The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast April 17, 1989

     In the very early days of wireless communications, now called radio, this new method of sending messages without wires was just developing.  There wasn't any need to have government regulations and licensing.  Almost anyone who was interested could build a simple wireless station, learn the Morse code and start communicating with any other type of stations he heard.  Some of these stations were commercial, some experimental university and some private individual stations.  All operated on similar wavelengths.  The stations used a short name or the initials of the operator to identify the station.
     The word "HAM" as applied to amateur radio dates back to 1908 and was the call letters of the first amateur wireless station operated by some members of the Harvard University Wireless Club.  They were Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy and Reggy Murray.
     At first, they called their station Hyman-Almy-Murray, but tapping out such a long name in code soon called for a revision.  They thus changed the call letters 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 the Mexican ship named the Hyalmo.  It was then the boys decided to use only the first letters of each name and the call became HAM.
     In the very early days of radio, amateur operators picked their own frequency and their own call letters.  Then, as now, some amateurs had better signals than some commercial stations.  The resulting confusion and interference finally came to the attention of Congressional committees, and they in turn gave much attention to proposed legislation designed to critically limit amateur radio activities.
     In 1911, Albert Hyman chose the controversial wireless legislation bill as his thesis topic at Harvard.  His instructor insisted a copy be sent to Senator Davis A. 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.  Hyman took 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 the station because they could not afford the license fees and all of the other requirements that were set up in the bill.  The debate started and the little Ham became the symbol of all the little amateur stations in the country crying out to be saved from the menace and greed of the big commercial stations that didn't want them around.
     Finally, the bill got to the floor of Congress and every member talked about the poor little station, HAM.  That's how it all started and you'll find the whole story in the Congressional Record.  Nationwide publicity associated radio station HAM with radio amateur.  From that day to this, and probably to the end of time, in radio language an amateur is a ham.

April 17, 1989

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

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