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Author Topic: FCC License Counts  (Read 843628 times)

N2EY

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Re: RE: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1260 on: March 23, 2023, 07:45:55 AM »

From http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts,

the number of current unexpired FCC issued amateur licenses held by individuals on March 22, 2023 was:

Novice:                    6,182      (0.8%)
Technician            383,944     (50.3%)
Technician Plus               0       (0.0%)
General                186,480     (24.3%)
Advanced               34,045       (4.5%)
Extra                    154,678     (20.1%)

Total                    765,329

Percentages may not add up to exactly 100.0% due to rounding.

No new Novice or Advanced licenses have been issued since April 2000. However, the totals for those classes may sometimes show an increase over prior numbers due to renewals in the grace period.

This is not a new all-time high. It is provided to avoid a large gap in the timeline.

The all-time high total of 780,526 occurred November 24, 2021

73 de Jim, N2EY
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N2EY

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Re: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1261 on: March 23, 2023, 08:11:13 AM »

It is interesting to note that extra class license holders continue to have modest increases and general class license counts are fairly flat.

Let's compare the numbers from November 24, 2021 with those just posted...

November 24, 2021:

Novice:                    6,905
Technician            396,978
Technician Plus               0   
General                186,143
Advanced               36,244
Extra                    154,256

Total                    780,526

March 22, 2023:

Novice:                    6,182 - loss of 723
Technician            383,944 - loss of 13,034
General                186,480 - gain of 337
Advanced               34,045 - loss of 2,199
Extra                    154,678 - gain of 422

Total                    765,329 - loss of 15,197

Now let's look at the current totals as a percentage of the November 24, 2021 totals:

Novice:                    6,182 - currently 89.5% of peak
Technician            383,944 - currently 96.7% of peak
General                186,480 - currently 100.2% of peak
Advanced               34,045 - currently 93.9% of peak
Extra                    154,678 - currently 100.3% of peak

Total                    765,329 - currently 98.1% of peak

The decreases seem to be driven by losses in the technician-class licenses;

Clearly - both in total numbers and in percentages

Following many of the discussions here and on the /reddit forums there continues to be a great deal of frustration from techs who have VHF/UHF privileges. As if they joined the hobby and discovered that it was more difficult than expected, there was nobody to talk to (who had the same interests) or the prepper/SHTF zombie apocalypse just did not materialize.

Here's the problem I see:

The Technician became the de-facto entry-level license back in the early 1980s due to the repeater boom. Not only were there repeaters all over the place but they were BUSY. The 1987 reduction in Technician written testing and the 1991 loss of the Morse Code test sealed the deal.

Previously, newcomers had mostly started out on HF CW. The repeater boom and popularity of the Technician changed that to VHF/UHF voice. But it's not 1993 any more, and the repeaters aren't nearly so busy, because everyone has a cell phone.

What was a big draw decades ago isn't any more.

The recent addition of fees has (IMHO) pushed the decline really hard. It's not the $35 but the complexity of renewal; I suspect that many who are inactive simply don't bother.

So many of the simplest questions they ask in the forums are for things that they should have easily mastered to take any part of the math sections on the US exams.

Before 1991 there was no such thing as a "Technician In A Day" cram school. The loss of the code test changed all that, and such schools are common. They work because passing grade is only 74%, all questions count the same, and a lucky guess counts the same as full understanding.

I do not know if the amateur radio community has failed them, or they thought that it would be entirely plug-and-play, appliance-operator skills level. Maybe they would be better off with FRS radios for their day trips to a state park with their kids. The ubiquity of cellphones and apps must make amateur radio seem archaic and of limited usefulness.

Amateur Radio is an extremely varied pursuit that can be hard to explain. IMHO the best explanation is "Radio for its own sake".

---

It should be remembered that from the mid-to-late 1990s our numbers declined, which was a big reason given for the 2000 restructuring. Then from 2003 to 2007 we saw another decline. In those times there were no fees for licenses and the VE system was the same as now....

73 de Jim, N2EY
« Last Edit: March 23, 2023, 08:14:21 AM by N2EY »
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VE3WGO

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Re: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1262 on: March 23, 2023, 10:32:49 AM »

Technicians have CW privileges on 80, 40 and 15 meters, plus CW/Data/SSB privileges on 10 meters, along with full VHF/UHF/Microwave privileges. 

Maybe Techs don't think these specific 3-30 MHz modes are exciting enough.  Is it possible that they somehow forgot that they have these privileges?  With 15, 10 & 6 Meters opening up more often nowadays, hopefully they will get more interested. 

73, Ed
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W1VT

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Re: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1263 on: March 23, 2023, 11:06:24 AM »

Techs know they have HF privileges.  But, there are plenty of dead ends to prevent them from enjoying ham  radio.
Ten meters is good now, but for years it has been dead. 
A lot of Techs have tried CW using computer readers, but the better signals often belong to hams who hand send CW via keyer paddle and don't decode as well as W1AW's machine sent code.
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W1VT

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Re: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1264 on: March 23, 2023, 12:12:51 PM »

Another obstacle is finding a cheap and simple antenna that works well on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters.
A lot of beginners want to start out with an antenna that does all bands.  The popular G5RV doesn't do very well on 10 meters.
New  homes with small yards often don't have enough room for an 80 to 10M EFHW.

« Last Edit: March 23, 2023, 12:15:39 PM by W1VT »
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K7JQ

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Re: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1265 on: March 23, 2023, 01:43:05 PM »


New  homes with small yards often don't have enough room for an 80 to 10M EFHW.


Not only that, but the increasing proliferation of HOA's/CC&R's prohibit antennas altogether.
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N2EY

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Re: RE: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1266 on: March 24, 2023, 03:29:05 PM »

From http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts,

the number of current unexpired FCC issued amateur licenses held by individuals on March 23, 2023 was:

Novice:                    6,182      (0.8%)
Technician            384,011     (50.3%)
Technician Plus               0       (0.0%)
General                186,498     (24.3%)
Advanced               34,047       (4.5%)
Extra                    154,692     (20.1%)

Total                    765,430

Percentages may not add up to exactly 100.0% due to rounding.

No new Novice or Advanced licenses have been issued since April 2000. However, the totals for those classes may sometimes show an increase over prior numbers due to renewals in the grace period.

This is not a new all-time high. It is provided to avoid a large gap in the timeline.

The all-time high total of 780,526 occurred November 24, 2021

73 de Jim, N2EY
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N2EY

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  • Posts: 5698
Re: RE: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1267 on: March 25, 2023, 09:36:14 AM »

From http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts,

the number of current unexpired FCC issued amateur licenses held by individuals on March 24, 2023 was:

Novice:                    6,182      (0.8%)
Technician            383,939     (50.3%)
Technician Plus               0       (0.0%)
General                186,507     (24.3%)
Advanced               34,047       (4.5%)
Extra                    154,710     (20.1%)

Total                    765,385

Percentages may not add up to exactly 100.0% due to rounding.

No new Novice or Advanced licenses have been issued since April 2000. However, the totals for those classes may sometimes show an increase over prior numbers due to renewals in the grace period.

This is not a new all-time high. It is provided to avoid a large gap in the timeline.

The all-time high total of 780,526 occurred November 24, 2021

73 de Jim, N2EY
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N2EY

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  • Posts: 5698
Re: RE: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1268 on: March 28, 2023, 08:06:40 AM »

From http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts,

the number of current unexpired FCC issued amateur licenses held by individuals on March 27, 2023 was:

Novice:                    6,180      (0.8%)
Technician            383,494     (50.1%)
Technician Plus               0       (0.0%)
General                186,473     (24.4%)
Advanced               34,034       (4.4%)
Extra                    154,724     (20.2%)

Total                    764,905

Percentages may not add up to exactly 100.0% due to rounding.

No new Novice or Advanced licenses have been issued since April 2000. However, the totals for those classes may sometimes show an increase over prior numbers due to renewals in the grace period.

This is not a new all-time high. It is provided to avoid a large gap in the timeline.

The all-time high total of 780,526 occurred November 24, 2021

73 de Jim, N2EY
« Last Edit: March 28, 2023, 08:09:47 AM by N2EY »
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N2EY

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  • Posts: 5698
Re: RE: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1269 on: March 30, 2023, 11:52:28 AM »

From http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts,

the number of current unexpired FCC issued amateur licenses held by individuals on March 29, 2023 was:

Novice:                    6,176      (0.8%)
Technician            383,762     (50.2%)
Technician Plus               0       (0.0%)
General                186,543     (24.4%)
Advanced               33,998       (4.4%)
Extra                    154,741     (20.2%)

Total                    765,220

Percentages may not add up to exactly 100.0% due to rounding.

No new Novice or Advanced licenses have been issued since April 2000. However, the totals for those classes may sometimes show an increase over prior numbers due to renewals in the grace period.

This is not a new all-time high. It is provided to avoid a large gap in the timeline.

The all-time high total of 780,526 occurred November 24, 2021

73 de Jim, N2EY
« Last Edit: March 30, 2023, 11:54:35 AM by N2EY »
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N2EY

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  • Posts: 5698
Re: RE: FCC License Counts
« Reply #1270 on: March 31, 2023, 07:29:55 AM »

From http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts,

the number of current unexpired FCC issued amateur licenses held by individuals on March 30, 2023 was:

Novice:                    6,177      (0.8%)
Technician            383,817     (50.2%)
Technician Plus               0       (0.0%)
General                186,592     (24.4%)
Advanced               34,000       (4.4%)
Extra                    154,759     (20.2%)

Total                    765,345

Percentages may not add up to exactly 100.0% due to rounding.

No new Novice or Advanced licenses have been issued since April 2000. However, the totals for those classes may sometimes show an increase over prior numbers due to renewals in the grace period.

This is not a new all-time high. It is provided to avoid a large gap in the timeline.

The all-time high total of 780,526 occurred November 24, 2021

73 de Jim, N2EY
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