Don, regulations came in for ham radio in 1912, after the interference
problems became severe between wide receivers and commercial and hams using
the same wavelengths, or having such wide signals that they got into each
other's receivers.
Then, ham radio was shut down for WW 1. It was nip and tuck that it would
be allowed afterward. ARRL had started in 1914, and lobbied to reopen ham
radio after 1918. Congress was barely persuaded against strong opposition
to ham radio from the Navy, who wanted to administer all radio frequencies.
ARRL stewarded cooperation of hams with other services until the shutdown
for WW 2, and kept ham radio alive by not only continuing to publish QST,
but by adapting the ARRL Handbook to war time training of radio technicians
for the armed forces.
I don't think ham radio was doing just fine without the ARRL in 1914, and
later the FCC from 1933 or so. There was strong commercial pressure to not
allow ham operations, and many smaller countries did not allow ham radio.
That continued to this day in places such as Albania, (until the 1980's),
and some parts of Africa today, and some places in Asia.
There were mis-steps along the way. Incentive licensing did more harm than
any one thing, the war time shut downs included. It had a ripple effect on
stopping growth of young ham population, ending of most American
manufacturers of ham radio, and closing of most local ham radio stores. At
the same time, ARRL was slow to update its Handbook. The 1942 issue reads
almost identically to the 1957 issue, when I got my Novice. ARRL was
fixated on the "Relay" part of their organization for many more years.
Finally, they recognized they should be primarily, the "National Association
for Amateur Radio" as they try, today.
Stuart
K5KVH
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