The actual article:
http://www.walletpop.com/2008/07/17/top-25-things-vanishing-from-america-16-ham-radio/
does not seem to come to any specific conclusions about the number of
licensees.
Instead it makes a more political statement that "As cell phones and the
Internet siphon off much of what once attracted people to amateur radio, the
nation's ham radio population is graying rapidly. Given the cash value of the
radio bands allocated to amateur radio, there will be relentless pressure on
the government to take back those bands so they can be sold. All these elements
speak to a long, slow diminishment of a pastime that began with Marconi."
Let's take the statement one sentence at a time:
>>As cell phones and the Internet siphon off much of what once attracted people
>>to amateur radio, the nation's ham radio population is graying rapidly.
Maybe cellphones and the internet siphon what attracted the baby-boomers to
radio. But the people entering radio now are probably not looking to replace
their cellphones. Usually they are interested in intellectual and technical
challenges, emergency communication, competition, etc.
>>Given the cash value of the radio bands allocated to amateur radio, there
>>will be relentless pressure on the government to take back those bands so
>>they can be sold.
There have *always* been interests that wanted to take away our bands. This is
what makes such "pressure" relentless. Nevertheless, the league and others
have always stood up for our allocations. So, by the same token, our "support"
of radio has been relentless, too. In fact, since hams support radio for the
love of the game, rather than for the money that comes from it, our support
does not waiver with economic conditions (i.e. changing "cash value") or
political fortunes.
>>All these elements speak to a long, slow diminishment of a pastime that began
>>with Marconi.
This is a very vague statement. At some level, we can all agree with each
other that the world is slowing down and at some point in the future the world
will end. So what? Does that mean that the world is vanishing from the
universe?
73,
Dave/KA1NCN
dave@KA1N.CN
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