UPDATE March 23, 2022: The FCC license fees will take effect on April 19, 2022. Read more.
UPDATE: The original article posted a specific date for activation, which turned out to be in error. We have since updated the article to correct the error and clarify the implementation process. We apologize for the error.
Last year the FCC announced new license application fees for various radio services, including the Amateur Radio Service and the GMRS. While the announcement received mixed response from the users of these services, it also created some confusion as to exactly when these new fees would begin to be enforced.
On December 29, 2020 the FCC issued a FCC Report and Order announcing the new fees. According to the document, the fee for an amateur radio technician, general or extra license, which previously was without charge, will now cost $35. The fee will apply to vanity call signs as well. The cost of a GMRS license will decrease from $70 to only $35. The licenses for both services are valid for 10 years.
When we first reported the FCC approval of the new ham and GMRS license fees back in December, there was no official date set for their implementation. This Report and Order would become effective after it was to be published in the Federal Register. However, some parts of it, including the applications fees, would not become effective until it is approved by Congress.
The Schedule of Application Fees of the Commission's Rules was published in the Federal Register March 19, 2021. According to the notice, the fees officially take effect once it is sent to Congress and the FCC's systems have been updated. The FCC will then publish a notice of the actual effective date. Update: Amateur and GMRS license fees change to $35 on April 19, 2022. Read for details.
If you are planning to obtain a ham radio license or vanity call sign, you still have time to do so without incurring the new $35 fee. If you want to buy a GMRS license and pay the lower fee, you may want to wait little awhile longer. Either way, we'll be here at Buy Two Way Radios to help you save on your ham, GMRS, and any other business or personal radios and radio accessories you may need.
IT'S BEEN UPDATED!!!
I'm legal on GMRS for $35??
As of 3/21/22 it is still a $70 fee.
Interested in doing things right. Love radio but .....
$35 sounds better than $70
Still $70. Not getting one until it is $35.
27 Feb 2022
Still $70
I called FCC today and spoke with licensing and fees office and the fellow stated that they have not changed the fee as yet. It remains $70.00 and he has no idea of when it will drop to $35. Of course, this is contrary to the Federal Registry of March 2021.
2/2/22 still 70.00 yet. If you want it you'll pay it. Government is weak.
As of 02/02/2022 fee is still 70 dollars.
Guys - it's going to take more than publication of the fee change. "According to the notice, the fees officially take effect once it is sent to Congress and the FCC's systems have been updated." Once that happens then the FCC will publish the new fees.
The problem is more than publication - the company that won the bid to update the FCC systems received a TWO YEAR contract to do so. They received that award in November 2021. So maybe sometime in 2023 the fees will drop to $35. Until then, it's $70 bucks...
Still $70 as of Jan 18, 2022
Still showing $70 as of today,
Come on guys! It has made it to the registry, but Congress hasn't approved the changes yet! It must clear Congress before changes can be made! Contact your congressman to get on with approvals!
AS of 1-3-2022, the fee for a GMRS is STILL $70, so the FCC hasn't reduced it yet. WTF???
It looks like the FCC does not care to follow the rules. They already have the order that took effect on April 19, 2021to change the fees.
Just another Government run place that doesn't care about the American citizens.
As of 12/26/2021 The FCC has not changed the fee for a GMRS radio license to $35. Since the Federal Registry had already ruled on the fee changes and put them into effect on April 19,2021, the FCC is not compiling with the order of the change. I had called the FCC and they said they were waiting for someone to tell them that the fees are to be changed. The Federal Registry's putting them into effect is the order for the FCC to change them. The FCC should be following the Federal Registry, not waiting on one of their own to tell them.
As of 11-22-21 still $70
Your end of November 2021 update.... still $70
Today is Nov 18, 2021. The fee is still $70. Or at least that is what they just charged me. Not going to break the bank but still sort of aggravating that its still charging us twice as much purely because of incompetence on the part of the website administrators.
Oct 24: Still $70. I filed a support request asking about the fee. I don't expect to hear anything back, sadly.
Per the Federal Register, as of April 19, 2021 the new fees should already have taken effect.
I called the FCC and got a response of we are waiting for them to tell us to change the fees.
Somehow someone is not doing their job.
The fees that were published did not include the amateur and GMRS radio services. At the time it was explained that the fees for the latter two would be published separately at a later date, which is yet to be determined.