 0.5w (The same as the EU's PMR446 service) but this is to be increased to 2w output power. In addition the number of channels will increase to 22 using the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) channels which were previously available with a licence but will now just become part of the FRS. 

This change has come about basically because it was noted that very few people bothered to get a licence to use the higher powered GMRS radios and it had been demonstrated that there was a need for higher powered radios for everyday use by the public. 

(Anyone want to see higher power allowed on PMR446????)


You can read the full (Extensive) document on the Federal Register website by clicking HERE





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