Guessing you're a Ham from your post (I am.) I've been reading that there's been a resurgence in Amateur Radio the last few years and the number of licenses issued year over year for the past five years is trending up. No doubt because of the "morse code" requirement which has been dropped.
? As for me I'm studying for my Extra and am planning on upgrading by the end of January.
Yup, I am a ham. Got my license a few years ago. I made some steps toward getting my license years ago but the process plus the code requirement kept me away from it. Didn’t think much about it until a friend said that, besides being fun, it would be valuable whenever there’s an internet outage and would be really valuable if there was a large scale internet shut down. I do mostly digital modes.
I came close back in the day... Had a Midland sideband CB tied to a Siltronix Model 90 VFO, with a couple co-phased amps and a Moonraker 4... Man, I loved skip! Went about as far as I could in CB (last step would have been a Yaesu 101EE) and had every intention of moving into HAM proper, but life got in the way... Now, with things so close to SHTF, I am looking at it again. I will be going there very soon.