Regardless of origin of the name, a "Ham" is universally recognizable as one who experiments in radio and communications.
Whether it be constructing a low-power CW radio with vacuum tubes, or designing TCP/IP packet networks, such experimentation has historically spilled over into the mainstream such as was the case with Howard Armstrong, who developed the regenerative oscillator and FM radio, or General Curtis E. LeMay (KØGRL, W6EZV) who was instrumental in making Single-Sideband the communications standard for the Strategic Air Command (1946-1992, now reorganized into a joint command called USSTRATCOM) and eventually the U.S. Air Force. Although packet-switching techniques originated from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the ARPANet, no one can deny the tremendous influence that amateurs, including those within TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio), have had in demonstrating the viability of TCP/IP and AX.25 communications via radio links. The efforts of AMSAT (the Amateur Satellite Corporation), including the development of many ham satellites and the low-orbiting Microsats (communications satellites no bigger than a breadbox that use store-and-forward packet techniques), have certainly advanced the state-of-the-art in communications, one of the defined purposes of the Amateur Radio Service, as recognized by international treaty.
The term Elmer has probably been in use since at least the 1950's (I'm told, but haven't yet confirmed, that it appears in British amateur radio publications from that period). The name Elmer was likely chosen because Elmers are usually older and wiser, having the benefit of many years in the hobby, including several failed projects, and an electric shock or two. The first U.S. reference to Elmer in print was from Rod Newkirk, W9BRD, in his "How's DX" column in QST from the early-to-mid-1970's.
Such Elmers have traditionally been the mainstay of amateur radio, and the source of many new hams, particularly those interested in working on emerging technologies. Even more importantly, Elmers provided an outlet for the impatient newcomer who wanted "to know everything, and right away." Faced with such a request, a good Elmer will smile and proceed to lead the novice through some project or operating experience. Several hours, days, or weeks later, the novice would have his answers, but would have earned them. Even better, the sense of accomplishment would boost the novice's confidence and nudge him or her down the road to being a model, experienced ham operator.
Many present hams feel that such an experience is missing today. In today's hustle-bustle world, the response to such natural curiosity and desire to learn is, more often than not, "I'm too busy" or "RTFM." As a result, the quality of new hams declines and the knowledge and operating habits they develop in their first formative months and years leave much to be desired. And the very same hams who claim that they "can't understand the new generation" also, in almost the same breath, lament about the "decline of amateur radio."
With the ever-widening scope of the Internet, the amateur radio newsgroups on Usenet, and now the World-Wide Web, the potential for Elmers to share their knowledge to a wide audience has never been greater. To that end, I maintain a list of such Elmers. Volunteers may register via my formatted, on-line, World-Wide Web Registration Form:
http://elmers.org/register.html
I would prefer that you register using the above form (which not only ensures that nothing is omitted, but also makes adding your entry much easier by automatically converting it to HTML). However, volunteers who are not yet on the Web are also quite welcome, and may register by writing me by finding me (Rusty Carruth, Elmer Id 1) and sending me an email using the form. Please include your their name, amateur radio callsign(s) (if any), E-mail address, and area(s) of expertise. URL-format pointers to resources they maintain, such as WWW home pages, FTP archives, mail servers, or mailing lists, would also be quite welcome. The list has gotten large enough that there should be plenty of suitable examples to model your entry after. If you need some further assistance formatting your entry, drop me a line and tell me a bit about yourself. Ironically, sometimes the best Elmers say, "I'm not an expert, but..."
Currently non-functional, sorry
This was the original distribution medium for the Elmers list. It continues to be supported for users who cannot access the World-Wide Web. Since the document uses URL's throughout, the news article version may also be viewed as hypertext via some mail and news readers. The latest copy of the list can be found in the news articles with Subjects like "Amateur Radio: Elmers Resource Directory Part */* [*-*]" (The * represents a wildcard character, as the need to split the list evenly, as well as keep all parts under the 64K message limit for Usenet, requires that I adjust the split occasionally). Since the list is cross-posted to the following newsgroups:
on the first Monday of each even-numbered month, with an expiration date 10 weeks into the future, there was always a copy available at most news sites. Check your newsreader documentation for information about reading previously-read articles or articles that are "threaded" to this one. Do not complain to your local news administrator (E-mail to "news@localhost" or "usenet@localhost") if your local news server is configured to ignore Expires headers (and thus prematurely delete the articles) in worthwhile, mostly moderated, information newsgroups like those listed above. Not, at least, until I get the auto-posting thing working. (VERY low on the priority list!)
see also the newsgroups under comp.infosystems.www.* (I haven't listed URL's for all of the newsgroups under this hierarchy as there are now about a dozen of them (!!!).)
also believed broken - Possible future enhancement?
If your site is directly connected to the Internet, you may retrieve the latest copy via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) from the following sites:
Thanks to all the volunteer Elmers, as well as courteous list users, for making this service a success.
And Thanks very much to Paul W. Schleck, K3FU
for putting up with me and my slowness!
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Copyright 2002-2003, Carroll D. Carruth, Jr (aka N7IKQ, aka Elmer Id 1)
Portions Copyright 1991-2000, Paul W. Schleck. (aka Elmer Id 88)