Then in 1965 the growth suddenly slowed to a trickle. In the next
decade or so, the
numbers hovered around 250,000, with some years a little up and some a
little
down. That was the year the Conditional distance went from 75 miles to
175 miles,
and the FCC added enough exam points so that almost all of CONUS was
covered.

Do you think that change might have affected growth?


Wasn't that about the time "incentive licensing" kicked in? It's said
that hams were less than happy about having to upgrade to get back
frequencies they had the use of before.