What Does "HAM" Stand for?
Tom
Michael E Elcsisin
original meaning has been lost over the years. Many theories exists as
to the meaning of "ham" , but nothing concrete.
Gerry
That's the definition of the word given in G. M.
Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor even before
radio. The definition has never changed in wire
telegraphy. The first wireless operators were
landline telegraphers who left their offices to go
to sea or to man the coastal stations. They
brought with them their language and much of the
tradition of their older profession.
In those early days, spark was king and every
station occupied the same wavelength--or, more
accurately perhaps, every station occupied the
whole spectrum with its broad spark signal.
Government stations, ships, coastal stations and
the increasingly numerous amateur operators all
competed for time and signal supremacy in each
other's receivers. Many of the amateur stations
were very powerful. Two amateurs, working across
town, could effectively jam all the other
operators in the area. When this happened,
frustrated commercial operators would call the
ship whose weaker signals had been blotted out by
the amateurs and say "SRI OM THOSE #&$!@ HAMS ARE
JAMMING YOU."
Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real
meaning of the term, picked it up and applied it
to themselves in true "Yankee Doodle" fashion and
wore it with pride. As the years advanced, the
original meaning has completely disappeared.
ws
"Tom" <jarj...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:SIDuj.2828$tW....@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com...
Pat
http://tinyurl.com/2tzksq
"ws" <w9...@wowway.com> wrote in message
news:ZvmdnVUkbO6vKyHa...@wideopenwest.com...
Clever Monkey
> "Tom" <jarj...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
> news:SIDuj.2828$tW....@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com...
>> What Does "HAM" Stand for in HAM Radio?
>>
> The word "HAM" came from and few Amateur call letters in the beginning.
[Top-post corrected.]
Of all the apocryphal stories we know of, this one is probably the most
unlikely. See this reasonable etymology via Wikipedia:
Michael E Elcsisin
about, there is no sure answer anymore.
There are a lot of suggestions and any of them could be true and maybe
even none of them are true.
Guy
KB0SWS
Clever Monkey
> On Feb 21, 2:01 pm, Michael E Elcsisin <kc2...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> You're right, since no one is alive, from back when the term came
>> about, there is no sure answer anymore.
>> There are a lot of suggestions and any of them could be true and maybe
>> even none of them are true.
>>
>> Guy
>> KB0SWS
>>
>> Clever Monkey wrote:
>>> ws wrote:
>>>> news:SIDuj.2828$tW....@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com...
>>>>> What Does "HAM" Stand for in HAM Radio?
>>>> The word "HAM" came from and few Amateur call letters in the beginning.
>>> [Top-post corrected.]
>>> Of all the apocryphal stories we know of, this one is probably the most
>>> unlikely. See this reasonable etymology via Wikipedia:
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio
>
> The worse part about it, is that your IP address is local to me.
Are you sure you meant to reply to this thread?
--
clvrmnky <mailto:spam...@clevermonkey.org>
Direct replies to this address will be blacklisted. Replace "spamtrap"
with my name to contact me directly.
"Pat" WB2DBH
imposter is also posting as you.
And it wasn't me either.
"GPD" <guyp...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1e82dabe-3238-4768...@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On Feb 21, 2:01 pm, Michael E Elcsisin <kc2...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> You're right, since no one is alive, from back when the term came
>> about, there is no sure answer anymore.
>> There are a lot of suggestions and any of them could be true and
>> maybe
>> even none of them are true.
>>
>> Guy
>> KB0SWS
>>
>> Clever Monkey wrote:
>> > ws wrote:
>> >> "Tom" <jarjo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
>> >>news:SIDuj.2828$tW....@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com...
>> >>> What Does "HAM" Stand for in HAM Radio?
>>
>> >> The word "HAM" came from and few Amateur call letters in the
>> >> beginning.
>>
>> > [Top-post corrected.]
>>
>> > Of all the apocryphal stories we know of, this one is probably the most
>> > unlikely. See this reasonable etymology via Wikipedia:
>>
>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio
>
Steve
A TON of research was done on Long Island a few years back and that is
what it means!!
WOLF SLAYER
>>it means "Amateur" pronounced am later to ham.
>>
>>
>>
Larry Holden
from http://www.w7eca.org/whyham.htm. The theory I believe...................
"HAM" is the combination of initials of the last names of three
college students at Harvard, who supposedly had their own amateur radio
station in the early nineteen hundred teen something. This was at a
time when experimenters had free reign of the radio spectrum, and any
legal administration, red tape or federally assigned callsigns were in
their infancy or altogether non-existent. Their last names were
(supposedly) HYMAN, ALMAY, and MURRAY, and they operated their little
amateur radio station with a (self-assigned) call sign of "H.A.M." The
three young men were merely identifying their station as "theirs" by
using their names. ("H.A.M.")
Shortly after this fledgling station emerged, the government DID start
proceedings to license, administrate, and "control" all radio
operators, amateurs included. Amateur radio stations, Commercial
broadcast stations, and rogue radio operators were springing up all
across the nation. Some of these transmissions were causing
interference, and thus the government was attempting to gain control
and administration of the entire radio spectrum. Early amateur radio
operators had quite a fight to maintain any radio spectrum what so ever
for their use in their experiments. This fight for government control
threatened to eliminate all amateur radio stations entirely by placing
all radio transmissions under the control of the Department of the
Navy. The Navy’s official position on this issue was, "the ONLY radio
transmissions that should be authorized should be those of a military
nature."
Now, with that brief history concerning the control of radio spectrum
in mind, let’s get back to our college students and their "H.A.M."
station. "Supposedly", an impassioned speech was made on the floor of
the US Congress in behalf and support of amateur radio operators and
their commercial broadcast counterpart stations as well. The Harvard
boys, which operated "H.A.M", became the poster child, so to speak, of
ALL of amateur and commercial radio's experimental advancements and
endeavors nationwide. They became known as "the little HAM station that
could". This congressional speech, citing the station "H.A.M.",
supposedly turned the tide and defeated the bill that would eliminate
commercial and amateur radio entirely, and turn the airwaves completely
over to the navy.