Rather than carry on the fine old Usenet tradition of thread
hijacking, I'm going to start this one instead.

Elsewhere, an estimate from the ARRL was that 50% of the
licensed hams (Almost 360 thousand) are inactive.

50% That's an incredible number.

Also, it was noted that in response to a mass mailing of hams
in a locality, 50% of the mail came back as undeliverable.

I know as a whole, our average age is a bit high, but they
can't all be silent keys.

And I suspect equally, at the opposite end of that they can't
all be 19-20 year old newlyweds with no time for radio anymore.

So what happened to them? How did we lose 50% of our licensees?

Obviously a large number of people took the time, however short,
to learn (or memorize) enough to pass the test and get a license.

What caused them to lose interest?

Was it an equipment problem? Surely there should have been some
local ham offer to help them get set up.

Or was it a social problem?

Once they got their license, were they told they weren't "Real
Hams(tm)" because insert favorite reason here.

Were they ignored at meetings when they showed up?

Being beginners, were they helped? Or were they made to feel
inadequate when they asked a question because "Everyone knows
that."




--
Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi
http://www.foxsmercantile.com