Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has fallen.

Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who still have
it?

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote in news:1108578593.250795.201100
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:


Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who still have
it?

73 de Jim, N2EY



It's getting a little difficult to keep track. However, I think at least
the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand,
Papua Niugini, Hong Kong and South Africa have abolished the code test so
far. I think that of these only Austria and the Netherlands even retain an
entry level licence that doesn't give HF privileges.

That's only 17 countries, but I expect I may have missed some out. I make
the combined ham population of the above something over 260,000 (possibly
more than half of them no-coders), so probably a little less than half the
number of hams in the US. However, there are well over 50,000 hams in
Canada, which is also likely to abolish the code test very soon.

Don't forget that Japan, with a ham population of 1.2 Million (twice that
of the US, out of maybe a fifth of your general population), has long had a
no-code HF licence, albeit limited to 10 Watts. I'm not sure how many
Japanese hams have a no-code HF licence, but they may even rival all the
new ones so far put together, although the new guys can use more than 10
Watts! It's probably only a matter of time before Japan lets all of their
hams use HF anyway.

Even without the low power Japanese stations, the number of no-coders who
have full HF privileges right now is probably about the same as the number
of no-code Techs in the US.

73 de Alun, N3KIP

"Alun L. Palmer" wrote in
:

wrote in news:1108578593.250795.201100
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:


Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who still
have it?

73 de Jim, N2EY



It's getting a little difficult to keep track. However, I think at
least the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia,
New Zealand, Papua Niugini, Hong Kong and South Africa have abolished
the code test so far. I think that of these only Austria and the
Netherlands even retain an entry level licence that doesn't give HF
privileges.

That's only 17 countries, but I expect I may have missed some out. I
make the combined ham population of the above something over 260,000
(possibly more than half of them no-coders), so probably a little less
than half the number of hams in the US. However, there are well over
50,000 hams in Canada, which is also likely to abolish the code test
very soon.

Don't forget that Japan, with a ham population of 1.2 Million (twice
that of the US, out of maybe a fifth of your general population), has
long had a no-code HF licence, albeit limited to 10 Watts. I'm not sure
how many Japanese hams have a no-code HF licence, but they may even
rival all the new ones so far put together, although the new guys can
use more than 10 Watts! It's probably only a matter of time before
Japan lets all of their hams use HF anyway.

Even without the low power Japanese stations, the number of no-coders
who have full HF privileges right now is probably about the same as the
number of no-code Techs in the US.

73 de Alun, N3KIP


That's 18, I didn't count both Austria and Australia!

Alun L. Palmer wrote:
"Alun L. Palmer" wrote in
:

wrote in news:1108578593.250795.201100
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more
domino has fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those
who still have it?

73 de Jim, N2EY

It's getting a little difficult to keep track. However, I
think at
least the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, the
Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore,
Australia,
New Zealand, Papua Niugini, Hong Kong and South Africa have
abolished
the code test so far. I think that of these only Austria and
the
Netherlands even retain an entry level licence that doesn't
give HF privileges.

That's only 17 countries, but I expect I may have missed some
out. I
make the combined ham population of the above something over
260,000
(possibly more than half of them no-coders), so probably a
little less
than half the number of hams in the US.

260,000/670,000 = about 38.9%

However, there are well over
50,000 hams in Canada, which is also likely to abolish
the code test very soon.

Yep. But there are two big points about Canada:

1) The proposal would increase the written test level

2) Commentary to the Canadian proposal showed a clear majority
favored the change. That's not the case in the USA, in any survey done
to date, nor in the commentary to FCC.


Don't forget that Japan, with a ham population of 1.2 Million
(twice
that of the US, out of maybe a fifth of your general
population), has
long had a no-code HF licence, albeit limited to 10 Watts.

Check your numbers!

Japan has over 3.1 million operator licenses - but they cost nothing
and never expire, so that number is really the number of ham operator
licenses issued since 1955, not the number of present-day hams.

Japanese *station* licenses are a bit over 600,000 now, and have been
dropping for a decade.

The number of new JA licenses has also been dropping.

See the AH0A website.

I'm not sure
how many Japanese hams have a no-code HF licence,

Well over 95%.

but they may even
rival all the new ones so far put together, although the new
guys can
use more than 10 Watts! It's probably only a matter of time
before
Japan lets all of their hams use HF anyway.

All Japanese hams have HF privileges *today*. Been that way for
decades.

But for all classes of ham license except 4th class, JA hams have a
code test. And there's no move to change that yet.

Even without the low power Japanese stations, the number of
no-coders
who have full HF privileges right now is probably about the
same as the
number of no-code Techs in the US.

Close enough.

That's 18, I didn't count both Austria and Australia!

OK. But it's still a small fraction of the number of hams
and the number of countries.

The big questions: Must all countries drop the code test
because a few have decided to? Or can each country decide for
itself.

Has the change caused lots of new growth in countries that have
dropped code testing?

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote in news:1108637750.922635.205620
@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:


Alun L. Palmer wrote:
"Alun L. Palmer" wrote in
:

wrote in news:1108578593.250795.201100
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who still
have it?

73 de Jim, N2EY

It's getting a little difficult to keep track. However, I
think at
least the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, the
Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore,
Australia,
New Zealand, Papua Niugini, Hong Kong and South Africa have
abolished the code test so far. I think that of these only Austria
and the Netherlands even retain an entry level licence that doesn't
give HF privileges.

That's only 17 countries, but I expect I may have missed some
out. I make the combined ham population of the above something over
260,000 (possibly more than half of them no-coders), so probably
a little less
than half the number of hams in the US.

260,000/670,000 = about 38.9%

However, there are well over
50,000 hams in Canada, which is also likely to abolish the code test
very soon.

Yep. But there are two big points about Canada:

1) The proposal would increase the written test level

2) Commentary to the Canadian proposal showed a clear majority
favored the change. That's not the case in the USA, in any survey done
to date, nor in the commentary to FCC.


Don't forget that Japan, with a ham population of 1.2 Million (twice
that of the US, out of maybe a fifth of your general
population), has
long had a no-code HF licence, albeit limited to 10 Watts.

Check your numbers!

Japan has over 3.1 million operator licenses - but they cost nothing
and never expire, so that number is really the number of ham operator
licenses issued since 1955, not the number of present-day hams.

Japanese *station* licenses are a bit over 600,000 now, and have been
dropping for a decade.

The number of new JA licenses has also been dropping.

See the AH0A website.

I'm not sure
how many Japanese hams have a no-code HF licence,

Well over 95%.

but they may even
rival all the new ones so far put together, although the new
guys can use more than 10 Watts! It's probably only a matter of time
before Japan lets all of their hams use HF anyway.

All Japanese hams have HF privileges *today*. Been that way for
decades.

But for all classes of ham license except 4th class, JA hams have a
code test. And there's no move to change that yet.

Even without the low power Japanese stations, the number of
no-coders who have full HF privileges right now is probably about
the same as the
number of no-code Techs in the US.

Close enough.

And if there are already that number of no-code hams on HF without any
incident, what is the problem with abolishing the code test here?


That's 18, I didn't count both Austria and Australia!

OK. But it's still a small fraction of the number of hams
and the number of countries.

The big questions: Must all countries drop the code test
because a few have decided to? Or can each country decide for
itself.


Each country can do as it chooses, but the trend is to abolish the code
test.

Has the change caused lots of new growth in countries that have
dropped code testing?

73 de Jim, N2EY



No, but it's increased HF activity in those countries

wrote:
Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who still
have
it?

A tiny fraction of the number of countries which are members of the UN
and/or the ITU. Note that most of the countries on Alun's list are
chunks of Old Europe and their syncophants where socialist gummint
giveaways are rampant compared with the rest of the world.

Nor does it include heavy hitters like the countries of the former
Soviet bloc, Brazil, India and China.

Gonna be a LOOONG time before the last code test disappears . .


73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv

wrote in news:1108606123.450223.319640
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

wrote:
Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who still
have it?

A tiny fraction of the number of countries which are members of the UN
and/or the ITU.

About 10% as a matter of fact. A minority, but not quite my idea of a
'tiny' fraction. The point is, of course, that we are far from done yet.
Canada may be next.

Note that most of the countries on Alun's list are
chunks of Old Europe and their syncophants where socialist gummint
giveaways are rampant compared with the rest of the world.


So you prefer totalitarian regimes instead?

Nor does it include heavy hitters like the countries of the former
Soviet bloc, Brazil, India and China.


Those countries have large populations, but they don't they have the
highest numbers of hams per head.

Gonna be a LOOONG time before the last code test disappears . .


73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv



I'm sure it will be a great comfort to you if the Russian Federation is the
last to keep a code test. They are not my idea of anyone I would want to
emulate, however.

n3kip

"Alun L. Palmer" wrote:

wrote in news:1108606123.450223.319640
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

wrote:
Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who still
have it?

A tiny fraction of the number of countries which are members of the UN
and/or the ITU.

About 10% as a matter of fact. A minority, but not quite my idea of a
'tiny' fraction.

Ten percent is a tiny fraction when compared to 100%.

The point is, of course, that we are far from done yet.
Canada may be next.

There's little doubt. The Canadian government is pro-gay marriage too.

Note that most of the countries on Alun's list are
chunks of Old Europe and their syncophants where socialist gummint
giveaways are rampant compared with the rest of the world.


So you prefer totalitarian regimes instead?

Who wrote anything like that?

Nor does it include heavy hitters like the countries of the former
Soviet bloc, Brazil, India and China.


Those countries have large populations, but they don't they have the
highest numbers of hams per head.

South Africa has a population which is a little over 47 million. It has
about 4300 radio amateurs. Finland has that many radio amateurs with a
population of under 5 million. Russia has just under 144 million people
and has about 15,000 amateur licenses. It would seem that Russia isn't
keeping up with the per capita licensing of South Africa. Little Finland
can coast for a few decades.

Gonna be a LOOONG time before the last code test disappears . .

I'm sure it will be a great comfort to you if the Russian Federation is the
last to keep a code test. They are not my idea of anyone I would want to
emulate, however.

I gather that you prefer life in Maryland to life in the U.K., too,
Alun.

As for me, the crime rates in either Russia or South Africa would keep
me from wanting to become a resident of either. Then again, we were
talking about whether they decided to keep a morse test for amateur
radio.

Dave K8MN

Dave Heil wrote:
"Alun L. Palmer" wrote:

wrote in news:1108606123.450223.319640
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

wrote:
Alun L. Palmer wrote:
Yes, South Africa has abolished the code test! One more domino
has
fallen.

How many countries does that make now, compared to those who
still
have it?

A tiny fraction of the number of countries which are members of
the UN
and/or the ITU.

About 10% as a matter of fact. A minority, but not quite my idea of
a
'tiny' fraction.

Ten percent is a tiny fraction when compared to 100%.

It is 1/10. You could compare it to 10/10, but then you'd defeat the
purpose of showing it as a ratio.