^ (1) what will you say after 6 months or a year, and the
^ nations you listed have seen no such degredation in band
^ quality after dropping the code requirement?

What is their population compared to the U.S.?

What does that have to do with anything? Is this the "big bully approach"
again? The US will eventually drop the requirement like EVERY country on this
planet, the point is why the US always has to be so behind the times and the LAST
one to figure out how to do it. We should have been the great example to the
world and been the FIRST one to drop it, not the last.

Do those other countries have
the trouble on the 11 meter band that the U.S. has?

What trouble? That it is all nothing but Mexicans with illegal amplifiers
anymore? What does morse code or having to get a license or use call signs
have to do with that?

If the code requirement is unnecessary then what about the electronics
knowledge requirement?

If you are going to build and set up high power transmitters, you had better know
the requirements needed to operate the equipment. If you are going to use a
microphone, then you have better know how to speak too. But needing to know
morse code before you are allowed to use a microphone on HF is like adding a
Russian speaking requirement before you are allowed to drive a car on a US road.

You still need to know the rules of the road, but you don't need to take a test
to show morse code before you drive a car either.

Is it necessary to know how a transistor functions in
order to operate a two-meter radio?

No, that is not needed. What is needed is to know about antenna systems,
interference issues, band plans, laws, and anything else needed to know before
setting up and operating a ham radio transmitter setup. No we don't get
tested on how a car engine works before getting a driver's license, so we don't
need to be tested on how a transistor works before being allowed to use a
radio. That is as ridiculous as having to know morse code before being allowed
to use a microphone.

If you want to use morse code on ham radio, then you should be required to learn
how to use morse code first. Those not wishing to ever use morse code do not
need to learn it, just as we don't all learn Chinese before we can post on
newsgroups in English.

Should the exam be nothing more than a test of the FCC rules?

Think WHY one has to be tested on the things we are tested before being allowed
to get behind a car and be on the road with other drivers. Now apply that to
getting a license before being allowed to use a radio that could cause harm to
others if it is not operated properly.

But it isn't forced and it isn't involuntary. An Amateur license is something
that is voluntarily sought.

Same with a driver's license. So let's make a morse code requirement for that
too then?