History Channel Magazine
July/August 2005

Calling Any Station
Despite advances in the Internet and digital networks, old-fashioned ham radio has maintained its significance in global communications—especially in emergencies.

By Meleah Maynard

Amateur radio operators have a long history of using the airwaves for public service. When natural disasters strike, hams, as they are commonly called, are relied upon to connect people in devastated areas with worried relatives. In wartime they often relay messages between soldiers and families back home. Many sailors have hams to thank for picking up distress calls and alerting rescuers to their plight.

One of amateur radio operators' most crucial roles in providing emergency service came in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As the tragedy unfolded, police, firefighters, and emergency personnel streamed into Manhattan only to find that their communications systems were incompatible. Phone lines that were working were jammed with callers, and cell phones, pagers, two-way radios, and many other devices had been rendered useless when the World Trade Center towers fell, taking with them the main television transmitting antenna and several repeaters that served the New York city area.

Hams rush in to help

A call went out for emergency communications assistance, and hams rushed in by the hundreds to help. Working in 12-hour shifts, they quickly established a communications network to connect rescue workers. They also assisted the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army with organizing blood drives and coordinating contact between shelters and local hospitals as the search for survivors stretched on for weeks. "Never have I felt more strongly about what a great privilege it is to be part of the extraordinary global community of Amateur Radio," Jim Haynie, President of the Amateur Radio Relay League, declared at the time.

There seems to be no generally accepted explanation for why an amateur radio operator is called a ham. Some believe that the word was originally used as a pejorative term to describe an amateur, though the amateurs themselves eventually came to embrace it. Others say ham is an acronym for "help all mankind" because of the public service role ham radio operators play. It is also possible, some say, that the name comes from the initials of three members of the Harvard Radio Club, which operated a widely known amateur station in the early 1900s.

Though it's one of the most obvious first questions people have when talking about ham radio, there seems to be no definitive explanation for why amateur radio operators are called "hams." Some believe, for example, that the word ham was originally used as a pejorative term to describe amateurs, though they eventually came to embrace it. Others say ham is an acronym for "Help All Mankind" because of the public service role ham radio operators play. It is also possible, some say, that H.A.M. were the initials of three members of the Harvard Radio Club, which operated a widely known amateur station in the early 1900s.

What is known for certain is that ham radio is almost as old as radio itself, which got its start in 1895 when 22-year-old scientist Guglielmo Marconi, while conducting experiments at his father's country estate, successfully transmitted a wireless signal one and a half miles. Four years later, about the time Marconi sent a transmission between France and England, instructions for the first make-your-own radio project were published in American Electrician magazine.

By the early 1900s, ham radio clubs and magazines had proliferated as the public's fascination with radio grew. Because it was viewed as little more than a recreational pastime, amateur radio was unregulated during this time, so operators across the United States were able to make up their own call signs and begin transmitting as they pleased. It wasn't long before the airwaves were an unintelligible jumble.

While the on-air chaos created problems for all operators, it was particularly irksome to the military because all the static and noise compromised its ability to transmit important information. The Navy pushed Congress for regulations, but restrictions were not enacted until the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 exposed the need for unfettered airwaves. Many believed fewer lives would have been lost if transmissions between ships in the area had been clearer.

Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversees the airwaves. Unlike users of the Internet, which is open to anyone with access to a computer, amateur radio operators must pass a test and obtain a license before going on the air with their HF (high frequency) or VHF/UHF (very-high/ultra-high frequency) radio equipment. To encourage more people to become hams, exams for the entry-level license have become less rigorous in recent years.

But it still takes work to pass the increasingly difficult tests for the three license levels; they cover everything from rules governing obscenity and profanity to Morse code to electronics theory. But as the requirements increase, so do the privileges hams enjoy, and at the higher licensing levels hams have greater access to all the frequencies granted to amateur operators by the FCC.

While most hams talk to each other on-air, some use radio teletype—an old technology in which two teleprinters communicate via radio link—and some use only Morse code. Just like radio stations, all hams are assigned a call sign, an alphanumeric sequence that identifies them and their location. In the United States, each call sign consists of a prefix of one or two letters, beginning with K, W, A, or N, and a number designating country and geographic region, followed by a three-letter suffix that is unique to the ham. Minneapolis-based ham Max Moon, for example, uses the call sign K0MAX: K is a common first letter; the 0 indicates geographic region; and the three-letter suffix is his first name.

People are drawn to ham radio for all kinds of reasons. Some enjoy tinkering with or even building their own equipment. Others spend years studying the ways in which seasons, weather conditions, open water, mountains, and the solar system affect radio transmissions. Many hams live for the thrill of communicating with other amateur operators in far-flung regions of the world. Dubbed DXers (in ham parlance, DX means long-distance), they use powerful antennas and special receivers to contact remote locales. Moon's reasons are more personal. "I like being a ham because in some ways it's like fishing," he explains. "With fish you throw out bait and see if anyone bites. With ham radio, you throw out your call sign into the ether and see if there's somebody out there to talk to. You may end up having an interesting conversation."

It has long been the custom of hams who connect on the air to exchange postcards, which they call QSL cards. (QSL refers to the Morse code communication asking for and acknowledging receipt). Most hams save the QSL cards they receive, especially the ones from extremely remote places, as proof that an actual transmission took place. Each card contains standard information like the operator's name, call sign, and location, but what makes them fun to save is that most hams come up with a personal design for their QSL cards, often including drawings or photographs of a location or maybe a snapshot of them sitting in their "ham shack"—the place an operator broadcasts from.

Celebrity hams connect

Amateur radio has enjoyed a wide and varied following, including Marlon Brando, Walter Cronkite, Joe Walsh, Mahatma Gandi, Priscilla Presley, Barry Goldwater, and other famous individuals. Many astronauts also are hams—including three who were aboard the space shuttle Columbia, which came apart over Texas in 2003. While on missions, astronauts often communicate with other hams back on Earth.

While many hams, especially DXers, forgo repeat contacts in favor of chasing new and exotic connections, Moon likes talking with hams whom he's communicated with so often he's come to see them as friends.

"Talking with people in certain countries is a priority for some people but I really think of contacts as more a bit of chance or serendipity," he explains. "There's a guy in Pennsylvania that I think of as my friend even though I've never met him. I always know that if I send out a call and he hears me, he'll answer back so we can talk."

SIDEBAR: How Ham Radio Works
Simply put, radio signals at different frequencies travel from station to station in a straight line, also known as "line of sight"; along the ground; or by bouncing off something, like a mountain or a building. Hams who want to communicate long distances often transmit signals up into the ionosphere, where electrically charged particles help bend the signals back toward Earth, sending them thousands of miles around the world.

© Meleah Maynard