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Old September 7th 03, 12:51 AM
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It's too little, too late Hans.

Years of keeping the CW requirement and
the advent of the Internet as a cheap alternative
to Amateur Radio spelled the end of Amateur
Radio for those who could see the writing on
the wall a VERY long time ago.

Add to that a median-age of 67 Yrs for the US Amateur population does not help
either - we are LITERALLY
dying off.

Finally the outrageous cost of ham gear (HF gear)
is enough to scare off any prospective newcommer.
Who in their right mind wants to spend $2000+
for a Yaesu HF station when for about $400 you can
buy a fully equipped "white box" PC with a 56K
and DSL modem, and be able to interact worldwide
without the use of unsightly dipoles and tri-band beam
antennas...?

Hans, Amateur Radio is **OBSOLETE**.
It's popularity is enjoyed by an extremely small
esoteric sector of the populace, and the general
public looks at us as a curiosity at best.

That is the bottom line .

Ken (ex-W3 circa 1985)

"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







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