In article , "Dee D. Flint"
writes:

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

Looks like we are slowly heading for a one class system and at the
highest
class at that as the greatest increase was in the number of Extras. On a
percent growth basis, it's even more noticeable. The Extra class grew
34%
in that time period.

If you consider the Tech and Tech Plus as one class, it sure seems that
way,
Dee.


Yes I believe it is necessary to consider them one class. Some new Techs
still do test for code and get HF privileges yet will only be listed as
Techs while all Tech Plus licensees will be listed as Tech after their next
renewal.

Agreed. Also, if a Novice takes Element 2, s/he gets a Tech, not a Tech Plus,
and retains HF privileges and Element 1 credit as long as s/he keeps the old
Novice documents.

It's interesting to note that the Tech/Tech Plus total has been dropping.

Of course Novice, Advanced and Tech Plus have to decrease, because no new
ones
are being issued. Extra can only decrease by expiration/cancellation, of
course.

Note how little Advanced has decreased, (percentagewise) though.

Yet shouldn't the Advanced be decreasing rapidly since they can now go to
Extra with little effort (they already know the toughest part of the
material from their Advanced study)?

Supposedly. But the fact is that not so many Advanceds are upgrading.

Is it that many haven't heard of the
licensing changes, or are they hung up on having a class that "proves" they
passed 13wpm (it doesn't since waivers have been around for over 10 years),
or are they simply satisfied with the range of frequencies that they have?

Probably a combination. Note also this:

If, after April 15, 2000 but before April 15, 2001, someone presented the FCC
with valid CSCEs or other acceptable documents for 5 wpm code and all the
writtens required for Advanced, they'd be issued an Advanced without a waiver.
Some folks actually did that. Of purely academic interest now, of course.

I think the biggest factors are that some haven't heard of the changes, and
others are satisfied with what they have.

There's also the fact that an unknown number are inactive, and may be SK.
Remember that Advanced is a very old license class - it goes all the way back
to the beginning of the FCC, when it was known as "Class A". When FCC closed
Advanced to new issues at the end of 1952, there were well over 40,000 of them,
and when the Advanced was reopened to new issues in 1967, their number had not
diminished much. There were less than 5000 Extras then, by comparison.

The minimal decrease in Advanced licensees would tend to lead me to believe
that the majority of people now receiving their Extra class licenses are
relatively new. They are the ones who just keep going after they pass that
first test. This would also explain the apparently low growth in Tech/Tech+
and General. They aren't in those classes long enough to get counted in
your postings under those classes.

All true. In fact, if someone goes from, say, Tech to Extra in one VE session,
they will never show as General on the FCC database.

73 de Jim, N2EY