My original questions weren't very well worded. I wanted to engage us in two
"thought exercises".

1. Is amateur radio a hobby which significantly appeals to experimenters and
tinkerers, or does it continue to flourish only because of the wide availability
of commercial equipment?

During the 60's-70's there was an interesting "real world" test of this notion.
The US and western European hams had readily available and affordable commercial
equipment, while the USSR hams did not. During that period USSR hams homebrewed
most all their equipment, or converted military surplus stuff (sound familiar?),
their numbers grew at a much higher rate than US numbers, and they were
generally acknowledged to be among the best operators on the air.

2. My second "thought exercise" (unrelated to the first) probably should have
been stated: "Supposing that amateur radio first came under government
regulation in 2005 (instead of 1912), would a Morse test be included in the
qualification process?"

73, de Hans, K0HB
--
Member:
ARRL http://www.arrl.org
SOC http://www.qsl.net/soc
VWOA http://www.vwoa.org
A-1 Operator Club http://www.arrl.org/awards/a1-op/
TCDXA http://www.tcdxa.org
MWA http://www.w0aa.org
TCFMC http://www.tcfmc.org
FISTS http://www.fists.org
LVDXA http://www.upstel.net/borken/lvdxa.htm
NCI http://www.nocode.org