"KØHB" wrote in message hlink.net...

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?

A1: Not at the time I did (age 13, 1967). Maybe not at all.

Even if you adjust for inflation, it was a lot of money for me back
then.
Today I'd spring for it.

In the late '60s and early '70s I could (and did) build a pretty good
station for less than $50. CW, of course, but capable of worldwide
communication.

--- 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?

A2: No. By the time I was 23, I would have spent $250 for a ten-year
license. But that question is somewhat academic because without a
license in the first place, renewal would not matter. While coming up
with $250 in one lump would be difficult, I would simply have saved up
for it.

--

There's a bit of marketing psych going on here, of course. Asking
somebody to cough up seven cents a day or forty-nine cents a week
isn't the same thing as asking them to pay $25 a year. And asking them
to pay $25 a year isn't the same thing as asking them to pay $250 for
ten years, payable up-front.

The smart marketer knows that you need to make the initial payout
relatively small. That's why there was never any fee for a Novice
exam.

--

Hopefully, Hans will submit his proposal to FCC before it's too late.

73 de Jim, N2EY