Yes, there is a Congressional mandate for all Federal agencies (DOD and Civilian)to be in compliance with the NTIA redbook by 2008, at the latest. Notwithstanding some military tactical equipment in current use and that will be in the inventory for the forseeble future, if its on a Federal frequency, it will be NTIA compliant. The reason for the compliance specification(s) is two-fold. First, it provides minimun technical operating standards for equipment for modes and frequency bands. Secondly, it provides a unified set of procurement specifications such that a Fed agency can procure and expect a certain level of adequacy (based on the specification(s). The NTIA is the mirror of the private-sector's FCC. Each entity must function and co-exist in the spectrum environment in a benign manner. That's the idea. Each Agency's frequency and spectrum manager is responsible for ensuring that operating units are in compliance with the appropriate NTIA reg and spec. The NTIA is not directly in the enforcement business, although they will become involved in disputes and problem-solving. Enter volunteer organizations like CAP and MARS. CAP has already been, and now it looks like MARS will be pulled into the pit. Let me first say that the case of HF equipment is pretty easy to handle. The tx has to be within 20Hz and the spurious has to be down about 32dB or something like that... no problem with a lot of current ham gear. (One can check out CAP's NTC website and see both HF and VHF equipment lists.) One fine point; there's no such thing as "NTIA Compliance" or acceptance, in the same sense as "FCC Acceptance". What there is is equipment that is NTIA compliant. For CAP, and maybe now MARS, its the VHF case that's a bear. The specs include both transmitter stability and purity and some rather onerous receiver specs, too!! That's the rub.. there's virtually nil ham gear that will do the job and no manufacturer in his/her right mind could economically do so. I can agree that one's signal should be clean and on frequency. Beyond that, if I can accept some interference, etc. then so be it. But, the NTIA specifications say different. That, and the migration to narrowband, is the current undoing. I applaud MAR's ability to forestall the inevitable but it is coming. Its really too bad that "they" couldn't come up with a waiver such that these volunteer organizations couldn't have some slack. CAP has arguably lost 50% of it comm capability owing to NTIA compliance. Federal agency managers are going to be held to the task of ensuring that those under their purview operate in compliance and, trust me, they're going to do it! Hopefully, when the ultimate sunset date comes around, someone will do the right thing, unless its already too late. But, heck, just set up your equipment and label it "Static Display - For Demonstration and Instructional Purposes Only". That'll baffle your IG or Evaluator!