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It is obvious there is a decline in interest in amateur radio, I think the
reasons are many, since the gear is constructed for such a small "nitch" of users--the equip is expensive--this is only one more reason for the decline. I have never heard anyone complain the exams were too difficult (of course, I am mainly around college age kids who go for a license), it is always the code--they hate it--some can be pushed to complete the code to get the license--after, they simply never use the code again...most of these young fellows are interested in GHz freqs and above...and how a computer can be interfaced with the radio... Warmest regards, John wrote in message oups.com... John Smith wrote: By the ARRL own statistics, ham radio is dying Well, shrinking, anyway. The total number of US hams is down slightly from the peak of a few years ago, while the total US population continues to grow. But I would note that the shrinkage occurred *after* the April 2000 reductions in both Morse Code and written testing for all available license classes. IOW, making the licenses easier to get in 2000 did not result in sustained growth. Looking further back, examine the growth from 1990 or 1991 to 2000. (1990 is when medical waivers made it possible to get any amateur license with a 5 wpm test, and 1991 is when the Technician lost its code test. Then compare the growth in that 9 year period to the growth in an equal period of time before 1990 or 1991. You'll find that the overall increase in the '80s was *greater* than in the '90s. 73 de Jim, N2EY |
On Tue, 24 May 2005 17:22:40 -0700, "John Smith"
wrote: "Steveo" wrote in message ... "John Smith" wrote: Hmmm, I could record a long QSO on cw and play it for the truckers... give 'em something to appreciate... grin So the hams didn't feel left, could record the truckers and play that for them... evil'er grin Warmest regards, John "Steveo" wrote in message ... Cmd Buzz Corey wrote: John Smith wrote: Dan: You will never find me using cw... Well, you don't need it on CB. It's been done, JJ. You can eat **** and die too for all I care, you top posting freak. Steveo: You name is almost as cute as a girls, you sound gay... there is nothing wrong with gay people yanno, but better if you stay with your own kind... grin Top posters bother gays yanno... Warmest regards, John Could be worse, after all your name could be Brett??? Now that would really suck.. |
K=D8HB wrote:
wrote But I would note that the shrinkage occurred *after* the April 2000 reductions in both Morse Code and written testing for all available license classes. IOW, making the licenses easier to get in 2000 did not result in sustained growth. Two questions: 1) Is this shrinkage due to... a. Less new applicants b. Increased attrition From what I can see at hamdata.com and AH0A.org, it seems to me that the number of new hams has been slowly increasing since at least 1997 (which is as far back as AH0A.org goes) but attrition has been rising even faster. How much of the attrition increase is due to "involuntary" causes (SKs, hams in nursing homes, etc.) vs. "voluntary" causes (loss of interest) is a matter of pure speculation. I don't have good data on that one way or the other. It does seem to me, however, that when a survey says 22% of recently-licensed new hams interviewed have *never* set up their own station and gotten on the air with it, something's amiss in the "interest" department. We sometimes see statistics about the "average age of US hams today is XX" and predictions of doom for the future as today's hams become SKs. What we don't see are statistics on how the "average age" was computed (mean? median? mode?) nor the age distribution (bell curve? exponential?). Nor do we see stats on what the "average age" was 10, 20, 30 years ago. Looking around at club meetings and hamfests isn't a good sample because a lot of us don't go to those things very often. 2) Are easier tests the cause of the shrinkage... a. Yes b. No No good way to tell. One thing is certain: The test reductions have not resulted in a flood of new hams compared to before the test reductions. One possible explanation is that the real problem is publicity and image, not license requirements. If people don't know what ham radio is, the license requirements have no effect on them. Another factor is that if the license requirements are made "too easy", what you may have are some folks who have a license but no station because it's "too difficult" for them to set one up. Then they forget about ham radio and go on to something else. --- One thing I remember clearly from my newcomer days as a 12-13 year old is that once I found out what amateur radio was, and how to get started, the license requirements were "not a problem". They were simply a challenge. If there had not been a Novice license, I simply would have gone for General right out of the box. A lot of the kids I knew then, and know now, are the same way when they are interested in something. 73 de Jim, N2EY |
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Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
wrote: One possible explanation is that the real problem is publicity and image, not license requirements. If people don't know what ham radio is, the license requirements have no effect on them. Ham radio just isn't very appealing to the current generation. There are too many other things to compete, computers, the Internet, vidoe games. Kids had rather be skilled at playing the latest video game than have technical skills in some outdated (to them) mode of communication. They had much rather build a computer than a radio. Who needs a ham radio station to talk to someone in another state or even in another country, just whip out the cell phone. Almost every teenager now has one. That's true of most of the population - but most of that has been true for decades now. I was high school class of 1972. In a school of over 2400 boys, with a curriculum that emphasized math and science, we had no more than a half-dozen hams. Back then ham radio had "competition" (in no particular order) from sports, school activities, music, counterculture events, antiwar protests, CB, TV, radio, music, cars and girls. Also family chores, schoolwork and after-school jobs. We didn't have cell phones or the internet but we had the telephone and we could get around pretty well, with or without cars. In those days the #1 technical hobby for teenage boys was working on cars. For less than the price of most ham rigs, you could buy a $100 used car and fix it up well enough to get around. Some lucky rich kids got 10-year-old hand-me-down cars from the parental units, which they then worked on to keep on the road. Cars were simpler then, and a mechanically-minded kid knew all about how they worked long before driving age. So "competition" for kids' time is nothing new. The most-often-asked questions about ham radio, then and now, a "Who do you talk to?" "What do you talk about?" and "Why go to all that trouble to talk to strangers?" Most people back then "didn't get it". A few did. Same as today. IMHO the prime time to attract kids to ham radio is middle school or earlier. 73 de Jim, N2EY |
"John Smith" wrote in message ... It is obvious there is a decline in interest in amateur radio, I think the reasons are many, since the gear is constructed for such a small "nitch" of users--the equip is expensive--this is only one more reason for the decline. I have never heard anyone complain the exams were too difficult (of course, I am mainly around college age kids who go for a license), it is always the code--they hate it--some can be pushed to complete the code to get the license--after, they simply never use the code again...most of these young fellows are interested in GHz freqs and above...and how a computer can be interfaced with the radio... Warmest regards, John If all they are interested in is the GHz frequencies and up, they never need to bother with code for the license. The codeless Technician license gives them full privileges, full power levels, and all modes for all frequencies above 30 MHz. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
Dee:
You suggest that to them... they will take it as personal slur on their intelligence... if they don't have the top licence--they don't want any--it is akin to getting an "A" in the class--you would never get the under-achievers to even bother--they'll just fire up IRC or P2P phone and chat to Australia all night long... or, whip out the cell phone their company internship is furnishing... grin Warmest regards, John "Dee Flint" wrote in message ... "John Smith" wrote in message ... It is obvious there is a decline in interest in amateur radio, I think the reasons are many, since the gear is constructed for such a small "nitch" of users--the equip is expensive--this is only one more reason for the decline. I have never heard anyone complain the exams were too difficult (of course, I am mainly around college age kids who go for a license), it is always the code--they hate it--some can be pushed to complete the code to get the license--after, they simply never use the code again...most of these young fellows are interested in GHz freqs and above...and how a computer can be interfaced with the radio... Warmest regards, John If all they are interested in is the GHz frequencies and up, they never need to bother with code for the license. The codeless Technician license gives them full privileges, full power levels, and all modes for all frequencies above 30 MHz. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
"John Smith" wrote in message ... Dee: You suggest that to them... they will take it as personal slur on their intelligence... if they don't have the top licence--they don't want any--it is akin to getting an "A" in the class--you would never get the under-achievers to even bother--they'll just fire up IRC or P2P phone and chat to Australia all night long... or, whip out the cell phone their company internship is furnishing... grin Warmest regards, John Hello, John Are you suggesting just giving away the license? Heck, I learned grade 1.5 Braille in under two weeks (and I can see). I decided I wanted to as a friend is blind and he provided me a Braille slate (that was many decades ago). It was not a big deal; in fact my friend then got on my case asking if I could learn Braille in two weeks, what was the big deal with the code. The reality was that I was lazy. One week later, I was copying 18 words per minute. A few years later, I put 40 words per minute, perfect copy, on paper. It is all a matter of what you want. As to the cell phone, heck - I can talk to someone anywhere anytime using a land-line telephone. Or my HT (yes, even Australia, thanks to the 10 meter repeater). Of course, amateur radio is not designed to replace the telephone. I just had some good information from someone via the Internet on fixing a big Hammond X-66 from the 60s. I've repaired a lot of 'em, but this one had me bugged. The guy is in Mexico. The telephone would be of no use as I had to locate someone who knew something about it. When folks start arguing against amateur radio, they usually bring up a subject that amateur radio is not ideally designed for. Heck, do you want to build a house using only a saw? Perhaps only a hammer? No, you choose the tools you need at the time you need them. In the case of getting help with the Hammond (gawd, I hated the thought of pouring paint thinner down into the scanner - but it worked!), how are you going to locate someone knowledgeable in the subject? Organ repair? No, the organ service guy in this area has referred a few folks with old Hammonds to me. I've always been able to fix 'em even if he can't. But this time I was stuck. Calling the organ repair guy would have yielded no help as I have more knowledge than he. I did call organ repair service in Chicago as that is all that is left of the original Hammond company (it was sold to Ford and then Suzuki) as the new owners didn't want to handle the old stuff. They didn't know, so the telephone was no longer of any use. Despite the failure of the telephone, I would not suggest that the telephone has no use. Amateur radio has far to many facets to try and pinpoint exactly what it is. As far as someone not wanting the code, fine. It will go away, but when is unknown. Had I waited for a codeless tech license, I would have delayed 30 some years waiting for a ticket that didn't require cw. 73 from Rochester, NY Jim AA2QA |
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