Foundations Of Amateur Radio

Foundations of Amateur Radio Amateur radio is an activity that falls between two camps, those who think of it as a service and those who approach it as a hobby. I think that the notion of amateur radio as a service is often repeated, but in my time as part of this community, I've seen little evidence of actual service. That said, the idea of amateur radio as a service is often linked to emergency communications, for example, a phrase used by the Wireless Institute of Australia is "Amateur Radio - A Trusted Partner in Emergency Response" on a page outlining the long and fabled history of our hobby in service to the community in times of emergency, mind you, none of them in the past decade. If we look at the idea of amateur radio as an emergency response, what does that look like today and how might we best be of service? The question that prompted this discussion centred around the best mode to use for emergency communications and was presented in the context of a tool that links HF radio with email, but i