How to Get a GMRS License

October 5, 2026

GME XRS Connect GMRS radio, handset and antenna laid out on a wooden workbench

A GMRS license costs $35, lasts 10 years and has no test. You apply online with the FCC, and one license covers your immediate family. Here's the whole process, start to finish.

/DO YOU NEED A GMRS LICENSE?

You need one to transmit on any GMRS channel, not only through repeaters. Radio to radio, with nobody else in the chain, still counts. Listening needs no license.

FRS radios, the bubble-pack kind, are the exception. They share channels 1 to 22 but run at 2 watts or less on a fixed antenna, and need no license. A GMRS radio like the XRS-660-U handheld or an XRS-330C-U in the car does.

GME XRS-330C-U speaker mic mounted beside the steering wheel, its screen on GMRS channel 5 in Zone 01

/GMRS LICENSE COST

$35, paid to the FCC when you apply. It lasts 10 years, and renewing is another $35. The FCC lists both on its fee page.

/WHO CAN GET ONE

You're 18 or older
You're applying as a person, not a business
You're not a representative of a foreign government

That's it. There's no exam and no class.

/WHO A GMRS LICENSE COVERS

Your immediate family can use radios under your license, at any age. The rule spells out who that is: spouse, children, grandchildren, stepchildren, parents, grandparents, stepparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and in-laws.

Friends outside that list need their own license. In an emergency, anyone can use your radio.

Two Toyota 80 Series Land Cruisers and two dogs on a beach, a sandstone sea stack and surf behind

/WHAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU START

Your Social Security number. The FCC asks for it to issue your FRN, and it isn't shown publicly.
An email address
A mailing address. Your name and address go on the public license record, so a PO box keeps your home off it.
A card for the $35

/HOW TO GET A GMRS LICENSE ONLINE

Register in CORES, the FCC's registration system. It gives you an FRN, your FCC Registration Number. The FRN is free.
Log in to ULS, the Universal Licensing System, with your FRN and password.
Click Apply for a New License on the left.
Pick ZA, General Mobile Radio Service, from the drop down.
Click Continue through each page. Check your name and mailing address as you go.
Sign by typing your first and last name, then click Submit Application.
Pay the $35. ULS shows the fee once you submit and takes you to pay online. The FCC doesn't process the application until it's paid.
Watch for the grant. The application shows up in ULS the next business day. Once it's granted, your call sign shows in License Search under your name.

/YOUR GMRS CALL SIGN

GMRS call signs are four letters and three numbers. You say yours at the end of a transmission or a run of them, and every 15 minutes during a long one. Plain English over the radio is fine.

Long exposure of the XRS-330C-U speaker mic in hand at night, its GMRS 05 screen trailing streaks of light

Repeater owners often ask for it too. The PNW zone sheet lists 45 GMRS repeaters around Oregon and Washington, and some want your call sign before they share the tone.

/RENEWING YOUR GMRS LICENSE

Renew in the 90 days before it expires, for $35. If it lapses, you apply for a new one and start over.

Red 80 Series Land Cruiser with a GME antenna and amber lights at the Tour Thru Tree in Klamath, California

/ONCE YOU'RE LICENSED

How to program zones on the XRS-660-U covers the scanner side of GME's radios, and the zone sheet has the channels. The radio in my car is the XRS-330C-U, which the shop carries as the GME XRS Connect Outback Pack.

Kingston