William M. Pasternak wrote:

HAM RADIO TRENDS: LEAGUE CITES NO-ODE AS REASON FOR MEMBERSHIP GROWTH

Thee ARRL Letter says that its membership in the League is up and the
trend is toward continued growth. With now close to 152,000 members,
Customer Service Manager Amy Hurtado, KB1NXO, says the League is a
viable, up-to-date organization that every ham should be a part of.

Hurtado credits the rise in membership in part to the FCC rule changes
earlier this year that eliminated Morse code testing for the General and
Amateur Extra license classes. She says that since more people are
upgrading their licenses as a result of there being no Morse code
requirement, the League is now successfully able to show them the
benefits of being an ARRL member. (ARRL)



This is a relatively late reply to this post, but it bears a reply
nonetheless.

I would have to agree with the league's assessment of why they are
getting an increase in membership.

This will probably be an overall good thing for the league, and
probably Amateur Radio in general. I have always been a little concerned
that more Hams were not members. I think this bears some discussion.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...
William M. Pasternak wrote:

HAM RADIO TRENDS: LEAGUE CITES NO-ODE AS REASON FOR MEMBERSHIP GROWTH

Thee ARRL Letter says that its membership in the League is up and the
trend is toward continued growth. With now close to 152,000 members,
Customer Service Manager Amy Hurtado, KB1NXO, says the League is a
viable, up-to-date organization that every ham should be a part of.

Hurtado credits the rise in membership in part to the FCC rule changes
earlier this year that eliminated Morse code testing for the General and
Amateur Extra license classes. She says that since more people are
upgrading their licenses as a result of there being no Morse code
requirement, the League is now successfully able to show them the
benefits of being an ARRL member. (ARRL)



This is a relatively late reply to this post, but it bears a reply
nonetheless.

I would have to agree with the league's assessment of why they are getting
an increase in membership.

This will probably be an overall good thing for the league, and probably
Amateur Radio in general. I have always been a little concerned that more
Hams were not members. I think this bears some discussion.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -


A cautionary note here though. This is still less than 25% of all licensed
amateurs. We will have wait and see.

Dee, N8UZE

"Dee Flint" wrote in
:


"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...
snippage

This is a relatively late reply to this post, but it bears a reply
nonetheless.

I would have to agree with the league's assessment of why they are
getting an increase in membership.

This will probably be an overall good thing for the league, and
probably Amateur Radio in general. I have always been a little
concerned that more Hams were not members. I think this bears some
discussion.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -


A cautionary note here though. This is still less than 25% of all
licensed amateurs. We will have wait and see.

Certainly it is a "quick look" assessment.

But I think it is a step in the right direction.

My rationale is this:

Around half of all Amateurs were/are Technicians. When I was a
Technician, I saw the League as an interesting thing, but I did not join
until I got my General license. The reason why was that I saw it as more
relevent to my evolving interests. So while there are always going to be
people who are only interested in the VHF/UHF portions of the spectrum,
IMO the "prize" of the ARS is HF access. And once you get serious about
that, the ARRL, and QST is of much more interest. Once you get HF access,
and you get interested in the league, you get more info on what is going
on, and a positive feedback loop is generated.

We might debate over the qualifications of the qualified, but my
experience so far is that the new crop are fine gentlemen and ladies. I'm
pleasantly satisfied so far.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
36...
"Dee Flint" wrote in
:

[snip]

A cautionary note here though. This is still less than 25% of all
licensed amateurs. We will have wait and see.

Certainly it is a "quick look" assessment.

But I think it is a step in the right direction.

My rationale is this:

Around half of all Amateurs were/are Technicians. When I was a
Technician, I saw the League as an interesting thing, but I did not join
until I got my General license. The reason why was that I saw it as more
relevent to my evolving interests. So while there are always going to be
people who are only interested in the VHF/UHF portions of the spectrum,
IMO the "prize" of the ARS is HF access. And once you get serious about
that, the ARRL, and QST is of much more interest. Once you get HF access,
and you get interested in the league, you get more info on what is going
on, and a positive feedback loop is generated.

We might debate over the qualifications of the qualified, but my
experience so far is that the new crop are fine gentlemen and ladies. I'm
pleasantly satisfied so far.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -


I've often wondered how many of the members joined for the primarily to be
able to use the outgoing QSL service and be eligible for the various
operating awards (WAS, DXCC, etc.)? It's unlikely that there is a way to
get an accurate count on that though.

Dee, N8UZE

"Dee Flint" wrote in message
. ..


I've often wondered how many of the members joined for the primarily to be
able to use the outgoing QSL service and be eligible for the various operating
awards (WAS, DXCC, etc.)?


I belong to that particular radio club because I'm interested in being in the
DXCC listings. Beyond that, I consider the club to have politically
marginalized itself to irrelevance.

The Man in the Maze
QRN from Baboquivari Peak, AZ

--
Iitoi

"Dee Flint" writes:

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...
William M. Pasternak wrote:

HAM RADIO TRENDS: LEAGUE CITES NO-ODE AS REASON FOR MEMBERSHIP GROWTH

Thee ARRL Letter says that its membership in the League is up and the
trend is toward continued growth. With now close to 152,000 members,
Customer Service Manager Amy Hurtado, KB1NXO, says the League is a
viable, up-to-date organization that every ham should be a part of.

.....
A cautionary note here though. This is still less than 25% of all licensed
amateurs. We will have wait and see.

Dee, N8UZE

I'm not sure that's too bad. I've been licensed from 1974. I was
active 1974-1979, and again from 2004. I.e. less than 30% of the time.

The number of licensed amateur seriously overestimates the number of
active amateurs - even the number of amateurs who would like to be
active. That's the case here, where until a couple of years ago, there
was a yearly fee to pay. Probably even more so in the U.S.

73
LA4RT Jon

LA4RT Jon Kåre Hellan wrote:
"Dee Flint" writes:


snip


A cautionary note here though. This is still less than 25% of all licensed
amateurs. We will have wait and see.

Dee, N8UZE

I'm not sure that's too bad. I've been licensed from 1974. I was
active 1974-1979, and again from 2004. I.e. less than 30% of the time.

The number of licensed amateur seriously overestimates the number of
active amateurs - even the number of amateurs who would like to be
active. That's the case here, where until a couple of years ago, there
was a yearly fee to pay. Probably even more so in the U.S.

This is very true, Jon.

When a number of us get together and chat about the number of hams that
there are, I'm often compelled to mention the chaos that would result if
all were to be active and on the air.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...


This will probably be an overall good thing for the league, and probably
Amateur Radio in general. I have always been a little concerned that more Hams
were not members.

Once-upon-a-time-in-a-galazy-far-far-away I'd have agreed with you, but I
believe that the days of "what's good for ARRL is good for ham radio" are past,
and "being a member is the mark of an active ham" is mostly an empty slogan. By
being "everything to everyone" they have steadily eroded support from their core
member base and now are exposed to the realities of the publishing business
which is "subscription churn".

The Man in the Maze
QRU from Baboquivari Peak, AZ

--
Iitoi