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Have you ever
wondered why we radio amateurs are called "HAMS"? Well, according to
the Northern Ohio Radio Society, it goes like this: the word ham was
applied in 1908 and was the call letters of one of the first Amateur
wireless stations operated by some members of the HARVARD RADIO
CLUB. There were Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy and Peggie Murray. At
first, they called their station Hyman-Almy-Murry. Tapping out such
a long name in code soon called for a revision and they changed it
to HY-AL-MU, using the first two letters of each name.
Early in 1909, some confusion resulted between signals from Amateur
wireless HYALMU and a Mexican ship named HYALMO, so they decided to
use only the first letter of each name and the call became HAM.
In the early pioneer unregulated days of radio, Amateur operators
picked their own frequency and call letters. Then, as now, some
Amateurs had better signals than some commercial stations. The
resulting interference finally came to the attention of
congressional committees in Washington and they gave much time to
proposed legislation designed to critically limit Amateur 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, he
sent for Hyman to appear before the committee. He was put on the
stand and described how the little Amateur station was built. He
almost cried when he told the crowded committee room that if the
bill went through, they would have to close up the station because
they could not afford the license fees and all the other
requirements that were set up in the bill.
The debate started and the little station HAM became a symbol of all
the little Amateur stations in the country crying out to be saved
from menace and greed of the big commercial stations who did not
want them around. Finally, the bill 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. Nationwide publicity associated station HAM
with Amateurs. From that day to this, and probably to the end of
time, in radio, an Amateur is a HAM.
This article first appeared in
Amateur Radio Communicator MARCH/APRIL 1994
Check out other versions of this
legend, links in the right column.
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