[CQ-Contest] ARRL SS SSB

[Frank NF8M]

Joe <nss at mwt.net> wrote:

> Everything is in the single digits till 1958/59 What happened then? WOW!
> and then in 1980 it fell apart again.

> what changed on those dates?

1957-58 was the International Geophysical Year, which brought a huge 
worldwide emphasis on science and technology. Sputnik and Explorer were 
launched into orbit, the space race was heating up and it was the original 
"Science Citizen" initiative. I think this led to a big increase in 
interest in amateur radio, which was of course helped by the record solar 
cycle that year. The first baby boomers were starting to come of an age 
where interest in technology and radio would lead them to study and become 
licensed.

I suspect the dropoff at the end of the 70s could be due to the license 
restructuring that took place in 1977, along with the CB craze that 
flourished in the late 70s which perhaps drained away the more casual 
communicators from our ranks.

-- 
73,
Frank Maynard, NF8M                                        nf8m at arrl.net
- - - - - - - - - - Fifty years of ham radio 1968-2018 - - - - - - - - -