Although I have been a licensed amateur radio operator for over 50 years, and was a radio systems engineer with Motorola for over 40 years, credentials do not matter and only divert from the issue at hand. Innovation and advancement of the radio art as well as serving the public and emergency agencies are fundamental to the purpose of the Amateur Radio Service. Some voice and digital modes require specific software or hardware. This has always been the case except for analog voice and Morse code. The agencies that amateur radio serve, and the public at large, are no longer reliant on our voice or morse code because they expect emails and Internet connectivity, even when Òall else failsÓ. Amateur radio needs to stay up to date or become irrelevant. As an ARES Emergency Coordinator I am strongly against this proposed rule making because newer digital modes are essential to the Amateur Radio Service, regardless if more traditional hams are sticking to analog modes. Furthermore, to my knowledge, all present digital modes are using properly published protocols which can be decodes with free or reasonable software and hardware.