Total growth of 901 in that much time isn't healthy. Reducing the code test to
just 5 wpm did not result in sustained growth, and neither did reducing the
written tests.


True of the code, but the writtens are substationally the same before
and after restructuring. Oh, element 4 has a few less questions than
old elements 4a plus 4b had, but it's the same
material you have to study.
And of course you won't know exactly what questions you'll get.

Maybe a few advertisements placed in magazines (horrors) CBers
and (even worse!) freebanders read can find some new "born
again" "repentant" people to get a ham license and swear off
freebanding...? Now that the sunspots are out of season?

"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message ...
"William" wrote in message
om...
PAMNO (N2EY) wrote in message
...
In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

N2EY wrote:

These are the number of unexpired FCC ARS
licenses held by individuals on the dates listed:

snip

Total Tech/TechPlus - 320,925 (decrease of 13,329)

Total all classes - 675,693 (increase of 901)

Good to see that the total numbers increased *despite* the "Great
Falloff"

We have only 901 more hams today than we had when the whole
restructuring
business came into being more than 4 years ago. (Some "professionals"
can't
seem to even get a Technician license out of the box, despite the
reduction in
written testing as well as code).

Total growth of 901 in that much time isn't healthy. Reducing the code
test to
just 5 wpm did not result in sustained growth, and neither did reducing
the
written tests.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Probably too little, too late. People
just don't want to learn the code. Either
that or people just don't want to become hams.
We have an insider who might be able to shed
some light on those issues.

It's difficult for people to develop an interest in ham radio when they have
never heard of it. Most people that I know who are not hams never even
heard about it until they met me.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Dee, I got beat up on here a couple of years ago for saying that you
almost had to know a ham to become a ham.

Hi, hi.

Subject: ARS License Numbers
From: (William)
Date: 8/17/2004 8:38 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

(N2EY) wrote in message
.com...
(WA8ULX) wrote in message
...
Total growth of 901 in that much time isn't healthy. Reducing the code
test
to
just 5 wpm did not result in sustained growth, and neither did reducing
the
written tests.

Of course not, all it did was give Lazy Ass people like Karl a FREE
UPGRADE

Karl who?

When and how did you get *your* Extra, Bruce? Was it in front of an
FCC examiner? 20 wpm code, send and receive? Did you take the old
written tests, too?

Or did you bypass all that and get it after April 15, 2000 - just like
the folks you call "lazy"?

N2EY

Well, well, well! I think Jimmy Who found his backbone.

Maybe he'll stand up to Steve's abuses next, if he doesn't fear legal
action or "Dialing..."

All I can say is, "Bravo!"

Jim's had his "backbone" for quite a while.

As for Jim...He's quite independent. He and I disagree on a great many
things and always manage to not have to resort to the type of conduct that you
and Lennie the Liar seem to find necessary.

That would be, in particular, lying to each otehr or calling each otehr
names.

As for "abuses"...What abuses, Brain?

You lie, I call you a liar.

You dance to Lennie's stringpulling, I call you Puppetboy.

You act like you know it all when it's evident you know nothing, I
sarcastically call you "Brain". You cringe at that diminuitive, yet you seem
to relish doing it to others in spades.

Sucks to be you, Brain...You're just slightly more transparent than wax
paper, and about as useful.

Steve, K4YZ

In article , Robert Casey
writes:

Total growth of 901 in that much time isn't healthy. Reducing the code test
to
just 5 wpm did not result in sustained growth, and neither did reducing the
written tests.

True of the code, but the writtens are substationally the same before
and after restructuring. Oh, element 4 has a few less questions than
old elements 4a plus 4b had, but it's the same
material you have to study.
And of course you won't know exactly what questions you'll get.

IIRC, under the old system it took 5 written tests totalling 190 questions to
reach full privileges. Heck, it took 2 writtens totalling 65 questions to get a
Tech! That has been reduced to 3 written tests totalling 120 questions, A Tech
requires only a single 35 question test.

That's a significant reduction, IMHO. But it hasn't resulted in sustained
growth. Neither has the loss of nearly all code testing. Nor the no-code-test
Technician, nor code test waivers, etc. etc.

Maybe a few advertisements placed in magazines (horrors) CBers
and (even worse!) freebanders read can find some new "born
again" "repentant" people to get a ham license and swear off
freebanding...? Now that the sunspots are out of season?

I don't think so. In my experience, a lot of those folks simply don't want to
be licensed. Has nothing to do with the tests, and everything to do with
perception.

Publicity to the general public is one thing that's needed.

73 de Jim, N2EY

IIRC, under the old system it took 5 written tests totalling 190 questions to
reach full privileges. Heck, it took 2 writtens totalling 65 questions to get a
Tech! That has been reduced to 3 written tests totalling 120 questions, A Tech
requires only a single 35 question test.

That's a significant reduction, IMHO.

I still think that the odds of passing a 100 question test and a 10
question test, if the questions are of the same level of difficulty,
is about the same. Anyway...
But it hasn't resulted in sustained
growth. Neither has the loss of nearly all code testing. Nor the no-code-test
Technician, nor code test waivers, etc. etc.

True, but I don't know why.


Maybe a few advertisements placed in magazines (horrors) CBers
and (even worse!) freebanders read can find some new "born
again" "repentant" people to get a ham license and swear off
freebanding...? Now that the sunspots are out of season?


I don't think so. In my experience, a lot of those folks simply don't want to
be licensed. Has nothing to do with the tests, and everything to do with
perception.

Maybe you're right. Some years ago I exchanged a few emails with a
freebander hobbyist trying to convince him that a ham license would
be a good thing for him to get. Not by shameing him for freebanding,
but telling of the many things you can do legally on many different
kinds of bands as a ham. But he mentioned an experience of not
liking the hams at some random ham club he once visited. That's
the preception issue you mentioned.

It was a long shot....


Publicity to the general public is one thing that's needed.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Subject: ARS License Numbers
From: (William)
Date: 8/18/2004 7:36 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

(Steve Robeson K4CAP) wrote in message
...

Jim's had his "backbone" for quite a while.

You say that just so long as he stays out of your way and
"never is heard a discouraging word." Yet he's been giving you subtle
hints to back off of Len, but you just don't get it (because you're
nuts and cannot NOT respond to Len). We'll see if he can stand
up to someone other than Bruce, and you'll change your tune when he
tells you to quit making an jerk of yourself. Best of Luck.

Well, Brain...

There ya go spouting off without facts again.

Suggest you balance the number of LennieRants against the total number of
posts I've made, either to him or about him.

The numbers will, of course, prove you wrong.

There ya go...Running off at the mouth again, Brain.

Are you EVER going to learn...?!?!

Steve, K4YZ

In article , Robert Casey
writes:

IIRC, under the old system it took 5 written tests totalling 190 questions
to
reach full privileges. Heck, it took 2 writtens totalling 65 questions to
get a
Tech! That has been reduced to 3 written tests totalling 120 questions, A
Tech requires only a single 35 question test.

That's a significant reduction, IMHO.

I still think that the odds of passing a 100 question test and a 10
question test, if the questions are of the same level of difficulty,
is about the same. Anyway...

Maybe. But which *appears* to be more difficult to most newcomers:

"If you want to be a ham, you have to pass two tests, with a total of 100
questions"

or

"If you want to be a ham, you have to pass a 10 question test"

?

But it hasn't resulted in sustained
growth. Neither has the loss of nearly all code testing. Nor the
no-code-test
Technician, nor code test waivers, etc. etc.

True, but I don't know why.

Nobody really does.

But all this indicates that the old nocodetest mantra that "code tests are
keeping out hordes of 'otherwise qualified' people" is simply false. And now
folks like NCVEC (which is to say, W5YI and a few buddies) are pushing for even
simpler entry licensing. Which is simply wrong.

I think lack of publicity is one big factor. Another is competition from other
technical avocations. Add to this the fact that some of the reasons to be a ham
years ago have vanished. Example: I know some hams who got licenses simply to
keep in touch with family members. Decades ago, when longdistance telephone
calls were expensive, it was family members across the continent. Years ago,
when cell phones were expensive, it was for local honeydew comms. Today those
reasons have all but vanished.

Maybe a few advertisements placed in magazines (horrors) CBers
and (even worse!) freebanders read can find some new "born
again" "repentant" people to get a ham license and swear off
freebanding...? Now that the sunspots are out of season?

I don't think so. In my experience, a lot of those folks simply don't want
to
be licensed. Has nothing to do with the tests, and everything to do with
perception.

Maybe you're right. Some years ago I exchanged a few emails with a
freebander hobbyist trying to convince him that a ham license would
be a good thing for him to get. Not by shameing him for freebanding,
but telling of the many things you can do legally on many different
kinds of bands as a ham. But he mentioned an experience of not
liking the hams at some random ham club he once visited. That's
the preception issue you mentioned.

It was a long shot....

That's one perception. Here's another:

Hams are licensed by the feds and the vast majority of them follow the rules -
all the rules. Which means that even though they could run superpower, they
don't, and even though their rigs go outside the ham bands, they won't use 'em
there. Etc. Part of the reason is that the FCC knows where hams live, etc., but
a bigger part is that "it's just not done" by hams.

IOW, most of hamdom is pretty straight-arrow law-abiding.

Freeband is exactly the opposite. Almost everyhting hams consider important,
they ignore, and vice versa. So why would one be attracted to the other?

73 de Jim, N2EY