An overview of Ham Radio

The birth of radio in general was mostly associated with various amateur experimenters. There are many contenders to being the inventor of radio, that honor has been disputed between not only the original experimenters, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1888), Nikola Tesla, and Guglielmo Marconi, but also Amos Dolbear, Reginald Fessenden, James Clerk Maxwell, Sir Oliver Lodge, Mahlon Loomis, Nathan Stubblefield, and Alexander Popov.

In the beginning of 1895, Tesla was able to detect signals from the transmissions of his New York lab at West Point (a distance of 50 miles).Marconi demonstrated the transmission and reception of Morse Code based radio signals over a distance of two or more kilometers (and up to six kilometers) on Salisbury Plain in England in 1896. Marconi, by 1899, sent wireless messages across the English Channel and, according to his reports, the first transatlantic transmission (1902). Following Marconi's experiments (1900-1908) many people began experimenting with radio. Communications were made in Morse Code by use of spark gap transmitters. These first operators were the pioneers of amateur radio.

In 1912 after the RMS Titanic sank, the United States Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912 which restricted private stations to wavelengths of 200 meters or shorter (1500 kHz or higher).These "short wave" frequencies were generally considered useless at the time, and the number of radio hobbyists in the U.S. is estimated to have dropped by as much as 88%. Other countries followed suit and by 1913 the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea was convened and produced a treaty requiring shipboard radio stations to be manned 24 hours a day. The origin of the term "ham", as a synonym for an amateur radio operator, was a taunt by professional operators.

World War I

By 1917, World War I had put a stop to amateur radio. In the United States, Congress ordered
all amateur radio operators to cease operation and even dismantle their equipment.These
restrictions were lifted after World War I ended, and the amateur radio service restarted on
October 1, 1919.

Between the wars

In 1921, a challenge was issued by American hams to their counterparts in the United Kingdom
to receive radio contacts from across the Atlantic. Soon, many American stations were
beginning to be heard in the UK, shortly followed by a UK amateur being heard in the US in
December 1922. November 27, 1923 marked the first transatlantic two-way contact between
American amateur Fred Schnell and French amateur Leon Deloy. Shortly after, the first two
way contact between the UK and USA was in December 1923, between London and West Hartford,Connecticut.

In the following months 17 American and 13 European amateur stations were communicating. Within the next year, communications between North and South America; South America and New Zealand; North America and New Zealand; and London and New Zealand were being made. These international Amateur contacts helped prompt the first International Radiotelegraph Conference, held in Washington, DC, USA in 1927-28. At the conference, standard international amateur radio bands of 80/75, 40, 20 and 10 meters and radio callsign prefixes were established by treaty. In 1933 Robert Moore, W6DEI, begins single-sideband voice experiments on 75 meter lower sideband. By 1934, there were several ham stations on the air using single-sideband.

World War II

During the German occupation of Poland, the priest Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, SP3RN was arrested
by the Germans. The Germans believed his amateur radio activities were somehow involved in
espionage and he was transferred to Auschwitz on May 28, 1941. After some prisoners escaped
in 1941, the Germans ordered that 10 prisoners be killed in retribution. Fr. Kolbe was
martyred when he volunteered to take the place of one of the condemned men. On October 10,
1982 he was canonized by Pope John Paul II as Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Apostle of
Consecration to Mary and declared a Martyr of charity. He is considered the Patron saint of
Amateur radio operators.

Again during World War II, as it had done during the first World War, the United States Congress suspended all amateur radio operations. With most of the American amateur radio operators in the armed forces at this time, the US government created the War emergency radio service which would remain active through 1945. After the War the amateur radio service began operating again, with many hams converting war surplus radios, such as the ARC-5, to amateur use.

Post war era

In 1947 the uppermost 300 kHz segment of the world allocation of the 10 meter band from
29.700 MHz to 30.000 MHz was taken away from amateur radio. During the 1950s, hams helped pioneer the use of single-sideband modulation for HF voice communication. In 1961 the first orbital satellite carrying amateur radio (OSCAR) was launched. Oscar I would be the first of a series of amateur radio satellites created throughout the world.Ham radio enthusiasts were instrumental in keeping U.S. Navy personnel stationed in Antarctica in contact with loved ones back home during the International Geophysical Year during the late 1950s.

Late 20th century

At the 1979 World administrative radio conference in Geneva, Switzerland, three new amateur
radio bands were established: 30 meters, 17 meters and 12 meters. Today, these three bands
are often referred to as the WARC bands by hams.During the Falklands War in 1982, Argentine forces seized control of the phones and radio network on the islands and had cut off communications with London. Scottish amateur radio operator Les Hamilton, GM3ITN was able to relay crucial information from fellow hams Bob McLeod and Tony Pole-Evans on the islands to British military intelligence in London, including the details of troop deployment, bombing raids, radar bases and military activities.

Major contributions to communications in the fields of automated message systems and packet
radio were made by amateur radio operators throughout the 1980s. These computer controlled
systems were used for the first time to distribute communications during and after
disasters. American entry-level Novice and Technician class licensees were granted CW and SSB segments on the 10 Meter Band in 1987. The frequency ranges allocated to them are still known today throughout much of the world as the Novice Sub Bands even though it is no longer possible to obtain a novice class license in the US. Further advances in digital communications occurred in the 1990s as Amateurs used the power of PCs and sound cards to introduce such modes as PSK31 and began to incorporate Digital Signal Processing and Software-defined radio into their activities.