The original tweet linked to above and held up as a source indicates that DICE licenses the guns in BF3. That response was prompted by the following question addressed to Matros:

Your source is to those that follow him known as generally highly uninformed. This tweet was likely just a lying excuse for why they left the MP5 out of the game.

The MP5 was in Battlefield 2. If DICE and EA put an effort into licensing the equipment in its games, it would have licensed it at the time. So why would it not be in BF3? Some might speculate that perhaps the relationship between H&K and DICE/EA deteriorated. If that were true, then why is the M416 in there? How about the G3? How about the MP7?

You have to remember that many of the people that care enough about Battlefield 3 to complain about BF3 featuring this weapon or that are likely those that don't have a lot of clout in the real world -- teenagers, mostly. Matros is not going to put a lot of effort into figuring out why the MP5 wasn't included -- he likely just walked over to his PR boss and asked what a plausible excuse was and used that.

I just did a quick google on "battlefield3 equipment licenses" and turned up nothing in the first three pages, so...probably not actually licensed.

As another note, there is a little disclaimer at the bottom of the recently-released BF3 trailers (such as this one) that reads:

Some might suggest that statement implies that there is some contract between EA and these equipment manufacturers spelling out the terms by which DICE may use such equipment, including that there be such a license. In fact, I'm inclined to suggest that this disclaimer is intended to set up a legal shield to avoid having any relationship at all with equipment manufacturers.

Oh really? Can you provide a source on that?

Have you heard of Battlefield 1942? It is one of the most popular World War 2 games ever and is a multiplayer game -- meaning that you can play both sides of the war. It even has a Omaha Beach map.

Not too long ago, there was a city-wide blackout here in town (in the United States). Once I made it the 3 miles home from work after an hour of fighting traffic, I found some D-batteries and and tuned up the only local station I could find that was on the air -- it was an AM station that is designated by the US Government as the county's station for emergency information in the event of nuclear catastrophe and the only station equipped with a generator and enough fuel to sail a fully-laden container ship to the moon. You would not believe the misinformation and the lack of information.

For hours, and hours, and hours -- there was no information whatsoever from the power company on why this power outage occurred and when it would be fixed. There was even misinformation -- someone claimed on the air that someone heard an explosion at a geothermal power plant that supplies some power to the city -- turned out to be untrue and stoked concerns of terrorism in those that heard it.

The very week after, I picked up a radio and finally put my license to use. Wish I had done it earlier -- would have been very nice to be able to chat with folks around the county on what was happening in their neck of the woods and what they heard. Some of the repeaters are battery or generator powered. I probably could have taken my handheld transceiver to a tall point in the neighborhood and done simplex on 5 watts 30 miles away.

You make a fair point -- it is extremely satisfying to make contacts at 5 watts. If I were to be it another way, I would say that the FT-897D will go as low as 5 watts if you want it to, so you're not giving up the ability to go QRP with the 897D. On the used market, the 817ND retains its value unusually well -- I have found that the price difference between the FT-897D and the FT-817 to be around $150.

I would submit that the value of having a radio that can do both QRP and high-power is worth more than $150 -- the FT-897D strikes a better balance between base station power and portability than the FT-817ND.

SOTA looks to be a very active organization -- in Europe. When you read forum posts from those involved in SOTA, you will find that the challenges of activating a peek in Europe differ greatly from operating from peaks in Colorado or elsewhere in the western US. For example, how are you going to mount a dipole above treeline? There's no trees from which to hang it.

However, for a dipole, you want it to be a half-wavelength above the ground. For the 20-meter band, you're looking at an antenna resonant on 20 meters when 32 feet long and operating 32 fee above the ground. How do you do that above treeline with something one or two people can carry in backpacks?

For 10 meters, mounting a dipole with two collapsible 15 foot fishing poles is popular and doable -- for 20 meters, I'm not so sure of the solution.

Anyway -- a lot of things to overcome. But this is the beauty of ham radio -- just hard enough to challenge you but not opaque enough to frustrate you. Would love to keep in touch with you about this if you would be willing to share your e-mail address.

Interesting point. There are indeed complaints about the sound quality of the FT-897D; personally, I think it sounds great.

I'll concede that the 706mkiig is potentially the single most popular HF/VHF/UHF all-mode radio. It got that way for being a very solid performer both mobile (in a car) and sitting on your desk. If I were to install a transceiver in my car, the 706mkiig is the one I'd go with.

However, there are hams that have studied the relative power usage of the 706mkiig and the FT-897 and found that the 706mkiig tends to suck down quite a bit of power even while only receiving, making it a poor candidate for portable (extra-vehicular, shall we say?) activity, such as mountain topping:

Just looking at the specifications for the FT-897D and for the IC-706mkiig:

FT-897D:

IC-706MKIIG:

I don't know what the OP means by mountain topping -- does he mean he's going to drive his truck to a mountain top and transmit from there or does he mean to toss everything he needs in a backpack and hoof it to a high point? The radio he chooses depends on that distinction. If he's backpacking, I would say the FT-897d is the best choice of the two.

Have to recommend the FT-897 wholeheartedly. The FT-897 is electrically identical to the FT-857. The FT-857 is the FT-897 in a smaller package intended for use in a car. As such, the FT-857 has fewer external buttons and knobs than the FT-897 so navigating it while it's on your desk or on top of a boulder could be more challenging than with the FT-897.

While the FT-817 is very popular among the mountain topping community, 5 watts is a frustratingly low level of power unless you're on CW. I'm not sure about the condition of your legs and back, but carrying a larger battery and a marginally heavier transceiver so that you can do 20 watts is probably worth the effort. Further, the FT-897 will do a better job on your desk than either the FT-817 or the FT-857 will do.

I bought a 897 used on craigslist for about $650. Don't even bother with the retail price tag -- Yaesu and ICOM both build their gear to last.

Just like any other hobby, it's a way to pass the time. Why hunt or fish if you can just buy food at the store?

Just recently I picked up a DC power supply built primarily for amateur use -- it was amusing to see that Astron included a print-out of the electrical schematic.

Out of curiosity, why the hate for 40m?

Did I miss the study that the FCC did that proved that volunteer examiners were helping examinees to cheat on the exam? I've never witnessed that. Have you?

An excellent reason to get licensed. VHF repeaters have a much greater range -- in general but with some exceptions due to terrain -- than 4-watt mobile CB radios and with vehicle-mounted whip antennas that are much smaller than those for CB. The repeaters tend to be fairly empty these days and use by the off-road and outdoors community is certainly very welcome.

Large urban trauma hospitals around the US oftentimes host rooftop amateur repeaters and provide free emergency power from the repeaters from the hospital's own generators in the event of grid-power failures. The availability of almost limitless emergency hospital power coupled with the height of these repeater stations would make the repeaters that amateurs have access to the best two-way communications capability available in the event of a power outage...