The other day on social media I shared my experience as an amateur radio operator of conversations with several stations from a particular country. The propagation conditions were extremely poor but my attempts at using their own beautiful, but complex, language, in preference to English, yielded rich dividends. The intent of my social media post was to encourage other hams to attempt to make contacts in languages other than merely English.
I was aware that the amateur radio stations I spoke to were from a nation at war. But there were no communication bans with that country.
I was rather surprised, therefore, when some hams posted unfriendly comments about my communications with that warring, aggressor nation. It occurred to me that in doing so these amateur radio operators were exhibiting the same intolerance and intrusion as the aggressor nation by imposing their opinions and beliefs on me for conducting a perfectly legal and legitimate activity.
The rude and unexpected behavior of these amateur radio operators caused me to ponder deeply about the hobby and its boundaries. The conviction that I had no right to aggressively force my opinion on other hobbyists, excepting in so far as monitoring adherence to regulations was concerned, was made even more resolute.
The end result of my soul-searching was the below The Radio Amateur’s Creed.
I have copyrighted The Creed. But if it strikes a chord in you, please feel free to share, provided no modifications are made and due attribution is included.
If you are a ham, 73 de Abie – AB1F – VU2ABE – EK/AB1F – A52AA