Amateur Motto: Do No Harm

Foundations of Amateur Radio The social aspects of our hobby are a never ending feast of variety. Since the requirement for becoming an amateur is that you're interested, the assortment of people who arrive at our doorstep can be described as a motley crew. I once stood in a room with radio amateurs and if I recall correctly, between us we had a surgeon, a naval officer, a sailor, a truck driver, a hiking enthusiast, a computer professional, young and old. Some were retired, others hadn't started their careers, there were wealthy people and people on welfare. Some with university degrees, others without. I participate in a weekly lunch, called PRAWNHEADS, been going for 25 or so years. The name is an acronym for the Perth Radio And Wireless Noodle House Eating And Discussion Society. We have a lunch with people from all over the place, visitors from overseas, random interstate drop-ins, new and very experienced amateurs, all mixing it together for an hour or so. If you're ever in Perth on a Wednesday for lunch at noon, you should look it up. Most of my life I've been a computer geek. Some of the time I was a broadcaster on national radio, an ultra-light pilot and I'm sure there were other phases I've skipped over, being a sea-scout comes to mind for example. In those pursuits I found myself surrounded by different people, but the range of interests and backgrounds was never as wide as those that seem to be attracted to our hobby of amateur radio. I'm raising this because it pays to think about this every now and again. People with different backgrounds have different experiences, different expectations, they communicate differently, have different vocabularies, want and expect different things and while the pull of amateur radio brings them into the room, the interaction with other humans is what keeps them there. I spend varying amounts of time online in various discussion groups related to amateur radio and a vast range of communication styles is right there in front of you. Some people are brief, to the point of being perceived as abrupt, others never seem to get to the point and in-between them are the peacemakers who attempt to explain what is going on. It has been pointed out to me that I have a particular communication style that sometimes causes people to misunderstand my intent. For example, I regularly send single word emails with the word "Done", or "Huh?" From my perspective, this is perfectly clear. You write an email for me to do something and I write back "Done" when I'm finished or "Huh?" when your request makes no sense to me. We are a hobby of communication, supposedly. My experience is that we're pretty good with coax, soldering iron, antennas and making a camp site, but our communication skills let us down. We're geared up for talking to people like ourselves, but when we're confronted with people from different backgrounds, often the pitchforks, feathers and tar come out. People take offence, even when none was given, feuds start, people ostracise each other and friendships end. I get that not all humans get on with one another, but given the same interests, amateur radio, given that we're about communication, you'd think that we'd spend a little extra effort with this. Don't get me wrong, disagreements happen all over the place, amateur radio is no different, but looking at the eclectic bunch that we are, it does appear that we have more than our fair share of bullies, discrimination, acrimony and dissent, not to mention the self-appointed police men, the armchair lawyers and those subject matter "experts". I recently pointed out to a new member of our community that amateurs are in the words of Douglas Adams "Mostly Harmless". At this time of the year I think it's a good idea to spend a few moments to consider if something you said or did, could be learned from and improved. I'm sure I'll fail spectacularly on regular occasion, but I do know that I'm never intending to do harm and perhaps that might be a good motto for our hobby. Do No Harm. I'm Onno VK6FLAB