My pass in the morse test...
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The Amateur (Sound) Licence is issued under provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act in the UK, and is designed to '..enable self training in Wireless Telegraphy..'. The full licence requires applicants to have passed the Radio Amateurs' Examination and a Morse Test. Amateur Radio has been used for decades as a means of communication, whether truly by Telegraphy (i.e. Morse Code, my favourite), or telephony, or television - and over a wide variety of frequencies from 1.8MHz to several tens of thousands of gigahertz. People chat locally, wordwide, enter all sorts of contests which to the non-enthusiast seem pretty pointless, and perhaps enjoy themselves building ther own electronic gear. Amateurs provided a significant reserve of expertise during WWII, and have been at the forefront of developments in radio communication since the 1920's. Amateur Radio is the only 'hobby' which has international representation in the shape of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It's possibly the case that the Internet might reduce its appeal - but it is essentially a different way of communicating.

Amateur Radio in the UK is controlled by the Radiocommunications Agency (RA), where you can find frequency allocations for the UK; the national society is the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB). In the USA the same function is provided by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and most other countries have their national amateur radio society. Look for them on the Net - itself a wireless term.

The letter inviting me to the RAE; the reverse
bears the magical stamp "PASS"