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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:19.0pt;color:#C00000'>+ <i>Spotlight
on Amateur Radio</i>: 2009 Sees Surge of New Amateur Radio Licensees<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><img width=250
height=258 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CA9041.6BD81E00"
alt="http://www3.arrl.org/nl/al/image/ARRL_VEC_2009.JPG"></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=caption1 style='mso-element:frame;mso-element-frame-hspace:9.75pt;
mso-element-frame-vspace:5.25pt;mso-element-wrap:around;mso-element-anchor-vertical:
paragraph;mso-element-anchor-horizontal:column;mso-height-rule:exactly'><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>In 2009, the FCC
issued more than 30,000 new Amateur Radio licences -- an almost 3 percent
increase in the number of new licenses issued in 2008. At the end of 2009,
there were 17,084 Novices, 334,245 Technicians, 150,970 Generals and 119,403
Amateur Extra class licensees.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
7.5pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>This past
year was a banner year for new Amateur Radio licensees. According to ARRL VEC
Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, the FCC issued more than 30,000 new ham radio
licenses. "In 2009, the demand for Amateur Radio exam sessions remained
elevated and is still running at a higher rate than before the FCC's
restructuring of the license requirements in 2007," Somma said. "This
high level of exam session activity has produced an elevated influx of new
applications, far outpacing recent years." A total of 30,144 new licenses
were granted in 2009 -- an increase of almost 7.5 percent from 2008. In 2005,
16,368 new hams joined Amateur Radio's ranks; just five years later, that
number had increased by almost 14,000 -- a whopping 84 percent! Read more <a
href="http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/06/11278/?nc=1">here</a>.<a
name=toc03></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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