"Radio amateurs represent a powerful movement that have let thousands of enthusiasts spending their free time on technical equipment take part in radio experiments"  (Academician S. N. Vavilov).
"Why has this discipline of radio - at one time the very heart of electronic technology - come to the point where people consider it an arcane science ? I have been forced to consider what first attracted me to radio during my formative years. I liked radio because it was aesthetically appealing. I was not nearly as impressed by the capabilities of radio as by the very nature of radio. Radio is great, not because of what it does, but because of what it is. Nobody buys an original Da Vinci painting to cover a hole in the wall. By the same token there are other means of communication that are more efficient than bouncing signals off he ionosphere; but the very fact that we can bounce signals off the ionosphere makes it worth the effort ... Maxwell's equations appeal to the body, soul and spirit. Sine waves are veritable works of art. Antenna radiation patterns are beautiful ... It is incumbent upon radio initiates to convey the mystique and aesthetic aspects of our hobby to newcomers. To fail to do so is to doom our hobby and the radio profession to the status of a lost art."(Eric Nichols, KL7AJ)