You are correct amateur radio on air was suspended both in War 1 and World War II and we probably wouldn't have got it back without the American Radio Relay League and governments understanding the value Technical Training did it provided.
All countries (with a few rare exceptions) suspended amateur radio during both WW1 och WW2. In most European countries amateur radio was de facto prohibited before the mid-20s, so the WW1 ban was more of a formal nature. During WW2, amateur radio was prohibited, and in many countries was the gear also impounded. After WW2 the operations gradually came up again, sooner in some countries, much later in countries like Austria (1955). In the USSR, amateur radio again became step-wise permitted in 1946, but at the on-set of the Cold War international contacts outside the Eastern Bloc became prohibited. This lasted until after the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, after which the "Chrustjev thaw" gradually normalised operations. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
You are correct on several Front's Karl. When I was coming up in the early 60's I was interested in radio and electronics. I wanted to learn all I could about the subject and to build my own equipment which, I did, and continued to do over the years. Unfortunately, times really have changed, the relaxation of entrance criteria here in the US has created a large number of new amateurs who have no interest in learning electronics or radio theory. Amateur radio had much greater importance during the early cold war days but began losing ground even as the cold war came to an end. Today, the state of the art in communications technology is such that amateur radio serves little purpose other than as a hobby. Almost no one designs and builds radios or antennas anymore, everything, even dipoles, are sold commercially. So in the United States, amateur radio is looked upon the same a Citizens Band by the general public, and only tolerated by the FCC, who I am pretty sure would like to be rid of it.
Dropping the code has absolutely nothing to do with it, since the military and commercial services dropped the code long before amateur radio did.
Technology made amateur radio obsolete. Perhaps rather than disappear by attrition, we suck it up and accept we are not relevant and just get on with doing radio? I am happy that my wife and kids love me, I do not need emcoms or national security to feel like a man and I can leave these things to the professionals. If they are not my monkeys and not my circus, then im staying well away.
Transmit was verboten, many hams worked a monitors, reporting to the FBI Both sides realized that radio communication was a two-edges sword. http://allworldwars.com/German-Radio-Intelligence-by-Albert-Praun.html https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/docu...publications/wwii/asi_in_northwest_africa.pdf
Morse code is still taught in the U.S. NAVY. This release is dated 1/29/2016, but, the school is now in full "Swing" (pun intended) https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=92864 ex USN CTR1
Most of the warring countries were off the air. Canada went QRT in 1939, and the U.S. in 1941. I'm sure the USSR was the same. Curiously, one exception was Nazi Germany, which had some hams on the air for the duration of the war. There were even a few QSOs with British stations (including G5RV, but with a different call). http://onetuberadio.com/2014/12/03/german-and-british-amateur-radio-stations-on-the-air-during-ww2/
