Welcome to

Welcome to Ham Census

Welcome to an amateur radio survey that seeks to answer these questions:

"What do amateur radio operators worldwide, think of their passion? What do we wish for? What are we frustrated about? How many of us are active, versus those that are taking a break? Do we have favorite radios, antennas, or even favorite cw paddles? Do we prefer one contest over another?"

The best way to find out is if we all participate in Ham Census. Join in and let all amateur radio operators know your thoughts – share your views – then you can find out what everyone else is thinking, in real time.

Help shape the future of ham radio.™

amateur radio survey
amateur radio survey

And then
spread the word!

Ask your club members,
your QSO contacts,
and your online connections
whether they have
participated
in the Census!

Optimized for desktop and tablet

Being a survey site, please note that this site is best suited for desktop of tablet. Filling out such a long form (multiple pages) on a small phone screen is more difficult.

Participate!

Register to participate in Ham Census. It's free to participate and you'll be helping the entire amateur radio community to better appreciate where we've been, where we are, and especially, where we should be headed.

Current average:

0 minutes

to complete all 6 parts!

6-Part Census

Ham Census is divided into six parts. In total, the Census should take you under 55 minutes to complete.
 
We encourage you to complete all six parts. If you do not have the time, we understand. Remember, you can save a draft and come back to complete that part later.
 
Most questions are 'choose all that apply'. A few questions ask you to choose only two or three choices. Instructions are clearly indicated under each question.
 
The Census is free to fill; the results are free too. In fact, everything is free. However, to view the complete results, you must complete all six parts. Before completing the six, you will only have access to a selected sample of results.
 
A note about data.

  • We do not and will not resell the results of this Census.
  • We do not, and will not, de-anonymize the answers.
  • We do not, and will not, charge you to use the data.

 
Ham Census is an open-source effort for all amateur radio operators' benefit. We do, however, accept donations to help us offset the costs of operation. Business users are welcome to donate as well and Ham Census may, at some point consider accepting sponsorship.
 
Finally, this is a work in progress. The project will evolve over time. We invite you to check back regularly and especially, to come back for your bi-annual revision every six months. Note that your previous answers will be available to you; all you will need to do is to modify what has changed.

Fill out all six parts,

and gain free access to all the results!

  • 0%
    Interests
  • 0%
    Gear
  • 0%
    QTH
  • 0%
    Institutional
  • 0%
    Skills
  • 0%
    Future

Our one-hundred most recent participants

KO4ZMX • W1AQP • N4NM • NC8R • IW2JWG • K4BIK • K3ZOG • W3RFC • KN4NYU • K1NPT • W6DVL • KC3AOO • N7NGM • W3WAG • YY5RVC • KA5PMV • KC1KCE • SQ6EMM • KS1G • W3LAM • KC3VVL • KB1YTW • N3YRZ • KE8VEG • K4HYJ • KD9TSL • N3DEZ • KM6HRW • KD9NSC • N3LAY • WA8AHZ • NC4MI • VK5PH • W8MHB • EP6DSP • K8JCL • KE0VCD • N3VEM • N9XYV • N2TSQ • 2E0UJR • WB7CYO • K3MD • OH2CKJ • NE7ET • WX2R • K4JST • KM6VTW • KM5BOR • JD1BHA • KD9TGU • OG55W • N4JAW • KP4CI • K0BLU • W2JVO • AG8GM • KJ7QXQ • K3MRK • N7UR • KG4DRP • F4GMT • CT1DOV • KB3ZUV • N6RCM • KD2EH • CX4DI • KB5SSQ • WB4JAB • KN4TIP • KO4RRC • KM4YRF • KN4MNA • N5IMC • KG4WXU • K4JSS • W4CRE • KX4DQ • N6PAZ • WB4RHQ • WB3KHT • K4IDK • WB5WAJ • KF6TPT • KK4QDQ • KD2VPO • W5VAN • KD9RCL • N2WVP • KB9KXS • K9SB • N8BLK • KD2EMQ • KC3SQI • KB9ZRP • K9DEK • W9ZD • N9WGV • WD9END • AC9UV • 

Latest registration:
AF7SJ on Thursday, March 28th, 2024 @ 14:41 GMT+0000 (about 8 hours ago)

Countries of origin

Let's fill out this map. If you know operators in countries other than your own, encourage them to participate.

To date, we have 897 participants from 35 countries.

Testimonials

What people are saying after filling out the Census.

Hover to pause the scrolling.

Flag of the United States

WB5***

2022-02-05

I think it is important to take time to take part in this survey. We need to get our thoughts and ideas consolidated in one place for organizations and manufacturers to see the overall feel of Ham operators.

Flag of the United States

KI***

2021-08-10

Completing Ham Census was not only fun for me as I enjoy filling out forms/quizzes and the like, but it was very useful because I could see all of the information about the most popular/growing aspects of the hobby. Thanks for putting this together.

Flag of Argentina

LW6***

2021-04-17

I think this census is an excellent idea, it will allow us to know more about the current situation of our hobby and in this way I hope that actions can be taken to improve it. A cordial greeting to everyone from Argentina.

Flag of the United States

W3***

2021-03-27

Very useful. Very long.  :+)   I haven't seen anything like this, and suspect if you can get a good sample size this will be of great interest to the amateur community.

Flag of Canada

VE3***

2021-03-18

Completing the survey was more fun than I expected. Loved scrolling through the extremely rich results. Thank you for doing this.

Flag of the United States

W4***

2021-03-15

What a walk down memory lane. Asking me all about my own practices and preferences got me thinking about my 40-year journey through amateur radio. Thank you!

Flag of the United States

K4***

2021-03-19

At first I was skeptical. A quarter of the way through I thought you were twisted. By the end, I was sold. What an amazing deep-dive into amateur radio. Can't wait to come back in six months and do my update. The only frustrating thing was having to finish the whole thing to see the results, but I get it.

Small flag of India

AT***

2021-05-07

I will call this an exercise instead of a survey because it helped me. It helped me to think about my own ideas in ham. I have many new ideas now. TU.

Share your thoughts on gearlicensingregulationsyouthclubscontestscwhoapowerband restrictionsemcommpublic servicecamaraderieshacksdigitalinternetretailerswarrantiesnew featureshamfestsdxpeditionssafetynational associations

Share your insight, it matters.

Arrows Choice Shows Choosing Alternatives Or Deciding

Part I: Interests

Tell us what you like, and dislike?

In this part of the Census, you will share which aspects of amateur radio interest you most.

Part I

13 to 0

minutes to complete
3d Support phone operator in headset rendered on white background

Part II: Gear

Gear you like, don't like, recommend, dream of...

In this part of the Census, you will share details about your current ham gear and gear purchasing preferences.

Part II

13 to 0

minutes to complete
Concept image of a character holding a house key inside miniature house model on white background

Part III: QTH

The challenges of operating from home!

In this part of the Census, you will share details about your ham shack, home installation and other QTH related characteristics.

Part III

2 to 0

minutes to complete
business man concept

Part IV: Institutional

As hams we deal with governments, but also associations and clubs.

In this part of the Census, you will share details about how regulations and legal considerations impact your amateur radio practice and how institutions such as clubs help you in your amateur radio journey.

Part IV

6 to 0

minutes to complete
Students Reading Books Showing Education And Studying

Part V: Skills & Learning

What, how, where, when did you learn? And share?

In this part of the Census, you will share details about acquiring and sharing amateur radio knowledge.

Part V

7 to 0

minutes to complete
Businessman with binoculars under road sign. Business concept

Part VI: The Future

What do you expect? What do you wish for?

In this part, you will share your vision for amateur radio, and your role in it, in years to come.

Part VI

7 to 0

minutes to complete

Some FAQ

Some could be forgiven for wondering why anyone would be willing to spend 44 minutes filling out a survey if there was no reward at the end.

Unlike the more skeptical in our ranks, we believe that this is what amateur radio is all about. It's about sharing our knowledge freely. It's about helping others to know more about the practice and about their own preferences.

So no, you get no reward for filling out the Census. You get nothing tangible by spending an average of 44 minutes to complete all six parts. All you get is the answers, everyone's answers, for free. You get insight into the practice and you get to contribute to its future. We think that's reward enough.

The good news is that you do not have to fill it all in one go. You can continually save drafts (don't forget that even if you save drafts, you have to hit 'submit' at the end of each part).

Thank you for shaping the future of amateur radio and doing so simply because it's the right thing to do.

We do not, and will not, ever, sell data. This is an open source project meant to support the amateur radio community. It is a public service offered by Ham Community. Also, we ask you for only four bits of information, your legal amateur radio call sign, an email address, a first name and a password to protect the first three. Additionally, for security purposes, we store your originating IP address but we purge them monthly. That's it, nothing else. We treat your privacy the way we want ours to be treated.

At the bottom of every page on the site, you will find multiple privacy related links including our cookie policies, an impressum for our Austrian and German friends, and all of our privacy compliances including GDPR for the EU and CCPA for California, among others.

The founders of this project are like you, concerned with privacy and security issues. While we can never be perfect or fully shielded from nefarious actors, but we definitely we strive to do so diligently. Our data is here too!

No. Absolutely, unequivocally, not. You do not have to donate. Can you donate? Yes, absolutely. Will we appreciate it? Yes we will. This Census is a major commitment and requires both time and actual payments to operate. We are doing it because we want to and expect no support. But you're welcome to offer it and we will, believe us, appreciate it. Know that your donations will be used exclusively for the operation of the Census, notably server expenses, software licenses, and whatever additional paid staff contribute to the effort.

Like we said, this is an open-source, free-to-contribute, free-to-use project. All we are after is good data that is useful to us all. The only way we could think of to encourage people to complete the six parts is to force them to fill out the six parts entirely before gaining access to the results section. In the words of our friend Al, KN3U, "It was a lot more fun to complete than I had originally thought it would be; I actually enjoyed it."

Absolutely! We look forward to those suggestions. Just hop over to Ham Community and visit the Ham Census Q&A forum. Please note that the suggestions forum is only open to those who have completed the six parts of the Census and registered on Ham Community as members.

Need more answers?

Check out our complete FAQ

Site News

Ham Census - QSO Today 2021

Ham Census at QSO Today

2021-08-16 |

Thank you Eric Guth and the entire QSO Today team for organizing the event and inviting us to present Ham Census. The presentation was well attended and the questions were very useful. Indeed, after the presentation, several participated in the Census and provided us with some exceptionally good recommendations, many of which were immediately implemented.…

600 participants in Ham Census as of today

Thanks again!

2021-05-12 |

Ham Census, with relatively humble means, is inching its way up. As of this morning, we have had 600 participants from 28 countries. Now, rather than announcing a big thank you every 100 participants, we’ll wait until we hit 1,000. Can you help us get there quickly? Just spread the word! Thanks again for participating…

We are not alone

A shout out to a fellow amateur radio survey. Though in no way affiliated, we encourage you to also check out N8RMA's State of the Hobby. The process is slightly different than ours and definitely worth checking out and participating in.

We will actually give you three.

The first is the right reason, the useful reason.

The best decisions are informed decisions and there are many dedicated women and men making decisions about amateur radio daily; do we want their decisions to be well-informed? Federal regulators, national associations, manufacturers, retailers, our clubs, bloggers, and every single one of us, are continuously making decisions.

All these decisions impact the practice of amateur radio. Shouldn't these decisions be made based on what we actually think?

Ham Census is the direct, open-access way of communicating our ideas to those who most influence amateur radio in each of our own countries, and worldwide.

Second is the fun part of it.

It's just fun to see what everyone else is thinking. When you start looking at the results, every third graph you'll be saying, "I did not expect that!" and then on the next one you'll say, "I knew that!" and finally, other times you'll be a maverick and simply disagree with the trend.

And last is to prove a point.

Amateur radio operators are the first to share, to get involved, to volunteer. We don’t do it for a reward, we do it because it’s the right thing to do. We hope that you will agree and share your thoughts, using Ham Census to help shape the future of ham radio. Let’s prove the point that amateur radio operators are in it for the joy and passion of the challenge.


PS. It's free to take and all the results are free too!

Participant Ratings

Note that these ratings are unmoderated and unfiltered.

 


 

How do you rate the value of this census?
star_full star_full star_full star_full star_full
How would you rate the census instructions and language?
star_full star_full star_full star_full star_half
How likely are you to spread the word about Ham Census?
star_full star_full star_full star_full star_half

Thank you for your help!

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Hamvention Awards Committee 2021 Club of the Year

Vienna Wireless Society

Thank you VWS for all your support in getting Ham Census off the ground.

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Our first news coverage

Southgate ARC

Thank you Southgate ARC and Richard for your coverage. You were our first news story and garnered us a substantial amount of traffic.

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Census methodology guidance

Risk Sciences International

Thank you Risk Sciences International (RSI) for its guidance in constructing the census and analyzing its results.

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Cooperative marketing

Ham Alliance

Thank you Ham Alliance for allowing Ham Census to join and be a part of this very useful cooperative of motivated amateur radio organizations.

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For the first push

Our Elmers

Thank you W4DOI • AK4AO • WA8AHZ • W2LNX • KN3U • W3TDH • WN3R • W3CID • WA3LTJ • N3IXY • KN4ZMA • W4FSO • W2WCM • KO4CLV • K4EWR • KD4MM • W4RAX for helping inspire and debug the beast!

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Our first EU news coverage

SvZone

Thank you SvZone Ham Radio News. Very proud to have Ham Census promoted in Greece.

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Amateur Radio Internet Guide

DXZone

Thank you DXZone for listing Ham Census. Great to be on the web's largest amateur radio directory.

Consider rating us on DXZone

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Thank you Formidable Forms for being the backbone of Ham Census

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Thank you also for your help!

  • Upstate NY HAM Radio News & Information

    Thank you for the mention!

  • Tom, N2XW

    Thank you for the mention!