"Dee Flint" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
ups.com...
These are the numbers of current, unexpired
amateur radio licenses held by individuals
on the stated dates, and the percentage of
the total number of active licenses that
class contains:

As of May 14, 2000:

Novice - 49,329 (7.3%)
Technician - 205,394 (30.4%)
Technician Plus - 128,860 (19.1%)
General - 112,677 (16.7%)
Advanced - 99,782 (14.8%)
Extra - 78,750 (11.7%)

Total Tech/TechPlus - 334,254 (49.5%)

Total General/Advanced/Extra - 291,209 (43.2%)

Total all classes - 674,792


As of December 31, 2005:

Novice - 26,746 (4.0%) [decrease of 22,583]
Technician - 275,144 (41.6%) [increase of 69,750]
Technician Plus - 43,921 (6.6%) [decrease of 84,939]
General - 135,059 (20.4%) [increase of 22,382]
Advanced - 74,220 (11.2%) [decrease of 25,562]
Extra - 107,436 (16.2%) [increase of 28,686]

Total Tech/TechPlus - 319,065 (48.2%) [decrease of 15,189]

Total General/Advanced/Extra - 316,715 (47.8%) [increase of 25,506]

Total all classes - 662,526 (decrease of 12,266)


It might also be instructive to look at the totals MINUS the Novice class
as I believe we are now at a point that pretty much all the Novices who
would have updgraded have done so. Of the remaining pool of Novices, we
are losing them by attrition now as they are mainly inactive, not
upgrading, and not renewing.

Total Minus Novice May 14, 2000 = 625,463
Total Minus Novice Dec 31, 2005 = 635,780 (increase of 10,317 or 1.65%).

Perhaps, once the Novice class has died out or come close to it, the
"decline" in the numbers of amateur radio operators will cease (although
1.85% total or 1/3 of 1% per year is barely a decline).

Personally, I believe that we are simply stabilizing our numbers. I.e. the
"market" for ham radio is "saturated" and so we will not experience
significant growth and, so long as we do a decent job of recruiting, will
not experience a significant decline.
Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

I agree with Dee's analysis. Amateur radio is not likly to suddenly become
a new "hot" hobby and is, therefore, going to be fairly stable. Remember
too that unlike years ago the US population is fairly stable and not
growing at anywhere near the rate it was in the 50s.

Cheers & Happy New Year to all
Bill K2UNK