robert casey wrote:


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.

The first half of the Incentive Licensing changes was implemented in
November 1968; the second half went into effect in November 1969. There
was, of course, some grumbling. Some of those doing the grumbling
decided that they'd be happy with General Class privileges. Some took
the Advanced exam which had no additional Morse Code test. Some went
all the way to the Extra. There were others who didn't grumble and
simply passed the additional exams.

Dave K8MN