If the FCC would transfer the 27mhz cb band to frequencies that are not 
ionosphere propagated it would go a long way towards eliminating 
malicious interference found on all hf frequencies. Most of today"s hams 
come from that totally lawless environment and they bring the profanity, 
jamming, illegal call signs, illegal high power amps, and "anything goes" 
operating procedures with them.
I remember operating on that band as a radio amateur and the FCC 
monitoring stations never had any problems with the hams when that 27 mhz 
was the 11 meter ham band. These cb types are the very people that want 
to eliminate cw in the ham examinations so they will have more hf voice 
privileges.
The FCC should have taken a portion of a vhf or shf ham band and given 
that to the cb service instead of the 27 mhz 11 meter band. It is not too 
late to do just that.
If cb were restricted to line of sight they would have no nonlinear, 
unfiltered amps. and profanity.
The legal ham population is taking the rap for most of the interference 
these characters are creating.

Reference FCC req. for comments on the telegraphy requirements.
I think the importance of telegraphy in the ham examination can't be over 
emphasized. The self disicipline required to spend a few months learning 
cw will produce far more engineers in later life than the cb types that 
are so anxious to gain access to the more desirable hf ham bands via a 
"cw free" ham entrance exam.

5, 13 and 20 wpm code tests should be retained with one minute solid copy 
out of five minutes sent required.

I obtained my amateur license (w6wyr, now kh6at) when the entrance exam 
was 13 wpm cw and I went on to do weak signal work in radar as a senior 
engineer with Raytheon co. My cousin also passed the 13 wpm code test 
(w6wzd, now k6zn) and he went on to do weak signal rx design work in over 
horizon radar, as a senior engineer with Stanford Research Institute. 
Both of us were in grammar school when we passed our ham exams.

While working in Japan with Raytheon co. I became friends with a Japanese 
family and while I was there that whole family became instant hams when 
Japan decided to eliminate the cw test for 40 meter phone bands. My Japan 
friends attached exactly as much value to their accomplishment as the 
typical usa cb operator does to his. You have to live near Japan to 
appreciate the interference created by this Japanese "no code" ssb exam.

I know cw well and I find immense enjoyment chatting in that mode. Many 
simple stations I contact in Asia and elsewhere could never afford the 
expensive equipment required for ssb communications and the elimination 
of cw would eliminate ham radio for them.
Freedom from cb jamming combined with weak signal detection and extremely 
narrow bandwidth are some of the advantages of cw. I have over 150 
countries confirmed on 1.8 mhz and for moon bounce and weak signal 
detection it is the only mode possible.
Plenty of people, including myself, were in favor of a code free license 
with voice privileges in the era that I faced learning 13 wpm morse. Had 
my cousin and I been able to obtain this type entrance license I doubt we 
would have gone on to become interested in electronics. Like my friends 
in Japan, we would have soon tired of the jabbering and jamming and given 
up on the hobby.

The FCC should never have turned the testing over to the amateurs. The 
testing should be returned to the FCC and appropriate fees should be 
charged to cover the FCC expense.
Today the same group of people that teach ham radio to newcomers are 
administering the exams and they then travel back to ARRL hqs. to receive 
"hero" awards for the number of new hams they have created. Many of these 
examiners allow the applicant to write down the dots and dashes for later 
translation to letters. This makes a joke of the code test.
It is no surprise to me that these new license holders never attempt to 
operate cw.

The FCC should take a look at the size of the call book listing usa hams 
and compare it to the worldwide ham population. What our hobby needs is 
quality not quanity.
Ham radio advertising supports the ARRL and I can understand their desire 
to increase the ham population.

Reducing the examiner requirements from extra to general is only going to 
further water down the entrance requirements.

The hf spectrum is very limited and what the ham community needs is more 
regulation, not less.
I recall when the FCC required amateur stations to identify their 
location with a call sign area. W1ABC from Boston would have to sign 
W1ABC/6 when operating in Calif. to indicate his geographic location to 
the world. Nowdays when I hear a "1" area call he could be in Hawaii or 
anywhere and the FCC couldn't care less and why should the station bother 
to tell me where he is?
Foreign stations are dumbfounded by this deregulation because it 
destroyed the intergrity of American call sign areas that they used for 
awards.

A little more FCC deregulation and the FCC will have a "code free" ssb 
majority of "cb types" in the ham ranks and guess what that majority will 
lobby for next.
The FCC will have a enforcement mess on the ham bands like they presently 
have on the cb band.
The above are not just my views, but the views of all the hams I have 
talked to that know cw and many that don't know cw.