In a message dated 98-02-28 K7LXC wrote:
> the tremendous influx of No-Coders (rapidly
> approaching half the ham population)
I think that they are over half now. I'd be really interested in
the situation in Japan that has over a million hams with the vast
majority in the codeless ranks and only a very small minority (10% or
less) with HF privileges. Is there any correlation to the rise and fall
of JA's on during the contests? anyone?
73, Steve K7LXC
Hi Steve,
In the US, codeless licensees constitute about 27% of the total amateur
population. I think you are making the common mistake of adding the Tech
and the Tech+ totals together to come up with your "over half" figure.
Remember that Tech+ licensees have passed a 5 wpm Morse code test.
Here's an update on the licensing situation in Japan and some comments on
how it affects contesting.
Japan grants HF privileges to all of its amateurs. There are four license
classes. Morse code tests are required for three of the four licenses.
The First Class license grants all privileges and has a power limit of
1,000 watts out. The Second Class is the same with a power output limit of
200 watts. The Fourth Class license, the one which does not require a
Morse code test, grants SSB privileges on all Japanese amateur frequencies
except for 14 Mhz but carries a power limit of 20 watts. This license has
been the most popular and accounts for about 90% of all Japanese amateurs.
The Third Class license adds a Morse test to the Fourth Class requirements
and gives its holders CW privileges on the Fourth Class bands and 50 watts
output. (The power limits previously were 500, 100, and 10 watts output
but were recently increased.)
Japan has separate licenses for operators and stations. The operator
license is granted for life whereas the station license has to be renewed
every five years. I am traveling right now and all of my data is at home
so I can't give the exact figures, but there are around 2.5 million
operator licenses and about 1.2 million station licenses today. The
operator license figure is a running total and there is apparently no
effort made to eliminate deceased amateurs and no way to determine how
many have dropped out. But the station license total gives a pretty good
idea of the number of operators who continue to have some interest in the
hobby, for they have paid their money to renew their licenses. The
numbers suggest that about half of all Japanese operators licensed over
the last 35 years have dropped out of the hobby. But any of these
operators could apply for a station license if they wanted to.
For years, Japan licensed large numbers of new Fourth Class hams every year
but the number of new hams has fallen sharply over the past 3-4 years. And
for the first time ever, the number of station licenses actually declined
in the year to March, 1997. Japanese amateur radio seems to be experiencing
the same problems we suffer from in the US: lots of competition from other
hobbies and interests and a rise in the age of the average amateur.
Due to the large numbers of apartment dwellers in Japan, it is difficult
for many Japanese hams to put up HF antennas. The majority operate the VHF
and UHF bands. However, whenever the sunspots return, many hams are
attracted to 10 and 15 Meters because they can work plenty of DX even with
poor antennas and low power. The antenna makers in Japan produce a variety
of shortened beams, verticals and other antennas that can be mounted out an
apartment window or from a small balcony.
Thus, JA contest activity has always been highly dependent on sun spots
because Japan is so far from the other major amateur population centers and
because it is only when there is good sunspot activity that many hams can
ever work DX. In the past, whenever propagation on 10 and 15 Meters would
come back to the point where you could get out with a wet noodle, zillions
of Fourth Class ops, encouraged by ham magazine articles and equipment adds,
dusted off their HF rigs, unpacked their balcony-mounted verticals and
shortened antennas and turned up on these two bands to continue their
quests for DXCC, WAS, to speak a little English and otherwise have fun
working DX. These low-power stations constituted a bottomless pit of weak
signals and anyone with a decent signal into Japan could expect to be kept
extremely busy during the major phone DX contests. For hams who do not
speak English very well and do not know CW, contest QSOs are the easiest
way to make DX contacts.
Back in the 1970's, I believe some West Coast big guns were working well
over 2,000 JAs during the major contests. The question is what will happen
this time around, given the signs of declining interest in amateur radio in
Japan. Most likely activity will still pick up markedly but probably not
to the levels experienced in the past.
It would be very interesting to hear from some of you West Coast OT big guns
on the kinds of JA totals you have seen over the years.
I would say that it's definitely time to get out the Japanese phrase books
and order some more QSLs.
73,
Hal W1NN/7J1AAI
--
CQ-Contest on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com
|