"Bert Craig" wrote in message .net...
"Carl R. Stevenson" wrote in message
...

"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message
gy.com...

No matter what stance the ARRL takes or no stance at all, they will
alienate
a portion of the US amateur population [CRS insert ... I think you meant
to
put a "larger" here] than their membership. The number of
non-ARRL members supporting code testing is larger than ARRL's
membership
as
well as the group opposing code testing.

How did you arrive at that pseudo-fact?

Dee, please allow me.

http://www.speroni.com/FCC/

The various surverys that have been taken indicate that the ham
community
is
about 50/50 on this issue. That seems to hold true inside the ARRL
membership as well as outside it. Thus the ARRL will "alienate" half
the
US
ham population no matter what stance they take.

The "various surveys" have all been self-selecting and have no scientific
validity.

http://www.eham.net/survey/539

Gee Carl, you're right. It's NOT 50%. Out of 5,020 votes, PCTA got 62% while
NCTA got 33%. I'll take that split, Dee. ;-)

Me, too!

The 1996 READEX survey, paid for by ARRL, showed that 63% of members
PCTA and 30% NCTA (8% undecided). Nonmembers were 54% PCTA and 37%
NCTA (9% undecided).

This survey also showed something very interesting when age groups
were analyzed. All ages of members were majority PCTA. Here are the
results, PCTA/NCTA/undecided:

65+ - 65%/27%/8%
55 to 64 - 55%/36%/9%
45 to 54 - 66%/26%/8%
35 to 44 - 58%/34%/7%
25 to 34 - 52%/45%/3%
under 25 - 85%/15%/0%

Note that last result - the 24-and-unders are the strongest PCTAs!
These are the young people we are supposed to be wooing, right?

No wonder Len Anderson wants an age limit for a ham license!


Shall we try QRZ...?

Plus, they are all several years old and the demographic and thoughts have
changed a lot since "restructuring."

Late December, 2002 isn't "several years old," Carl.

If you look at the numbers of licensees with less than General class
licenses,
do you really believe that anything approaching 50% of them are in favor
of continued Morse testing?

Yes, I do.

Me, too. The mere fact that someone hasn't done something doesn't mean
they are not in favor of it. Look at how many hams with code test
credit don't have Extras yet, more than 3 years since restructuring.
Is that an indication that the Extra license should be dumped?

Let's look at the "survey" that should have counted the most -
comments to FCC about 98-143. The majority not only favored code
testing but wanted either two code test speeds or three code test
speeds. Yet FCC overruled them.

I have a feeling that majority is going to get overruled again.

73 de Jim, N2EY