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

[Prof Bob Hopkins]

I would agree with "160 and down"  My xyl works in a geriatric nursing 
home, and years ago she introduced me to one of her patients who was 90+ 
and a retired telegrapher.  It was nice chatting with this guy, and he 
told me hams were often looked down upon as lids in his line of work!  
He was never a ham, but claimed to never have forgotten cw!
73,
bob wb2udc
On 4/14/2013 1:21 PM, Alan Wolke wrote:
> This is one of many stories relating the origin of the term Ham. The ARRL
> book "160 meters and down" dismisses this origin, and suggests it grew out
> of the 'derogatory' description that the fledgling commercial operators
> gave to the amateurs that here hamming it up and interfering with their
> broadcasts.
>
> On Sunday, April 14, 2013, 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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