Philip,
Just to reassure you that your post has not been ignored (the LDWA forum is so quiet), I, and I'm sure quite a few other LDWA members, have already signed both the mountain rescue and maritime petitions after seeing threads on various running forums.
Nick.

There is a petition to the Government to "Protect Mountain Rescue Services from paying licence fees for using VHF radio frequencies"

The words of the petition follow but if you support then please go on the link at the end and sign up:-

Ofcom wants to bring "market forces" into the maritime and aviation communications. It has started a consultation exercise, which ended on the 30th October 2008, on applying charges to spectrum use. Mountain Rescue organisations are charitable voluntary bodies, funds are raised from public donation and their teams are staffed by volunteers. The additional cost of these licences will cause significant financial difficulties and potentially cause the closure of these vital emergency services.

This proposal must be rejected wholeheartedly.


http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/MRT-RF-licences/

Thank you