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Unwritten policy and the intent of the average amateur ...
"Dee Flint" wrote in message . .. "Bob Brock" wrote in message news:_Eovh.2876$ch1.1567@bigfe9... "Dee Flint" wrote in message . .. "Bob Brock" wrote in message ... On 28 Jan 2007 13:11:46 -0800, " wrote: Not at all, John, you be wrong there. ARRL has periodical and publication racks on the floors of HRO and Radio Shack and other stores to catch all eyes. Not really trying to change the subject, but I went to the local bookstore and two Radio Shacks trying to get a copy of the General Class Study manual. Both Radio Shacks said that they no longer carry the study guides. So, I opted to download the questions and answers from the net for free and give that a shot. Did two Radio Shack managers lie to me? Has anyone seen the ARRL study guides? I didn't even see any of the "Now Your's Talking" books at the local stores. Radio Shack has basically gotten out of amateur radio. I haven't seen any study guides there for a couple of years. Sometimes you can get them at Barnes & Noble but you have to special order. In that case one might as well order directly off the ARRL website. The Technician license manual is no longer called "Now You're Talking". I don't recall the new name. Right. Radio Shack pimps the hot products for the moment. The way I see it, them not even carrying license manuals speaks volumes about demand for them. Now, when you walk into a Radio Shack and see loads of HF antennas, HF rigs, and a shelf of study guides; then you can say that Ham radio is back in demand. So, to bring this back on topic. I wonder if the intent of the average ham is to make ham radio grow or to maintain a stale status quo? The way I see it, a steady increase in qualified hams is a good thing. Ham radio needs a good infusion of new blood and the no-code tech license as a good start. However, it was only the beginning. It will be very tough to grow ham radio. We've "saturated the market" so to speak. If you check around the internet (for example, Speroni's site is one), you can find the statistics on a few of the other countries. We have 2 hams per thousand people while Europe is running more like 1 ham per thousand people. While we need to actively recruit, there just aren't a lot of people out there that are inclined to amateur radio as a part of their leisure pursuits. We will have to recruit hard just to stay at the current level. It would not surprise me if our numbers dropped in half over the next decade or so before leveling out. You could be right. However, there wouldn't be anything wrong with looking at the potential base of good people who could be interested in ham radio and trying to figure out what aspects might motivate them in joining in the hobby. Well, except that we are in the wrong ng to do that right here and would need to start another thread in the appropriate ng instead. I guess I'm questioning whether we should recruit hard or recruit smart? Perhaps both wouldn't hurt anything. However, to be honest with you and the others here, I've got a crisis going on here right now. My wife had a brain tumor removed a little over a week ago and we just found out tonight that the tumor was malignant. She lost use of her left arm and leg during the operation and will require radiation therapy after the physical therapy. I'll leave it up to those who are already here to decide among yourselves if a discussion of the potential base and what motivates them would be beneficial in the appropriate ng or not. Hey, it's better than holding on to old vendettas and it could give everyone a chance to provide some thoughtful input since it should be pretty non controversial. Give it a thought and do what you will. I'll post as time permits, but things are going to get really busy here for the next few months. I was wanting to study and take the General exam, but that too will take a back burner right now. Take care all and I'll post when time permits. Bob |