Video: What Happened to Ham Radio? It’s Not What You Think

I got my Technician license in 2010 and then barely used it for a decade. When I finally went and pulled the numbers on this hobby, I found out I wasn’t unusual — I was the pattern.

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FREE PDF— every number and chart in this video, with the source for each: https://hamradiolaunchpad.com/license-data/

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There are 48,000 fewer licensed hams in the US than there were five years ago, and that number has dropped every six months for five years straight. Over the same stretch, the number of POTA activations went up 400%. Both are true. Both come from public data, and all of it is linked below.

This is what the FCC numbers actually show about where ham radio went, which part of it is shrinking, which part is growing, and the one change that would fix the biggest gap between them.

THE DATA BEHIND THIS VIDEO (free PDF download)

Thirteen pages: the FCC license file, ARRL counts, POTA’s own dashboard, Field Day results, and a direct link to every one. Includes the license-class breakdown the headline number hides, and three widely-quoted figures I left out on purpose and what’s wrong with each: https://hamradiolaunchpad.com/license-data/

SOURCES — every number in this video:

US license counts, historical series (1997–2026)
Keith Greiner, AmateurRadioData — primary source is the FCC license file:
https://sites.google.com/site/amateurradiodata/home

Current US license counts by class
ARRL FCC License Counts:
http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts

New license applications by year (2019: 30,078 · 2025: 25,943)
FCC Universal Licensing System, Application Search (Purpose = New · Type = Individual · full calendar year):
https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/searchAmateur.jsp

Parks on the Air statistics by year
Official POTA statistics dashboard:
https://stats.pota.ninja

POTA activator license classes (57% Extra / 39% General / 2% Technician)
Frank Howell K4FMH, January 2026:
https://k4fmh.com/2026/01/26/a-snapshot-of-u-s-pota-sites-activators-and-activations/

2025 ARRL Field Day results — participants, entries, QSOs by mode
QST, December 2025:
https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2025/Field-Day-2025-FinalQSTResults.pdf

FT8 overtaking voice and CW in 2017 (Club Log data)
ARRL:
https://www.arrl.org/news/mode-usage-evaluation-2017-was-the-year-when-digital-modes-changed-forever

FCC application fee — and the upgrade exemption
ARRL:
http://www.arrl.org/fcc-application-fee

QRP Labs assembled kit waiting list:
https://www.qrp-labs.com/qcxmini/assembled.html

Morse code testing eliminated, February 2007
ARRL:
http://www.arrl.org/ham-radio-licenses

Chapters:
00:00 – Is ham radio dying?
01:45 – The numbers, and where they dropped
03:06 – Why nobody’s walking in the front door
03:51 – This has happened twice before
05:10 – What the internet actually took
05:45 – 2017: the release that changed the math
07:15 – The gear went portable
07:50 – Where people are taking it
08:40 – Who’s actually out there
09:50 – The most fixable problem in ham radio
10:34 – So is it dying?

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