I'm taking this to ODV so my note is kept within internal circles, but the "70 cm is Safe!" message seems to be spreading quickly. First on QRZ as Director Norton noted, and now on a number of listserves including the one below (where one of my members thankfully is thankfully doing his homework). Mr. Lisenco's intentions may be the greatest ever, but he is frankly naive and irresponsible to firmly conclude -- in press release format, on very public forums -- that "70cm is SAFE!!! because a politician told the group that he didn't intend...wait for it, wait for it...what he wrote in his own bill. And it was apparently believed. I'm not opposed AT ALL to the meeting they had; just their PR summary. To some degree it's made ARRL and other groups' job a bit more difficult since, in addition to pressing on with getting people educated and in contact with their Congressmen in opposition, we all now need to expend effort clearing a growing degree of confusion. 73, Brian N5ZGT ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 13:02:27 +0000 From: Earl Needham <earl.kd5xb@gmail.com> To: Brian Mileshosky <n5zgt@arrl.org> Subject: Fw: [VHF] FW: 70cm is SAFE!!! Hey Brian, and comment or confirmation on this? Thanks, Earl KD5XB KD5XB -- Earl Needham http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cw_bugs Quoting from the Coast Guard: ZUT Posted via Blackberry -----Original Message----- From: "David Benton" <wb4jgg@bellsouth.net> Sender: owner-vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 00:33:27 To: VHF Stanford W6YX Group<vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu> Subject: [VHF] FW: 70cm is SAFE!!! Hope this is all true! David WB4JGG _____ From: Jim [mailto:jim@k99.us] Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 10:49 PM To: jim@k99.us Subject: 70cm is SAFE!!! Hey guys good news NLI Meets with Congressman King regarding HR 607 - 70cm is SAFE!!! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mike Lisenco, N2YBB <mailto:n2ybb@arrl.org> n2ybb@arrl.org 917-865-3538 May 19, 2011, Massapequa Park, NY - A delegation of Amateur Radio operators from the Long Island / New York City area met this morning with Congressman Peter T. King (R-NY) to discuss his recent proposed legislation, HR 607, and its impact on Amateur Radio. Congressman King said that he fully understands and appreciates the importance of Amateur Radio and the service it provides to the community, and that he would see to the modification of the bill so that the 420 - 440 MHz band would be excluded from the spectrum to be auctioned. The delegation included Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, ARRL Section Manager for New York City / Long Island (NLI), Peter Portanova, WB2OQQ, NLI Local Government Liaison (LGL), George Tranos, N2GA, NLI State Government Liaison (SGL), and Jim Mezey, W2KFV, NLI ARES Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC). "The Congressman went on to explain that it was never his intention to remove the 70 centimeter band from Amateur use. He further asked us to `get the word out' and inform the Amateur Radio community that 70 centimeters is not in jeopardy," said Lisenco. Lisenco, Mezey and Tranos spoke about the importance of Amateur Radio emergency communications while Portanova, who is also the local AMSAT representative, addressed satellite and other amateur use of the 70 centimeter band. The Congressman was very receptive to the group, who also extended an invitation to attend Field Day locations in his District. ------ Submissions: vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu Subscription/removal requests: vhf-request@w6yx.stanford.edu Human list administrator: vhf-approval@w6yx.stanford.edu List rules and information: http://www-w6yx.stanford.edu/vhf/