Can you tell how long somebody has been a member of the ama
by the number?

Numbers are sequential. The lower the number, the older the membership.

Not sure if it is still done but beleve it to be so, a lower number was offered as a perk for accepting the responsibiltys of a CD, Leader member and possibly certain other positions. These individuals could request a lower number as they became available from attrition and the lower numbers were shared among them.

John

My five digit number was issued in 1974.

36417

No, you cannot on a true basis. The 6 digit numbers tell you "Not long," but other than that it is up for grabs.
Years ago the first 100 numbers were reserved for life members, and 101 to 1000 was for Leaders.
In 1955 I had a 5 digit number from square one, In 1963 I became a Contest Director and a Leader. I had the option for a 3 digit #, which I took.
In the past 5 years, several fellow Club Members have obtained CD licenses and have been allowed to convert 6 numbers to 4 digit numbers.

Some have dropped out for several years and received their old numbers back while others have just been loaded down with the 6 digit numbers.
Im sure there is a plan, however you cannot really tag a date to a number.

Learn something neww every day!

Horrace is close, but not quite right. The first 100 numbers are reserved for Presidents of the AMA:
AMA 4 Irwin G. Ohlsson Sr
AMA 8 Frank B. Bushey
AMA 9 Keith H Storey
AMA 10 Claude McCullough (1957 – 1958)
AMA 11 Walt A Good (1959 – 1960)
AMA 12 Peter J Sotich (1961 – 1963)
AMA 13 John Worth (1963)
AMA 14 Maynard L Hill (1964)
AMA 16 Cliff Weirick (1967 – 1968)
AMA 17 John E Patton (1969 – 1970)
AMA 19 Earl E Witt
AMA 20 John Grigg
AMA 21 Don Lowe (1987 – 1995)
AMA 22 Dave Brown (1996 - )

4 and 5 digit numbers are either someone who's been a member for a long time OR someone who has become a Leader Member or Contest Director and chosen to get a lower number. Life members can be distinguished because their number starts with L (as in L101) and I believe they can duplicate an open number (so you can have a member with the number 1234 and another member with the number L1234). And I also believe Life member numbers start at 101.

And given that AMA will issue vanity numbers, you can have any number you want. AMA numbers are NOT unique! There are quite a few that have been issued to more than one person.

Bill

Hmmmmmm!

It sounds like we are stretching the truth a little bit here.

……ghost rider……..out….

AMA # 9119

As the person who wrote the original AMA Membership Verification system and who had to deal with multiple members with the same AMA number, I can assure you that there was no truth stretching of any sort.

Bill Lee

MCMVC - Original!

My number, 32873, was issued in the 62 to 64 time frame (I don't remember which) and it is much higher than yours (18216). Wonder why?

Dan AMA 32873

My first #14959 issued in 1957.When in U.S.A.F. at Greenville S.C. Later given #215 for being a CD or AVP , don`t remember which. Rejoined in 1989. Tried to get #215 back,was given to Bob Aberle the author & electric guru. Old #14959 was gone,any body know where? They had #14958 open, was my A.F. flying buddys #. He was killed in C-124 crash in Spain when the plane hit mountain. Took that #, now when I fly I feel old Don is with me. Maybe some day some one will put up a flight for me. So any # means you are with the best people on earth! big max 1935

i am from gvl also got my first number a four digit there i also had 216 in 1968 when i was a cd , i dropped out for 8 yrs wanted it back and said some one else had it so they gave me 7030-cd to replace it with, i would like to have my 216 back but not available now, i dont think there is really a format for numbers except for the old times and exects.

dennis 1943
AMA7030-cd