Dan,
I have noticed less activity but over a longer period of time, particularly on cw. Used to be back in the 70s the cw subbands had a lot of qsos going on in the bottom 50 or 60 khz of the low bands in the evenings. On weekdays when I take a day off I tune around on 40 and 75 and don't hear much at all. It wasn't like that years ago.
While the number of licenses in the U.S. is real high, I suspect the number of hams who are active on HF is pretty low compared to the past. Probably due to the combined forces of SKs, higher local noise, and costs for antennas and lack of space. In my opinion, to really enjoy ham radio you have to be on HF, have low noise, and the freedom and space to put up decent antennas (i.e. dipole at 50 feet). this can be surprisingly expensive and the number who can pull this off is getting less and less. then there's the objections from the xyl
. I bet a lot of new hams get an exciter, put up a poor antenna, get discouraged and quit.
I had a guy come into my office the other day and tell me he was out of ham radio for the time being. Why? He replied that he had alienated everyone he talked to.....
on the repeater. I immediately told him that was his problem right there and that he needed to get on HF. I don't know if he'll try it or not. For some reason, when folks try ham radio now, they start out on VHF FM. I believe that's a dead end. We need some sort of "novice" type program (not necessarily called that) for HF.
73
Rob
