Theories behind the word "HAM"

[Shekhar Suman Singh]

Hey SWLs,

The obvious question everyone ask is "WHY ARE THEY CALLED "HAM" RADIO
OPERATORS ?"

Theory One: he three letters (H.A.M.) are initials, which pay homage
to the last names of three of the great radio experimenters of bygone
years. George HERTZ, who demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic
waves in 1888, Edwin ARMSTRONG, who developed a resonant oscillator
circuit for radio frequency work, and finally, Guglielmo MARCONI, the
1909 Nobel laureate in Physics, who in the year 1901 established the
first transatlantic radio contact.

Theory Two: HYMAN, ALMAY, and MURRAY set up the first station from
Harward Radio Club 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.").

Theory Three: During the earlier days of radio communication, the
commercial and Amateur Radio broadcasters had won their fight against
the NAVY. The government (not the military) stepped in to organize and
control frequency allocation of these new "short-wave" frequencies.
When all was said and done, the government allowed radio amateurs to
operate only on certain frequencies which were scattered in an amongst
the other licensed (authorized) frequencies. This holds true to this
day. The Amateur Radio frequencies were said to be sandwiched "like
the HAM in a sandwich" between the other frequencies, and so Amateur
Radio frequencies came to be known as the "HAM" segments of a
particular band.

Theory Four: Another theory attributes the term "HAM" to: Hugo
Gernsback, publisher of a magazine called "Home Amateur Mechanic"
which was very, very popular back in the early days of radio.

Theory Five: Some speculate the term "HAM" stands for "Help All
Mankind" as reflected in the radio amateur’s long history of service
towards people in distress during natural calamities, disasters and
civil emergencies. In fine S.O.S. tradition, this gives us H.A.M.

Theory Six: This theory linked to the stage and theater, where the
term "HAM" is used to denote an actor of indifferent ability, or one
who shows off his skill (or lack thereof), by performing in spite of
and mostly oblivious to his own ineptitude.

There are many other theories along the line that can be found in many
websites but the most supported one is the "Theory Two"


Hope you enjoy reading. Happy hamming.

-------
73
Shekhar