Thanks to Dave's research, legislation has been identified that speaks to the Board's action on the charitable mileage deduction. A bill that would fully achieve our goal is H.R. 345 sponsored by Representative Todd Russell Platts (R-PA). Other bills that would at least provide for some increase while allowing future adjustments for inflation without Congressional action include H.R. 524 sponsored by Representative John Lewis (D-GA) and S. 243 by Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD). Later today I will send letters to Chwat about the charitable mileage deduction to be delivered to the appropriate committee honchos in the House and the Senate. At the same time I will send Chwat a letter addressed to Senator Warner of Virginia, both as ARRL president and as one of his constituents, thanking him for introducing S. 2881 (the FCC technical advisor legislation) in committee. A number of Board members live in states represented on the Commerce committee, and I hope you will be able to write your Senators in support of S. 2881. To give you an idea of how I approached the subject, a copy of my letter to Senator Warner is attached. The information on how many Amateurs live in Virginia came from www.ah0a.org, in case you would like to include a statistic for your state. When sample letters for members to use on these two subjects are ready to go out the door, you will receive the documents. It occurs to me that we have several new Vice Directors who may not know what "Chwat" refers to, and I should have explained that in my previous e-mail. John Chwat & Co. is the government relations firm (www.chwatco.com) we use in Washington. Because it is most effective for members' letters to be hand-carried to the offices of Senators and Congressmen by one of Chwat's people, we ask that letters be sent in care of Chwat's office by postal mail, fax, or as an attachment to an e-mail. The contact information is as follows: John Chwat & Company, Inc. 625 Slaters Lane Suite 103 Alexandria, VA 22314 Fax: 703-684-7594 e-mail: john.chwat@chwatco.com 73 - Kay N3KN