FCC License Numbers 9/1/05

[K3UD]

I need to apologize for an error in last months numbers. The failure to update a working spreadsheet caused the monthly loss in July to be over stated. I have used the June numbers to be measured against the August numbers to normalize the data. As such, the differences in the bottom line numbers are the result of a 2 month comparison rather than a 1 month comparison.

I am sorry for the error.


Total number of USA Licensed Amateurs by Class

As of May 14, 2000:

Novice # # #- #49,329
Tech/+ # # - #334,254
General # # - #112,677
Advanced #- #99,782
Extra # # # # - #78,750

Total all classes - 674,792

As of August 31, 2005

Novice # # # - 27,781 # # (-43.71%) # #(-21,548)
Tech/+ # # #- 317,661 # (-5.02%) # # #(-16,794)
General # # #- 135,970 # (+20.67%) # (+23,293)
Advanced # - 75,293 # # (-24.55%) # #(-24,489)
Extra # # # # #- 107,005 # (+35.74%) # (+28,255)

Total All Classes - 663,710 (-1,195 since the June reporting period)## #(see top of post)

Total all classes #(5/14/00) # - 674,792
Total all Classes (4/21/03) # - 687,860
Total all classes #(9/6/04 ) # - 674,788 #
Total all classes #(7/31/05) # - 663,710

Total loss of 11,082 since 5/14/2000 # (Was 674,792)
Total loss of 11,078 since 9/6/2004 # # (Was 674,788)
Total Loss of 25,015 since 4/2003 # # # (all time high of 687,860)

We Lost
370 Novice
465 General
519 Advanced

We Gained
6 Tech/+
154 Extra

This is an overall 1,195 loss #since the June reporting period## # (see top of post)

For the Month of August, 2005 there were 1,916 new licenses issued by the FCC.

1,722 #Tech/+ # #(89.9%)
155 # # General # (8.1%)
39 # # # Extra # # #(2.0%)

This is an increase of 36.9% from the total (2041) issued in July
These numbers come from the very interesting and comprehensive website of Joe Speroni, AH0A #
http://www.ah0a.org


Numbers of US population and the number of hams at the start of each decade from 1930.

Year # # #Population # # # Hams # # #Growth Rate

1930 # #123,202,624 # #19,000
1940 # #132,164,569 # #56,000 # # # # #194% #
1950 # #151,325,798 # #87,000 # # # # # 55% # #
1960 # #179,323,175 # #230,000 # # # #164% #
1970 # #203,211,926 # #263,918 # # # # #15% # #
1980 # #226,545,805 # #393,353 # # # # #49%
1990 # #248,709,873 # #502,677 # # # # #28%
2000 # #281,421,906 # #682,240 # # # # #36%
2005 # # # # # # # # # # # # #663,710 # # # # -2.72%

The 2005 number was as of August 31, 2005.


Notes,
* We had a gain in the amount of Tech/+ and Extra which breaks the 13 reporting period string of Extra only increases.

The base totals are from implementation of the then new licensing changes in May 2000. September 6, 2004 is the date I started measuring the changes. The peak number was in April 2003.


73
George
K3UD

[N2MMM]

Why the bump in Techs?

[AC0GT]

Quote[/b] (N2MMM @ Sep. 06 2005,17:24)]Why the bump in Techs?
The gain is so small that it can be attributed to a statistical anomaly, a chance occurrence. I would not read much into it unless it continues longer or makes a more significant change later. The gain was how much? Six? Nothing to get excited about... yet.

[ka9flx]

Quote[/b] (N2MMM @ Sep. 06 2005,17:24)]CW should be fun not a barrier
CW is fun!

[n0ov]

Seems to me folks aren't waiting for the CW test to go away to upgrade to General or Extra. This is good news -- shows you that anyone who really wants to have access to the bands are willing to work for it.

[KD6NIG]

Well, my wife's technician just showed up on the ULS today, so we can add that one to the figures http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[AC0GT]

Quote[/b] (w0pee @ Sep. 08 2005,15:06)]Seems to me folks aren't waiting for the CW test to go away to upgrade to General or Extra. #This is good news -- shows you that anyone who really wants to have access to the bands are willing to work for it.
Why do you say that? It's not that I disagree, it's just that I don't see how you arrived at that conclusion.

[W4ABX]

i just typed a full page reply, and when i did a quick post, the whole 30 minutes worth of work went up into the place where electrons go to die.
Oh well. Maybe again some other time.
Play nice, and enjoy what you got! It may not matter whether you know cw or not in a few years.
We will all be cleaning out bean cans, and looking for lengths of string to work some rare dx.:D
73 to all, and to all a good night.
WABX

W4ABX.com (http://www.w4abx.com)

[kj3n]

Quote[/b] (K3UD @ Sep. 02 2005,15:43)]Total All Classes - 663,710
And as of this morning, 2,458 comments filed.

Personally, I think that speaks volumes all on its own.

YMMV

[NF6E]

If you're going to crunch the data, you might as well look at it from more than one angle.

I did a quick glance at the number of licensed hams as a percentage of total population. #As a percentage of total population, our numbers have progressively increased since 1930. #But you be the judge as to the significance of this, if any. #I just did this for the fun of it.

Yr # # # # # # # # Total Pop. # # # # # # # ## Hams # # # # # #Hams as % of Pop.
1930 # # # # # # 123,202,624 # # # # # # 19,000 # # # # # # 0.015%
1940 # # # # # # 132,164,569 # # # # # # 56,000 # # # # # # 0.042%
1950 # # # # # # 151,325,798 # # # # # # 87,000 # # # # # # 0.057%
1960 # # # # # # 179,323,175 # # # # # # 230,000 # # # # ##0.128%
1970 # # # # # # 203,211,926 # # # # # # 263,918 # # # # ##0.130%
1980 # # # # # # 226,545,805 # # # # # # 393,353 # # # # ##0.174%
1990 # # # # # # 248,709,873 # # # # # # 502,677 # # # # ##0.202%
2000 # # # # # # 281,421,906 # # # # # # 682,240 # # # # ##0.242%
2005 # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## # ## # # # # #663,710

And when looking at the number of hams lost:

* What percentage of hams lost are silent keys?
* What percentage of hams lost are license expirations?
--> Of those expirations, which were intentional and which were accidental?
* What percentage of hams lost are people who left the US, dropped their US ham ticket and became a ham in another country?
* What percentage of hams lost were due to enforcement actions?

I mean...you could make your head spin if you really, truly wanted to do an analysis of this.

Fun with numbers. #More often than not, you can make them say anything you want to...or nothing at all. #

Jason NF6E

[KC2ESD]

The reason for the decline in Hams over all is two things:
1) Hams loosing interest in the hobby and letting there Licenses expire.
2) Older Hams are Dying due to age and not enough young ones are joining the ranks of Amateur Radio Because of Video games, Cell Phones and the internet were they can chat world wide without taking a test. Even my Niece thinks using a radio to talk around the world is wierd. I don't how we will ever bring up the numbers of the Ham Population, the competetion to chat world wide (Internet vs. Ham Radio) is very strong.
Thats my two cents 73 de Rick KC2ESD

[wa4dou]

Amateur radio isn't in competition with the internet. Those attracted to the communications potential of the internet aren't prospective amateurs. Amateur radio and the Internet are two completely different things.