"KØHB" ) writes:
K4CAP/K4YZ wrote: (about license fees)

I think fees in the $25/year range would not be inappropriate.

So let's take a poll:

Q1: If it cost $250 (plus testing fees) for a 10-year license would you
have become a new amateur radio operator?

--- or ---

Q2: If it had cost $250 to renew your license each time over your ham
radio career, would your license have lapsed by now?



Here are my responses:

Q1: Not a chance.

Q2: When raising a family, spending $250 on a discretionary avocational
item would have been out of the question.

73, de Hans, K0HB

$250 does seem like a lot of money.

But then, the issue is that one is expected to pay it in a lump.

As I said, we had an annual license fee here in Canada up to 2000,
and it was just part of the cost. But if it was that you paid
once every ten years, I think it would affect things, maybe dramatically.

It's cheaper to require a renewal only every ten years, but that would
then require a lump sum, that might be a difficulty to some or many.
Of course, an annual fee paid annually would offset the cost of
an annual renewal.

Of course, an annual renewal has other benefits. Ten years seems a long
time, and it doesn't allow for keeping track of the hams. When they dropped
the license fee for hams here in Canada in 2000, licenses became lifetime.
Not only are we not paying a fee once a year, but even that level of
interaction between the ham and the regulatory body has disappeared. I'm
not sure that's a good thing.

Michael VE2BVW