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Ham radio humor

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Ham radio humor
Laughter on CWHI, or HI HI
Classic insultLid, a poor or careless operator
Gentle teasingAppliance operator; alligator ("all mouth and no ears")
Early humoristHiram Percy Maxim, writing in QST as "The Old Man"
Magazine traditionsCartoons and April Fool items in QST
Limit on the air (US)No obscene or indecent language, under Part 97

Ham radio humor is the body of jokes, cartoons, puns, pranks and teasing that has grown up around amateur radio. Most of it is in-group humor that pokes fun at the hobby's own habits and vocabulary, and much of it only makes sense to someone who knows what a Q-code or a pileup is. It ranges from a two-letter laugh sent in Morse code to cartoons and April Fool pieces in the ARRL's magazine QST, and it carries on today in blogs, websites and social media groups.

Humor on the air

The best-known joke on the bands is a single word. CW operators laugh by sending HI or HI HI, and some hams say "hi hi" aloud on voice as a nod to the tradition, though many longtime CW operators feel it belongs on CW only. Another running joke concerns signal reports. In contests every station is "five nine" whatever it sounds like, so "You're five nine, please repeat your name and location" has become a standing gag about reports that mean nothing.

A good deal of Ham radio slang is teasing. A lid is a poor or careless operator, one of the oldest insults in radio. An appliance operator is a ham who uses only factory-built gear and has little interest in how it works; the label is meant gently, since most modern hams are appliance operators to some degree. An alligator is a station that is "all mouth and no ears", loud on the air but unable to hear the stations calling it. Used among friends these are jokes, but aimed at a stranger on the air they start arguments, and good operating etiquette avoids them.

Humor in QST

Humor has been part of QST almost from the start. Hiram Percy Maxim, the ARRL's co-founder and first president, wrote editorials in its early years under the pen name "The Old Man",[1] grumbling with plenty of humor about bad operating, interference and the state of the airwaves. The ARRL republished several of these rants in 2014 as part of its centennial.[1]

April brings its own tradition. In April 1933 QST printed "The American Radiator Delay League", a spoof of the American Radio Relay League itself, with a mock masthead, officers with joke titles and a gag table of contents beside the real one, ending with "April Fool!".[2] The ARRL describes its April Fool habit as going back decades, and the April 2014 issue alone carried three such pieces, not all of them easy to spot.[3]

Cartoons have been a staple too. Phil "Gil" Gildersleeve, W1CJD, drew many of them, including the cartoon on the December 1957 holiday cover, and Jim Massara, N2EST, drew the cartoon for the December 1986 holiday cover.[4] Many QST cartoons belonged to a particular column; Gil's "Jeeves" cartoons, for example, appeared with the "How's DX" feature.[5] The RF Cafe website has posted scans of hundreds of pages of vintage electronics cartoons, including many from QST.[5]

Websites and newer forms

Puns and parodies spread quickly online. In 2013 hams on Twitter tried to make a ham radio hashtag trend by inventing ham versions of famous film titles, swapping in words such as QSL, QRP and D-STAR, and the blogger Dan Romanchik, KB6NU, collected the results, adding a few of his own.[6] Sitcoms have joined in as well: Last Man Standing made its lead character a ham,[7] as described under Ham radio in pop culture.

HamSexy (hamsexy.com) is a website that mixes ham radio news with sarcastic commentary on the hobby's controversies, repeater disputes and emergency-communications groups, all filed under the heading "Hamsexyness!".[8] As of October 2026 the website was still online, but its front page said the group was "still around" on Facebook, and apart from short posts pointing there (the latest in September 2026), its newest item was from 2017, so most of its activity appears to have moved to a Facebook group.[8]

Humor and good manners

A joke that works at a club meeting may not work on the air. Signals cross borders, and a pun or a piece of sarcasm can confuse an operator whose first language is different. In the United States, Part 97 also forbids obscene or indecent words or language on amateur frequencies, whatever the intent.[9] A friendly "HI" after a near miss on a call sign, by contrast, is understood everywhere.

Old cartoons and jokes from magazines and websites usually still belong to someone. To share one in a club newsletter or on a website, link to the original or ask permission rather than copying it.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Old Man: Rotten Air, ARRL, May 2014.
  2. ↑ The American Radiator Delay League, April 1933 QST, RF Cafe.
  3. ↑ "April Fool's" Tradition Continues in QST, ARRL, March 2014.
  4. ↑ QST Vintage Holiday Covers, ARRL.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Electronics Themed Comics, November 1940 QST, RF Cafe.
  6. ↑ #hamradiofilms, KB6NU, May 2013.
  7. ↑ Ham Radio in Hollywood: Comedian Tim Allen Stars as Radio Amateur on New TV Show, ARRL, December 2011.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 HamSexy, hamsexy.com.
  9. ↑ 47 CFR 97.113, eCFR.
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