[bars] Hams as % of population

Mon Sep 11 09:48:47 EDT 2023

Upon reflection on my vast experience of 14.5 months of being on the air 
(hihi) I'm in general agreement with you.

I've yet to meet a non-US ham so I've had no opportunity to discuss the 
relative interest groups across boundaries.  My very limited air-time 
would naturally put me in contact with those that are interested in 
DX/contesting rather than EMCOM, traffic handling, or VHF for that matter.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

T.

On 10-Sep-23 22:54, apizer at comcast.net wrote:
>
> Here is my take on this, just an opinion, others may differ . . . I 
> realize this may stir the pot but so be it . . . I been on HF since 
> 1970 . . .
>
>   * A lot of the EU hams are avid DXers and / or contesters.  It could
>     be a “cultural” thing having to do with competitiveness.  At least
>     that is the impression I got when I met many of them in person at
>     the WARC 2014 wrap-up celebration. Think sports – whether it be
>     EU/WW football, EU basketball players or hockey players coming to
>     the states, etc.  The EU/WW hams call their hobby “RadioSport”. 
>     So you will hear them on the HF bands and they are active Ops.
>   * Many of the EU hams do not have space or funding for a BIG
>     station, so how to they get the BIG signals you may hear?  There
>     are a lot more HF DX / contest clubs over there.  They pool their
>     resources and build world-class club stations at prime locations.
>     There are also DX/contest clubs in South America.
>   * I work with a lot of engineers overseas for my day job, and find
>     them to be very technically competent.
>   * A lot of stateside hams are just into 2 meter/440 vs. HF, to keep
>     in touch will local friends. Nothing wrong with that.  It’s a good
>     social support network.  I myself have had folks ping me to see if
>     I was “OK” after long periods of inactivity.
>   * Some are first responder types (thank you for your service) that
>     are primarily into EMCOMM,  CERT, ARES/RACES.  They may be to busy
>     training to play on HF.
>   * Others are NTS traffic handlers.  Even though NTS is not as “busy”
>     as is once was, they are keeping the system active should it ever
>     be needed.
>   * Others are “preppers” – no explanation needed.
>   * And some are “closet hams”, those that get their licenses but
>     never get on the air.  Could have gotten their ticket just to
>     please a family member get to them off their back.
>   * Or maybe a new ham started listening on some “haters” frequencies
>     on 20 40 or 75 meters and got turned off by that (and sadly so did
>     the radio).  Don’t get me started on that.
>
> But I digress . . . and I welcome other points of view, agree or 
> disagree or neutral
>
> Art
>
> NF1A
>
> *From:* bars <bars-bounces at w1hh.org> *On Behalf Of *Tim KC1RET
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 5, 2023 10:37 AM
> *To:* w1hh <bars at w1hh.org>
> *Subject:* [bars] Hams as % of population
>
> I was ruminating the other day about the relative percentage of hams 
> in various countries.  I seem to work A LOT of Italians, Spaniards and 
> Germans.  So a quick Google search led me to Wikipedia.  It has a 
> listing of hams by country ( https://bit.ly/3sI2aeR ).
>
> The Top Ten by % of Population
>
> 10: United Kingdom:
>
> 	
>
> 0.114
>
> 9: New Zealand:
>
> 	
>
> 0.120
>
> 8: Norway: (seriously?)
>
> 	
>
> 0.125
>
> 7: Spain:
>
> 	
>
> 0.127
>
> 6: Thailand:
>
> 	
>
> 0.147
>
> 5: Denmark
>
> 	
>
> 0.152
>
> 4: Canada:
>
> 	
>
> 0.187
>
> 3: US:
>
> 	
>
> 0.233
>
> 2: Japan:
>
> 	
>
> 0.304
>
> 1: Slovenia:
>
> 	
>
> 0.317
>
>
> Germany was 15 at 0.073% and Italy 21 at 0.049%.
>
> Slovenia was a bit of a surprise but it is a small country so a 
> relatively small population of hams (6,500 as of 2000) can tip the 
> scale pretty easily.  Same with Norway with 6,818 hams as of 2022.  US 
> had almost 780,000 as of 2021.
>
> So we hams are a relative rarity, population wise - approx. 1 in 500 
> in the US.  We are LEET! ( https://bit.ly/45DwgyC )
>
> 73,
>
> T.
>
> -- 
>
>
-- 

Courageously sent from a non-Apple device that /includes/ a headphone jack.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
<https://kc1ret.com/img/kc1ret-qsl-card-front-v3.png> 	

      Tim Carter - KC1RET

	+1.978.710.0133 <tel:1.978.710.0133>

	kc1ret.radio at gmail.com

	https://kc1ret.com

"Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are 
incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful 
beyond imagination." -- /Albert Einstein/

Warning: Spelling errors in this message are the product of a poor 
school system. Pay teachures more than athletes.
IMPORTANT: This email is intended for the use of the individual 
addressee(s) named above and may contain information that is 
confidential privileged or unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with 
low self-esteem, no sense of humor or irrational religious beliefs. If 
you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution or 
copying of this email is not authorized (either explicitly or 
implicitly) and constitutes an irritating social fauxpas. No animals 
were harmed in the transmission of this email, although the mutt next 
door is living on borrowed time, let me tell you.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.w1hh.org/pipermail/bars_w1hh.org/attachments/20230911/184b2a4f/attachment.htm>