What changed
Amateurs at war — edited Sep 5, 2026 by Unknown editor
Compared with the version from Aug 31, 2026. Note: Imported from content/wiki
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## The First World War
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In **April 1917** Congress ordered US amateur stations closed; operators were required to dismantle
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antennas and receiving equipment as well as transmitters. Thousands of amateurs went into the Army
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In **April 1917** Congress ordered the roughly **6,000** licensed US amateur stations closed;
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operators were required to dismantle antennas and receiving equipment as well as transmitters — the
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Navy's orders covered receiving, not just transmitting. Thousands of amateurs went into the Army
and Navy as radio operators and instructors — in many cases they *were* the available pool of skilled
operators.
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in government or commercial hands. The operators who came home had far better equipment knowledge,
and within four years amateurs had crossed the Atlantic on short waves.
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That reopening was not only an American argument. **Marconi** and **Sir Ambrose Fleming**, inventor
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of the thermionic valve, both spoke publicly in **1919** in favor of leaving room for amateur
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experimenters — the two most authoritative voices in wireless taking the hobbyists' side at exactly
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the moment governments were deciding whether to give the spectrum back.
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## The Second World War
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Amateur operation was suspended again days after Pearl Harbor and stayed shut for the duration.
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The service was drawn in before the shutdown. Through **1941**, with tubes and components scarce,
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the military asked amateurs to donate parts and was buried in them. US amateurs were recruited into a
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**Civilian Technical Corps** to operate and maintain British radar. And when the Army needed the
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80 meter band, the FCC compensated amateurs with **phone privileges on 40 meters** for the first
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time — until then 40 was CW only.
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Amateur operation was suspended entirely days after Pearl Harbor and stayed shut for the duration.
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By **1942** some **15,000** US amateurs were in uniform.
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- At the ARRL's suggestion the **Office of Civil Defense** built its civil-defense communication
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system around amateur radio — the start of a working relationship between civil defense and the
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amateur service that continues today through
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[ARES and RACES](/wiki/emergency/ares-and-races).
- The **War Emergency Radio Service (WERS)** let licensed amateurs operate on VHF for civil defense
work — air raid warning nets, damage reporting, and drills — under municipal authority rather than
as individual amateurs.
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and the internet ended the practice, but for many families in the 1960s through the 1990s an
anonymous ham in another state was the only voice link to a spouse or child overseas.
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Continue with [from spark to software](/wiki/radio-history/technology-timeline).
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## Sources and further reading
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- [AC6V's amateur radio history](https://ac6v.com/history.php) — Rod Dinkins, AC6V (SK): the
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year-by-year chronology this page draws its wartime figures and details from.
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- [ARRL public service](https://www.arrl.org/public-service) — the civil-defense relationship as it
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stands now.
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- [United States Early Radio History](https://earlyradiohistory.us/sec015.htm) — primary documents
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on the fight to reopen the bands after 1919.
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Continue with [from spark to software](/wiki/radio-history/technology-timeline), or read
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[a history of amateur emergency service](/wiki/radio-history/emergency-service-history).