"Jim Hampton" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
oups.com...
wrote:
As of November 1, 2006:
Novice - 24,154 (3.7%) [decrease of 25,175]
Technician - 287,444 (43.7%) [increase of 82,050]
Technician Plus - 34,786 (5.3%) [decrease of 94,074]
General - 131,994 (20.1%) [increase of 19,317]
Advanced - 70,607 (10.7%) [decrease of 29,175]
Extra - 108,563 (16.5%) [increase of 29,813]
The point being that the Coded Amateurs are REALLY almost 60% of
the Amateur population when one figures in the Tech Plus folks who have
already been assimilated into the vanilla Technician.
Those are numbers that political appointees are impressed by.
Perhaps it's that simple math that prevents the FCC from
broadstroking the code test out of existence...?!?!
73
Steve, K4YZ
Hello Steve,
Bear in mind that only 10.7% are *known* to have passed 13 words per
minute
(advanced).
However, not quite correct. It just takes more digging into the database to
get that info. You can look up previous license class on any individual.
If an Extra's previous license shows as Advanced, you will then also *know*
that they passed the 13wpm. You can also look at the record and see if they
have upgraded since April 2000. If they held their General or Advanced
prior to then, you *know* that they passed the 13wpm. For Extras, you can
determine if they received their Extra before that date or not and *know*
that they passed the 20wpm. However, it's probably more effort than it is
worth to get that deep into the data.
As I understand the postings on license numbers, it is basically to see if
there has been any effect on the growth of amateur radio.
I honestly expect that the FCC will likely eliminate code testing but as
to
when, I haven't a clue.
I suspect that you are correct.
There are also modes (PSK) that use *less* bandwidth than CW, although it
appears that voice seems to be the most popular. It would be nice to see
some expansion of the HF amateur bands, but a number of 3rd world
countries
are relying on HF rather than satellite, so I'm not holding my breath LOL.
Bandwidth isn't the only parameter. Each mode has its strengths and
weaknesses.
73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA
Dee, N8UZE