U.S. amateur radio numbers up

Amateur Radio Newsline reports that the overall number of United States amateur radio operators appears to have increased by 12,877 from June 15 2008 to June 15th, 2009.

This according to George Mc Couch, K3UD, who notes that the Technician class had the largest large increase. It showed an overall gain of 9,092 with the General adding 4,427 to its license rolls.

On the downslide was the Novice that declined by 1,703 and Advanced by 2,029. This is due to attrition and upgrading away from both of these classes which are no longer offered by the FCC.

Looking at license class popularity, K3UD's numbers indicate that the Technician license is still the most sought after by newcomers and it has continued to make good gains over the last 12 months. But there is still a trend of Technicians upgrading to General begun some years ago that is ongoing. Also being seen is significant movement to Extra. It has shown an increases of 3,090 hams earning the top of the line ticket.

As to actual numbers, on May 16th of this year there were only 17,497 Novice class while Technician growth makes that class the largest with 327,793 holders. Generals number 147,644, Advanced sit at 61,204 and Extra rounds out the service with 117,387. That adds up to 671,525
licensed by the United States FCC.

K3UD points out that his figures are a comparison of two snapshots of the numbers taken at two different times and are a snapshot comparison of two dates a year apart.
As such, the numbers do not show the changes taking place every day which sometimes are up and other times
downward.