Amateur radio operators are often called ham radio operators or simply "hams." (The origin of this nickname is for all practical purposes lost. Although some people still speculate about, few agree and even few care. Amateur radio operators proudly call themselves hams and nobody knows why.) There are about 600 thousand hams in the United States.

Ham radio operators are licensed by the United States Government and enjoy a far more privileges of radio operation than "CB" radio operators do. With these privileges come responsibilities and rules for the operation of an amateur radio station. Specifically, there are a few things that hams are not allowed to do:

1) Hams are not allowed to do anything with their radios that makes them money in any way. Bummer. Ham radio is a hobby, but that doesn't mean it's completely frivolous. (Read on!)

2) Ham radio operators cannot broadcast' to the public. This means that ham radio transmissions are meant to be received by other ham radio operators. While a short-wave radios or scanners will allow you to listen to the ham radio bands, what you will hear is hams talking to other hams and not music or other radio programs of general' interest.

Within these (and other) guidelines, however, hams are empowered to do just about everything that government and private
radio stations are allowed to do.