When was ham radio invented

The resulting interference came to the attention of congressional committees in Washington and Congress gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit amateur radio activity. ALBERT HYMAN took the stand and described how the little station was built and almost cried when he told the crowded committee room that if the BILL went through they would have to close down the station because they could not afford the license fee and all the other requirements which the BILL imposed on amateur stations.

You can find the whole story in the Congressional Record. ARRL Homepage. Menu Menu. Incidentally, another distress call is used by aircraft in trouble throughout the world. We have all heard the term "mayday" at some time. This, of course, has nothing to do with the first day in May. As it turns out, in French, the word "m'aidez" means "help me".

Is it possible that American aviators in World War I picked this up from their French comrades and mispronounced it as the easily recognized "mayday, mayday"? Many of the expressions and procedure signals still in use in radiotelegraph had their origins in the early days of the landline telegraph--long before Marconi sent his letter "S" across the Atlantic. In sending formal messages by CW, the first thing a beginner hears is "don't send punctuation.

Separate the parts of the address from each other with the prosign AA. Originally, a correctly addressed letter was punctuated with commas following the name and the street address, each of which was and still is on a separate line although the commas have been dropped, even in mail addresses on letters.

The comma was transmitted by Morse operators and thus, AA came to mean that the receiving operator should "drop down one line" when sent after each part of the address and it is so defined in the operating manuals of the time. Our familiar prosign SK also had its origin in landline Morse. In the Western Union company's "92 code" used even before the American Civil War, the number 30 meant "the end. No more. Run the 30 together and it has the same sound as SK. The amateur message form comes to us from a long tradition.

The earliest telegrams were very formal, in the florid style of the last half of the 19th century. Even the train orders of that time began with Dear Sir and ended with yours truly. However, since telegraph companies charged by the word, the text soon changed to the present style. The preamble, however, has changed greatly.

At first, the date and the number of words were the only two items listed in this country. The European telegram included the time and the office call, but it was not until after the Civil War that Americans began using these as well.

The main reason for using the group count was to be able to calculate charges for the messages, as well as to insure accuracy. This provision was printed on the earliest Western Union blanks as well as those of the Electric Telegraph Company in England, but the idea is far earlier than either of these.

It was used by the French semaphore system before the wire telegraph. The amateur preamble, of course, is derived from the early wireless forms. The printed Marconigram blanks have much the same information which is required for the heading of amateur messages, including the service information at the bottom of the blanks.

In the USA the situation was very different. Although in Europe license had been introduced relatively early on, in in the UK, there had been no such regulation in the USA. However in after the situation had been appraised, Congress approved the Radio Act of In this radio amateurs needed to be licensed and operation was restricted to a single wavelength of metres.

It was thought this would bring an end to amateur radio, but this was not the case. After an initial drop, numbers rose to over by Unfortunately the growth in interest and activity was not to last. Tensions were rising in Europe and on 28 July Austria declared war on Serbia.

In the UK, concern was expressed in several quarters quarters about the security risk of having almost uncontrolled wireless transmitting stations in private hands around the country.

Accordingly, on 1 August, a few days before Britain declared war on Germany, all experimental licences were suspended. The licensees were instructed to dismantle their equipment, ready for an inspection by an Inspector from the Post Office, the Post Office being the UK government owned organisation that administered radio licences.

Most UK amateur radio licensees had their equipment removed but some were able to keep theirs, provided it remained dismantled. However, in , it was decided that all equipment should be removed into the custody of the Post Office for the duration of the war. In view of the fear that wireless equipment could be used for spying, the penalties for using receiving equipment were severe. This last measure was deemed necessary because of the mounting public concern about wireless equipment being used by German spies.

There had been a considerable amount of talk and many reports to the authorities about possible spies, and radio was seen as an easy way for them to pass information back to their authorities.

Although the war silenced all amateur radio activity in Europe, it did not dull the inventive spirit of the amateur experimenter. Many of those who held amateur radio licences were able to use their expertise towards the war effort.

Even though wireless was still very much in its infancy, the experience offered by amateur experimenters was valuable. Wireless communications were starting to prove their worth, and they were used increasingly as the war progressed. There was a particular need for wireless telegraphists and a number of pre-war radio amateurs were able to help the war effort in this way.

The dreadful carnage of the war ceased with the Armistice on the 11 th November at The history of amateur radio is a fascinating story of individuals and groups of radio hams experimenting and sometimes succeeding against all the odds. Although in many instances professionals lead the way, there are a few notable exceptions where radio amateurs discovered new aspects of radio technology and in others they opened up the way as professional thinking was quite different.

All of these aspects make the history of amateur radio a fascinating story and one which shows how radio hams paved the way for radio technology in many areas. The history of amateur radio can be split into a number of different stages, each of which tells the story of a different aspect of ham radio history.

As the years passed, the history of amateur radio showed that technology developed and new techniques were used.