[aprssig] APRS adoption

[Pete Loveall AE5PL Lists]

I will add a couple of stats to help muddy the waters (I agree, Steve, the 28% number is totally bogus as it is based on a non-scientific sampling of ARRL members in a certain region).

First statistic: According to the jFindu database, there have been 34,269 unique callsigns seen on APRS-IS over the past 30 days.  Take it for what it is worth...
Second statistic: According to N0HR's web site, Japan accounts for 1.29 million of the 2+ million licenses and Japan has far less than 1 % APRS adoption (due to their own version, their operation methods, etc.).

So, you could make the case that about 15-30% of current license holders outside of Japan are active in APRS.  But that is just a summary guesstimate and not necessarily representative of fact. :-)

73,

Pete Loveall AE5PL
pete at ae5pl dot net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Dimse
> Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:16 AM
> 
> > Regarding my assertion that only 2% of people have APRS was based on
> dividing the 40 k callsigns on the APRSis (maybe not a recent number) by the
> 2 million hams worldwide.
> >
> > But Frank provided an great analysis of Ham radio in his DELTA Division of
> the ARRL and it is a GREAT read.  It shows a 28% adoption rate of APRS.
> >
> Damn statistics. I used to teach medical students, interns and residents how
> to evaluate published studies. This one is a great example of doing
> everything wrong! Lots of impressive numbers, charts and maps, and no
> statistical validity.
> 
> The 28% is of responses, and surveys were only sent to ARRL members.
> There were 7,167 members and 1,234 valid surveys, so only 17% of ARRL
> members participated. The report, surprisingly, does not give the total
> licenses in the region, but I suspect a small minority belong to ARRL. Worse,
> the survey was only sent to those with registered email addresses.
> 
> If this were a scientific research study it would never get published. There is