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.
As of May 11, 2021, the fee is still $70. as I stepped though the application process until I saw the price...will be waiting.
I have am fcc gmrs license i've had mine since may2017 at that time i paid $50 for a 5year license but i read a couple of months ago the fee to renew or 1st time licenses was going to $80 i heard nothing of it going down that's great they can make their real money by cracking down on unlicensed users people whn think they know the rules better than a licensed radio operater and the parents of kids who play on gmrs channel 1 and the parents won't listen to someone who has a license why should they get away with it and we who try to follow the rules and law can't?
The Fee as of 04-29-2021 is definitely $70 all day long. I just tried again to apply and it says $70. What probably is going to happen is that they are going to shoot down the proposal to drop the fee to $35 and just say, "wooops, Sorry for getting your hopes up". The FCC is out to make money, not cater to people who want to enjoy radio and want to get into it (If those people exist anymore). Radio is dead. Up here in Maine, I found one GMRS repeater that exists and it sits at someone's house on an antenna surrounded by fir trees. Outside of that, I have sat here and monitored GMRS on my SDRs (which gives you the whole repeater portion of the band) and there are none. Its pretty sad because I USED to enjoy radio, as in, I was obsessed with it. Its dead. I cant believe the FCC thinks they are going to make money on a dead band. Unless that's their way to get rid of it. Who knows.
I Received an email from Roland Helvajian from the FCC about the GMRS Fee here is what he stated in the email from 04/24/2021. "We don’t have a specific date yet, but anticipate that the extensive wireless upgrades to ULS will take it all the way to October or November. After the upgrades have been completed, the new application fee rates will become effective via a Federal Register notice."
Thank you for your inquiry.
Roland
I applied for a GMRS license yesterday 04/23/2021 and it was $70. Can't wait on the Govt. to change things.
when will the cost from 70.00 go down to 35.00 on the gmrs fee?
I bet it doesn't take them too long to start collecting the $35 for ham licenses... it shouldn't be such a large task to update some pricing on a website... Just sayin...
Contacted the FCC license bureau and they confirmed the GMRS license fee is now $35.00 and they are now in the process of updating the system.
The Congressional Notification is probably not the long pole in the tent.
I would suspect that given all that is on the FCC's plate and their limited resources, that recoding (lowering) some GMRS fees is not a Top Priority to them.
Yes, Boss, I am aware of the new requirement to update the system, but unless you hired more IT resources, I have 20 other projects already assigned. I will get to it when I get to it.
I just got off the phone with the FCC the guy said the GMRS fee change may be at the end of the year or somtime next year. I told the Fcc guy the Federal Reister Schedule of Application Fees from March 19th and the Effective Date: 04/19/2021, The FCC guy said that no one told his bosses at the FCC about that.. .
The GMRS fee is still $70.00 as of 04/192021 Tomorrow it still will be $70 an a month or a year from now the fee will still be $70..
The effective date is April 19, 2021 per Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 52. Table 2 to Paragraph (c) GMRS New fee - Please refer to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) Fee Filing Guide for information on the payment of an associated regulatory fee. The referenced WTB Fee Requirements on the FCC Website is dated September 3, 2015 and the fee type code is PAZM $65.00 as of April 19, 2021.
As of this morning (so far), the fee is still showing as $70.
Is there any timeframe when the fee will be reduced ? I want to get licensed as well. Thank you....
As the article stated, "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." Once the FCC publishes the notice, we will know the effective date.
It appears April 19th is the effective date per FCC DOC# 2021-03042
Your above article is incorrect. Paragraph 2; "On December 29, 2021 the FCC issued a FCC Report"... as of the time of this post, it is April 5, 2021. :-)
As of my typing this (04-02-2021 2008hrs est) The cost for a GMRS license is $70!
There are some requirements to take place that I think push it to the end of the summer.
Er, no, read the order, especially section 44:
44. It is further ordered that Commission's rules are amended as set forth in in the back of this summary, and such rule amendments shall be effective 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register, except for §§ 1.1102, 1.1103, 1.1104, 1.1105, 1.1106, 1.1107, and 1.1109, which require notice to Congress and also require certain updates to the FCC's information technology systems and internal procedures to ensure efficient and effective implementation. Sections 1.1102, 1.1103, 1.1104, 1.1105, 1.1106, 1.1107, and 1.1109 will not take effect until the requisite notice has been provided to Congress, the FCC's information technology systems and internal procedures have been updated, and the Commission publishes notice(s) in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of such rules.
The ARRL leadership is saying that date is not firm. https://www.facebook.com/groups/127663077278854/permalink/4166098620101926/