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.