In the civilised world, Mountain Rescue and other such services, are funded by the government even if the people themselves are volunteers. And this applies to the provision and co-ordination of radio spectrum and technology.

Of course, in the UK, your emergency services struggle to communicate within themselves (just ask Mr Menezes' family) so it's probably not worth the effort of trying to implement a system that would allow them all to talk to one another.

If 634 respondents is 'unprecedented' it's scarcely surprising that Ofcom gets away with making such dreadful decisions.