this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2021
2 points (100.0% liked)

Ham Radio

794 readers
1 users here now

This community is for anything related to ham/amateur radios

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
2
Why is it called HAM? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 3 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
3 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Why is it called HAM radio? What does HAM stand for?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

At the turn of the 20th century, the terms "ham" and "plug" were used by landline telegraphers to describe an operator "who lacks ability"[2] or who had poor or "ham fisted" skills.

...

Even among amateur radio operators, the term was used pejoratively at first by serious experimenters. For example...

...

But many other amateurs increasingly adopted the word "ham" to describe their hobby and themselves during this period, embracing the word that was originally an insult...

(Just some quick highlights fromn the wiki. I recommend reading the whole thing.)