Back in 2010 the FCC proposed changes to the Part 95 rules, including FRS, GMRS and CB. On April 27, 2017, the commission issued a Report and Order for consideration, effectively re-writing Part 95.
This reform affects all Personal Radio Services, including GMRS.
It includes some major changes, such as raising the wattage of FRS radios from .5 watt to 2 watts and allowing FRS and GMRS radios to transmit and receive digital data for location information and short text messages.
I’m good with it. Seems they took everyone’s concerns in mind and came up with a decent compromise. It could be better… it could be worse.
I’m not a repeater user and have no major need for mobile radios. The increased power and such may be enough to where I may have no need for my GMRS license, as I use it for simplex family comms. The extra 1.5 watts, if correctly implemented in a radio would yield a bit better building penetration.
It will be very interesting to see what the industry comes up with. I can imagine, they will flood the market with some great clearance deals on the soon to be obsolete dual service radios.