That is not completely correct, though very close.
Those numbers are the number of "US-issued" amateur radio licenses, not the
number of operators in the US.
It has become a trend in Europe (perhaps around the world) to also hold a US
license, no matter where you live.
Of our 400+ members in the BCC almost all of them have a US call sign,
although most have never even been to the states.
You can take the US license test at any big Hamfest in Europe.
In fact, here's an interesting tidbit: The president of the DARC (German
Amateur Radio Club) has only a US ham ticket; he doesn't even have a German
license! And he's German.
Also, a large number of new licensees are coming from the FEMA side.
Many gained interest in ham radio but many are also only interested in the
emergency side of it.
73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of k6jek
"In the past 40 years, the number of Amateur Radio operators in the US has
grown at a remarkable rate:
December 1971: 285,000
December 1981: 433,000
December 1991: 494,000
December 2001: 683,000
December 2012: 709,500"
http://www.arrl.org/news/2012-marks-all-time-high-for-amateur-radio-licenses
Jon
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