Before the
                     FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                           Washington, DC  20554


In the Matter of                               )
                                               )
Biennial Regulatory Review -- Amendment        )   WT Docket 98-20
of Parts 0, 1, 13, 22, 24, 26, 27, 80, 87,90,  )
95, 97, and 101 of the Commission's Rules      )
to Facilitate the Development and Use of       )
the Universal Licensing System in the          )
Wireless Telecommunications Services           )


                       PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION


Filed by:    Personal Radio Steering Group, Inc.
             PO Box 2851
             Ann Arbor, Michigan  48106
             (734) 662-4533

    Date:    January 13, 1999



I.  BACKGROUND OF THE COMMENTER.


  The Personal Radio Steering Group, Inc. (PRSG) is an
all-volunteer, not-for-profit Michigan corporation established in
1980 by licensees in the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS, FCC
Part 95-A) to provide services to and to serve as an advocate for
the GMRS personal-use community.

  The PRSG has published more than 300 different guides to GMRS
licensing, technology and operating practices. PRSG's flagship
publication, the GMRS NATIONAL REPEATER GUIDE, lists the more than
3,500 GMRS repeaters, their sponsors, technical characteristics and
detailed coverage information.  The GUIDE has become the essential
reference to this cooperative, nonprofit communications network for
licensed private individuals.  PRSG also works closely with major
land mobile equipment manufacturers to disseminate instructional
materials for radio purchasers.


II.  ELIGIBILITY TO PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION.


  The Petitioner filed timely comments and reply comments in this
docket.  Each of the changes requested in this PETITION is eligible
for FCC reconsideration under one or more of the following
justifications:

 >  The adopted rule SIGNIFICANTLY changes existing FCC policy, but
    this change in policy was not proposed by or was not
    acknowledged in the original NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING.

 >  The adopted rule is in contradiction with other established FCC
    rules or with established and continuing FCC policy.

 >  The adopted rule is in material error.

 >  There are additional facts not known or not existing until after
    the Petitioner's last opportunity to present such matters.


III.  THE RULES FAIL TO IMPLEMENT INTENDED F.C.C. POLICY WITH
      REGARDS TO LIMITING SYSTEM MODIFICATIONS BY NON-PERSONAL
      LICENSEES.


  In the REPORT AND ORDER in FCC PR Docket No. 87-265, non-personal
GMRS licensees were "grandfathered" in but prohibited (95.5 and
95.71(e)) from modifying or expanding their operations beyond the
privileges then currently authorized.

  The language in the current REPORT (REPORT AND ORDER, WT Docket
No. 98-20 at paragraph 189) states:

  "Under the proposed rules, we retain the ineligibility of business
   entities to obtain GMRS system licenses and the prohibition
   against business licensees making major modifications.  We remove
   and relocate to Part 1 the specific rules for applying for a new
   or modified license."

The language in the REPORT continues (at paragraph 190):

  "For the benefit of PRSG, which opposes any expansion for
   non-personal licenses under the current rulemaking, we emphasize
   that we are not changing the Commission's rules with respect to
   eligibility for GMRS licenses, and we continue to prohibit
   non-individual licensees from making major modifications to their
   systems."

The language in the REPORT continues (at paragraph 191):

  "Under the all-channel operation plan we adopt, we make all seven
   channels pairs available to GMRS licensees WHO ARE INDIVIDUALS
   (in addition to the already available interstitial channels and
   nationwide channel pair), which in turn permits each GMRS system
   licensee to use the best channel available for its stations at
   any given time or place." [EMPHASIS added.]

  The REPORT clearly establishes that eligibility for all-channel
operations would be only for persons who are station operators under
a license issued to an individual person, and NOT to those operating
under a grandfathered non-individual license.

  The language in the current ORDER (at 95.5) also clearly retains
the intent of these limitations:

  "A non-individual (an entity other than an individual) is
   ineligible to obtain a new GMRS system license or to make a major
   modification to an existing GMRS system license."

  A definition of "major modification" is given in the FCC Rules at
1.929 and 1.947, but neither of these sections specifically
addresses the limitations unique to grandfathered non-personal GMRS
licensees.  With the deletion of 95.71(e), as adopted in the current
R&O, there remains no description of what constitutes such a "major
modification" prohibited by GMRS non-personal licensees.

  Therefore, the statement in the current REPORT (at paragraph 189)
stating that these sections defining major modifications were
relocated to Part 1 is INCORRECT.  The restrictions of the current
95.71(e) would appear NOWHERE in Title 47, contrary to the stated
intent in the current REPORT.

  In APPENDIX A to this PETITION is the specific language that would
need to be incorporated into the FCC Rules to accomplish this stated
intent.

  PRSG also notes that the proposed FCC Form 605 is not sufficient
or appropriate for applicants seeking to renew a GMRS license issued
to an entity other than an individual person.  Instead, the proposed
FCC Form 601 could be used, since the granted license will need to
specify certain technical data.


IV. THE RULES MUST NOT RESTRICT THE USE OF THE "675 CHANNEL PAIR."


  The rules adopted in the current REPORT AND ORDER intend to
convert GMRS into an "all-channel" service for qualified licensees.
Specifically, the adopted rules (in 95.29(a)) would permit the
licensee to select 462.675 MHz (and any of the seven other GMRS 462
MHz frequencies) for certain classes of stations, and (in 95.29(b))
to select 467.675 MHz (and any of the seven other GMRS 467 MHz
frequencies) for certain other classes of stations.

  However, the REPORT AND ORDER retains the language of 95.29(e) and
its subsections limiting the use of the "675 channel pair" (462.675
MHz and 467.675 MHz) solely to assistance and emergency
communications.

  THIS IS INHERENTLY CONFUSING AND CONTRADICTORY.  Is the intent of
the adopted rules to make 675 a general-use channel pair (as
suggested in the adopted 95.29(a) and (b)), or to restrict the use
of this channel pair SOLELY to emergencies and traveler assistance?

  At paragraph 194 of the current REPORT AND ORDER, the FCC exhibits
a PROFOUND MISUNDERSTANDING of the purpose and effect of the
existing rule section 95.29(e).  At the PRSG's request, the FCC
originally created this rule section (REPORT AND ORDER, FCC docket
PR 87-265, at paragraph 35) not to LIMIT use of the 675 channel
pair, but to EXPAND the permissibility of its use by personal
licensees who were not already licensed to operate specifically on
that channel pair.

  There are THOUSANDS of current GMRS users who are licensed today
ONLY for operation on the "675 channel pair," and who use GMRS
transceivers capable of operating ONLY on that channel pair.  Under
the existing rules, they may operate on this particular channel pair
for ALL routine purposes permitted under the scope of their
respective licenses.  (Namely, they are not restricted just to
emergency and traveler assistance communications.)

  The current REPORT AND ORDER retains language (at 95.29(e)) that,
in the context of an otherwise "all-channel" policy, would appear to
restrict the "675 channel pair" SOLELY for emergency and traveler
assistance communications.

  This would constitute imposition of a RADICAL POLICY CHANGE not
separately identified in the NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING for this
Docket, and certainly not supported by the GMRS user community.

  If the 675 channel pair were to be reserved EXCLUSIVELY for
emergency and traveler assistance communications, most licensees who
make their current 675-channel repeaters available to others for
these emergency and traveler assistance communications would have to
change their repeaters' operating frequencies merely to continue to
conduct their own routine (non-emergency and non-traveler-
assistance) communications.  This would decrease the number of
repeaters on the 675 channel pair nationally and would thereby
substantially reduce the viability of this channel pair for
emergency and traveler-assistance communications.

  In an "all channel" operating environment, the language of
95.29(e) is no longer necessary, is entirely contradictory to the
intent of this docket, and should therefore be removed.


V.  THE RULES FAIL TO DEFINE "CHANNEL PAIRS."


  The language adopted by the current REPORT AND ORDER perpetuates a
confusion between "frequency," "channel" and "channel pair." For
instance, the REPORT AND ORDER refers to but does not define
"channel pair" in 95.29(a), allowing the misimpression that a "pair"
of channels might consist of any TWO frequencies of the eight shown
in that subparagraph (a).

  The same problem exists in the language adopted for 95.29(b).

  Only in the brief and limited example in 95.29(e) is the concept
of "channel pair" illustrated.  (However, PRSG recommends the
deletion of 95.29(e), as discussed previously in this PETITION.)

  This confusion exists in the current Rules as well, but the impact
is limited because operating frequencies of the "channel pairs" are
assigned on and by the license (or are authorized in 95.29(e)).

  PRSG recommends that "channel pair" be specifically defined as:

  "A `channel pair' consists of two frequencies, one of the eight
   shown in 95.29(a) and the corresponding one shown in 95.29(b)
   that is precisely 5.000 MHz higher."


VI.  THE RULES FAIL TO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF FREQUENCIES USED FOR
     SIMULTANEOUS TRANSMISSION.


  The language adopted by the current REPORT AND ORDER for 95.29(a)
and suggests that multiple channels could be used SIMULTAEOUSLY by
the same stations.  This would constitute MULTIPLE-CHANNEL
SIMULCASTING, a practice that would be very wasteful of spectrum and
contrary to the necessary concept that channels must be shared with
other users.

  PRSG requests that the FCC modify the language of 95.29(a) to
read:

  "... the licensee of a GMRS system issued to an individual person
   must select the transmitting frequency for the stations in the
   GMRS system from the following 462 MHz frequencies: ..."

  PRSG requests that the FCC make a similar change in the language
of 95.29(b) with reference to selection and use of the listed 467
MHz frequencies.


VII.  THE RULES FAIL TO ADDRESS "CROSS-CHANNEL" OR "CROSS-SERVICE"
      REPEATER OPERATIONS.


  Under the current assigned-channel concept, the authorizing
license specifies the frequency on which a particular GMRS repeater
may transmit.  The authorizing license also specifies the frequency
on which a GMRS control station or a GMRS mobile station unit may
transmit (and on which the repeater receives) those communications
that the repeater retransmits.  Current rule 95.57 (which the
current REPORT AND ORDER would delete) establishes and limits those
stations whose communications a repeater station may retransmit.

  The language adopted by the current REPORT AND ORDER would permit
a repeater to transmit on ANY of the eight frequencies listed in
95.29(a), and would place no restrictions on the frequency or even
on the radio service from or through which the repeater receives the
communication.

  Thus, the FCC has inadvertently adopted language that would permit
repeaters to retransmit cross-channel and even cross-service
communications.

  Such cross-channel and cross-service repeater retransmissions
would create extreme difficulty for licensed GMRS users, for
instance in complying with pre-transmission monitoring and
channel-sharing requirements.

  PRSG requests that the following language be added:

  "A GMRS repeater may retransmit only those GMRS communications
   that it receives on the same frequency on which it transmits, or
   on the frequency precisely 5.000 MHz higher than the frequency on
   which it transmits."


VIII.  THE RULES INAPPROPRIATELY IMPOSE AN ENTIRELY NEW DEFINITION
       OF "REPEATER" THAT IS INCONSISTENT WITH CURRENT TECHNOLOGY
       AND OPERATIONS.


  The current rules (at 95.57(a)) define a mobile relay station
implicitly as one that

  "... automatically (without immediate thought or action by the
   station operator) retransmit(s) communications ...."

This is the commonly understood definition of a GMRS repeater. 

  The NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING in the current docket proposed
no new definition of a mobile relay station (repeater).

  However, the REPORT AND ORDER inappropriately (without public
notice or opportunity for public comment) adopted a change that now
labels mobile relay stations as "repeaters" and (in a RADICAL
MODIFICATION of existing policy) changes the definition (at
95.29(a)) to:

  "... a GMRS station that SIMULTANEOUSLY retransmits the
   transmissions of another GMRS station on a different channel or
   channels ...."  [EMPHASIS added.]

  PRSG staff members have extensive experience monitoring GMRS
mobile relay stations (repeaters), including comparing the input and
output signals.  In our experience, virtually ALL GMRS repeaters
introduce some degree of delay in the transmitted signal when
compared with the received signal.  GMRS repeater retransmissions
are NOT "simultaneous."

  Moreover, there are devices now routinely available through
consumer electronics stores that, when connected to ANY transceiver,
enable that station functionally to become a repeater.  (For
instance, see the "SIMPLEX REPEATER," part number 19-345, on page 60
of the 1999 edition of the Radio Shack "Answers Catalog.")  This
device functions by storing received audio and then retransmitting
that audio upon the termination of the received signal.

  If the FCC retains the language inappropriately adopted by the
current REPORT AND ORDER, then persons could configure stations to
operate in what is functionally a repeater mode, but these stations
could operate by receiving and transmitting on frequencies and with
technical parameters that the FCC rules do not permit for repeater
operation.  These functional repeaters would be exempt from the
standards that the FCC otherwise requires of repeaters merely
because these station do not "simultaneously" retransmit
communications.

  For example, a person could operate a small base station on a 462
MHz GMRS interstitial frequency (shared with the Family Radio
Service) as a functional repeater, in violation of the FCC intent
that these interstitial frequencies

  "provide for direct (non-repeater-assisted) communications that do
   not risk substantial interference from repeater operation ...."

       -- (REPORT AND ORDER, PR Docket No. 87-265, at paragraph 64) 


Similarly, a person could operate a control station on a 467 MHz
GMRS frequency in a manner to establish wide-area, multiple-hop
repeater linking.

  Both of these types of operation would cause significant
interference to other lawful GMRS users, and would result in
operations that are contrary to the intended use of the limited GMRS
spectrum for "short-distance" communications.  (See 95.1.)

  PRSG requests that the FCC modify the language adopted by the
current REPORT AND ORDER for 95.29(a) and replace it with the
implicit definition of a mobile relay (repeater) as contained in the
current 95.57(a).


IX.  THE LANGUAGE OF 95.179(D) IS CONTRADICTORY AND SHOULD BE
     ELIMINATED.


  The language adopted in the current REPORT AND ORDER establishes
and limits the eligibility of those persons who may be operators of
a station licensed to an individual person (95.179(a)).

  However, the language of 95.179(d), which the REPORT AND ORDER
does NOT modify or delete, extends eligibility to be a station
operator beyond the immediate family to ANY person who is also
eligible to be an operator in ANY OTHER radio system licensed to an
individual.

  "The station operator of a GMRS system licensed to an individual
   may be a station operator in any other GMRS system if he/she has
   permission from the licensee of the other GMRS system."

  The language of 95.179(d) contradicts that of 95.179(a) and
violates the concept that only immediate family members should be
eligible to operate under a GMRS license issued to an individual
person.  The FCC should therefore delete 95.179(d).


                                  Corwin D. Moore, Jr.
                                  Administrative Coordinator
                                  Personal Radio Steering Group Inc.

=====================================================================


                               APPENDIX A.

                      REQUESTED CHANGES IN LANGUAGE
                      IN THE F.C.C. RULES GOVERNING
                     THE GENERAL MOBILE RADIO SERVICE


Section 95.7 should be amended by revising the first sentence of
paragraph (a) to read as follows:

(a) Channels or channel pairs (see 95.29(c)) are available to GMRS
    systems only on a shared basis and will not be assigned for the
    exclusive use of any licensee.
    * * * * *


Section 95.29 should be amended by revising adopted paragraphs (a)
and (b), by inserting new paragraphs (c) and (d), by eliminating the
adopted paragraph (e) and replacing it with an entirely new
paragraph (e), by redesignating the current paragraph (f) as
paragraph (g) and adding a new subparagraph (g)(4), by adding an
entirely new paragraph (f), and by redesignating the current
paragraph (g) as paragraph (h).

(a) For a base station, fixed station, mobile station, or repeater
    station (a GMRS station that automatically and without immediate
    thought or action by the station operator retransmits the
    transmission of another GMRS station), the licensee of a GMRS
    system licensed to an individual person must select the
    transmitting frequency for the stations in the GMRS system from
    the following 462 MHz channels:

          462.5500        462.5750       462.6000        462.6250
          462.6500        462.6750       462.7000 and    462.7250.

(b) For a mobile station or control station, or for a fixed station
    operated in the duplex mode, the licensee of a GMRS system
    licensed to an individual person must select the transmitting
    frequency for the stations in the GMRS system from the
    following 467 MHz frequencies:

          467.5500        467.5750       467.6000        467.6250
          467.6500        467.6750       467.7000 and    467.7250.

    Except for a fixed station operated in the duplex mode, these
    467 MHz frequencies may be used only to transmit communications
    through a repeater station and for remotely controlling a
    repeater station.

(c) A "channel pair" consists of two frequencies, one of the eight
    shown in 95.29(a) and the corresponding one shown in 95.29(b)
    that is precisely 5.000 MHz higher.

(d) A GMRS repeater may retransmit only those GMRS communications
    that it receives on the same frequency on which it transmits, or
    on the frequency that is precisely 5.000 MHz higher than the
    frequency on which it transmits.  

(e) For a base station, fixed station, mobile station, or repeater
    station (a GMRS station that automatically and without immediate
    thought or action by the station operator retransmits the
    transmission of another GMRS station), the licensee of a GMRS
    system issued to an entity other than an individual person may
    use only the 462 MHz frequency authorized on the license for
    that station.

(f) For a mobile station, control station, or fixed station operated
    in the duplex mode, the licensee of a GMRS system issued to an
    entity other than an individual person may use only the 467 MHz
    frequency authorized on the license for that station.  Except
    for a fixed station operated in the duplex mode, the 467 MHz
    frequency may be used only to transmit communications through a
    repeater station and for remotely controlling a repeater
    station.

(g) Except for a GMRS system licensed to a non-individual, a mobile
    station or a small base station operating in the simplex mode
    may transmit on the following 462 MHz interstitial channels:

    462.5625  462.5875  462.6125  462.6375  462.6625  462.6875 and
    462.7125.

    These channels may be used only under the following conditions:

     (1) Only voice type emissions may be transmitted;

     (2) The station does not transmit one-way pages;

     (3) The station transmits with no more than 5 watts ERP; and

     (4) The station must not automatically repeat (without
         immediate thought or action by the station operator)
         the transmission of any other station.

(h) Fixed stations in GMRS systems authorized before March 18, 1968,
    located 160 kilometers (100 miles) or more from the geographic
    center of urbanized areas of 200,000 or more population as
    defined in the U.S. Census of Population, 1960, Vol. 1, Table
    23, page 50 that were authorized to transmit on channels other
    than those listed in this section may continue to transmit on
    their originally assigned channels provided that they cause no
    interference to the operation of stations in any of the Part 90
    private land mobile radio services.


Section 95.179(d) should be deleted and reserved.