New FCC License Stats

[Sonwatcher]

From QRZ-

"I have not posted these numbers since September 2005. The FCC
was not expiring licenses out of their grace date for a time period
and I was not certain how it affected the database. The numbers below represent the net license totals from 10/1/05 to 1/30/06.

Total All Classes - 661,081 (-2,629 since the September 2005 reporting period)

We Lost
1,320 Novice
1,294 General
1,444 Advanced

We Gained
947 Tech/+
482 Extra "

 

[todt061458]

I have said this before on other forums.

The hobbie is slowly dying. very soon CW and Bandaid won't have to worrie about 10 meters because 10 mters won't exist.
Ham radio is dying a long slow death.
The truth can no longer be denied.(SAD very SAD)

 

[NorthStar]

ALL radio is dieing from Shortware Listeners to Hams and CB Operators. I started out on CB and at one time I also listened to Shortwave. But one thing I think CB and Ham will pickup a little when the Cycle starts over. Were at the bottom of the cycle right now so even HF Ham bands the DX Conditions aren't real great. Radio is a very good Hobby No matter if your into CB or Ham. This is a hobby that can teach one more than most other hobbies.

 

[2M Guy]

Bye bye code?

CB has fewer users, from my experience. I started in the pre 40 channel days. You got a licence, a call sign, and it didn't matter. Really didn't need one. Lots of traffic, kids(like me) to old guys, local was active.

I hear more on 2M repeaters than on 11M. Ham isn't going away, not soon.

 

[todt061458]

I agree that two meters is busy but how about 440? or 220?
When was the last time you heard a new call?
How long did that new call last and did he/she stay with it and up grade their lic? or did they as the stats show let it expire.
If you look at the stats we are as a hobbie loosing more than we gain. so I guess it's two steps forward three steps back.
too much distractions for the geneal public to want to bother with radio as a hobbie. hook up a computer and you got the world at your finger tips. buy a nextel find a few friends and volia nation wide talk with no tests no B.S. no Cw or bandaids bugging you like spoiled children having a hissy fit cause you talked on the wrong freq.
this hobbie used to have a pourpose.no more! when was the last time a new ham built his own radio? Nope buy it at the local ham outlet or on e-bay. we have turned into a hobbie type of radio service no longer training new tech's. We are nothing more than a bunch of ? well you fill in the blank as I am sure cw and bandaid will. Buy a book memorize it take a test pass it another no nothing new ham. Most cbers know more than most new hams know/ 73's

 

[NorthStar]

I for one can't wait till the squaking nextels are shutoff. 2008 bye bye Nextel. Hehe

 

[Sonwatcher]

I think there is quite a bit of cb going on. When you talk of 2 meter repeaters don't forget that they cover a lot of area. I hear a lot of repeater activity but the repeaters I get have a very large footprint.

 

[CDX8412]

I agree that interest in radio is shrinking, whether it is amateur, CB or SWL'ing.

I think we all agree that cell phones and the internet have impacted the radio hobby, since there are many other means of communicating and obtaining information, rather than using a radio.

I think one of the major reasons radio is losing interest for people is due to the fact that much new equipment is not readily serviceable by the average user. Operators used to open up their gear and work on it. Now that is a much more difficult chore. Also, younger generations lack certain skills, such as basic electrical and technical skills, because they don't need them.

As a young boy, I learned a lot about electricity & carpentry by playing with Lionel trains. A few years ago, I gave some old Lionel trains to a neighbor kid who doesn't have a father. He gave them back to me because he couldn't figure out how to hook up the transformer to the track, even after I told him what to do. These types of skills are no longer needed by the general public, and are a big reason why radio hobbies are losing interest with people.

This is what I think a lot of hams refer to as the "dumbing down" of the amateur radio hobby, but the reality is that people are dumber. People were better educated 100 years ago, than they are today, and like it or not, you have to make concessions for that or go the way of the dinosaur.

 

[todt061458]

Dumber? Mabe in radio YES but Dumber I guess where you come from does matter.
I do not think a kid that can rebuild a 350 chevy engine but not rebuild a radio is dumb. Or
A kid that can build a computer and than reprogram it(or write a new program for it) is Dumb.
I believe part of the problem is US yes us we as adults(sic) don't bother with our kids as a society we use the schools,internet,computer games,televisions to baby sit our kids. what do we teach our kids? how to be self induldgent self absorbs unhealthy microwave dinner eaters.Is that not our job as parents? How many parents use the terms"not now honey" or "Later honey mommy/daddy is busy now
' busy with what the phone? put it down for one minute and answer the kids question darn it. Do you know what your local school is teaching your kids? Do you agree that god is dead? but islam is alive and growing in our schools. Does the news media tell us all the news or just hand picked left leaning news? Do most of the people in our society VOTE? NO!
As A society since the sixety's we have become more lazy in all aspects of our kids. we don't expect excelence any more just do enough to get by,If you can't love theone you love love the one your with. Yep moral decay, aids, fatherless children,single parent family's( not that having a bum father would really help) and on and on the list goes we are causing a once great society to fall and fail.
Yes nowadays parents want to be friends with their kids not parents.And what will this approach teach out youngens?Sorry for the rant. Ham radio is just a micro cosim of a real big large problem in the world not just this country.
NORTHSTAR what makes you think that nextel is going bye bye? just a change of freques and technolgy. Iden is old as technolgy goes. so out with the old in with the new. If anything on the new sprint more users will use two way,and more wonderful distractions for us all and I wwonder if Verizon os some one else will have merged togeather with them by than? Peace 73's
When a society is run by lawers this is what we get! Like it? Laws do not run countrys! People do. What have we done to ourselfs? what have we left for our children and grand children?

 

[NorthStar]

Actually in 07 they will not be renewing indivduals contracts just business's them people will be transferred to CDMA Sprint service. Which has the Readylink. After 08 its a toss up on business contracts since Department of Defense wants to buy the whole IDEN Network from Sprint in 2010. Thats what the plan looks like right now. Sprint is also buying all of its affiliate providers etc. They want to own it all lock stock barrell.

 

[Thestonerguy]

I agree that two meters is busy but how about 440? or 220?
When was the last time you heard a new call?
How long did that new call last and did he/she stay with it and up grade their lic? or did they as the stats show let it expire.

In the Houston area I find 440 more active than 2meters, and there seem to be a few newbies arriving each month. It probably varies from location to location.

 

[todt061458]

The letter I have from the nextel sprint merger says that my current nextel radio will work until 2010. Did they lie?
I would by then think sprint will have retired the nextel name anyway and created a whole new technology with gsm or better by that time. For a world wide std.

In my area A few 220 machines exhist and 1 50 MHZ (6 meters) machine 2 440 machines And a few wide area 2 meter machines but no new lic ham at all and the machines all are quiter these days. oh well. Most of the 2 meters is in use in Chicago and Milwaukee WI.

 

[Moleculo]

Nextel's 2 way communication isn't going away. It's going to morph into something that is more IP telephony based and in fact, it's already in beta testing. I know this first hand, not from a Sprint / Nextel sales rep, but from a Sprint / Nextel executive in product development.

 

[todt061458]

Yes I would have to agree.
As they are re doing all the towers in the chicago calling area.
I hope they do it right and not the normal way SPRINT normally does things.

 

[NorthStar]

I got my info from a VP of Technical Services. He says DOD is seriously interested in the IDEN network. They are willing to pay a bundle for outdated technology.