Etymology of ham radio
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''Ham radio'' is a popular term for
amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
, derived from "ham" as an informal name for an
amateur radio operator An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators hav ...
. The use first appeared in the United States during the opening decade of the 20th century—for example, in 1909, Robert A. Morton reported overhearing an amateur radio transmission which included the comment: "Say, do you know the fellow who is putting up a new station out your way? I think he is a ham." However, the term did not gain widespread usage in the United States until around 1920, after which it slowly spread to other English-speaking countries.


Etymology

At the turn of the 20th century, the terms "ham" and "plug" were used by landline
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
ers to describe an operator "who lacks ability" or who had poor or "ham fisted" skills. By 1881, it had been alleged by telegrapher unions and trade groups that companies were employing "ham" operators who were negligent or incompetent. These unskilled operators were described as either drinking alcohol while working, irresponsible teenage boys, or merely having very little ability. Their miscommunication was blamed for causing severe train wrecks. Railroad executives during this era were also accused of hiring unskilled operators to save money and were said to be accepting bribes from telegraph schools to hire unqualified students. These disreputable telegraph schools were referred to as "ham factories." Early radio (initially known as
wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...
) included many former wire telegraph operators, and within the new service "ham" was employed as a
pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
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..." This pejorative usage continued into at least 1940, as evidenced in the January 1940 issue of ''The APCO Bulletin'', where it was written "Rumors of citations by the FCC for violation of the superfluous traffic regulation on the part of certain of our radiotelegraph stations have resulted in a sudden decrease in 'hamming' on the police frequencies...". Even among amateur radio operators, the term was used pejoratively at first by serious experimenters. For example, in December 1916 ''
QST ''QST'' is a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts, published by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). It is a membership journal that is included with membership in the ARRL. The publisher claims that circulation of ''QST'' in the United St ...
'' 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 way
Yankee Doodle "Yankee Doodle" is a traditional song and nursery rhyme, the early versions of which predate the Seven Years' War and American Revolution. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today. It is the state anthem of Connecticut. Its ...
evolved, as seen, for example, in Thomas F. Hunter's exuberant "I am the wandering Ham" from the January 1920 issue of ''QST''. Within Australia, the term "HAM" is sometimes used as a
backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...
for the words Hobby Amateur.


False etymologies

A number of
folk etymologies Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...
about the supposed origin of "ham" radio evolved over the years since the origination of amateur wireless telegraphy.


"A little station called HAM"

This widely circulated but fanciful tale claims that, around 1911, an impassioned speech made by
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
student
Albert Hyman Albert Salisbury Hyman (1893 - 1972), a Harvard-trained New York cardiologist, together with his brother Charles, constructed in 1930-1932 an electro-mechanical device which was one of the earliest artificial pacemakers. The device was, reportedly, ...
to the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, 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 Reggie Murray, which was said to be using the self-assigned
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
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" at Harvard in the first place. In 1972,
Ham Radio (magazine) ''Ham Radio'' (''HR'') was a monthly amateur radio enthusiast magazine published in the United States from November 1967 to June 1990. History and profile ''Ham Radio'' was founded in 1967. The first issue appeared in November 1967. The editor wa ...
editor Jim Fisk reported that
Albert Hyman Albert Salisbury Hyman (1893 - 1972), a Harvard-trained New York cardiologist, together with his brother Charles, constructed in 1930-1932 an electro-mechanical device which was one of the earliest artificial pacemakers. The device was, reportedly, ...
confirmed to him that Hyman, Robert Almy and Reginald Murray had put wireless station HAM on the air, however, it was war correspondent Percy Greenwood whose story in a New York medical publication gave the "original HAM story" its start. As told to Fisk, station HAM was not located at Harvard, but at Roxbury High School. After corresponding with Hyman, Fisk concluded that the story had nothing to do with the fact that radio amateurs are called "hams"; rather, the term goes back to the early days of wire telegraphy when unskilled, incompetent operators were pejoratively called hams by their more experienced colleagues. The 1909 Wireless Registry in the May edition of
Modern Electrics ''Modern Electrics'' was a technical magazine for the amateur radio experimenter. The magazine existed between 1908 and 1914. History and profile ''Modern Electrics'' was created by Hugo Gernsback and began publication in April 1908. The magazin ...
listed Earl C. Hawkins of Minneapolis, Minnesota, as operating with the unofficial callsign "H.A.M." according to the Wireless Association of America.


''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.


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 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz ( ; ; 22 February 1857 – 1 January 1894) was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. The unit o ...
,
Edwin Armstrong Edwin Howard Armstrong (December 18, 1890 – February 1, 1954) was an American electrical engineer and inventor, who developed FM (frequency modulation) radio and the superheterodyne receiver system. He held 42 patents and received numerous awa ...
, and
Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...
. However, this cannot be the source of the term as Armstrong was an unknown high school student when the term first appeared.


Hammarlund legend

Likely an example of corporate wishful thinking,
Hammarlund The Hammarlund Manufacturing Company was founded by Oscar Hammarlund in New York City, New York (state), New York, United States in 1910. When the company was dissolved in 1973, it was among the USA's very oldest producers of radio equipment. Hist ...
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 when created in 1910, at the time "ham" was already gaining currency in the radio field. And its first products for use in electronic equipment, variable capacitors, were developed by Hammarlund in 1916, while its first radio products were built in about 1925.


References

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External links


ARRL Ham Radio History page
Amateur radio
Ham radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
Ham radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...