[arrl-odv:30912] Re: FCC 9 CM Band on Sept. 30 Agenda

Hi Everyone, While I have to admit that I like a rousing call to arms, let's be careful. You can say, if you like, that our objective is to get everything that we want, but in fact, our objective should be to get everything that we can. The truth is that our utilization of these bands is considered meager by the FCC, and with good reason. The best story we have for 3.5 gHz is one that is future faced. it goes something like this: "Yes, we have demonstrated some good, solid Emcomm work here, Just think of how much we could develop these bands to do even more." The notion that the success we will have in retaining spectrum will increase monotonically with the amount of fight we put up is dangerous. It's one of these assumptions that, like Newtonian physics, looks great at room temperature but unwinds when things heat up. We do have something to loose if we fight this too hard and doubly so if we fail to work on compromise. One possibility is that the groups whose support we seek will start to write us off, another thing that we might loose is credibility in future confrontations. Frank consideration of compromise strategies is essential. Making that consideration open is better than hiding it. We aren't negotiating with the FCC - we have little to give them and thus little leverage. We are reasoning with them. And abandon the idea that we can fight to the fullest and simultaneously work out the best compromise. To a considerable degree, these two approaches interfere with each other. If we march off to battle clad in the armor of righteous indignation, we're likely to find out, to our dismay, that indignation doesn't stop live bullets. 73,MikeK1TWF
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Mike Raisbeck