I certainly don't want to stifle discussion or inhibit the flow of ideas, but at the suggestion of a Director who phoned me yesterday afternoon, I'd like to see if we can re-focus on the immediate need for a specific kind of input into the ARRL's own filing in the upcoming study. We need several outstanding examples from various parts of the country showing how individual Amateurs' participation in emergency communications has been prevented by CC&R's. Statistics are important, and they will be a big part of our filing, but we also want to put real human faces on the problem in real communities. That's why we need these examples and have asked for help from Volunteer Counsel and the Board in finding some. Nobody knows what's going on in your Division like you do. If you want to put the question to your Section Managers and/or SEC's, for example, that's fine. Whatever works. However, we need the examples real soon. The League's filing will be a major document requiring time to compose and tweak, and the FCC isn't going to grant much time to get it done. Going out to the whole membership for input would be fine if we had the kind of time associated with a normal NPRM to evaluate the resulting input and pinpoint the great examples for follow-up. We just won't have that kind of time in this case. When the NPRM is issued, we will certainly publicize it to the membership so they can file individual comments if they want to. The suggestion to prepare talking points for members to consider, to help them stay on message, is a great idea and I hope Staff will follow up on it. The entire premise for the study is a determination of the benefits of Amateur Radio in disaster and emergency communications; the identification of means for expanding the use of Amateurs in such events; and the identification of impediments to the expansion of the use of Amateur Radio operators in emergencies and disasters. It's the last point which we intend to address in the ARRL's filing using as part of the argument the experience stories from individual Amateurs. Although all Amateur Radio activities are inhibited by CC&R's, the one that is most obviously related to the public interest is emergency communications. That is why the language in the legislation was crafted as it was. So the sharp focus in the ARRL's filing has to be on how Amateur emergency communications participation is significantly affected in a negative way by CC&R's. The anecdotal stories we are looking for need to have that focus. That said, there is no reason why a ham in, say, Santa Barbara could not assert that he or she has been unable to put up an antenna at the family residence because of deed restrictions and say that therefore, he or she could not participate in earthquake response net drills. In other words, it is not necessary that the person actually have participated in emergency communications if the private land use restrictions preclude any effective communications from the person's house. As long as the person can say with a straight face that he or she is ready and willing to participate in emergency communications preparedness but cannot, the example may be one we can use. Finally, in CC&R situations hams may be prevented from erecting not only big towers and beams but also simple VHF/UHF verticals - the kinds of antennas often used in emergency communications. Thanks very much for your help. 73 - Kay N3KN