David Rowan of Wired.co.uk has an article over on their website:

Why ham radio endures in a world of tweets (Wired UK)

He waxes philosophically about the thrill of establishing long distance radio communication, about receiving QSL cards, and gives mention to the role that ham radio plays in time of emergency.

I hear these things repeated a lot. They aren’t false, but neither are they entirely enough of the real picture to paint a realistic view of amateur radio.

It’s wrong to think of amateur radio as a single hobby: it’s a bunch of different hobbies all united by the need for a radio license. There are radio contests. There are people who chase awards. There are people who just want QSL cards to decorate their shack. There are people who setup FM repeaters to serve their communities. There are people who operate only low power transmitters (“QRPers”) often that they construct themselves. There are people interested in space communications such as satellite or EME operation (moonbounce).

Amateur radio continues to exist because radio amateurs continue to find their own areas of interest, do the necessary work to become licensed, and then pursue those interests. Whether it is contesting, construction, serving your community in times of emergency, or just plain old talking to your neighbors, people are still finding reasons to get licensed and get on the air.

I pursue amateur radio because I’m interested in the complexity of physics that allows radio to propagate. I’m interested in construction, and experimentation. And I’m interested in finding other people with similar interests. No advances in cell phone or computer technology will really blunt that. I suspect that each ham finds his own reason to pursue it, often beyond the point where any practical economic argument.

It’s what we do for fun.