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

[Prof Bob Hopkins]

This has been a theological topic debated for almost forever.  The Great 
Book *Hello World, A life in ham radio* has several of the legendary 
reasons.  Check it out it is a great book.
bob wb2udc
On 4/14/2013 9:20 AM, Pete Fierro wrote:
> 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"
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