an Old friend wrote:
know code wrote:
The Magnum wrote:


Judging by many peoples comments in the newsgroups and a few Amateurs I have
spoken to face to face many feel the hobby would have all but died compared
to what it used to be if the insistence of Morse was upheld especially to
that degree.
But that is simply not true and the statistics on the IARU website prove
it. The total number of Amateurs in the UK was increasing year in, year
out, and that was *before* either the Novice (now Intermediate) or
Foundation licenses were introduced.

they prove nothing fo the kind how many of those licensee were active
you don't know


In the UK, licences are renewed annually so those statistics on the IARU
website are of licences that had been renewed in the previous 12 months.
That makes the statistics very valid in proving the point I was
making! Numbers were increasing year in, year out.

Now, had the licences only been renewed every 10 years like in the
States (soon the be every five years in the UK) then you may have had a
valid point.