
SUBJECT:  WHY WE ARE CALLED HAMS

HAVE YOU  EVER WONDERED  WHY WE  RADIO AMATEURES  ARE CALLED  HAMS ????
WELL IT GOES SOMETHING 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  OF THE MEMBERS OF THE HARVARD RADIO CLUB.  THEY WERE
ALBERT HYMEN, BOB ALMY AND PEGGIE MURRAY. AT FIRST THEY CALLED  THEIR
STATION HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY. 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. IN EARLY 1909 SOME CONFUSION RESULTED
BETWEEN SIGNALS FROM HYALMU AND  A MEXICAN SHIP NAMED MYALMO, SO  THEY
DECIDED TO USE ONLY THE FIRST LETTER OF EACH NAME AND IDENTIFIED THEIR
STATION AS HAM. IN THE EARLY PIONEER, AND UNREGULATED DAYS OF RADIO,
AMATEUR  OPERATORS PICKED THEIR OWN FREQUENCIES AND CALL LETTERS.

THEN, AS NOW, SOME AMATEURS  HAD BETTER SIGNALS THAN SOME  COMMERCIAL
STATIONS. THE  RESULTANT INTERFERANCE  FINALLY CAME  TO THE  ATTENTION
OF  CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES  IN  WASHINGTON  AND  THEY  GAVE MUCH
THOUGHT TO PROPOSE LEGISLATION DESIGNED TO CRITICALLY LIMIT AMATEUR
ACTIVITY. IN 1911, ALBERT HYMAN CHOSE THE CONTROVERSIAL WIRELESS
REGULATIONS BILL AS THE TOPIC OF HIS THESIS AT HARVARD. HIS INSTRUCTOR
INSISTED THAT A COPY BE SENT TO SENATOR DAVID WALSH, A MEMBER OF THE
COMMITTEE HEARING THE BILL. THE SENATOR WAS SO IMPRESSED THAT HE SENT
FOR MR  HYMANM TO APPEAR  BEFORE THE COMMITTEE.  HYMAN  WAS PUT  ON
THE STAND  AND DESCRIBED HOW THE LITTLE AMATEUR STATION,  HAM, WAS
BUILT, AND 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 OTHER
REQUIREMENTS WHICH 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  THAT WERE CRYING  OUT TO BE SAVED FROM THE
MENACE AND GREED OF THE BIG COMMERCIAL STATIONS WHO DID NOT WANT THEM
AROUND. FINALLY THE BILL GOT TO THE FLOOR  OF THE CONGRESS  AND EVERY
SPEAKER  TALKED ABOUT THE  POOR LITTLE STATION, HAM

THAT'S  HOW  IT  ALL  GOT  STARTED.  YOU  CAN  FIND  THE  WHOLE  STORY
IN  THE CONGRESSIONAL  RECORD. NATIONWIDE  PUBLICITY IDENTIFIED  THE
STATION  HAM  WITH AMATEURS. FROM THAT  TIME TO THIS,  AND PROBABLY TO
THE END OF TIME, IN RADIO, "EVERY AMATEUR IS A HAM"....


FOR RTTY BY GENE, WA7RCR, PAGOSA SPRINGS, CO.

