WHY WE ARE CALLED HAMS

Have you ever wondered why we Radio Amateurs 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 Hyman, 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.

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 there own frequencies 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, DC and they gave much
thought to proposed 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. Hyman 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 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"....

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