Why Radio Amateurs Are Called "HAMs"
Have you ever wondered why radio amateurs are called "HAMS"? Well, it goes
like this:
The word "HAM" as applied to 1908 was the station CALL of the first amateur
wireless
stations operated by some amateurs of the Harvard Radio Club. They were ALBERT
S.
HYMAN, BOB ALMY and POOGIE MURRAY.
At first they called their station "HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY". Tapping out such
a long
name in code soon became tiresome and called for a revision. They changed
it to
"HY-AL-MU", using the first two letters of each of their names. Early in
1901 some
confusion resulted between signals from amateur wireless station "HYALMU"
and a
Mexican ship named "HYALMO". They then decided to use only the first letter
of each
name, and the station CALL became "HAM".
In the early pioneer days of unregulated radio amateur operators picked their
own
frequency and call-letters. Then, as now, some amateurs had better signals
than
commercial stations. The resulting interference came to the attention of
congressional
committees in Washington and Congress gave much time to proposed legislation
designed to critically limit amateur radio activity. In 1911, ALBERT HYMAN
chose the
controversial WIRELESS REGULATION BILL as the topic for his Thesis at Harvard.
His
instructor insisted that a copy be sent to Senator DAVID I. WALSH, a member
of one of
the committees hearing the Bill. The Senator was so impressed with the thesis
is that he
asked HYMAN to appear before the committee. ALBERT HYMAN took the stand and
described how the little station was built and almost cried when he told
the crowded
committee room that if the BILL went through that they would have to close
down
the station because they could not afford the license fees and all the other
requirements which the BILL imposed on amateur stations.
Congressional debate began on the WIRELESS REGULATION BILL and little station
"HAM" became the symbol for all the little amateur stations in the country
crying to be
saved from the menace and greed of the big commercial stations who didn't
want
them around. The BILL finally got to the floor of Congress and every speaker
talked
about the "...poor little station HAM". That's how it all started. You will
find the whole
story in the Congressional Record.
Nation-wide publicity associated station "HAM" with amateur radio operators.
From
that day to this, and probably until the end of time in radio an amateur
is a "HAM"
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