ARRL Says License Numbers Up

[Pete, WA2CWA]

From the ARRL Web Site:
So far in March, the number of General class licensees is up by more than 2700 over the February figure to 134,173, after hitting a 5-year low of just under 131,000 in January. The number of Technicians dropped by 4655 in the same period to 318,838 -- although there are still far more Techs than licensees of any other class. Meanwhile, the number of Amateur Extra licensees is at a 10-year high of 109,010 -- up by more than 400 since February.

To view the statistics compiled by Joe Speroni, AHØA, go here:
http://ah0a.org/FCC/Licenses.html
Note: Data compiled and crunched after the month ends will be more accurate.

For those that still might be confused as to where they should be operating with their current amateur license, here's a chart:
http://www.remote.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/Hambands_color.pdf

[k4kyv]

So far in March, the number of General class licensees is up by more than 2700 over the February figure to 134,173, after hitting a 5-year low of just under 131,000 in January. The number of Technicians dropped by 4655 in the same period to 318,838 -- although there are still far more Techs than licensees of any other class. Meanwhile, the number of Amateur Extra licensees is at a 10-year high of 109,010 -- up by more than 400 since February.

Still works out tentatively to a net loss of 2,493 of licensees since February.

Down 34,876 since April 2003.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Still works out tentatively to a net loss of 2,493 of licensees since February.

Note from the chart:
Expirations are counted to end of the month, so any weekly results above this line underestimate totals.

Down 34,876 since April 2003.

Dead or lost interest!
Let's say 100 died per month; over 48 months = 4800.
Leaves 30,076; over 48 months =/~ 627 per month
Just using 50 states and no Territories =/~ 13 hams per state/month dropped their license for whatever reason other than death; This is rough since some states have a lot more licensed hams then others.

I can't too excited over these types of numbers; it's "life churn"

[K5MO]

All those tickets the ARRL and Bash printed up for the Kellogs boxes are really beginning to pay off!

John K5mo

[Pete, WA2CWA]

All those tickets the ARRL and Bash printed up for the Kellogs boxes are really beginning to pay off!

John K5mo

Healthy products, nutrition, and healthy living probably are a great match for many newly licensed hams. Look what years of hamfest food has done to all the "seasoned" hams.

And it's two "gg's"
http://www2.kelloggs.com/

[WA1GFZ]

the only number up is the number of idiots with no class

[Pete, WA2CWA]

March stats are available:
http://www.ah0a.org/FCC/Licenses.html

Extra and General numbers up from pervious month. Total still down slightly (probably lost interest, forgot to renew, or died).

[W3SLK]

Frank said:

the only number up is the number of idiots with no class

Heh, heh. That one is quite appropriate.

[k4kyv]

Still no avalanche of newcomers.  Just a few no-code upgrades.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Although a one-month spread of data is not a good measure of future number activity, it is somewhat interesting.
For the month of March, Novice lost 415, Technician lost 5465, and Advanced lost 527. Extra gained 881 and General gained 5097. In previous months, General was losing members; Techs and Extra Classes were rising in small increments. In one month’s time, almost 6000 amateurs gained all HF phone/cw/data privileges either through upgrade or new entrance. This number actually could be higher if some of the Extra increase came from Tech, Novice, or new entrance. It will be interesting to see what the deltas are for each class in subsequent months and whether the phone band expansions and no code testing have any lasting impact on total number increases. I also noticed that the Silent Key list each month in QST seems to be getting larger.