"Jim Hampton" wrote in message ...
I do remember folks back when using "the handle here is ...".
My question is did that start with CB or did CB pick it up from amateurs
originally? It seems (at least back then) more like the Southern "y'all
come again real soon". Sort of folksy and warm if grammatically incorrect.

The term "handle" goes back to before ham radio. It was commonly use
by hams as an alternative to "name" or "nickname", because often a
"handle" was not related to the person's actual name ("Slim", "The
Duke", etc.) Just a bit of jargon.

And originally the cb term meant the same thing. But over time,
"handle" in cb lingo came to mean something quite different from a
person's name or nickname.
"Handles" were used instead of callsigns as a way of concealing a cb
user's true identity, both from others and the FCC. Thus, they became
the antithesis of callsigns.

And that's why the term has dropped from amateur usage.

73 de Jim, N2EY