Duffy.
Your e-mail system is broken. It doesn't accept incoming mail so I've had to reply via the reflector.
Hi Duffey
Most of what you say has basically been observed here. Britain makes very little these days. The far east does it far more cheaply and has pushed our manufacturing businesses out of the market. Those tat do survive tend towards the expensive niche markets. We've got your 222MHz problem on 70MHz. We've got 500KHz of band that we share with the military. There is very little, if any, commercial gear available for that band although several European countries have recently been given access so the market may open up.
I do actually have reason to be concerned with the future of the American 220MHz allocation. Come this summer, I will be emigrating from the UK to the US to spend my retirement in your country. I have a wife from Dayton OH who wants to go home. I've held a US license since 1999 and am a VE, conducting exams in the UK. I guess the US will be something of an adventure.