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What is "HAM" ?
(From Florida Skip Magazine - 1959 )
Have you ever wondered why radio amateurs are called "HAMS"?
Well, it goes like this:
The word "HAM" as applied to 1908 was the station CALL of the first
amateur wireless station operated by some amateurs of the Harvard Radio
Club. They were ALBERT S. HYMAN, BOB ALMY and POOGIE MURRAY. At first they
called their station "HYMAN- ALMY-MURRAY". Tapping out such a long name
in code soon became tiresome and called for a revision. They changed it
to "HY-AL-MY", using the first two letters of each of their names. Early
in 1901 some
confusion resulted between signal from amateur wireless station "HY-ALMU"
and a Mexican ship named "HYALMO". They then decided to use only the first
letter of each name and the station CALL became "HAM". In the early pioneer
days of unregulated radio amateur operators picked
their own frequency and call letters. Then as now, some amateurs had
better signals than commercial stations. The resulting interference came
to the attention of congressional committees in Washington and Congress
gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit amateur
radio
activity. In 1911, ALBERT HYMAN chose the controversial WIRELESS REGULATION
BILL as the topic for the Thesis at Harvard. His instructor insisted that
a copy be sent to Senator DAVID L. WALSH, a member of one of the committees
hearing the Bill. The Senator was so impressed with the Thesis that he
asked HYMAN to appear before the committee. ALBERT HYMAN took the stand
and described how the little station was built and almost cried when he
told the crowded committee room that if the BILL went through they would
have to close down the station because they could not afford the license
fee and all the other requirements which the BILL imposed on amateur stations.
Congressional debate began on the WIRELESS REGULATION BILL and little
station "HAM" became the symbol for all the little amateur stations
in the country crying to be saved from the menace and greed of the big
commercial stations who didn't want them around. The BILL finally got to
the floor of Congress and every speaker talked about the "....poor little
station HAM."
That's how it all started. You can find the whole story in the Congressional
Record. Nation-wide publicity associated station "HAM" with
amateur radio operators. From that day to this, and probably until the
end of time in radio; and amateur is a "HAM."
Frequencies allocated for Amateur services in India:
1820 - 1860 KHz.
3500 - 3900 KHz.
7000 - 7100 KHz.
14000 - 14350 KHz.
18068 - 18168 KHz.
21000 - 21450 KHz.
24890 - 24990 KHz.
28000 - 29700 KHz.
144 - 146 MHz.
434 - 438 MHz.
1260 - 1300 MHz.
3300 - 3400 MHz.
5725 - 5480 MHz.