Two things that puzzle me to no end.
1. Why is there still a column to keep track of "Tech-Plus" licenses if there are no longer any "Tech-plus's" and no way for technicians to upgrade to "Tech-Plus?"
Don't know for sure. My guess is that the web page was set up years ago and does the calculations automatically, and they don't see a reason to do the work to eliminate that column.
2. It's been 23 years since the Novice license was dropped. Why are there still 6,233 (10-Feb-2023) Novices? (Apparently another one expired the day after.)
There were about 50,000 Novices when FCC stopped issuing new ones in April 2000. Those 6,233 are the last remaining few. They make up less than 1% of US amateurs.
FCC also stopped issuing new Advanced licenses in April 2000 as well. There were about 100,000 Advanceds when that happened.
These lead me to question at least a couple other things about people in general and the unnecessary administrative efforts of the FCC and the ARRL.
What "unnecessary administrative efforts" of the ARRL?
Here's what I think is going on:
First, 10 year license terms mean that a considerable number of SKs and dropouts who will never return still show in the numbers. At least some of them are Novices and Advanceds.
Second, some inactive or barely-active folks keep renewing, figuring that they will someday become active again. At least some of them are Novices and Advanceds.
Third, there are some who see their Novice or Advanced as some sort of badge of honor, and want to be the "last man standing" or something. I have encountered some who cling to the license because they claim it proves they passed a code test. Stuff like that.
Fourth, I think that back in 1999 FCC chose the path of least work for them. By closing off the Novice and Advanced to new issues and reducing code testing to 5 wpm, they eliminated medical waivers, 2 written tests and 2 code tests, and a ton of administrative work in upgrades. In 2007, they dropped the 5 wpm code test, leaving just 3 written tests. Much less admin work for FCC.
It costs FCC practically nothing to keep the rules specific to the Novice and Advanced licenses, so they just let the system roll on. Eventually the last Novice and Advanced will either drop out or upgrade, and they can change the rules then.
Leaving the system alone saves the FCC a lot of hand-wringing and decision-making, too. Here's why:
In 1999, when they were deciding what to do about Novice and Advanced, they had three choices:
1) Downgrade and/or stop renewing all Novice and/or Advanced licenses.
2) No-test upgrade Novice and/or Advanced licenses.
3) Stop issuing new ones but let existing Novices and Advanceds continue.
Options 1) and 2) would result in lots of wailing and moaning from the amateur community, proposals, comments, etc.
Downgrading would be seen as "you're taking away what I worked for without any reason!".
Upgrading would be seen as a "giveaway".
Both would require more admin work by FCC to implement. They would also set precedents that FCC would want to avoid.
Option 3) was the easiest path. And there's an historical precedent: At the end of 1952, FCC stopped issuing new Advanced licenses. For more than 15 years, no new Advanced licenses were issued, but existing ones could be renewed and modified. Then, in 1967, the Advanced was opened to new issues again, as part of "incentive licensing".
Time will tell when enough of us old hams die off and the pressure to try to keep an old, obsolete way of thinking about how to keep ham radio alive diminishes enough to allow a new generation of hams take over.
That won't happen.
There are no "generations" in amateur radio, and no real consensus either. That's why changes are so few.
There's also the fact that getting FCC to change the rules in a way that makes more admin work for FCC is all but impossible. Look at almost every change to the license structure and testing for the past 40 years, and you'll see that the vast majority of the changes resulted in less admin work for FCC. 10 year license terms meant half the number of renewals. The VEC/QPC system took the work of preparing and administering license tests off of paid Federal employees and gave it to unpaid volunteers. The changes in 2000 reduced the admin work even further. Heck, FCC doesn't even send out paper licenses any more; you have to download a PDF and print it yourself if you want a paper license document.
73 de Jim, N2EY