radio ham
an amateur radio operator
TRANSLATION
radio ham = der Funkamateur, die Funkamateurin ham radio = der Amateurfunk
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"RADIO HAM finds lost satellite -- A radio enthusiast has traced the whereabouts of a communication satellite which had been lost in space. Dave Rowan found the Oscar 7 satellite, which stopped working in 1979, using equipment he has set up in his garden shed."
BBC News
BBC News
Did you
know?
radio ham
noun phrase
An amateur radio operator
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ORIGIN
There is, scattered around the world, an army of radio hams who reach out over fantastic distances with their single sideband transmitters and receivers. But why are they called hams?
It appears that the word was first applied to amateur telegraph operators, and with the coming of wireless was transferred from them to radio operators. From a book of jargon published in 1919 we learn that the word ham was applied to "a student or amateur telegraph operator".
The reason for this is not explained, but it’s probably simple enough: a student or amateur operator will not be quick and efficient on the telegraph key – will, in fact, be "ham fisted" or "ham handed". That’s a much older expression for anyone who’s clumsy, and comes from the suggestion that clumsy people have large, heavy hands: as large, and heavy as a cured ham (leg of pork).
Source - Kel Richards
noun phrase
An amateur radio operator
---
ORIGIN
There is, scattered around the world, an army of radio hams who reach out over fantastic distances with their single sideband transmitters and receivers. But why are they called hams?
It appears that the word was first applied to amateur telegraph operators, and with the coming of wireless was transferred from them to radio operators. From a book of jargon published in 1919 we learn that the word ham was applied to "a student or amateur telegraph operator".
The reason for this is not explained, but it’s probably simple enough: a student or amateur operator will not be quick and efficient on the telegraph key – will, in fact, be "ham fisted" or "ham handed". That’s a much older expression for anyone who’s clumsy, and comes from the suggestion that clumsy people have large, heavy hands: as large, and heavy as a cured ham (leg of pork).
Source - Kel Richards
