Why do some people capitalise "ham"?

[k4kyv]

Lately, on e-Ham, QRZ.com and elsewhere I see a lot of people spell "ham radio" as "HAM radio". Why is this? I never noticed it until the last couple of years.

I think it looks dorky as hell. Worse still, when it's just called "HAM", as in

"I've been into HAM for several years now."

"I'm studying for the test so I can get my HAM."

Hell, when I want my HAM, I go to SAFEWAY or KROGERS.

Believe it or not, I have even seen it spelt "H.A.M."

Just a  minor irritant, but I am beginning to see it all the time.  I wonder if anyone else has noticed this, and if you find it annoying as I do?

[KB1IAW]

You're slipping, Don. It's almost spring and we still haven't seen a good daylight savings time rant from you.

[W1EUJ]

Some people may have seen it capitalized in Wes Anderson's film 'The Royal Tenenbaums'.

David Goncalves
W1EUJ

[Pete, WA2CWA]

You're slipping, Don. It's almost spring and we still haven't seen a good daylight savings time rant from you.

Please, spare us
DST begins March 9th.

Maybe some are referring to Handheld Amateur Radio or possibly they're referring to a Host Adapter Module or maybe they just feel proud to be a HAM. Of course, one could ask why "DX", why "CQ", why W1AW and not w1aw, etc. etc.
 
Slang is slang; spell it or pronounce anyway you want.
 
Of course, one could also ask why some don't use a spell checker.

[k4kyv]

You're slipping, Don. It's almost spring and we still haven't seen a good daylight savings time rant from you.

I'm retired now, and don't have to get up and stumble around in the dark in the morning, so I probably won't even bother to change any clocks. The one in my shack stays on GMT anyway.

Since it was reported that last year's early daylight shifting nonsense didn't save any energy after all (for reasons any elementary school kid could have explained),  I was hoping it would return to the normal date this year.

It's still friggin' WINTER!

[Carl WA1KPD]

• Where did the term HAM come from? When did it come to popular use? The *real* explanation appears to be lost in the mists of time. There are a number of theories. Some more plausible than others. The one you'll likely hear the most is about "little station HAM". It goes like this. In the early days of radio, the government didn't assign call letters to amateurs. They just made up their own. Supposedly, three students at Harvard named Hyman, Almay, and Murray set up a station. They decided to use their initials as the call. Thus we have the little station HAM.   When the Navy tried to grab control of all radio frequencies, these guys are supposed to have testified before Congress, and the story of little station HAM supposedly didn't leave a dry eye in the house. The press is supposed to have picked up this story of little station HAM, and amateurs have been known as hams ever since. Unfortunately for this story, none of it checks out. A past president of the ARRL did extensive research in an attempt to confirm this story. There is nothing in the Congressional record about little station HAM. There is nothing in contemporary press records. And there is no record of a Hyman, Almay, or Murray at Harvard at the time this supposedly happened. This story first surfaced in an amateur publication in 1948, and doesn't seem likely to die. But it appears to have no factual basis.
  
  

• This era was filled with pulp magazines catering to the experimenter. (Everyone at the end of the Victorian age apparently viewed himself as a closet inventor or tinkerer.) One of these magazines was called Home Amateur Mechanic, and it featured many simple radio sets a person could build. It is likely that when asked what kind of radio an operator was using, he might send back RIG HR ES HAM, meaning that it was one of the circuits shown in Home Amateur Mechanic magazine.
  
  Since telegraphers tend to abbreviate everything, due to the low throughput of Morse, this is plausible, and Home Amateur Mechanic magazine certainly did exist in the correct era. So it was those HAM radios which started the use of ham in amateur radio. Gary Coffman KE4ZV
  
  

http://www.ac6v.com/73.htm#hamlid

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Short answer: Because these people are stupid, ignorant or both.

Lately, on e-Ham, QRZ.com and elsewhere I see a lot of people spell "ham radio" as "HAM radio". Why is this? I never noticed it until the last couple of years.

I think it looks dorky as hell. Worse still, when it's just called "HAM", as in

"I've been into HAM for several years now."

"I'm studying for the test so I can get my HAM."

Hell, when I want my HAM, I go to SAFEWAY or KROGERS.

Believe it or not, I have even seen it spelt "H.A.M."

Just a  minor irritant, but I am beginning to see it all the time.  I wonder if anyone else has noticed this, and if you find it annoying as I do?

[KA8WTK]

http://www.w7eca.org/whyham.htm

A compilation of several stories about where the term comes from.
Side note, 40+ years ago when I became interested in Amateur Radio I heard the one about "ham-fisted" operators before I heard any of the others.

Bill KA8WTK

[k4kyv]

I'm not sure if everyone who commented here actually read and understood the initial topic of my posted message.  It was not intended to debate  the merits pro and con of using the word "ham" to describe amateur radio.  I have seen the term in my amateur radio magazine collection going as far back as the 1920's and possibly earlier.

My question is merely the way I have  seen it written lately, with the word spelt in all capitals recently, as if it were an acronym?

[KA8WTK]

You asked why some capitalize the work "ham". Steve gives one possible explanation (probably the correct one). One of the tales on the link I posted would lead to to believe that it is an acronym. Or, if you like the story about the college radio station, it came from a call sign and would be capitalized.
Is one "right" and one "wrong"? Darned if I know. My personal preference is to capitalize the first letter only as in "Ham Radio Outlet".

Bill KA8WTK

[K1JJ]

Where did the name, "Ham" come from?

Well, the way I heard it.... :-)   Back in the days of the telegraph, I'll guess between 1910- 1925, there were always crusty OT telegraphy guys in every shop. Whenever a newcomer op came in he was put through the mill.  Since the new guy couldn't copy Morse like the OT's he was called a, "ham and egger." Another name for a Johnny Novice.  

Evidently many of these new amateur CW operators started getting commercial jobs as Morse operators - and the name stuck.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

T

[k4kyv]

My personal preference is to capitalize the first letter only as in "Ham Radio Outlet".

Of course you are aware that the store name HRO is another Johnny-come-lately term, stolen from the venerable National HRO receiver, manufactured roughly from 1935 to 1965.

[KA8WTK]

"Ham Radio Operator" if you prefer.

[ka3zlr]

Short answer: Because these people are stupid, ignorant or both.

Lately, on e-Ham, QRZ.com and elsewhere I see a lot of people spell "ham radio" as "HAM radio". Why is this? I never noticed it until the last couple of years.

I think it looks dorky as hell. Worse still, when it's just called "HAM", as in

"I've been into HAM for several years now."

"I'm studying for the test so I can get my HAM."

Hell, when I want my HAM, I go to SAFEWAY or KROGERS.

Believe it or not, I have even seen it spelt "H.A.M."

Just a  minor irritant, but I am beginning to see it all the time.  I wonder if anyone else has noticed this, and if you find it annoying as I do?

Well Not everybody that's Ignorant is Stoopid...

[WA1GFZ]

I was in one of the first HRO stores in Burlingame, Ca.  near S.F. in Jan. '74. It was bar none the best ham radio store I ever visited. Used rig wall all kinds of cool HB rigs very well built. Top shelf all tubes. I grabbed a new Penta Labs 4-1000A for $20 and they threw in a socket and radiator cap for $2.50. I still have some new rack panels from that trip that may actually be used in the new modulator power supply.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

You asked why some capitalize the work "ham". Steve gives one possible explanation (probably the correct one). One of the tales on the link I posted would lead to to believe that it is an acronym. Or, if you like the story about the college radio station, it came from a call sign and would be capitalized.
Is one "right" and one "wrong"? Darned if I know. My personal preference is to capitalize the first letter only as in "Ham Radio Outlet".

Bill KA8WTK

"Ham Radio Outlet" is a proper noun (name of a place) so grammatically, it's proper to capitalize the first letter of each word. But, would you capitalize anything in this sentence other then the first letter: "The local hams are heading out to the radio outlet store."

Personally, I really don't give a hoot where "HAM"/"H.A.M." originally came from. I think the slang "HAM" is used much to often and tends to trivialize all amateur radio operators. I never use the term in any correspondence to the FCC, ARRL, etc.

[ka3zlr]

Well, in correspondence I would invoke The Amateur Radio Service, or Amateur radio operator, Capitalization would be where and what i wanted stressed for what ever point.

Everybody's a "Ham" in front of the camera.

[Ian VK3KRI]

Why do some people not capitalise their call ?
                                            Ian vk3kri VK3KRI Vk3kri ....

[WA3VJB]

What acronym is OB/GYN ?

Old Boy, Get Yours Now

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Personally I like the story that the Hiram P. Maxim had an illegitimate son named Hiram A. Maxim, making all of us Illigitimate sons...