"Dee Flint" wrote in message

"Steve Bonine" wrote in message
...

[snip]

Keep in mind though that this also is not representative.
It is the older operators and retirees that have the time
and money to more actively participate in the hobby.

I know plenty of licensed people a lot younger than that who have plenty
of money to go on air but have simply lost interest. The internet has a
lot to do with it IMHO, this discussion for example would probably have
taken place on a packet radio BBS 10 to 15 years ago. Indeed I ran a
packet BBS for 11 years, when I started it in 1993 I had around 100 users,
when it closed in 2004 there were just three.

They have just introduced a lifetime licence here in the UK, which means
no more renewals will be necessary, although a licensee will have to
confirm every 5 years if they still want to retain the callsign. This will
still give a false impression of the number of people actually on the air,
though.

This is true in many activities. For example, the
average age of the members in the community band to which
I belong is also in about the 50 to 60 year old range.

Dee, N8UZE

There are also those who still hold licences but are inactive. Of the 20
or so people that I still keep in touch with from my old radio club, only
3 or 4 apart from me are still actively on the air, even though they still
hold callsigns, plus I'm the only one of those who still has 2m/70cm
equipment in the car. Age wise, most of them are anywhere between 30 and
50, with one or two approaching 60 and one who is 62.

Ivor G6URP