Who Says Ham Radio Is Dying?

OK, I've been watching this for a while now, probably since I stumbled on the site in about 2004. Set up by Joe, AH0A, it tracks statistics on the FCC amateur license database. It has been very interesting to watch.

If you look at the table of total licenses, there are some predictable things happening: Advanced and Novice licenses have been dropping off steadily since they stopped issuing them back in April of 2000. In fact, there are so few of these, I wonder why the FCC doesn't just grandfather them into Extra and Technician class, respectively.

However, the number of Extra, General and Technician class licensees have been going up for some time. After the FCC stopped testing for CW proficiency, the number of Extra class licenses has skyrocketed. Technician and General class licenses have been on the rise, too, if you overlook all the licenses being upgraded to General and Extra.

But the exciting news is that Extra, General and Technician class licenses are at record levels, and the total number of licenses has surpassed it's previous record.

While certainly not all the licensees are active, it is good to see the increasing numbers. A healthy number or licenses should keep amateur radio alive for a long time.