Lenof21 wrote:

All licensees are perfectly legal to continue operating in their grace
period.

Nope. Wrong. You are mistaken. Once an amateur's license expires,
he or she *cannot* legally operate until the is renewed.

To quote FCC rules:

"97.21(b) A person whose amateur station license grant has expired
may apply to the FCC for renewal of the license grant for another term
during a 2 year filing grace period. The application must be received
t the address specified above prior to the end of the grace period.
Unless and until the license grant is renewed, no privileges in this Part
are conferred."

Last sentence says it all: "Unless and until the license grant is renewed,
no privileges in this Part are conferred."

This isn't some fine point of the rules that's subject to interpretation.
FCC amateur licenses have 10 year terms, and if a license is allowed
to expire, the licensee *cannot* legally operate until the license is renewed.

Do you agree or disagree, Len?

There is no necessity (nor sense) to eliminate those in the
grace period from those in the normal 10-year license period from
any class totals.

Sure there is - their licenses are expired and they cannot operate.

If you want to include expired-but-in-the-grace-period licensees in
the totals, go right ahead. But be sure to indicate that you are doing
so, unless *you* want to "massage" the numbers.

The numbers I post twice each month are the totals of *unexpired*
licenses held by *individuals*. That's clear (to people who can
understand plain English) in every one of my post of license totals.
Nothing "massaged" about them.

To repeat, the allegation that there is a "big drop" in Technician
Class numbers is WRONG. Raw data doesn't show that.

What "raw data" have you examined, Len?

"hamdata.com" isn't "raw data".

Have you downloaded the FCC database? Processed it yourself?
Or do you simply take the numbers from a trusted website, same as
I do?

Implying that the allegation still exists is merely compounding the wrongness.

Who made such an allegation, Len?

The sum of *unexpired* Technicians and Technician Pluses *has* declined since
May of 2000.

Jim, N2EY