![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/ARRL-Flag-waving-th_2-150x150.gif\" "\\"ARRL-Flag-waving-th_2\\"")
As the third quarter of 2011 came to a close, ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, began calculating the number of licensed Amateur Radio operators in the US, as well as the number of new licensees. \u201cAt the end of September, I saw that the number of hams in the US was high,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I started comparing that number with other years, I found that it was an all-time high.\u201d For the first time, there are more than 700,000 radio amateurs in the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen looking at the three current license classes — Technician, General and Amateur Extra — these numbers are impressive,\u201d Somma explained. \u201cThe number of Technicians peaked in March 2011 at 342,572, while in September 2011, we saw both Generals and Extras peak at 159,861 and 125,661, respectively. As new Technicians earn their Amateur Radio licenses, and current Technician licensees move on to General and Generals upgrade to Extra, this can cause up-and-down fluctuations for these totals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somma said these high numbers mean that hams are upgrading and renewing in larger numbers and staying interested in hobby: \u201cThese are compelling statistics and I am thrilled to see the highest number of amateur radio licensees ever! When I began working at the ARRL back in the mid 1980s, there were approximately 450,000 amateurs in the US. Our VEC program conducted an average of 55 sessions a week. Today, we administer approximately 150 exam sessions each week, and our total number of licensees across all three license classes continues to grow each year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past 40 years, the number of Amateur Radio operators in the US has grown at a remarkable rate:<\/p>\n
December 1971: 285,000
\nDecember 1981: 433,000
\nDecember 1991: 494,000
\nDecember 2001: 683,000
\nSeptember 2011: 700,221<\/p>\n
Source: 1971, 1981, 1991: print editions of Radio Amateur Callbook. 2001, 2011: www.ah0a.org\/FCC\/Graphs.html. Please note: While the number of licensees has grown considerably over the years, we realize that these numbers include some who are no longer active in Amateur Radio. A recent survey of ARRL members, however, indicates that more than 80 percent of those responding are active.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs technology changes and advances, it is especially vital to keep up or be at the forefront,\u201d Somma said. \u201cI believe that Amateur Radio has done just that! The measurable results are our indisputable license numbers. It amazes me after all these years how important and relevant Amateur Radio remains. I am proud to be one of the 700,221 licensees and to see this historic and important milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n
ARRL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the third quarter of 2011 came to a close, ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, began calculating the number of licensed Amateur Radio operators in the US, as well as the number of new licensees. \u201cAt the end of September, I saw that the number of hams in the US was high,\u201d she said.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[57,195,498],"class_list":["post-27879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ham-radio-news","tag-arrl","tag-ham-radio","tag-usa","category-5","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}