UPDATE: U.S. Drops all Morse Code requirements! We won this fight!
A lot of people who are interested in technology become ham radio operators. Ham radio can be very educational in a way the Internet can't touch: you can learn about analog electronics, and about the synthesis of analog and digital that is wireless data communications. You can build your own equipment from the ground up, while most computer folks only get to plug cards together. You can communicate around the world without an Internet - with nothing but air between you and the person you're talking to. You can even call up Mir or the Space Shuttle, or operate one of many satellites that hams have built and had launched as "hitch-hikers" along with commercial space payloads.
So, with all of that fun to have, why don't more people do it? The
world's most silly technology law is stopping them. In order to be licensed
to operate a ham radio station with international range, you must pass
a test on the ability to receive Morse code by ear.
Now of course it's been a long time since the invention of the microphone,
but hams are still compelled to learn to read dots and dashes as if they
were Western Union telegraphers from the 1800's! Specifically, U.S. hams
are required by the FCC to pass a Morse code test at 13 words per
minute to operate below 30 MHz, and there are similar laws in other nations.
Although there's a no-code license in the U.S. that allows operation above
30 MHz, those frequencies are, in general, useful to communicate across
a city rather than around the world.
There was a logical reason to pass this law in the 1920's. Military stations needed a way to order the hams off of the air if the country went to war, or if the hams were interfering with the military stations during peacetime. Since the military didn't have any voice radios, they required the hams to learn Morse Code so that they'd understand when they were given government orders. Another reason for having the hams know Morse was that the government wanted telegraphers for communication during wartime. It took a long time to train a telegrapher, so it was easier to just draft a ham who had already learned the code.
When the International Telecommunications Union treaties were drawn, this Morse code requirement was included in them. Thus, it became international law, and countries that signed the treaty (almost every country) were bound to require Morse code of their hams. The treaty still exists today - in fact it's been expanded to govern most international communications by radio, telephone, satellite, and even the Internet. If the FCC decides to drop Morse code testing today, the U.S. will be violating this treaty. Thus, to change the law we may have to get the ITU to meet in Geneva, and have representatives of all countries vote. The problem is that ITU's agenda is full until about 2005 - they only meet once every few years, and they're not even willing to consider the question until then. Getting all countries to vote the way you want is no picnic, either.
With the advent of voice radios, you would have thought that Morse code regulations would wither and die. However, many hams were enamored of Morse becuase they thought it helped keep the "riff-raff" off of the air. Learning Morse code was a long and difficult initiation that would keep the only-casually-interested person from becoming a ham. Around 1936, ARRL, a national ham radio organization in the U.S., felt that the ham frequencies would become saturated if many more people became hams. They asked FCC to raise the Morse code testing speed requirement to 12.5 words-per-minute, as this was felt to be difficult enough to keep most people out of ham radio. FCC didn't like the .5 in 12.5 and they raised the rate to 13.
Today, ARRL wants to back off of the code requirement somewhat. Over-saturation of the ham frequencies isn't the problem they predicted, even though there are many more hams now than there were in 1936. ARRL still hasn't been convinced that code testing should be dropped entirely, but they have asked the FCC for the code testing speed to be only 5 words per minute, which is a lot easier to learn than 13. Although they can lower the speed, FCC probably can not drop the code testing even if they want to, because of the international treaty. Meanwhile, the educational opportunities of Amateur radio are still being wasted due to this silly law.
Unfortunately, many older hams who have already passed high-speed code tests are fighting to keep the tests in place. They don't really want newcomers "spoiling" their frequencies. Some of them have even asked me to let ham radio "die with dignity" rather than be polluted by people who don't know code!
In 1997, I founded No-Code International to fight the Morse Code testing requirement for Amateur Radio licensing. NCI has been growing rapidly, and today has members in 36 countries. We're lobbying ITU, FCC, and most national governments to drop Morse code testing. The following links will help you learn more about this.
UPDATE: U.S. Drops all Morse Code requirements! We won this fight!