While I own 3 different 2.4 radios (Airtronics SD-10G, Futaba 9C with 2.4 module, and JR X9303) and have most of my planes moved over to them I still have a few that I still fly on 72 Mhz. However, with the recent reductions in pricing on Airtronics receivers I've purchased enough to move everything over to it. So I'll be all 2.4 soon. But I'm going to hand on to my 72 Mhz gear just in case I need a backup radio.

Warning - prediction ahead - Warning.

Ok guys, this is strictly Ole Ken's Crystal Ball working. I have no hints, clues, inside info, winks, or nods that tell me this is starting to happen. This is just what I see happening. And I am willing to bet it will happen sooner than later. Last year saw two major happenings that IMHO spell the end of our use of 72 Mhz radios eventually. First was the auctioning off by the FCC of the older UHF television frequencies. These were the old TV channels above channel 13. Last January these were frequencies were set up for auction by the FCC and the winning bids for use of those frequencies was the highest ever paid for any frequencies in the history of the FCC. Then in June of last year the official switch for broadcast to Digital TV (DTV) happened. When this happened it made the old TV frequencies (channels 2-13) unused. It is expected that these frequencies will soon be put up for auction as well. All of the major telecoms and internet providers are drooling to get their hands on these frequencies. The characteristics of these frequencies that allowed them to broadcast television signals at extremely long distances also make them perfect for transmission of broadband internet over long distances. So there are some major players out there waiting to pay out extremely high dollars to get ahold of this chunk of bandwidth. So how does that affect us?? Simple. The 72 Mhz band that we use is sprinkled neatly smack dab in the middle of those old television channels. So there are going to be some very high priced players that are going to want our frequencies, and I'm predicting that they are going to go up for sale.

As I traveled last year I shared this theory with several people, including several AMA officers and staff. And of course their immediate reaction was "well, the AMA will be there to protect them". In all honesty, in a room with players such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, TimeWarner Cable, and any other huge tele-com/internet provider the AMA is going to be nothing more than a small speck in the back of the room jumping up and down trying to get noticed. This will be strictly about money talking and BS walking. AMA isn't going to have the money to influence the discussions. And the only argument that we had that could have saved those frequencies is now gone.. We could have argued that we didn't have anything else, but now that we have 2.4 radios that is gone.

This isn't going to happen tomorrow obviously, but when it starts brewing it's going to go quickly. I totally understand that some people are hesitant to upgrade to 2.4 simply because of the cost of converting all of their equipment over. For those I would simply say that it's easier to do it voluntarily now when you can do it a little bit at a time than it will be to convert it all at once if forced to by the FCC.

Ok, that's my 2 cents worth on the issue.

Ken