"Dee Flint" wrote:
"Klystron" wrote:
[snip]
* the almost complete lack of any reporting of this change to the world
outside ham radio. I would like to see a poll that asks people what they
know about this. My guess is that if you take one step outside of ham
radio circles, you will find that no one knows anything about it.


Since most of the "outside world" doesn't and didn't have a clue about the
requirements to get a ham license, publicizing the elimination of the Morse
code testing would have had little to no impact. The only way it might have
helped was in letting people know that ham radio exists.


I think that most people who are technically inclined to any
reasonable degree have had some awareness of ham radio, at some point in
their lives. Most were deterred from becoming involved in it by the need
to jump through the hoop of learning a useless and obsolete "skill"
(yes, I know, you probably don't see it as such) that they found
repellent. Now that that hoop has been eliminated, the reason that they
never became hams has been eliminated. Once that word gets around, I
believe that many technophiles will slowly gravitate to ham radio (as I
did).


* the aging (and death) of the ham population. The ten year license
term means that, on average, it will be five years before a dead ham is
dropped from the rolls, assuming that his heirs do not notify the FCC.


Try more like 6 years since there is a two year grace period after the
expiration date that also needs to be factored in.


Actually, that would bring it up to 7 years (5 year "expected value"
on the random variable of 'term of license remaining at time of death'
plus 2 years of grace).

--
Klystron (a RECENT no-code Extra and GROL w/ Radar)