08/10/2026
The FCC Enforcement Bureau has issued a Notice of Violation[1] to Gary M.
Beckstedt, Sr., of Newnan, Georgia, for operating a network of nearly two dozen
linked General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) repeaters in violation of FCC rules
for the service. Beckstedt is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of North
Georgia GMRS, Inc., 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 limiting localized availability of the GMRS channels,
monopolizing a limited spectrum resource, and increasing the potential for
interference." It 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 Beckstedt's GMRS repeaters this
past February, according to the Notice, and observed that the 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, in violation of section 95.1749 of the
Commission's rules."
Beckstedt was given 20 days to "fully explain the violation" and spell out "the
specific action(s) taken to correct the violation and preclude recurrence."
[1] https://www.fcc.gov/document/gary-m-beckstedt-sr-licensee-station-wqyu407
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