Radio .. for the love of it

During the week I was shown a photograph of a chalkboard standing on the sidewalk with one of those "Thought of the Day" quotes on it. Credit aside, since I've been unable to confirm it, despite multiple reverse image searches and attempts at author attribution, the sentiment stuck with me and the more I think about it, the more it resonates and this being radio, that works on so many levels.

We proudly refer to our community as "amateur radio", hold it up as a badge of honour and tell everyone we know about it. Curiously, when you look in the dictionary, you see a litany of words with less than complementary connotations, like "freak", "dabbler", "crank", "neophyte", "inexpert", "unprofessional", "second-rate" and plenty more.

In essence the word "amateur" is contrasted with the word "professional" and our community comes out looking worse for wear.

I'm pointing this out because the experience is insidious. I've told the story of me attempting to report local radio broadcast interference to the regulator when I came upon an investigator who asked how I knew about interference. I explained that I was a licensed amateur. His response was: "I am a Professional". I can still hear the capital "P", now well over a decade later.

It's also interesting when you talk to people outside the community who don't really get what it is that we do. Often they'll think that you're not serious about this and will unthinkingly dismiss your interest and pursuit, because it has the word "amateur" in it.

So, what of this and the chalkboard?

Here's the quote.

"You say 'amateur' as if it's a dirty word. 'Amateur' comes from the Latin word 'amare' which means 'to love'. To do things for the love of it."

As you might imagine, I went hunting to confirm this sentiment.

It turns out that the word "amateur" comes from French "amateur", meaning, "person who cultivates an art or science for their pleasure", in turn that comes directly from Latin "amator", meaning "lover, one who loves", which stems from "amare", "to love". As an aside, "dilettante" from Italian "dilettare", comes from "to delight".

It appears that once respectable pursuits in arts and science lost ground against professionalism and we ended up with a growing gap between formal and informal which increasingly is understood as dangerous, rather than charming.

I think it's time to reclaim "amateur" and take "to love" to heart in our community.

So .. "radio, for the love of it". That's what we do, what we are. And to be honest, I think that really says everything we need to remember.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB