I agree code should be reinstated to its position as before but I
think there are other things that need fixing too.


Too many Amateur Extra license holders are appliance operating test
takers. The Extra license, and it maybe should be renamed, should be a
double bitch to get by any standard. It should be as tough an exam as
the toughest single "check ride" in aviation-the A&P Machanic oral and
practical exam. Those who have done both say it's worse than the ATP
checkride. The goal should be it should be equally as good a
certification of competence as the old First Phone was before the
school operators made it a thing to get around for wannabe DJs.

I have worked in shops with Extras. Oh yeah they had ham license tags.
They had their call on their bench. And they were the guys who keyed
500 watt PAs into the spec an and lifted pads galore before having
their iron confiscated and made to go to the rework operators and
listen to them yakk about their toddler's tantrums and boozing husbands
and tampons vs. pads (not the kind on PCBs) while they changed their
parts out.

That is why ham radio has lost respect where it counts, the
electronics industry. Now there is no more consumer repair business,
the broadcasters are Clear Channeled into a few overworked saps, and
manufacturing is all offshore except mil and avionics and a few T&M
manufacturers. But still the industry is who allocates spectrum-the
pols don't know what it is.