Oberst, if you didn't mean to say that the FCC was trying to give the phone companies the 72mhz band then I misunderstood you. I'm sure others did as well because that is exactly what it sounds like you were saying here:

The conversation was about 72mhz vs. 2.4ghz. Given that context, it is natural to take the above statement to mean that the phone companies want the 72mhz band. If that's not what you meant, I don't really understand why you posted anything.

I'll still contend that 2.4ghz was developed because modelers wanted it. I can support that assertion by simply pointing to the huge percentage of modelers who have switched over, even those who had adequate radios already. You bring up another excellent argument in favor of the market moving to 2.4, namely that the 2.4 equipment is cheaper to make. That's a good thing for all of us. Better profits early on for the manufacturers and cheaper products later for us. I don't see a problem here. As for glitches, some flyers had trouble with the first generation of equipment, either voltage related or heat. That will happen when the market is learning a new technology. But to use your logic, 72mhz is no good either because of the thousands of planes that have been shot down by other radios. Thousands more have been lost to faulty and damaged receivers too.

Fly what you want. But we can do without the accusations that the manufacturers are trying to put one over on us with the new technology.