"charlesb" wrote in message
m...

"K0HB" wrote in message
news:b71720b321f483edfb53ce7de21e4078.128005@mygat e.mailgate.org...
Between February 14, 1991 and July 5, 1991, the Commission granted 1,925
new Technician class licenses under the no-code provisions. A couple of
guys have done research which shows that 1,880 of those licenses have
not been renewed or upgraded to a higher class license and are beyond
the two year grace period. That equates to a retention rate of only
2.3%.

Any ideas for increasing the reenlistment rate?

73, de Hans, K0HB

Drop the no-code provision of the Tech license, obviously.

With a 97.7% failure rate, I'd say the new policy is a real loser. - We
better drop it fast and return to what worked better in the past.

I predicted something like this, but not to such a degree, when so many of
the new no-code techs showed a generalized disrespect for the PART97 regs
and the traditions of amateur radio. It was obvious that many of them did
not care at all about the hobby. - They just wanted to know what they
could
get out it, what they could get away with. Many of them spent more time
bashing the hobby than anything else. As you have noted, almost none of
them
went on to progress and advance themselves as hams.

Personally, I think we will be much better off without most of those
"hams",
and that we should avoid policies that increase membership in this way in
the future. We should do as we did in the past, emphasizing quality, not
quantity of our membership.

According to your figures Hans, the no-code tech deal did the hobby more
harm than good.

Charles, N5PVL



Sigh. How 'bout this: ever consider that a lot of CBers did, indeed, hear
of the new requirements (lower CW testing standards) and decide to get into
ham radio for....guess what: FM!!!!!???? When I was "into" CB radio, I was
barely ever on AM. There's a whole "other" gang of participants out there
on CB--and the mentors of that group are mostly hams. The USB/LSB and,
alas, FM--yes, illegal but done--part of CB is an area where you'll find
people who are courteous, have "gentlemen's" rules that are followed; where
people experiment with antenna design and construction; where an "eyeball"
meeting is just as likely; etc.

When I was drawn to and got my ticket, you know what the greatest relief
was? Being able to turn a radio on and not hear all that hissing,
heterodyning, etc.!!! FM is great and that is what I like most about ham
radio. HF sucks for all the noise. So, no need/interest to upgrade. And,
everyone else was as relieved and impressed with FM also. Listening to HF
brings back those days when we had to deal with all that noise. And, it's
not a pretty memory.

Kim W5TIT