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HAM RADIO LICENSE TRENDS in the US since 1997:
Poast new message in this thread
Date: November 17th, 2019 1:24 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship kind of interesting how the numbers were in decline before ITE, and then the explosion of preppers boosted them back up, in a trend that continues today:
ANNUAL CHANGE IN TOTAL LICENSE COUNT:
2019: +7,550 2018: +8,603 2017: +4,697 2016: +7,629 2015: +7,066 2014: +9,831 2013: +7,960 2012: +8,197 2011: +5,667 2010: +12,719 2009: +19,311 2008: +8,320 2007: -314 2006: -4,677 2005: -8,801 2004: -13,530 2003: -1,763 2002: +1,687 2001: +748 2000: +5,884 1999: +3,885 1998: -3,976 1997: -1,664
Starting point: (June 1, 1997) 678,473 Endpoint (January 1, 2020): 763,502
HOWEVER, the US population has increased from 267 million in mid-1997 to slightly over 330 million today, meaning that there has been some slippage in per capita terms:
PER CAPITA 1997: 1 license per 394 Americans PER CAPITA Jan. 2020: 1 license per 432.5 Americans
BUT, the slippage has been reduced relative to what it would have been without the ITE bump. without that bump, the numbers would be close to 1 out 500.
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:25 AM Author: maniacal comical house coffee pot recommended ham radio?
is the entry level license good enough or are getting the two upgraded versions optimal? |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:31 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship technician class (the first level) is pretty much garbage, since you have very little (legal) access to the high-frequency bands. HF bands are what you use for long-distance, non-line-of-sight communications. the minimum to aim for is the general license. amateur extra is nice for a bit of extra band-space, but is nowhere near the enormous leap from technician to general.
"which radio" is an absolutely enormous question and really depends on what you want to do with it, what you want it to be ABLE to do, and how much money you have. a cheap line-of-sight chinese handheld radio is $25-$30 and will work fine for what it does. a good modern HF-capable radio like the ICOM 7300 will be closer to $1,000 new. but you will also need to set up an antenna for it, in order to hear or send much of anything. |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:34 AM Author: maniacal comical house coffee pot ty (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130191) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:08 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130242) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:17 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship 10m has gotten WRECKED by low sunspot activity in recent years. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130251) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:24 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130264) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:41 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130291) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:15 PM Author: transparent stage I recommend getting involved in your local ham club, field days and swap meets (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131619) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:32 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130185) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:34 AM Author: maniacal comical house coffee pot good point (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130192) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:25 AM Author: Multi-colored hateful shrine elastic band (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130175) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:30 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life whats ur callsign? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130180) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:33 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship a callsign literally OUTS you because it's available online in the FCC database. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130187) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:34 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life what are your thoughts on ham radio forum guys who pressure you to use your callsign as your moniker? really annoying imo. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130190) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:35 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship boomers tend to wrap up their identity in this stuff a lot more than is necessary or desirable. that's something i notice a lot. being a ham doesn't mean that your BEING has to be 'a ham.' (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130193) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:37 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life its crazy when i try to poast on the QRZ forum (even though I'm tech licensed) and people will be like "oh shit look at this guy poasting for two years now but doesn't have a call sign!" (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130196) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:41 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship i think they had some kind of spat with facebook over being able to use callsigns as their "names," too. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130204) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:42 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130207) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:32 AM Author: nudist church building How common are ham scofflaws?
I've got some GMRS walkie talkies I've never bothered getting a license for |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:33 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life GMRS isn't ham (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130186) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:36 AM Author: nudist church building I know GMRS isn't ham, I'm just wondering. The number of people that use GMRS without a license has got to be huge, and I'm just wondering if it's a similar situation with ham (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130195) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:40 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life I think it probably is, at least on vhf/uhf but the range is so short unless you're hitting repeaters that no one is likely to care. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130201) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:53 AM Author: nudist church building I don't know what any of this means but it sounds kinda cool
I've got some Garmin Rinos and I think they're cool as shit. I've got a pair of them and I've used them for hunting. It's just so damn amazing to go hunting with someone else and know precisely where they are |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:55 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life those are nice radios. you've got most of the functionality of short-range ham license gear with those. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130230) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:14 AM Author: nudist church building It's a shame they never entirely caught on. It's pretty obvious why they never did though, most of them are pretty expensive.
I got a pair of some really basic ones (the 110s) ages ago for about $150 each. That was a pretty fair price, but they discontinued the cheap models a long time ago. I took a look just now and Garmin has just one current Rino model and they go for $550 each. Crazy.
The quality was kind of shit (the screen on one of mine goes in and out) and they had a terrible UI.
But the functionality was amazing. My dad and I would go out hunting on national forest land. We often wouldn't have these places all that scoped out. A lot of it was kinda spur of the moment and we'd just sort of vaguely wander off in different directions from one another. The Rinos were amazing because they would let us keep a distance from one another in territory we'd never been to before.
You can kinda do the same thing these days with cheap cell phone apps *if* you're in cell phone coverage. That's a pretty big qualifier though; a lot of time you don't have coverage when you're in the woods. |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:24 AM Author: nudist church building One sad aspect of those Rinos: back in the early stages of the Iraq war, families of those serving were buying Rinos to send overseas. Our troops were so under-equipped that their situation could be vastly improved with a bunch of cheap off-the-shelf radios.
They literally couldn't keep track of where their fellow units were, so they spent their own money on tech that would enable them to do so. |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:56 AM Author: nudist church building Also, for those that don't know what a Garmin Rino is: they are combination walkie-talkie / GPS devices. You can send your exact GPS coordinates to other Rino users as long as you're within walkie-talkie (FRS/GMRS) range (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130308) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:33 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship there are a fair number of illicit users, but one of the popular activities in ham radio is something called "foxhunting," ie, using directional antennas and other gear to locate illegal transmissions and reporting them to the FCC. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130189) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:37 AM Author: nudist church building What a bunch of fags (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130197) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:17 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130249) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 11:42 AM Author: chocolate market personal credit line Lol at these incel gestapos (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131032) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 11:43 AM Author: Curious Trump Supporter Locus (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131033) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 10:28 PM Author: Ruby appetizing gaming laptop Incel gestapo great moniker / band name (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39132827) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 11:34 AM Author: Curious Trump Supporter Locus Increasingly common, particularly with truckers. They all pirate ham and don't both with cb anymore.
Those little Chinese radios are amazing for all sorts of shady shit too. |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:38 AM Author: Razzle-dazzle clear abode Should I get into this hobby? Tell me about it. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130199) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 1:43 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship the answer is, "probably." this video does a reasonable summary of some basics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtexMEqAuZ0
one thing to note is that the question pools for the tests are public information published online. if you wanted to just memorize the answers and zip ahead into a license, that can be done, though it would leave a lot of gaps in terms of your ability to operate or properly set up actual physical ham equipment. |
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Date: October 9th, 2022 8:45 PM Author: laughsome indigo bawdyhouse pervert (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#45306621) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:20 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130256) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:24 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship i bought an older copy of the ARRL's antenna guide from amazon for a few dollars a while ago. it's a very good resource. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130263) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:04 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life what bands are XO hams using? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130239) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:07 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship i've been playing around with local MESH NETWORKS with a 2.4ghz router running some freeware. it's interesting technology, but i don't understand much of it yet; it's mostly plug-and-play for me. otherwise, for general listening/monitoring, usually 80/40. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130241) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:23 AM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life what do people do / say on 80/40? 2 meter repeater chat is insufferable in my area. is there something more interesting going on on HF? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130261) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:29 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship in my area, i can hear up into alaska and northwestern canada on those bands, and so i'll hear swatches of conversation from guys talking about flying out to the cabin or about how the storm is looking as it approaches the inlet, and that sort of thing. for local stuff, the 6 and the 2 seem pretty active. i'm more of a listener than a CQ'er, unless i have something specific to add. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130277) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:59 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130316) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:12 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship i have an SWR meter. i hope that's enough, more or less. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130327) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:44 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130294) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:45 PM Author: mildly autistic mind-boggling theater stage ratface (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131524) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:25 AM Author: big national Things to get into: -ham -shrimp keeping |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:33 AM Author: Contagious cumskin tank (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130280) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:49 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130303) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 12:11 PM Author: maniacal comical house coffee pot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131130) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:49 AM Author: nudist church building nearly 100% overlap (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130304) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:20 PM Author: transparent stage “Raises hand” extra class here. HTH (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131636) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:59 AM Author: Lime library it's the per capita that matter i had friends who were into this in high school. back then, it was a quirky geek world very much like the early chat rooms. how is it now? |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:02 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130318) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:06 AM Author: nudist church building I honestly can't wait until boomers begin to kick the bucket (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130323) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 4:57 AM Author: Impressive faggotry brethren the ISPs may be manipulating/promoting ham in order to use ham to forestall new frequencies that could be used to circumvent the ISP monopoly (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130430) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 5:00 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130437) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 5:09 AM Author: Impressive faggotry brethren yes, I know...I have a fcc general RT license...but it is a POTENTIALLY AVAILABLE range of frequencies...I figured that the ISPs were getting their hands into the propaganda game on frequencies when I saw that every time municipal broadband via wifi/wireless/radio freqs came up, these news stories about wireless allergies/sicknesses starting popping up...that's when i knew that the ISPs were afraid of future tech using wireless/radio freqs to circumvent the ISPs inside the big cities using ad hoc or municipal infrastructure...and now we are starting to see propaganda circulating regarding Ham freqs...we live in a sea of propaganda...it is perhaps the major characteristic of modern societies (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130446) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 5:21 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130457) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 5:24 AM Author: Impressive faggotry brethren absolutely...there are even now ways to squeeze in far more communications capacity into a freq band, and soon more such tech will arrive...that means that ham freqs could be doubled up, which could be used for urban internet networks...that would bypass the ISPs...so they started pushed a lot of propaganda a few years ago about how noise from such doubling up tech would impair ham communications...propaganda (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130458) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 11:32 AM Author: Curious Trump Supporter Locus Can we get cell accessories or hardware integration in my phone so I can bounce between services? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39130986) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 12:41 PM Author: Impressive faggotry brethren experimental only, afaik...but apparently some implementation of that new tech was forestalled by complaints that ham radio would see interference...were the ISPs behind all that? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131208) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 12:06 PM Author: Puce antidepressant drug The most prestigious ham radio discussion board in the world (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131116) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 9:49 PM Author: emerald gay wizard meetinghouse (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39132696) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 12:18 PM Author: nofapping talking indian lodge BaoFeng UV-82HP owner here! The over-boosted radios from China are so cheap and useful, no reason for everyone not to have one handy in the event of a serious event. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131156) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 12:26 PM Author: yapping house-broken address love of her life UV-82's are great value radios but the HP is in no way worth more than double the price the 5w version when that extra 2 watts achieves nothing other than draining the battery faster.
It's convenient that you can tx on MURS, GMRS, marine, and commercial frequencies though out of the box whereas most name brand amateur radios lock out those frequencies. |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 12:47 PM Author: nofapping talking indian lodge I opted for it because it came in a sweet ass urban camo color for $50. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131228) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:09 PM Author: Stimulating Heaven Twinkling Uncleanness Extra class here. Licensed since 1961. Mostly HF, but it's not as much fun as it used to be. Have a lot of vintage gear (mostly Collins) up to newer SDR stuff. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131437) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:19 PM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131463) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:18 PM Author: big national Why isn't it as fun as it used to be What was it like before vs now |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:26 PM Author: Stimulating Heaven Twinkling Uncleanness The magic feel of long distance communication is gone. Also, the demographic is pretty heavy with grouchy old farts. Many of my ham radio friends are dead or dying. Guess it’s a room in the mandala thing. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131655) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 2:49 PM Author: mildly autistic mind-boggling theater stage ratface (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131537) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 3:14 PM Author: transparent stage CR. I consider it my Zombie Apocalypse skill. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131615) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 4:10 PM Author: unhinged old irish cottage my dad is a yuge ham radio nut. dude has rooms full of components, including rare stuff like soviet radios. since he has a phd in electrical engineering, he also builds his own shit. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131768) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 5:08 PM Author: Milky racy cruise ship one of the nice features of ham radio is that you can use really old equipment indefinitely, provided that you can keep it working. you only run into trouble when the devices are so old that they violate modern electrical codes, like pre-vacuum tube spark gap transmitters with leyden jars and truly antiquarian designs. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39131891) |
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Date: March 1st, 2020 10:05 AM Author: marvelous roommate (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39676365) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 9:52 PM Author: Red territorial state 180 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39132704) |
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Date: November 17th, 2019 9:54 PM Author: Red territorial state we could have a bort packet radio bbs (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#39132717) |
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Date: November 19th, 2019 5:09 PM Author: nofapping talking indian lodge What cool shit can I do with my BAOFENG? Aside from initially programming it, it's just set aside for emergencies. Is there any potential usefulness for me to consider? Can I radio ahead to the truckstop to schedule with Peterman, not sure how to add the CB channels.
Also, why do people make a big deal on licensing, it's really hard for me to imagine the FCC is going to "go after" someone with a $40 handheld (and I worked at the FCC). |
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Date: October 9th, 2022 8:39 PM Author: Milky racy cruise ship we haven't updated this in a while, so here it is:
ANNUAL CHANGE IN TOTAL LICENSE COUNT:
2020: +8,810 2021: +7,242 2022 (through October 4): -7,833
so, what happened here? it's actually quite straightforward - the flu era led to a surge in preppers and others who wanted to get their radio licences, leading to the booms in 2020 and 2021. this leveled off after 2021, and it also probably 'brought forward' licensees who otherwise would have gotten licensed in 2022 or beyond.
there have been steep reductions in 'grandfathered' license classes ('novice' and 'advanced') for which licenses are no longer issued, meaning that the people who hold them tend to be older. they are dying off. the boom in preppers offset the natural decline for a couple years, but that has reversed in 2022.
Starting point: (June 1, 1997) 678,473
Endpoint (October 4, 2022): 771,721
HOWEVER, the US population has increased from 267 million in mid-1997 to slightly over 333 million today, meaning that there has been some slippage in per capita terms:
PER CAPITA 1997: 1 license per 394 Americans
PER CAPITA Oct. 4, 2022: 1 license per 431.7 Americans |
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Date: October 9th, 2022 8:52 PM Author: vigorous iridescent property TY (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#45306667) |
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Date: October 9th, 2022 8:42 PM Author: exciting round eye I'm part of that small 2017 class. Need to do more with it. Need to retrofit vintage rig for SSTV and digital modes (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#45306607) |
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Date: October 11th, 2022 1:21 AM Author: mildly autistic mind-boggling theater stage ratface '17 here, too. i wasn't very active until i started using ft8 a few months ago. https://i.ibb.co/MN5L98L/lb.png (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#45313013) |
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Date: October 11th, 2022 7:38 AM Author: exciting round eye FT8 is fascinating from a technical point of view but I'm still a little unsure if the "spirit" is maintained in automated QSOs. Would rather slow-speed chat. Congrats on the Japan DX tho |
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Date: October 9th, 2022 8:47 PM Author: nofapping talking indian lodge i've logged onto a local repeater and have listened to some local shit, but other than that, not sure the utility of my baofeng aside from it being essential prep gear.
are there an xo type ham channels? |
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Date: October 9th, 2022 8:48 PM Author: exciting round eye Local 40m is basically XO with the mean age shifted +20 years (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#45306646) |
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Date: November 20th, 2023 6:33 PM Author: Milky racy cruise ship 2023 update - a big DIP. we are seeing the convergence of several trends: people who got licensed during the late-00's/early-10's surge not renewing their licenses, and gradually dropping off the rolls (the FCC does not delist expired licensees immediately; they are delisted in periodic chunks via database updates), old people dying, younger americans no longer taking up the hobby at the same rates, and (as before), the grandfathered license classes shrinking.
we see the largest decline in the entry-level 'technician' class, meaning that people who took the easiest test are tending to drop out over time. the 'extra' class is retaining a higher percentage of licensees.
let's tally up those numbers:
Starting point: (June 1, 1997) 678,473
Last year: (October 4, 2022) 771,721
Endpoint: (November 20, 2023) 756,466
YoY decline: -15,255
in raw numbers, this is the steepest decline thus far, and the sharpest in per capita terms since 2004.
PER CAPITA 1997: 1 license per 394 Americans
PER CAPITA Nov. 20, 2023: 1 license per 443.8 Americans |
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Date: January 17th, 2024 5:10 AM Author: lake tantric principal's office pistol Great thread. I am getting started in this 👍 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#47297459) |
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Date: January 7th, 2025 5:58 AM Author: Milky racy cruise ship so, it wasn't the greatest year for ham radio licensure, but i think the losses have been STAUNCHED for now. what we initially saw was a steeper dropoff followed by a bottoming-out, and then a slight increase in the past few months. the increase is much smaller than the decline, but the line is no longer crashing down.
as before, the twin penalties of demographics (ham operators skew older) and narrowing pipelines into the hobby are offset by ham radio as a growing cornerstone of people trying to adopt a prepper/rural lifestyle. whether they are LARPing or not, a license is a license.
Starting point: (June 1, 1997) 678,473
Last year: (November 20, 2023) 756,466
Endpoint: (January 7, 2025) 745,292
YoY decline: -11,174
this pares last year's decline by 4K, but of course, a decline in the rate of decline is some sort of derivative bullshit rather than what we want, which is a gain.
PER CAPITA 1997: 1 license per 394 Americans
PER CAPITA January 7, 2025: 1 license per 457.8 Americans
not great. could be worse. let's see what unfolds. |
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Date: January 14th, 2025 4:53 AM Author: Autistic pink ticket booth I wonder how many people got licensed in the early '10s because of the Walking Dead and then didn't renew. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#48551539) |
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Date: January 14th, 2025 5:08 AM Author: hairraiser insane parlour I had a General for a while as a teenager but let it expire. There were only old people to talk to, and they only wanted to talk about HAM gear/contacts. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4383596&forum_id=2]#48551553) |
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Date: January 1st, 2026 12:08 AM Author: ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. looks like we are ending the year at 738,802. a decline, though not as sharp a dip as we saw in 2024. the numbers have been holding steady for a few months now. i think we have seen a lot of 'casuals' who got into this thing in the 2010's due to internet influencers dropping out, and will see more in the future. but the remaining crowd seems more steadfast.
Starting point (June 1, 1997): 678,473 Last year (January 7, 2025): 745,292 Endpoint (December 21, 2025): 738,802 YoY decline: -6,490 PER CAPITA 1997: 1 license per 394 Americans PER CAPITA December 21, 2025: 1 license per 464.3 Americans
cold be better. despite the decline, the legal arm of the ham lobby remains tight and has fended off attempts to 'borrow' its spectrum for other uses. |