Andrew Pemberton

Deby Dagher
UWRT 1102-002
9 June 2015
Annotated Works Cited

Maxwell, Jim. Amateur Radio: 100 Years of Discovery. QST 2010. PDF file.

This article by Jim Maxwell deals completely with the history of amateur radio in the
United States, starting from prehistory (the 1800s) until present times. Maxwell discusses how
amateur radio started off in the 1800s and debates who the first amateur radio operator truly was,
naming contenders for the position and what their roles were in developing amateur radio. The
article then moves through the decades of the 1900s, describing the role amateur radio played in
the great World Wars and the space race, as well as how radio developed in transatlantic
transmissions. The conclusion of this article brings the reader to the birth of the Internet and
computers and describes the pivotal impact these inventions had upon amateur radio.
This article was relevant to my research, as it provided some very good background
information on my topic. A detailed breakdown of the main events in each decade was pretty
meaningful to me because it provided a timeline for when and where things were happening.
There is also an image of an early amateur transmitter, which really piques my interest. There is
also some information near the end of the article about how hams are adapting to the rapidly
changing technologies of the present, which makes me wonder what kinds of breakthroughs will
be coming from them in the future.

This source is because it is an article that was published in QST, which has been the main
amateur radio periodical since 1915. Its copyrighted by the American Radio Relay League,
another prominent radio organization. It is written by an amateur radio operator, and the Pacific
Division Director of ARRL. The information in the article is not controversial, so the only
noticeable bias is a passion for the information in question.

McNicol, Donald. "The Early Days of Radio in America (1917)." Editorial. Electrical
Experimenter Apr. 1917: 893+. Web. 09 June 2015.

This article by Donald McNicol details some of the most important players and events in
the beginning of the amateur radio world, in particular the years between 1896 and 1904.
McNicol focuses in on Guglielmo Marconis work as well as others in finding ways to transmit
radio waves over long distances. The events listed in this article lay the foundation for current
amateur radio and there are still questions being asked today that the forefathers of radio also
considered.
Reading through this article felt like taking a trip through time, stopping at the pivotal
moments in amateur radio history. It was interesting to see the beginnings of amateur radio and
how it evolved over time, and what events shaped its progression. I felt as though it would have
been better if the article provided more details along with each event, as I found myself asking
questions about some of the moments listed. For example, the last event in 1904 discusses the
first radio message sent to a ship at sea, and I would like to know who sent the message and what
it said.

This is another article that gains its credibility from simply being unbiased factual
information. It was written in 1917, but that doesnt affect its validity, as the information in
question pertains to the events from 1896-1904.

White, Thomas. "Word Origins." United States Early Radio History. n.p., n.d. Web. 09 June
2015.

This article by Thomas White gives definitions, explanations, and the history of key
vocabulary words in amateur radio. He specifically focuses on the words radio, broadcast,
and ham. These words that have become major buzzwords in the world of radio have
developed in connotation and use over time, and this article gives the reader the background.
I love reading about word origins, so I found this article extremely fascinating. I had
never thought about the connection between radio and radiation before, which now seems
very obvious. I also did not know that the word ham meant unskilled because before this
project, I thought ham meant someone who eats up attention and likes to have the spotlight
upon them.
This website gains its credibility from simply being unbiased factual information.

Haring, Kristen. Ham Radio's Technical Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2007. Print.

This book by Kristen Haring goes over the culture of amateur radio. Haring describes
what hams do and have done in the past, as well as the experiences they have had along the way.
Haring starts her book off with a chapter on technical hobbies, as she believes that ham radio is

just a small part of a larger category within these hobbies. She then moves on to describe how
ham radio took on a culture of its own, and what all that culture entails. The last section of her
books discusses an important element of this culture, which is holding on to the past in the face
of technical change such as the integrated circuit.
It was very interesting reading about the culture of ham radio, because I had never
considered it in the framework of a culture before reading this book. I had thought about it as a
hobby, particularly in the realm of a technical hobby, but reading about the details of the codes
and clinging to the past was new to me. It makes me want to take up ham radio as a hobby
myself, and immerse myself in this culture, and talk to people who are well-versed in this hobby.
This book is credible because it is well researched, and a full list of notes and references
is given at the end.

Laport, E., E. Tilton, and R. Rowe. "Amateur Radio." IEEE Communications Magazine 19.4
(n.d.): 16-24. Print.

This article examines the role of hobbyist radio in the advancement of the communication
industry through 1981, when it was published. Ham radio began with amateurs trying to figure
out how to communicate through space. The article discusses how World War I affected the
advancement of ham radio in that the government encouraged amateurs to explore the use of
radio for the purposes of war, but then later banning these same amateurs from using
wavelengths longer than 200m. However, the article discusses how this ban on longer
wavelengths actually made ham radio advance even more. Other events, such as World War II

and the space race, also caused an uprise in the use of ham radio, which are discussed further in
the article.
I found it so interesting to read this article and see how the government played a role
throughout history in the advancement of ham radio. First, encouraging the use of radio during
war times, but then banning certain wavelengths after the war was over. I also found it
interesting to see how this ban on wavelengths actually helped encourage innovation among
amateurs. This again just shows how much of an impact historical events had on the
development of radio.
This article is credible because it is peer reviewed, and is an unbiased conglomeration of
facts.