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"
The History
Ham Radio started with Marconi
-- In September 1895, Guglielmo Marconi, a self-taught 21-year-old
from Bologna,
did not want to accept popular science's thinking that radio
waves were limited to line-of-sight and limited in range.
Debate raged over the common theories. Marconi decided to
test all of
this out, and created his first radio transmitter, and put
the receiver out in the far end of his garden. He placed
obstacles
in the path, and then had his assistant transmit. He heard
it.
By 1901, he sent a wireless signal across the Atlantic. For the next seven years,
many Americans experimented with wireless. The first radio clubs appeared in
1909, and the Titanic disaster of 1912 pointed out the need for regulation of
wireless. We now have cell phones, television, and all of the other telecommunications
using radio, because of his amateur radio experiment.
Ham Radio continues to test ideas and forge new ground in practical communications.
The hobby can be as simple as talking on local-area repeaters with those in the
same town, to building a satellite or experimenting with new forms of telecommunications.
The HAM hobbyist can talk to those on the other side of the earth with nothing
more than a simple High Frequency transceiver and an equally simple wire antenna.
The seed for Amateur Radio was planted in the
1890s, when Guglielmo Marconi began his experiments in wireless
telegraphy. Soon he was joined by dozens, then hundreds, of others
who were enthusiastic about sending and receiving messages through
the air--some with a commercial interest, but others solely out
of a love for this new communications medium. The United States
government began licensing Amateur Radio operators in 1912.
By 1914, there were thousands of Amateur Radio operators--hams--in the United
States. Hiram Percy Maxim, a leading Hartford, Connecticut, inventor and industrialist
saw the need for an organization to band together this fledgling group of radio
experimenters. In May 1914 he founded the American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
to meet that need.
Today
Amateur radio is used in search-and-rescue, contests, disaster
aid (hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, accidents,
fires), and much more. Amateur radio
operators talk with other HAM radio hobbyists using all sorts of communication
modes. From Morse Code and voice to Slow Scan Television and computer networking
through the radio waves, these hobbyists reach out with goodwill from their
homes, cars, boats and outdoors. Some also like to work on
electronic circuits, building
their own radios and antennas.
Dedicated hobbyists
have pioneered in new technology, contributing to advances in
technology that has
impacted the world of communications
in all areas of our lives. Even ham-astronauts take radios
with them on space shuttle missions, and make calls to earth-bound
Amateurs.
The rules & regulations in this Part are designed
to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental
purpose as
expressed in the following principles:
Recognition
and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary
noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency
communications.
Continuation
and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement
of the radio art.
Encouragement
and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing
skills in both the communications and technical phases of the art.
Expansion
of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators,
technicians, and electronics experts.
Continuation
and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.
The ARRL is the national membership association for Amateur Radio operators.