[RVRC] How did we get the terminology HAM??

[Pete Fierro]

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 stations 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 "HYAL-
MU", using the first two letters of each of their names.
Early in 1901 some confusion resulted between signals
from amateur wireless station "HYALMU" 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 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 with the
thesis is 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 that they would have to close down the station
because they could not afford the license fees 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 will 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 an amateur is a
"HAM"