- Sep 20, 2003
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Originally posted by: russianpower
ham = derivative of amature.
Originally posted by: KC5AV
The actual meaning has long been lost, but it is generally thought the have been an insult when originally used. When radio communications were first starting, there were no set frequency allocations, so everyone was using the same frequencies. "Professional" broadcasters probably called amateurs 'hams' meaning that they were not very good operators.