It happens to be a hobby that has significant potential externalities, so of course it's heavily regulated. But OP's point is that the initial barrier to entry is so high precisely because once you get past it, nobody is looking over your shoulder, and the limits are lax enough that even very disruptive activity can still fall within them.
Firstly, I doubt that the externalities are that severe nowadays, and with modern frequency-hopping technologies, I believe that it could all be fixed by upgrading existing hardware (even though this would be hard).
Secondly, the original argument was that, and I quote, “Amateur radio enjoys the privilege of pretty lax regulation”. And a requirement to get a government license, tied to your personal name and identity, gated by a large fee and difficult exam, is not my idea of “lax regulation”.
So, there is no large fee at all for getting a Ham Radio license. You can get your license for $15.00 at most testing sites. And if you've studied, you can go all the way to Extra class for that one $15.00
As to the difficulty, children at about 5 or 6 have passed the Technician class test. It takes some studying, but it is really easy. The most difficult part is in understanding the bands that you're permitted to operate on.
In reality, getting a license is easier than it's ever been. There are no more requirements for Morse Code - though some still use it. There is no longer a requirement to go to an FCC field office for testing - your local Ham Radio club can give you the exam. It used to be that you got your Novice ticket, and had to upgrade to Technician within a fairly short period of time - now you begin with the Technician exam.
As for the regulation, there is a real legit reason for this. As Amateurs, we're permitted to operate on a wide range of frequencies - some of which are close to those used for Radar, Wi-fi, and many other services. Some of the frequencies we can use are very long range. The reason for the regulations that exist are in order to prevent interference to other services, to avoid breaking international treaties, etc.
The technical knowledge is important because you're permitted to build your own equipment. It's important, if you do, to know that your equipment is operating properly, so that you don't disrupt many other services with transmitters that are spewing noise and harmonics on many unintended frequencies.
In short, Amateur Radio is FAR LESS regulated than any other service, because of the technical abilities that we have historically displayed. It's a worthwhile hobby and lots of fun. I don't know of any other hobby that has its own satellites in orbit, that has bounced radio signals off of the planet Venus - and regularly uses the Moon or even ionized meteor trails as a reflector for radio signals...
Seriously, given what we can do with the hobby, passing a relatively simple test and paying $15.00 to get your license - and no recurring annual fee ... I don't consider that restrictive at all.
