"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article . net,
"Dan/W4NTI"
w4nti@get rid of this mindspring.com writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article om, "Dee
D.
Flint" writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
. com...

Oddly enough, in the years following "incentive licensing", the
number
of US hams grew like mad after having been flat through most of the
1960s.

Go figure - they upped the requirements and ham radio grew...

73 de Jim, N2EY

The why is actually quite simple. The potential ham viewed it as
being
able
to take the trip into ham radio in small, manageable, bitesize chunks
instead of having to swallow the entire steak in one gulp. That
perception
is what caused the growth whether or not it represented reality.

Excellent point! And it explains the appeal of the old Novice, becaue
it
made
the first step less of a stretch.

And of course anyone who wanted to take bigger bites could do it.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Oh balderdash.

No, it's true. The number of US hams stalled at around a quarter million
for
most of the '60s. Then it started to grow again about 1969.

The greatest period of growth was from 1929 to 1935, when the number of US
hams
almost tripled in about 5 years.

The second greatest period of growth was from 1951 to 1962, when the
number of
US hams increased 2-1/2 times (from about 100K to 250K)

The 70s brought Dick Bash and multiple guess, and no cw
sending, and easier tests, and Volunteer Examiners.

Timeline:

1960: FCC eliminates the last "draw a diagram" and essay questions from
the
writtens and goes to full multiple choice.

1967: Novice becomes two years and loses 2m 'phone, Advanced reopened to
new
issues.

1968: First set of subband restrictions due to IL

1969: Second set of subband restrictions due to IL

Early 1970s: First Bash books appear.

1977: Code sending test waived

1984: VE system takes over license testing: Q&A pools published.

Balderdash.

Well, of the items you mentioned, only the Bash books and the end of
sending
tests occurred in the 1970s.

Since the actual tests used before 1984 are not available, who is to say
if
they were "harder" or "easier"?

73 de Jim, N2EY

Those that took the tests and can read still today.

Dan/W4NTI