Fwd: [LarrysList] HAM

[Bob Brown - WØNQX]

HAM:

The term "ham operator" was commonly applied by 19th century landline
telegraphers to an operator with poor skills.
("Ham" was also in more general use as a slang word meaning
"incompetent", as in the phrases "ham handed" and "ham actor".)

Early radio (initially known as wireless telegraphy) included many
former wire telegraph operators, and within the new service "ham" was
employed as a pejorative term by professional radiotelegraph operators
to suggest that amateur enthusiasts were unskilled. In "Floods and
Wireless" by Hanby Carver, from the August, 1915 Technical World
Magazine, the author noted "Then someone thought of the 'hams'. This
is the name that the commercial wireless service has given to amateur
operators..."

Even among amateur radio operators, the term was used pejoratively at
first by serious experimenters. For example, in December 1916 QST
magazine, an amateur operator working on long distance message passing
describes one way to avoid interference was to send messages "...on
Thursday nights, when the children and spark coil 'hams' are tucked up
in bed" (a spark coil was an unsophisticated radio transmitter, made
from an automobile ignition coil, that produced noisy interference).

But only a few months later, in an indication of the changing use of
the term among amateurs, a QST writer uses it in a clearly
complimentary manner, saying that a particular 16 year old amateur
operator "...is the equal of a ham gaining five years of experience by
hard luck."

Use of "ham" as a slur by professionals continued, however. A letter
from a Western Union Telegraph Company employee, printed in the
December, 1919 edition QST, showed familiarity with the word's
negative connotations, expressing concern that "Many unknowing land
wire telegraphers, hearing the word 'amateur' applied to men connected
with wireless, regard him as a 'ham' or 'lid'".

But many other amateurs increasingly adopted the word "ham" to
describe their hobby and themselves during this period, embracing the
word that was originally an insult, similar to the wayYankee Doodle
evolved, as seen, for example, in Thomas F. Hunter's exuberant "I am
the wandering Ham" from the January, 1920 issue of QST.

False etymologies

In spite of—or perhaps because of—its relatively straightforward
origin, many interesting and colorful folk etymologies about the
supposed origin of "ham" have been developed over the years. Below are
some of the competing later explanations that are often charming, but
also false.

Ham-fisted

One alternate explanation is that "ham" is a shortened version of
"ham-fisted", meaning incompetent or clumsy. This is a reasonable
conjecture, given that all early amateur radio stations used
hand-operated telegraph keys to transmit Morse code, and the
individual's sending style is referred to as an operator's "fist", so
someone who sends badly could be called ham-fisted or ham-handed.

"A little station called HAM'

This widely circulated but fanciful tale claims that, around 1911, an
impassioned speech made by Harvard University student Albert Hyman to
the United States Congress, in support of amateur radio operators,
turned the tide and helped defeat a bill that would have ended amateur
radio activity entirely, by assigning the entire radio spectrum to the
military. An amateur station that Hyman supposedly shared with Bob
Almy and Peggie Murray, which was said to be using the self-assigned
call sign HAM (short for Hyman-Almy-Murray), thus came to represent
all of amateur radio. However, this story seems to have first surfaced
in 1948, and practically none of the facts in the account check out,
including the existence of "a little station called HAM" in the first
place.

The 1909 Wireless Registry list in the May edition of Modern Electrics
listed Earl C. Hawkins of Minneapolis, Minnesota, as operating with
the callsign "H.A.M.", which was likely assigned by the magazine.

Home Amateur Mechanic magazine

In this version, supposedly HAM was an acronym derived from the
initials of a "very popular" magazine which covered radio extensively.
However, there is no evidence of a magazine existing by this name.

Hertz-Armstrong-Marconi

It is sometimes claimed that HAM came from the first letter from the
last names of three radio pioneers: Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Edwin
Armstrong, and Guglielmo Marconi. However, this cannot be the source
of the term as Armstrong was an unknown college student when the term
first appeared.

Hammarlund legend

Likely an example of corporate wishful thinking, Hammarlund products
were supposedly so preeminent in the pioneering era of radio that they
became a part of the language of radio. As the story goes, early radio
enthusiasts affectionately referred to Hammarlund products as "Ham"
products, and called themselves "Ham" operators. In truth, Hammarlund
was a minor and barely known company at the time "ham" started to be
used.

Sense of amateur

The term amateur in amateur radio is used to distinguish it from
commercial pursuits, as radio amateurs are prohibited by law from
accepting monetary or material compensation of any kind for any
activities they perform as radio operators.


As in true BYRG fashion.

From the: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

Enjoy!

/EOM
NNNN


--
Thanks in Advance
Bob Brown, WØNQX
Kansas City Metro Area
http://drsm0ke.net
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?