RadioBanter - View Single Post - 05-235

December 3rd 05, 02:32 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.policy

wrote:
KØHB wrote:

If anything,
dis-incentive licensing was a damper (not an accelerant) on the growth of the
ARS during that period.

Really? Then *why* did the growth start up again after it was in place,
after almost half a decade of stagnation and even some decline? Why did
the number of US hams grow so fast in the 1970s and 1980s?

If you want to talk about "market forces", consider these:

- The 1960s were a very turbulent time, particularly for young people.
Many were
more interested in political/social causes than in "establishment"
activities like
amateur radio.

That's why Cop McDonald had a regular column in the counter-culture
magazine, The Mother Earth News. That's why Dentron ran advertisements
in that magazine.

- The "space race" and the technological advances it brought made
amateur
radio look a little old-fashioned in some ways. Remember Christmas Eve
1968, when the crew of Apollo 8 showed us the Earth from lunar orbit
via live
TV? How could any terrestrial "DX" compete with that?

K8MN might be able to answer that. He was so upset by not getting to
play DXer from Vietnam that he made a career change because of it.

But since about the mid 1980s, we've been told that the requirements
are "too high"
and they keep being lowered. Yet the growth resulting isn't sustained.

Who is saying, "too high" or "too hard?" The argument is over
"relevance."

Maybe the very people we want to attract are those who want a
challenge.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Direct them to the nearest military recruiting station. Oh, never
mind.