From: "K4YZ" on May 11, 10:15 am

wrote [in response to W3RV]:

On "8.5 years is not a dramatic anything," that's
a rather gross fluff-off, "sweetums." A child who
begins public school at age 5 will be almost out
of Middle school in 8 1/2 years. Rather dramatic,
I'd say...but, since you are cheerleading the ARRL,
you will aerily dismiss it when it comes to the
League.

And that same child is more likely to be an HF-licensed Radio
Amateur in that time frame than you are, Lennie.

Embarrassing, ain't it...

Tsk, tsk, tsk. NO "embarrasment" at all...to me.
I've been a working PROFESSIONAL in radio-electronics
since 1952, passed a First 'Phone test in 1956, been
co-owner of a business radio in what is now called
Private Land Mobile Radio Service, and have legally
OPERATED on many MORE parts of the EM spectrum than
is permitted to just amateur radio licensees.

However, Robeson's post is just more of the puerile
junior-high school babbling by the Avenging Angle of
Dearth, Stebie Robeson, off on another tangent
of hatred, trying to mouth-off more abuse. Tsk.
It does indicate that the mindset of some amateur
extras hasn't gone much beyond age 13 1/2.

At question is NUMBER DATA on/from ARRL and the
DATE of such numbers. Kelly contends that an
8 1/2 year period is inconsequential to the
discussion. Coslo disagrees with that. I disagree
with Kelly's contention. Robeson can only jeer and
heckle the participants in that discussion, not
being able to think while in the midst of his
unstable emotional volatility.

Kelly thinks that the ARRL is "going along
swimingly," no problems there, everything just
fine.

Not the case in reality. Brakob realizes that and
so does Coslo. Note the statements on the
www.hamdata.com webpage in regards to statistics:
TECHNICIAN class license totals have been
increasing at a rate of 26 per day! [that's about
four times faster than the combined General and
Extra class increases of 6 per day]

On the license class totals, it is interesting to
compare (via Hamdata) those of 11 May 05 versus
those of two years prior:

2005 2003
Both Tech Classes - 350,566 348,749
All four others - 373,171 378,994
Total, all classes - 723,737 727,743

Percentage of Techs - 48.44 47.92

Comparison of Growth, 2005 v. 2003

Gain or Loss, Techs - +1,817
Gain or Loss, other four - -5,823

Gain or Loss, all licensees -4,006

It should be noted that the peak of U.S. amateur
radio license numbers was on 2 Jul 03 with a total
of 737,938 then (number of club calls not known).
The Hamdata statistics are derived automatically
by downloading the publicly-available FCC database
(massive in size) and sorting for classes.

The increase in both Technician classes is not
"dramatic" but it IS an increase and has NOT
stopped as some amateur extras claimed "would
happen" after the 12-year elapse from the 1991
creation of the (no-code-test) Technician class.
At 48.44 percent of ALL current licensees, that
IS a very large percentage and is constantly
approaching a MAJORITY (it hasn't stopped
increasing in 14 years).

It should be obvious (but is not to some closed
mindsets) that the "other four" classes (Novice,
General, Advanced, Extra) have had their totals
DROP in numbers. The "other four" all require
morse code testing. The no-longer-issued-new
Novice and Advanced classes dropped by 11,649 but
the General and Extra classes gained only 5,826.
The net change in the "other four" is -5,823.
The two-year growth in both Technician classes
is NOT enough to stem the 4,006 loss in licenses
overall in two years.

The (no-code-test) Technician class licensee is
FORBIDDEN to operate below 30 MHz. A Technician
Plus licensee is permitted below 30 MHz only if
they have taken a morse code test. Old paradigms
of "the majority of hams work in the HF bands" is
rapidly approaching oblivion. The "World Above
50 MHz" may soon be the majority-use spectrum in
amateur radio. The ARRL may not be tuned in to
that band...