Do you know of a source for reliable data on ham licenses that drills
down below the often quoted total licenses outstanding. Are there any
studies that estimate the number of active licenses and ages of the
holders and how those numbers have trended over time.

It looks like the bottom line is that back in
June 1997 there were 678,473 licensed hams
and in May of 1995 there were 664,972 licensed hams.
Thats a decrease of 2 percent over 8 years. Its a decline but not by
much.

Does anyone have statistics that go back three or four decades??



Part of the problem here is that the "base" demographic numbers of total US
population is changing. The increase or decrease in the absolute numbers of
hams is not germane.

A more accurate statistic for the last 40-50 years is the change in the
percentage of hams in the total US population.

Example:

say you have 200,000 hams in 1930 in a population of 200 million (1%) vs
250,000 in 2000 in a population of 350 million.
Even though you have an increase in the ABSOLUTE number of hams the
PERCENTAGE of hams is going down.
In this example: As a group, the relative impact and visibility of hams vs
the total US population is going down.

Does any one know the URL of an accurate set of historical ham population
data? Hopefuly from the very begiining of FCC licensing?

Dan Yemiola
AI8O

In 1963, the CBers outnumbered the Ham Population.

The number of US hams exceeded 250,000 in 1963.

1917 - about 6,000


1928 - about 17,000


1936 - about 46,000


1950 - near 90,000


1956 - over 140,000


1958 - about 160,000


1963 - over 250,000


1977 - 327,000

1989 - over 500,000

1997 June - 678,473

2001 Jan 1 - 682,240

2002 Oct 31 -- 684,355





Total number of USA Licensed Amateurs by License Class

As of May 14, 2000:

Novice - 49,329
Tech/+ - 334,254
General - 112,677
Advanced - 99,782
Extra - 78,750

Total all classes - 674,792


As of April 3, 2005

Novice - 28,869 (-41.48%) (-20,460)
Tech/+ - 318,221 (-4.80%) (-16,033)
General - 137,093 (+21.67%) (+24,416)
Advanced - 76,706 (-23.13%) (-23,076)
Extra - 106,238 (+34.91%) (+27,488)

Total All Classes - 667,318







Total all classes (5/14/00) - 674,792
Total all Classes (4/21/03) - 687,860
Total all classes (9/6/04 ) - 674,788
Total all classes (4/3/05) - 667,318

Total loss of 7,474 since 5/14/2000 ( Was 674,792)
Total loss of 7,470 since 9/6/2004 ( Was 674,788)
Total Loss of 20,542 since 4/2003 (all time high of 687,860)

Notes,
For the 9th straight reporting period, all classes except for Extra
declined. There was a net loss of 845 licensees in this reporting period
from the last reporting period.

The base totals are from implementation of the then new licensing changes in
May 2000. September 6, 2004 is the date I started measuring the changes. The
peak number was in April 2003.

Ace - WH2T
--------------------------------



"dan Yemiola" wrote in message
...

Does any one know the URL of an accurate set of historical ham population
data? Hopefuly from the very begiining of FCC licensing?

Dan Yemiola
AI8O

"Dr.Ace - WH2T" wrote in message
...
In 1963, the CBers outnumbered the Ham Population.

The number of US hams exceeded 250,000 in 1963.

1917 - about 6,000


1928 - about 17,000


1936 - about 46,000


1950 - near 90,000


1956 - over 140,000


1958 - about 160,000


1963 - over 250,000


1977 - 327,000

1989 - over 500,000

1997 June - 678,473

2001 Jan 1 - 682,240

2002 Oct 31 -- 684,355


Could you add the corresponding general population figures. Then we could
see if the number of hams is growing faster or slower than the general
popluation.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE