Where did the "HAM" nomenclature come from, then? I have wondered what the letters stand for.
I do share your disdain for stupid and/or incorrect nomenclature. Like "Wi-Fi." WTF, there's no use of "fidelity" that this is short for.
I do share your disdain for stupid and/or incorrect nomenclature. Like "Wi-Fi." WTF, there's no use of "fidelity" that this is short for.
In a similar way, ThunderBolt™ links don't use thunder, or bolts.
"ThunderBolt" is an invalid comparison because it's not a rip-off of a known earlier and widely-used term, the way "Wi-Fi" is.
> How did “amateur” become “ham”? The real answer is unknown! Even before radio, telegraphers referred to a poor operator as a ham. Perhaps this was derived from a poor operator being “ham-fisted” on the telegraph key — an operator’s “fist” referred to his or her distinctive style over the wires. With all radio stations sharing the same radio spectrum in the early days, commercial and military operators would sometimes refer to amateurs as hams when there was interference. Regardless, amateurs adopted the term as a badge of honor and proudly refer to each other as “hams” today.
While you'd buy the latest 5th edition from the ARRL [1] to prepare for the exam, the older 3rd edition is freely available online [2].
[1] https://www.arrl.org/ham-radio-license-manual
[2] https://macaloney.blogspot.com/2019/06/how-to-prepare-for-ha...