From the Amateur Radio Communicatior, March/April, 1994; and from the 
March/April, 1998 issue of the Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net's (CAREN) 
newsletter...the CAREN Club is in Little Rock, Arkansas. The article was 
originally written by Gerry Crenshaw, WD4BIS, Garland, Texas.
  Have you ever wondered why we radio amateurs are called "HAMS"?? Well, 
according to the Northern Ohio Radio Society, it goes 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 members of the Harvard Radio 
Club. There were Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy, and Peggie Murray. At first, they 
called their station Hyman-Almy-Murray. Tapping out such a long name in Morse 
Code soon called for revision...and they changed it to HY-AL-MU, using the 
first two letters of each name.
  Early in 1909, some confusion resulted between signals from amateur 
wireless HYALMU, and a Mexican ship named HYALMO...so, they decided to use 
only the first letter of each name, and the call became HAM.
  In the early pioneer unregulated days of radio, Amateur operators picked 
their own frequency and call letters. Then, as now...some Amateurs had better 
signals than some commercial stations. The resulting interference finally 
came to the attention on Congressional committees in Washington... and they 
gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit Amateur 
Activity.
  In 1911, Albert Hyman chose the controversial Wireless Regulation Bill as 
the top for his thesis at Harvard. His instructor insisted that a copy be 
sent to Senator David I. Walsh...a member of one of the committees hearing 
the bill. The Senator was so impressed, he sent for Hyman to appear before 
the committee. He was put on the stand, and described how the little Amateur 
Station was built. 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 all the other 
requirements that 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 crying out to be saved from menace and 
greed of the big commerical 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 will find the whole story in the 
Congressional Record. Nationwide end of time, in radio, an Amateur is a HAM.
  GL and 73's de Gerry, WD4BIS
--- GTMail 1.26 
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