What is Amateur Radio?

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Related wiki pages: History, Codes and Alphabets, Modes, Bands, Awards and Certificates, Callsign Databases, Education

Introduction
See also Ham Radio. What is it and why do they do it?

Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is both a hobby and a service in which participants, called "hams," use various types of radio communications equipment to communicate with other radio amateurs for public service, recreation and self-training.

Amateur radio operators enjoy personal (and often worldwide) wireless communications with each other and are able to support their communities with emergency and disaster communications if necessary, while increasing their personal knowledge of electronics and radio theory. An estimated six million people throughout the world are regularly involved with amateur radio.

The term "amateur" is not a reflection on the skills of the participants, which are often quite advanced; rather, "amateur" indicates that amateur communications are not allowed to be made for commercial or money-making purposes.

Why call it ham radio?
The word "ham" is the informal name give to amateur operators. It was first used in 1909, but did not gain widespread use until the 1920's when the term spread from the USA to Europe.

Up to about 1916, the word was used slang for "poor operator" or "incompetent". The term was also used by professional radiotelegraph operators to suggest that amateur enthusiasts were unskilled. Even among amateur radio operators, the term was used pejoratively at first by serious experimenters. For example, in December 1916 QST magazine, an amateur operator working on long distance message passing describes one way to avoid interference was to send messages “...on Thursday nights, when the children and spark coil ‘hams’ are tucked up in bed” (a “spark coil” referred to an unsophisticated transmitter made from an automobile ignition coil that produced noisy interference).

But only a few months later, in an indication of the changing use of the term among amateurs, a QST writer uses it in a clearly complimentary manner, saying that a particular 16 year old amateur operator “...is the equal of a ham gaining five years of experience by hard luck.”

Use of “ham” as a slur by professionals continued, however. A letter from a Western Union Telegraph Company employee, printed in the December, 1919 edition QST, showed familiarity with the word's negative connotations, expressing concern that "Many unknowing land wire telegraphers, hearing the word 'amateur' applied to men connected with wireless, regard him as a 'ham' or 'lid'".

Ham is now widely used by radio amateurs to describe themselves and their hobby.

Other origins of the word "ham"
A few urban legends have arisen to explain the use of of the word including:

Ham-Fisted

"ham" is a shortened version of "ham-fisted", meaning clumsy. This is based on the fact that all early amateur radio stations used hand-operated telegraph keys to transmit Morse code, and sending style is referred to as an operator's "fist", so someone who sends badly could be called ham-fisted.

A little station called HAM

This widely circulated but fanciful tale claims that, around 1911, an impassioned speech made by Harvard University student Albert Hyman to the United States Congress, in support of amateur radio operators, turned the tide and helped defeat a bill that would have ended amateur radio activity entirely, by assigning the entire radio spectrum over to the military. An amateur station that Hyman supposedly shared with two others (Bob Almy and Peggie Murray), which was said to be using the self-assigned call sign HAM (short for Hyman-Almy-Murray), thus came to represent all of amateur radio. However, this story seems to have first surfaced in 1948, and practically none of the facts in the account check out, including the existence of "a little station called HAM" in the first place.

"Home Amateur Mechanic" magazine

In this version, supposedly HAM was derived from the initials of a "very popular" magazine which covered radio extensively. But there is no evidence that there ever was a magazine by this name.

Hertz-Armstrong-Marconi

It is sometimes claimed that HAM came from the first letter from the last names of three radio pioneers: Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Edwin Armstrong, and Guglielmo Marconi. However, this cannot be the source of the term as Armstrong was an unknown college student when the term first appeared.

Hammarlund legend

Likely an example of corporate wishful thinking, Hammarlund products were supposedly so preeminent in the pioneering era of radio that they became a part of the language of radio. As the story goes, early radio enthusiasts affectionately referred to Hammarlund products as "Ham" products, and called themselves "Ham" operators. In truth, Hammarlund was a minor and barely known company at the time "ham" started to be used.

Activities
Amateur Radio operators use various modes of transmission to communicate. Voice transmissions are most common, with some, such as frequency modulation (FM) offering high quality audio, and others, such as single sideband (SSB) offering more reliable communications when signals are marginal and bandwidth is restricted, at the sacrifice of audio quality.

For many years, demonstrating a proficiency in Morse code was a requirement to obtain amateur licenses for the high frequency bands (frequencies below 30 MHz), but following changes in international regulations in 2003, countries are no longer required to demand proficiency. As an example, the United States Federal Communications Commission phased out this requirement for all license classes on February 23, 2007.
 * Morse code dates from the earliest days of radio. Up until fairly recently (early 2000's in many countries) Morse (CW) proficiency was a requirement for obtaining an amateur licence. It is still very popular with QRP operators.


 * Digital modes, made possible with the use of personal computers. This group includes:

- radioteletype (RTTY)

- packet radio, which has employed protocols such as TCP/IP since the 1970s.

- PSK31 allow real-time, low-power communications on the shortwave bands.

- Echolink using Voice over IP technology.

- IRLP has allowed the linking of repeaters to provide greater coverage area.

- FSK441 using software such as WSJT, are used for weak signal modes including meteor scatter and moonbounce communications.

- Fast scan amateur television (ATV)

- Slow scan television (SSTV)

Callsigns
A callsign is a unique identifier, issued by the amateur's national government. The operator uses the callsign to identify himself/herself during radio transmissions.

Callsign structure as prescribed by the ITU, consists of three parts which break down as follows, using the callsign ZS1NAT as an example:

ZS – Shows the country from which the callsign originates and may also indicate the license class. (This callsign is licensed in South Africa, and is CEPT Class 1). 1 – Gives the subdivision of the country or territory indicated in the first part (this one refers to the Western Cape). NAT – The final part is specific to the holder of the license, identifying that person specifically.

Not all countries follow ITU recommendations for callsign structure.

Amateur radio on the big screen

 * Men of Boys Town (1941), starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney.


 * If All the Guys in the World (original title "Si tous les gars du monde..." (1957). A French film largely devoted to Amateur Radio.


 * Tony Hancock's 1960 BBC TV episode "The Radio Ham", in which he plays an incompetent ham radio operator.


 * Star Wars (1977).


 * The French Atlantic Affair (1979)


 * Phenomenon (1996) starring John Travolta.


 * Contact (1997) starring Jodie Foster.


 * The Sweet Hereafter (1997) starring Ian Holm.


 * Frequency (2000) starring Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid.


 * Bob's White Christmas (2001) starring Bob the Builder and his brother Tom.


 * Space Station (2001). An IMAX film