"N2EY" wrote


The inescapable conclusion is that many of those listed in the database
are
either totally inactive or only slightly active.


I don't think it's "inescapable" --- in fact, I think it's incredibly
far-fetched to expect that...

1) ...1% of all of us would be on the air transmitting at any given moment,
and....

2) ... even if we were, that more than a fraction of that 1% would be heard
at any given QTH, presuming they're somewhat evenly distributed across the
available 3,750 kHz of spectrum.

I consider myself a reasonably active licensee, perhaps more active than the
average. Other than contest weekends, my transmitter is actually ON THE AIR
transmitting a signal perhaps no more than 60 minutes a week. That's less
than 1% of the time that you could hear on the air, propagation permitting.
If everyone were as active as me, it would take 168 hams transmitting (and
presumably another 168 listening --- total of 336 hams) to keep a single
frequency occupied 24/7. Now if we suppose that on average, each ongoing
QSO occupies 1kHz of spectrum (phone takes up more, morse and data take up
less) we'd need 1,260,000 (336 x 3750) active hams to keep all frequencies
QRL 24/7. Of course this presumes that every QSO would be heard everywhere,
but thanks to the magic of RF propagation, we are able share most
frequencies geographically, and in fact more than two stations can
simultaneously use a single frequency.

So much for your 'inescapable' conclusion!!!

73, de Hans, K0HB