On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:12:24 -0800, "Caveat Lector"
wrote:


What the heck! Like I was told earler, it's the "Golden Rule". I
just forgot about that, and tried to make sense of HAM.

If you mean the origin of the word "Ham' the best guess is from the ARRL
"Ham: a poor operator. A 'plug.'"

That's the definition of the word given in G. M. Dodge's The Telegraph
Instructor even before radio. The definition has never changed in wire
telegraphy. The first wireless operators were landline telegraphers who left
their offices to go to sea or to man the coastal stations. They brought with
them their language and much of the tradition of their older profession.

In those early days, spark was king and every station occupied the same
wavelength--or, more accurately perhaps, every station occupied the whole
spectrum with its broad spark signal. Government stations, ships, coastal
stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for
time and signal supremacy in each other's receivers. Many of the amateur
stations were very powerful. Two amateurs, working across town, could
effectively jam all the other operators in the area. When this happened,
frustrated commercial operators would call the ship whose weaker signals had
been blotted out by the amateurs and say "SRI OM THOSE #&$!@ HAMS ARE
JAMMING YOU."

Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real meaning of the term, picked it
up and applied it to themselves in true "Yankee Doodle" fashion and wore it
with pride. As the years advanced, the original meaning has completely
disappeared.



73 From CL


Hey! Way cool, CL! I Love trivia History.

One can learn so much this way without all boring people to death
with all the pointless and grueling details!

As for the original meaning, I agree with you on that part; it's
been forgotten and lost under the bed with the dust-bunnies of time.
However, I believe your suspicion on the meaning is probably more than
accurate, AND the "Spark-Gap" transmission gear of the earlier
`Station Operators equipment list is quite true, which makes me stop
and think about the more logical divergence of things, of which we
nowadays find our selves in. . . If the Old Time Operators were
outrageous scoundrels with their Spark-Gap technology, even if the
technology failed to carry through to today times, the "noxious
attitude about the ridiculous, mandatory 5 wpm Code requirement for
licensing" has come through along with all the fervor and mind-numbing
hatred towards humanity of these early-day "Phrekers". The personal
need of these people to cram it into everybody's face in and rub it in
hard, is still evident regardless of how pointless the issue has
become with the REAL people in power.

Dropping the requirement down to 5 WPM is purely ridiculous and
pointless. It only reflects the attitude of petty tyrants. . . Or
power crazed, pre-computer era, Spark-Gap, Phrekers. =)

(That one was aimed Right at you S.C.) =) Pthtttttt!

Bawhahahahaha!