Quote:
Originally Posted by aloh
...what are we talking about exactly?
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Shortly after Marconi sent the first trans Atlantic radio message the day of Amateur Radio Operators was born. Often referred to as HAM's - can't tell you what the acronym stands for though.
Equipment has moved from crystals and batteries, tubes, coils, and capacitors to tune a circuit to full solid state marvels. HAM's have often been at the fore front of communications. In the early 70's hams were bouncing radio signals off of the Mood and comet tails talking to each other. My first computer was specifically for my HAM radio work and was a Zilog Z-80 processor, with 1K of RAM running Basic. When I got 8K or RAM thought I had died and gone to heaven.
And thanks to Wikipedia:
Amateur radio operators are also known as radio amateurs or hams. The term 'ham' as a nickname for amateur radio operators originated in a pejorative usage by operators in commercial and professional radio communities. The word was subsequently welcomed by amateur radio operators, and it stuck. An amateur radio operator who has died is referred to by other amateur radio operators as a silent key,[2] and the suffix /SK is appended to his or her callsign.[3]
At any major disaster or event like a State Fair look for the guys in the dayglow vest. They are helping with crowd control, lost children, etc.
I know you wanted to know what time it was and I told you how to build the clock.