Traditionally an amateur radio is generally referred to as a Ham radio, and the person that operates it is called an amateur radio operator. Most of us that start playing around with the ham radio started off as a hobby, and it is has become an incredibly popular hobby for thousands of people world wide.

The origin of the word “Ham” that is now used to refer to an amateur radio operator is very interesting. The word “Ham” was used to define anybody that was NOT very efficient or talented in the field of radio operations. In the early days, the amateur operators had a bad reputation for sending in jumbled Morse code. So, these amateur operators were called by many names including “ham” as opposed to the professional wireless operators. But, over time, the name stuck to the amateur radio operators and it is now no longer used in its initial degrading way.

This hobby soon spread and was soon used to provide a service for public officials that needed a way to communicate when the public airwaves were interrupted. Apart from using the ham radio to connect to friends and families, they also allowed complete strangers to connect. The ham operators have time and again been of great service during emergencies and disasters like earth quakes and other natural disasters in transmitting reliable real time information about the actual onsite conditions and helped allow the speedy movement and dispersal of all the necessary relief measures.

This proved to be a great public service since during these emergencies the only thing that you could be sure of is that the radio was working! The phone lines were severed, other communication methods are ruled out and it is common for even the mobile networks to be clogged or offline completely during these emergencies leaving amateur radios as a great tool. There have been many documented cases of a ham radio operator helping someone in trouble.

The first radio hobby started out as an amateur radio operation. It was restricted to few miles and relied on a series of relays to reach any significant distance. Today, with the advancement in technology we are able to reach great distances rather easily.

The amateur radio enthusiast has become very organized since the first clubs of the early 1900’s. Each has a unique code by which they are identified. The first hobbyists relied on communication by making connections to as many radio operators who were as far away as their units would allow them to connect with. This was called Dxing, when one would try to connect to as many amateur radio operators as possible. Today this isn’t as necessary although there are still some operators that build and maintain their own machines and enjoy the camaraderie of connecting to as many operators as possible.

In the day of the mobile phones, internet, and blue-tooth technology, the ham radio still has its own place and strategic value. After all, we will still have disasters and emergencies that will allow for a special place that will keep the Ham operator a much-needed commodity.