On the ARRL PR mailing list, the topic of whether or not we’re “amateurs” came up again, and that morphed into a discussion of the term “amateur radio.” The impetus for this discussion was an article in the The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, VA that quotes Harry Dannals, W2HD, who was president of the ARRL from 1972 to 1982. He says,
The only thing I think is wrong about all this is the word amateur. That makes us sound like raw beginners. Not true. It only means we’re not being compensated financially for what we’re doing. Some radio amateurs are among the most professional and capable people I know.
My complaint with the term “amateur radio,” is not that we’re amateurs, but that we’re about much more than radio. Not only that, many people tend to confuse the word “radio” with “radio broadcasting.”
Compare the term “amateur radio operator” with the term “maker” or even “hacker.” If you were a kid or young adult, which would you rather be? Maker or hacker has more swagger to it, while amateur radio operator is something quaint, something one’s uncle or grandfather used to do.
Paul, N5IUT, said, “A name like Amateur is what you make it.” I disagree. As the saying goes, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. “Amateur radio” is not quite a sow’s ear, but it sure ain’t a silk purse, either.
Perhaps we’re all making too big a deal out of this, though. John, N3SPW, notes, “Don’t worry so much about the words. It’s more about what you actually do.” There’s a lot of truth in that.
What do you think? How do people react when you say that you’re an amateur radio operator? Would you like our hobby to have a more modern name or are you fine with what we have now?
I’m absolutely fine with being called an amateur radio operator. It’s completely in line with the etymology of the word (late 18th century: from French, from Italian amatore, from Latin amator ‘lover,’ from amare ‘to love’).* We give all kinds of reasons why we’re in the hobby, but it all comes down to loving some aspect of it.
However, I have to admit that I’m getting awfully tired of the term ham, or its more modern and less correct variant, HAM. I think it’s mostly to do with me being utterly sick and tired of the “Radio Operators Are Hamming It Up” headlines every Field Day.
*stolen directly from Google search
Hey Dan,
in Portuguese – and probably other Latin languages – we say “radio-amador”. Amador shares the same radical of “Amor” (love, in English). If one look up “Amador” in a Portuguese dictionary, it will show up as “the one who loves an activity, who does it because he or she loves it and not because of his or her profession, job or duty”.
And that pretty much describe our hobby: we are radio lovers :)
“How do people react when you say that you’re an amateur radio operator?”
The usual response is “That’s still around even with the internet?”
The normal reaction I get when I say I’m a radio amateur is “Huh?”
When I amend that to say “ham radio”, then they say “Oh, OK.” Apparently everyone knows about ham radio operators, but very few equate that to amateur radio, if that phrase even means anything to them. Then there’s the stupid commercial on currently where the guy quips, “Pineapple and ham radio pizza”, while he picks up a microphone attached to a CB radio. Ugh.
Then a couple of seconds later comes the inevitable question, “Does anyone still do that, anymore?”
Instead of groaning and rolling my eyes, I take that as an opportunity to launch into an enthusiastic description of some of the exciting activities that ham radio operators are currently involved in.
Marketing, marketing, marketing….
73,
— Dave, N8SBE