The reason Amateur radio operators are called "hams" is lost to history. The Great Falls Area Amateur Radio Club has written an interesting essay speculating on the theories of "why radio operators are called hams" at this link http://www.w7eca.org/whyham.htm.

There are only two theories that the Ham radio operator community agrees that could be the reason for this nickname.

Theory one: In G.M. Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor, the definition for Ham was "a poor operator. A plug." These plugs were the first wireless operators on ships. These men had been landline telegraphers. In those early days, spark was king. Every transmitter transmitted on the same wavelength.

It made it hard for the ships, government stations, and costal stations to communicate because two amateurs could effectively jam a station. When it happened the frustrated commercial operators would call the ship saying "SRI OM THOSE #&A!@ HAMS ARE JAMMING YOU." Thus the Amateurs proudly claimed the name.

Theory Two: A powerful station emitted 2KW and jammed all operators in his vicinity, which was about 500 miles. The callsign of this station was HAM. Unfortunately there are very few records about stations in this time period (1910), so it is hard to prove or disprove this theory.

Even though there is no confirmation on how the name came about, Hams wear the name proudly.

Useful Links
AARL Web: Why It's Called HAM www.arrl.org/whyham.html
The History of Amateur Radio www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/qsl-ham-history4.htm
Why Amateur Radio Operators are Called Hams http://www.w7eca.org/whyham.htm

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