The American Radio Relay League’s comments on this bill:
http://www.arrl.org/news/spectrum-management-bill-threatens-amateur-frequencies

I have heard many of the ham radio operators are opposing this bill, because they claim benefit emmergency communication, but in true fact is the spectrum this bill is intending to convert is not used for emergency communication by most of ham radio operators. they are used by small group of 2,3 ham radio operators as private repeaters, such as use them as long distance cordless phone, video link, and due to their older technology they are taking up very valuable resource. Those frequencies and spectrum would be better used and serve public benefit if they are used by police, fire dept, CERT, Red Cross, Hospitals, EMT, Search and Rescue, etc.
Ham Radio have more spectrum than all of the cellular phone companies in US togther ? and cell phone companies pays billions of $ to US treasurely for right to use them. Ham Radio frequency were allocated 50 years ago, when there were no cell phones and no internets, and most of wireless communication was done using morse code with tube radio.

Here is a listing for just Southern California showing hundreds of 440 MHz amateur repeaters in use:
http://rptrlist.w6jpl.ampr.org/440.htm

Most are owned by large groups, not just 2,3. Their use for emergency communications isn’t like a cordless phone but more as a wide area coverage information sharing network with dozens of stations. Numerous radio amateurs provide emergency communications as shown during 9/11, Katrina, Haiti, etc.

Amateur radio uses both old and new technologies. In some situations one technology or another is inadequate. Luckily amateur radio may use almost any technology to get messages through.

Many public safety officials (police, fire dept, CERT, Red Cross, Hospitals, EMT, Search and Rescue, etc.) maintain teams of amateur radio operators to help them. By law amateur radio operators can’t charge for the use of their radio services, so these services are all free. This bill will harm these volunteer services provided to public safety and the general public.

Those frequencies and spectrum would be better used and serve public benefit if they are used by police, fire dept, CERT, Red Cross, Hospitals, EMT, Search and Rescue, etc.

There are 15 440mhz repeaters used to support hospitals in South Carolina alone. More than that on the air, in use every day.

Also, 440mhz is the lowest frequency with decent propagation to support long range video transmissions. There is no band wide enough below 440 that can support video at all.

We have embedded video transmissions from aircraft with live GPS data to show the location of the aircraft and draw a line on a map showing the direction the camera is looking. It is wonderful for surveying damage after a disaster.

I fail to see why this is needed for public safety in addition to the 700mhz band that was freed by the DTV tranisition.

Wes Johnston
Sumter SC

Not true that Ham Radio has more spectrum than cellular combined. Most the bandwidth used by Ham Radio is shared with other commercial broadcasting. Ham Radio is limited by power output. The actual slivers of bandwidth allocated to just Ham Radio are minuscule in comparison to what the Telecom companies own (Yes including cellular) Most of the available frequency bandwidth is allocated to either commercial or government use.

What about the old TV beachfront bandwidth that they were selling off to the highest bidder? Surely they should reserved some it for emergency use.

Check your facts don’t make them up.

According to the ARRL release, this is a swap. Some commercial portions of the 700 band would be allocated for Public Safety. The trade would be 420 to 440 being put out for auction to commercial interests. I support public safety. I don’t support telecom companies making a buck by squeezing out amateur radio bandwidth. The federal government’s role should be, first and foremost, to protect the public’s right to public airwaves. Any excess bandwidth can then be auctioned off.

There are hundreds of 70 CM repeaters in use in this country that use 420 to 450 mhz. Many of these are used for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service which in times of disaster back-up Police, fire and EMS services. During these times ham radio can be the only link to the outside world. The loss of these frequencies would be a great loss to the dedicated hams who volunteer their time and equipment during times of natural and man made disasters.

I understand this bill’s intension is to allocate digital radio communication which is similar to those of smart phone to public safety, EMT, fire, search and rescue, red cross, etc. I also understand amateur radio , as well as CB, REACT, serve volunteer as to provide communications when emergency arise.

however, if I have to priority over one the other, I must have to place higher priority into Government function of Public Safety Fire, Search and Rescue, EMT, Red Cross, over volunteer communication provided by Amateur Radio, CB, etc.
Person who are already volunteering to provide communication as CB operator, Ham Radio, can also volunteer such as RED CROSS, etc. to provide communication using latest digital smart phone like system this bill provide to first responders.

Amateur 440 is an essential element of our community’s emergency management plan; Red Cross communications are only one element of that plan – necessary, but insufficient.

Conversely, the community’s lead emergency management agency – our fire department – has no operational requirement to be part of a nationwide broadband network. There is no scenario that requires our first responders to share high-bandwidth digital data with external agencies.

In addition to the HAM frequencies mentioned in previous posts, this bill would also auction off the 450-470 MHz public safety band. This band is frequently used by Police, Fire, and other public safety organizations. I personally work on a Search and Rescue team, and our communications would be severely impacted. The cost to replace our communications equipment with higher frequency radios would exceed our annual budget. Without a provision to fund the replacement of these public safety radios, for both governmental and non-governmental public safety agencies, this bill will likely face strong opposition from groups like the Mountain Rescue Association and the National Association of Search and Rescue in addition to the HAM community.

why we want to lose opportunity to raise $2,3 billion to protect Ham Radio and CB
Ham Radio and CB can be moved to internet.
make your own determination after listen to examples of Ham Radio.
several online listening are available on internet.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=4746
Ham Radio or $several Billion to US treasury ?

Truth About Ham Radio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE7FrVY9T4&feature=related