[Qcwa] Re: QCWA Membership

[Ken Oelke]

Hi,

You mention the ten year licence term in the USA. How about this method for
Amateurs in Canada?! It will now be impossible to determine and track how
many active Amateurs there are. As of 2 years ago, our government
introduced a 125 year amateur radio licence, from the date of your birth,
unless the spouse or someone else notifies Industry Canada (IC) the Amateur
is deceased. All that is required to do this is proof by way of obituary, etc.

Also, Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) membership is only 13% out of some
47,000 to 48,000 individual licences (excluding club call signs, repeaters
and those holding more than one call sign), or at least this is as near as
we can determine who are suppose to be active and not deceased. As RAC past
president I might also mention that the Board and Executive tried crunching
the numbers as to who we felt were really active and on the air. We
concluded that number was likely around 25,000 to 30,000 at best. If this
is true, then the 13% RAC membership is not as bad as it sounds, but then
too, the number of Amateurs who are inactive does not bode well either. As
an Accredited Examiner (the Canadian term for the USA Volunteer Examiner),
I have been busier giving exams than I was last year. This also includes
many upgrades to 5 wpm Morse. 

73, Ken Oelke, VE6AFO

>Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 15:51:31 -0400
>From: "L. S. Staples" <lsstaples@compuserve.com>
>To: QCWA <qcwa@mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: [Qcwa] QCWA Membership
>Reply-To: qcwa@mailman.qth.net
>
>Is QCWA membership increasing, decreasing or staying the same?

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