54 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
54 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
|
B!K4CY!N4DWY!W4DPH!W8DUV!KP4OO!N4NIA!N4LDG
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
WHY RADIO AMATEURS ARE CALLED " HAMS "
|
||
|
|
--------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
From Florida Skip Magazine - 1959
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
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 1909 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 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 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 til the end of time in radio;
|
||
|
|
An amateur is a " HAM ".
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
( Transcribed and edited for Packet Radio by N4KWB @ W4NVU PBBS 6/18/88 )
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
WA6RDH - A/1 >
|