Wednesday, September 27, 2017

New Personal Radio (Part 95) Rules Take Effect Tomorrow



The FCC's rewrite of its rules for the Part 95 Personal Radio Services takes effect tomorrow, September 28, 2017.

Major changes include removing the 155-mile distance limit on CB contacts (which had virtually never been observed anytime the band was open in the past 50 years); addition of new Family Radio Service (FRS) channels (shared with GMRS, the General Mobile Radio Service); GMRS power restrictions on the channels newly shared with FRS, and allowing GMRS licensees to send text messages in addition to voice transmissions. (See July CQ, p. 26, for a more comprehensive look at the changes in various personal radio services.)

The Federal Register announcement is at:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/08/29/2017-17395/personal-radio-service-reform

The complete text of the new Part 95 Report & Order is at:
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-344617A1.pdf
(Be aware: it's 114 pages long)