We've had a ground-swell of interest in Ham radio here in Pahrump, NV. A lot of
people heard of ham radio due to the publicity it got during Hurricane Katrina.
Last December, in conjunction with the local LDS church (Mormons), we held a
one-day "ham cram" session: Study the Technician questions in the morning,
followed by an exam session in the afternoon. We had 14 students/candidates,
and 13 passed. Two weeks ago, one of them got his General. Several of them
have joined our local ARES/RACES unit and repeater club.

The LDS church preaches self-sufficiency and not depending on government to ride
out a crisis. Each family must keep a couple of weeks worth of food and water
stored in their house. Ham radio fits in with their self-help philosophy.

Three weeks ago, I talked to a ham-to-be in Las Vegas. He said that his Bishop
asked him to get a ham license. I asked, "Are you LDS?" and he replied "Yes."
BTW, he passed the exam.

Two weeks ago, at the license exam session which I run, we had 10 candidates,
where we usually have one or two. Most of these were going for upgrades to
General. Last year, we had several sessions with zero candidates. The
publicity from Katrina, plus the dropping of the code requirement, has
re-invigorated ham radio.

Dick, AC7EL



On Sun, 6 May 2007 20:07:42 EDT, "George" wrote:

I'm totally surprised. I was under the impression that ham radio had
declined in popularity over the decades!

George K6GW


wrote in message
roups.com...
The following are approximate numbers of US amateurs on the stated
dates, compared to the US population.

1930: US population 122 million, US hams 18,000, 1 ham per 6778
Americans

1940: US population 131 million, US hams 50,000, 1 ham per 2620
Americans

1950: US population 150 million, US hams 90,000, 1 ham per 1667
Americans

1960: US population 179 million, US hams 230,000, 1 ham per 779
Americans

1970: US population 223 million, US hams 270,000, 1 ham per 825
Americans

1980: US population 227 million, US hams 350,000, 1 ham per 649
Americans

1990: US population 249 million US hams 550,000, 1 ham per 453
Americans

2000: US population 281 million, US hams 683,000, 1 ham per 411
Americans

May 5 2007: US population (estimated) 301,773,107 US hams 655,219, 1
ham per 460 Americans

Except for the 1960s, every decade from the 1930s to the 1990s saw US
Amateur Radio growing faster than the US population.

73 de Jim, N2EY