Using the table at http://www.speroni.com/FCC/Licenses.html

Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in July 1999 ==
289,669
Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in April 2004 ==
326,024
Increase in number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees over the time
period == 36,355
Number of Tech+ licensees in July 1999 == 133,979

Now the July 1999 Tech+ would have been eligible to upgrade to General and
higher with only written tests. Even if they expired after July, they still
had plenty of time to renew within their grace period and still upgrade to
General and higher with only written tests at the time of the restructuring
in April 2000.

From the above numbers, at most only 27% of the people eligible to upgrade
with only a written test did so. The number would actually be less since
some were the pre-1987 Techs who only had to submit a paper upgrade without
testing, some would have been Techs who upgraded by taking code and theory,
and some would have been Techs/Tech+ licensed since July 1999 who went on to
upgrade too.

So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written who
did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?

Continuing in this vein:
In April 2000 the number of Advanced licensees == 101,725
In April 2004 the number of Advanced licensees == 80,597
Change == 21,128

Thus only 21% either upgraded, died (and their family officially notified
the FCC), or let their license expire. Why did so many choose not to
upgrade? All they needed to do was take a written no harder than what they
had already taken.


Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Dee D. Flint wrote:
Using the table at http://www.speroni.com/FCC/Licenses.html

Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in July 1999 ==
289,669
Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in April 2004 ==
326,024
Increase in number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees over the time
period == 36,355
Number of Tech+ licensees in July 1999 == 133,979

Now the July 1999 Tech+ would have been eligible to upgrade to General and
higher with only written tests. Even if they expired after July, they still
had plenty of time to renew within their grace period and still upgrade to
General and higher with only written tests at the time of the restructuring
in April 2000.

From the above numbers, at most only 27% of the people eligible to upgrade
with only a written test did so. The number would actually be less since
some were the pre-1987 Techs who only had to submit a paper upgrade without
testing, some would have been Techs who upgraded by taking code and theory,
and some would have been Techs/Tech+ licensed since July 1999 who went on to
upgrade too.

So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written who
did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?

Because many of these people are happy right where they are. I've long
said that there is a natural divide between the HF and VHF/UHF, much of
it based on propagation characteristics. There are simply many people
that are quite content with their access to a local repeater, and thank
you very much! 8^)

I think this is one of the mistaken impressions that a lot of people
have. Some people do not want to put up a big antenna, some people
aren't all that entranced about talking all over the world.

The fact that I would rather operate HF than VHF and up does not mean
that everyone or even a majority does.

I think it is a mistake to think that simply allowing Technicians HF
access is going to provide some kind of shot in the arm to Ham radio. I
suspect that many of them will continue on the local repeaters, or
whatever they were doing before they got the extra privileges



Continuing in this vein:
In April 2000 the number of Advanced licensees == 101,725
In April 2004 the number of Advanced licensees == 80,597
Change == 21,128

Thus only 21% either upgraded, died (and their family officially notified
the FCC), or let their license expire. Why did so many choose not to
upgrade? All they needed to do was take a written no harder than what they
had already taken.

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...
Dee D. Flint wrote:
Using the table at http://www.speroni.com/FCC/Licenses.html

Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in July 1999
==
289,669
Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in April 2004
==
326,024
Increase in number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees over the
time
period == 36,355
Number of Tech+ licensees in July 1999 == 133,979

Now the July 1999 Tech+ would have been eligible to upgrade to General
and
higher with only written tests. Even if they expired after July, they
still
had plenty of time to renew within their grace period and still upgrade
to
General and higher with only written tests at the time of the
restructuring
in April 2000.

From the above numbers, at most only 27% of the people eligible to
upgrade
with only a written test did so. The number would actually be less
since
some were the pre-1987 Techs who only had to submit a paper upgrade
without
testing, some would have been Techs who upgraded by taking code and
theory,
and some would have been Techs/Tech+ licensed since July 1999 who went
on to
upgrade too.

So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written
who
did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?

Because many of these people are happy right where they are. I've long
said that there is a natural divide between the HF and VHF/UHF, much of
it based on propagation characteristics. There are simply many people
that are quite content with their access to a local repeater, and thank
you very much! 8^)

I think this is one of the mistaken impressions that a lot of people
have. Some people do not want to put up a big antenna, some people
aren't all that entranced about talking all over the world.

The fact that I would rather operate HF than VHF and up does not mean
that everyone or even a majority does.

I think it is a mistake to think that simply allowing Technicians HF
access is going to provide some kind of shot in the arm to Ham radio. I
suspect that many of them will continue on the local repeaters, or
whatever they were doing before they got the extra privileges


The numbers above certainly support that deduction better than any other. I
suspect that there are a lot of people that simply want to be able to talk
to people in their local area. Our club is running an upgrade class for
those who would like to take it. There are only 8 people in the class yet
we have at least 70 or 80 Tech/Tech+ licensees in the club. Now I realize
that some people have conflicts such as shift work or other commitments but
I would have expected a better turn out for this class as it is the first
one we've done for an upgrade. Previously the people were simply encouraged
to study on their own. The low number coming up to the class would tend to
somewhat support the deduction that there is a fairly large group not
interested in HF.



Continuing in this vein:
In April 2000 the number of Advanced licensees == 101,725
In April 2004 the number of Advanced licensees == 80,597
Change == 21,128

Thus only 21% either upgraded, died (and their family officially
notified
the FCC), or let their license expire. Why did so many choose not to
upgrade? All they needed to do was take a written no harder than what
they
had already taken.


Care to take a stab at why the Advanced hasn't upgraded? Some have stated
that they are doing it as a protest against reducing the code requirement
but I can't believe that to be true of more than a very small number.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

In article , "Dee D. Flint"
writes:

Using the table at http://www.speroni.com/FCC/Licenses.html

Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in July 1999 ==
289,669
Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in April 2004 ==
326,024
Increase in number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees over the time
period == 36,355
Number of Tech+ licensees in July 1999 == 133,979

Now the July 1999 Tech+ would have been eligible to upgrade to General and
higher with only written tests. Even if they expired after July, they still
had plenty of time to renew within their grace period and still upgrade to
General and higher with only written tests at the time of the restructuring
in April 2000.

From the above numbers, at most only 27% of the people eligible to upgrade
with only a written test did so. The number would actually be less since
some were the pre-1987 Techs who only had to submit a paper upgrade without
testing, some would have been Techs who upgraded by taking code and theory,
and some would have been Techs/Tech+ licensed since July 1999 who went on to
upgrade too.

So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written who
did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?

As KB3EIA sez, many are quite satisfied just the way things are.

But there are more reasons:

- A significant number of those in the database are inactive hams, ranging from
SKs to "no interest anymore" to folks who simply don't have the
time/space/money/energy for ham radio right now.

- A significant number of hams are simply unaware of the changes. As odd as
this may seem, I still encounter hams who have only the vaguest idea of how
much things changed in 2000. While that may seem incredible to us denizens of
internet policy groups and discussion boards, in fact it is quite common.

- Many hams are only vaguely aware of how the VE and renewal systems work now.
IIRC, ten years ago we were still using Form 610.

Continuing in this vein:
In April 2000 the number of Advanced licensees == 101,725
In April 2004 the number of Advanced licensees == 80,597
Change == 21,128

Thus only 21% either upgraded, died (and their family officially notified
the FCC), or let their license expire. Why did so many choose not to
upgrade? All they needed to do was take a written no harder than what they
had already taken.

Same reasons as above. Plus one mo Some are under the mistaken notion that
having an Advanced somehow "proves" they passed 13 wpm code and an allegedly
tougher written test. That's simply not the case because of medical waivers
*and* the unique circumstances after April 15, 2000 (if you had a valid CSCE or
licenses for the Advanced writtens, plus either a license or CSCE for 5 wpm,
you could get an Advanced after April 15 2000 without the 13 wpm code or a
waiver.)

In any event, the numbers show that there are not huge numbers of hams beating
against the imagined "barrier" of code or written tests.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , "Dee D. Flint"
writes:

Using the table at http://www.speroni.com/FCC/Licenses.html

Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in July 1999
==
289,669
Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in April 2004
==
326,024
Increase in number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees over the
time
period == 36,355
Number of Tech+ licensees in July 1999 == 133,979

Now the July 1999 Tech+ would have been eligible to upgrade to General
and
higher with only written tests. Even if they expired after July, they
still
had plenty of time to renew within their grace period and still upgrade
to
General and higher with only written tests at the time of the
restructuring
in April 2000.

From the above numbers, at most only 27% of the people eligible to
upgrade
with only a written test did so. The number would actually be less since
some were the pre-1987 Techs who only had to submit a paper upgrade
without
testing, some would have been Techs who upgraded by taking code and
theory,
and some would have been Techs/Tech+ licensed since July 1999 who went on
to
upgrade too.

So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written who
did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?

As KB3EIA sez, many are quite satisfied just the way things are.

But there are more reasons:

- A significant number of those in the database are inactive hams, ranging
from
SKs to "no interest anymore" to folks who simply don't have the
time/space/money/energy for ham radio right now.

- A significant number of hams are simply unaware of the changes. As odd
as
this may seem, I still encounter hams who have only the vaguest idea of
how
much things changed in 2000. While that may seem incredible to us denizens
of
internet policy groups and discussion boards, in fact it is quite common.

- Many hams are only vaguely aware of how the VE and renewal systems work
now.
IIRC, ten years ago we were still using Form 610.

Continuing in this vein:
In April 2000 the number of Advanced licensees == 101,725
In April 2004 the number of Advanced licensees == 80,597
Change == 21,128

Thus only 21% either upgraded, died (and their family officially notified
the FCC), or let their license expire. Why did so many choose not to
upgrade? All they needed to do was take a written no harder than what
they
had already taken.

Same reasons as above. Plus one mo Some are under the mistaken notion
that
having an Advanced somehow "proves" they passed 13 wpm code and an
allegedly
tougher written test. That's simply not the case because of medical
waivers
*and* the unique circumstances after April 15, 2000 (if you had a valid
CSCE or
licenses for the Advanced writtens, plus either a license or CSCE for 5
wpm,
you could get an Advanced after April 15 2000 without the 13 wpm code or a
waiver.)

In any event, the numbers show that there are not huge numbers of hams
beating
against the imagined "barrier" of code or written tests.

73 de Jim, N2EY


That's what I think too.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

"Dee D. Flint" wrote
|
| So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written
who
| did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?
|

Because they didn't care to yet. Nothing wrong with that. Some may
simply be content with their current privileges. Some may be inactive
at this time due to any number of reasons, and not 'plugged in' to
amateur radio. Some may be permanently dis-interested.

I've long thought that everyone who wanted to be on HF in a meaningful
way is already there, and that tinkering with the licensing requirements
will have minimal impact in who we actually find on the air below
29.7MHz. I'd wager that an instant upgrade to Extra for every current
licensee would result in less than 5% more stations heard on HF.

73, de Hans, K0HB

"KØHB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Dee D. Flint" wrote
|
| So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written
who
| did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?
|

Because they didn't care to yet. Nothing wrong with that. Some may
simply be content with their current privileges. Some may be inactive
at this time due to any number of reasons, and not 'plugged in' to
amateur radio. Some may be permanently dis-interested.

I've long thought that everyone who wanted to be on HF in a meaningful
way is already there, and that tinkering with the licensing requirements
will have minimal impact in who we actually find on the air below
29.7MHz. I'd wager that an instant upgrade to Extra for every current
licensee would result in less than 5% more stations heard on HF.

73, de Hans, K0HB

And that is part of the point. Changing the structure will make little to
no difference so let's not change it. The effort required to change exceeds
the benefit gained.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

In article . net, "KØHB"
writes:

"Dee D. Flint" wrote
|
| So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written who
| did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?

Because they didn't care to yet. Nothing wrong with that. Some may
simply be content with their current privileges. Some may be inactive
at this time due to any number of reasons, and not 'plugged in' to
amateur radio. Some may be permanently dis-interested.

I'd say that is an excellent summation of what is happening.

Problem is, in the small minority of those doing the lifestyle
thing of personally boosting their favorite activity, they tend to
project too much of their own activity on others. Not everyone
lives ham radio like the League pushes it in publications.

I've long thought that everyone who wanted to be on HF in a meaningful
way is already there, and that tinkering with the licensing requirements
will have minimal impact in who we actually find on the air below
29.7MHz. I'd wager that an instant upgrade to Extra for every current
licensee would result in less than 5% more stations heard on HF.

That's possible. But, to some of the "higher classes" those
would be unimaginable and outrageous figures, those seeing
doom, gloom, and wishing to take a broom to the heretics
threatening Their favorite playground. :-)

For what it's worth, as of 6 April 2004, there were 282,948
no-code-test Technicians in the FCC ham database. That's a
whopping 38.9 percent of all licensees who cannot, legally,
operate on ham bands below 6 meters. That number is almost
twice as big as the 146,174 or 20.1 percent who were General
class licensees on that date.

Advanced class were 84,507 or 11.6 percent and Amateur
Extras were 107,343 or 14.8 percent. Novice was only
38,814 or 5.3 percent and Technician Plus almost twice that
at 67,359 or 9.3 percent.

There WOULD be a significant playground "threat" should the
no-code-test Technicians get a piece of the HF action. Might
be true doom and gloom plus the hue and cry of alarum from
those who think that HF was made only for Them.

Should be clear that HF denizens need more space to play.
Nobody seems to be active on doing that. All that happened
in the relatively recent time resulted in five "channels" on 60 m.
According to NTIA Spectrum Projections, an endnote says
that ARRL "requested more bandspace" a dozen years ago.
The only thing on the current WRC-07 agenda is the 136 KHz
LF band consideration "for study."

Where are all the bandspace Activists?

LHA / WMD

In article ,
(Len Over 21) writes:

For what it's worth, as of 6 April 2004, there were 282,948


That number includes expired licenses which are in the grace period. As of
April 11 2004, the number of current (non-expired) Technicians is 262,804.

no-code-test Technicians in the FCC ham database.
That's a
whopping 38.9 percent of all licensees who cannot, legally,
operate on ham bands below 6 meters.

Incorrect!

Since April 15, 2004 (4 years ago as of this coming Thursday), FCC has been
renewing all Technician Plus licenses as Technician. In addition, any
Technician who has passed Element 1 gets Novice/Technician Plus HF privileges
even though the license and database still say "Technician".

So a sizable number of those with Technician licenses *do* have some access to
four HF ham bands.

Dee D. Flint wrote:

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...

Dee D. Flint wrote:

Using the table at http://www.speroni.com/FCC/Licenses.html

Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in July 1999

==

289,669
Combined number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees in April 2004

==

326,024
Increase in number of General, Advanced, and Extra licensees over the

time

period == 36,355
Number of Tech+ licensees in July 1999 == 133,979

Now the July 1999 Tech+ would have been eligible to upgrade to General

and

higher with only written tests. Even if they expired after July, they

still

had plenty of time to renew within their grace period and still upgrade

to

General and higher with only written tests at the time of the

restructuring

in April 2000.

From the above numbers, at most only 27% of the people eligible to

upgrade

with only a written test did so. The number would actually be less

since

some were the pre-1987 Techs who only had to submit a paper upgrade

without

testing, some would have been Techs who upgraded by taking code and

theory,

and some would have been Techs/Tech+ licensed since July 1999 who went

on to

upgrade too.

So we have OVER 97,000 people eligible to upgrade with just a written

who

did not do so. Any one care to venture an explanation as to why?

Because many of these people are happy right where they are. I've long
said that there is a natural divide between the HF and VHF/UHF, much of
it based on propagation characteristics. There are simply many people
that are quite content with their access to a local repeater, and thank
you very much! 8^)

I think this is one of the mistaken impressions that a lot of people
have. Some people do not want to put up a big antenna, some people
aren't all that entranced about talking all over the world.

The fact that I would rather operate HF than VHF and up does not mean
that everyone or even a majority does.

I think it is a mistake to think that simply allowing Technicians HF
access is going to provide some kind of shot in the arm to Ham radio. I
suspect that many of them will continue on the local repeaters, or
whatever they were doing before they got the extra privileges



The numbers above certainly support that deduction better than any other. I
suspect that there are a lot of people that simply want to be able to talk
to people in their local area. Our club is running an upgrade class for
those who would like to take it. There are only 8 people in the class yet
we have at least 70 or 80 Tech/Tech+ licensees in the club. Now I realize
that some people have conflicts such as shift work or other commitments but
I would have expected a better turn out for this class as it is the first
one we've done for an upgrade. Previously the people were simply encouraged
to study on their own. The low number coming up to the class would tend to
somewhat support the deduction that there is a fairly large group not
interested in HF.



Continuing in this vein:
In April 2000 the number of Advanced licensees == 101,725
In April 2004 the number of Advanced licensees == 80,597
Change == 21,128

Thus only 21% either upgraded, died (and their family officially

notified

the FCC), or let their license expire. Why did so many choose not to
upgrade? All they needed to do was take a written no harder than what

they

had already taken.


Care to take a stab at why the Advanced hasn't upgraded? Some have stated
that they are doing it as a protest against reducing the code requirement
but I can't believe that to be true of more than a very small number.


I have heard some advanced that say they want to "prove" that they took
a higher speed Morse code test and won't upgrade. Weird stuff for sure.
As much as I do support testing for Morse, I consider the tests a lot
more important. However there are a fair amount that consider the fact
that they took a faster speed test to be the more important thing

Some advanced amateurs may be inactive, although I doubt it is enought
to account for all. It's probably a combination of factors.

- Mike KB3EIA -