8 February 2012
Why would we describe The Radio Club using a term like wabi sabi?
Wabi sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view that centres on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and sabi. The term has sometimes been applied to certain QRP activities in amateur radio.
The aesthetic of wabi sabi is sometimes described as beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. While it's a concept derived from the Buddhist concept of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, in this it also recognises that nothing is ever complete; a concept familiar to every homebrewing ham.
The recognised characteristics of wabi sabi include asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy and - in art - the suggestion of natural processes. All these - and especially simplicity and modesty - are aspects of amateur radio familiar to the QRP community; homebrew design and construction together probably extend to all six characteristics.
It is vain to do with more what can be done with less
This quotation attributed to William Occam (It has been given as It is vain to do with more that which can be done with fewer. The Latin Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora translates as "It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer.") has been adopted by G-QRP Club as an appropriate motto for those using simple equipment and low power to make impressive contributions to the art and science of radio communication.
William of Occam was born in Occam, England in about 1288 and died in Munich in 1347 or 1348. He is best known for Occam's Razor: entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem which is Latin for "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity," meaning that, if two theories predict the same outcome, the simpler theory is best. An alternative form is pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate meaning, in English, "plurality should not be posited without necessity."