ARRL Audio News August 7, 2026

The FCC Enforcement Bureau has issued a notice of violation to Gary M. Beckstead Sr. of Newman, Georgia.

We're operating a network of nearly two dozen linked General Mobile Radio Service, GMRS, repeaters in violation of FCC rules for the service.

Beckstead is co-founder and chief executive officer of North Georgia GMRS Incorporated and licensee of GMRS station WQYU407.

He also holds amateur radio license WB4GMB.

According to the FCC notice, there are only eight repeater frequency pairs shared nationwide by more than 300,000 active GMRS licensees and millions of family radio service users.

Because GMRS spectrum is so limited, the service only works, as intended, when local users can hear each other and cooperate in the sharing of channels.

Linking multiple repeaters is not in the public interest because it enables the retransmission of messages over much larger geographic areas, thereby utilizing local availability for the GMRS channels, monopolizing a limited-spectrum resource and increasing the potential for interference.

It also notes that GMRS repeaters may be connected to the telephone network or other networks, such as the Internet, only for the purpose of remote control.

Repeater linking is permitted in the amateur radio service, but not for GMRS communications for the reasons explained in the notice.

Enforcement Bureau agents monitored several of Beckstead's GMRS repeaters this past February, according to the notice, and observed that repeaters were connected via the Internet and were being used to convey messages to multiple repeaters for simultaneous transmission on the repeaters' respective over-the-air output frequencies.

That's in violation of Section 95.1749 of the Commission's rules.

Beckstead was given 20 days to fully explain the violation and spell out the specific actions taken to correct the violation and preclude recurrence.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau has issued a notice of violation to Gary M. Beckstead Sr. of Newman, Georgia.

We're operating a network of nearly two dozen linked General Mobile Radio Service, GMRS, repeaters in violation of FCC rules for the service.

Beckstead is co-founder and chief executive officer of North Georgia GMRS Incorporated and licensee of GMRS station WQYU407.

He also holds amateur radio license WB4GMB.

According to the FCC notice, there are only eight repeater frequency pairs shared nationwide by more than 300,000 active GMRS licensees and millions of family radio service users.

Because GMRS spectrum is so limited, the service only works, as intended, when local users can hear each other and cooperate in the sharing of channels.

Linking multiple repeaters is not in the public interest because it enables the retransmission of messages over much larger geographic areas, thereby utilizing local availability for the GMRS channels, monopolizing a limited-spectrum resource and increasing the potential for interference.

It also notes that GMRS repeaters may be connected to the telephone network or other networks, such as the Internet, only for the purpose of remote control.

Repeater linking is permitted in the amateur radio service, but not for GMRS communications for the reasons explained in the notice.

Enforcement Bureau agents monitored several of Beckstead's GMRS repeaters this past February, according to the notice, and observed that repeaters were connected via the Internet and were being used to convey messages to multiple repeaters for simultaneous transmission on the repeaters' respective over-the-air output frequencies.

That's in violation of Section 95.1749 of the Commission's rules.

Beckstead was given 20 days to fully explain the violation and spell out the specific actions taken to correct the violation and preclude recurrence.