wrote:

Not for most people. To most, it's a means
to an end, not an end in itself. Hams are
the exception.

I think it's *the* major factor. I have met far too
many people who, before they met me, had all
sorts of inaccurate ideas about amateur radio.

Frankly, most people I meet have no idea what amateur radio is, period. The
few that do associate us with the ugly radio towers and huge antennas that
reduce their property values, or the neighbor who ruins their nightly
episode of CSI by coming thru their "expensive home entertainment system".

Rather, most people just aren't interested
in "radio for its own sake".

Exactly what I run into as well.


How many active cbers are there now?

What percentage of those who were cbers
in the '70s are still active cbers now?

What percentage of those who were hams
in the '70s are still active hams now?

Good questions which I couldn't answer.

My guess would be more hams, because the ham license requires more effort,
and people generally tend to hold more value in something they have to work
harder to obtain.


It could be done in a way that would emphasize
the things which make Amateur Radio unique.

I'm not sure how that would be done.


Heck, way back 40 years ago, when I was first
licensed, what was the big deal to work a ham
across the continent? Long distance telephones
weren't new in 1967.

No, but long-distance phone calls were expensive. And the technology was
mysterious and unknown to many people.