"N2EY" wrote in message
m...
"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

Thanks for setting the record straight Jim. What these CBers can't get
straight is that Amateur Radio pre-dates CB radio by many decades. So most,
to all, of what CB does is a copy of Ham radio, which the CBers then
proceeded to screw up.

Just another example of how CB has, and is ruining ham radio.

Dan/W4NTI