On Mastodon, Victoria (K8VSY) (she/her) @k8vsy posted:

Looks like GMRS license holders can also send letters about the HOA bill: https://send-a-letter.org/gmrs.

For more info about the HOA bill working its way through Congress: https://www.arrl.org/current-legislation. ¹

This got me thinking. What if the ARRL morphed itself into the “national association for personal radio” and included advocacy for services like GRMS, FRS, MURS, and other “personal” radio services? I suppose that I should have done more research before posting this, but off the top, it seems like this might be a good thing for the ARRL to do. I just did a quick internet search for “GMRS national association,” but while there were links to repeater directories and associations, I didn’t find an actual organization like the ARRL.

There are hundreds of thousands of GMRS licensees in the U.S., and many radio amateurs also have GMRS licenses. I have one myself. And, GMRS licensees face many of the same issues—both technical and regulatory—as radio amateurs. Doesn’t it make sense for the two groups to unite? Together, we could be a stronger advocacy group than going it alone. The fight over the HOA bill might just be the impetus for this.