Ham Radio's Technical Culture (Inside Technology) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kristen Haring
Publisher: The MIT Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.12
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 341648
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 236
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.7
ISBN: 0262582767
Dewey Decimal Number: 609
EAN: 9780262582766
ASIN: 0262582767
Publication Date: April 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Decades before the Internet, ham radio provided instantaneous, global, person-to-person communication. Hundreds of thousands of amateur radio operators--a predominantly male, middle- and upper-class group known as "hams"--built and operated two-way radios for recreation in mid twentieth century America. In Ham Radio's Technical Culture, Kristen Haring examines why so many men adopted the technical hobby of ham radio from the 1930s through 1970s and how the pastime helped them form identity and community.
Ham radio required solitary tinkering with sophisticated electronics equipment, often isolated from domestic activities in a "radio shack," yet the hobby thrived on fraternal interaction. Conversations on the air grew into friendships, and hams gathered in clubs or met informally for "eyeball contacts." Within this community, hobbyists developed distinct values and practices with regard to radio, creating a particular "technical culture." Outsiders viewed amateur radio operators with a mixture of awe and suspicion, impressed by hams' mastery of powerful technology but uneasy about their contact with foreigners, especially during periods of political tension.
Drawing on a wealth of personal accounts found in radio magazines and newsletters and from technical manuals, trade journals, and government documents, Haring describes how ham radio culture rippled through hobbyists' lives. She explains why hi-tech employers recruited hams and why electronics manufacturers catered to these specialty customers. She discusses hams' position within the military and civil defense during World War II and the Cold War as well as the effect of the hobby on family dynamics. By considering ham radio in the context of other technical hobbies--model building, photography, high-fidelity audio, and similar leisure pursuits--Haring highlights the shared experiences of technical hobbyists. She shows that tinkerers influenced attitudes toward technology beyond hobby communities, enriching the general technical culture by posing a vital counterpoint.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Ham Radio's Technical Culture? March 1, 2007
11 out of 17 found this review helpful
I bought this book hoping to learn something new from a different perspective. Although the research was well documented, there was nothing new here. The perspective was very negative with respect to the role of women in ham radio between the 20's - 70's. No suprise there, look at the role women played in almost any of the technical pursuits during that time. To blame a hobby for this is silly. To write a book that presents this point of view almost sounds like the author was personally hurt by someone who happened to be a ham. There is a bit of an agenda here that is beyond the hobby. It's more about the culture of the 50's and 60's and the growth of technology.
 Interesting social history January 25, 2007
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
I read the book and was impressed. Most older hams would be very familiar with the history of the hobby, so that part of the book probably isn't that interesting to them - but it is a valuable record of what was going on - homebrewing, kit-building, buying equipment, making antennas, etc for history's sake and for younger members of the hobby.
The "social" history of ham radio was new to me, however, and I was struck by some of the author's observations.
She covered these main social issues in the period of the 1930s - 1960s.
1 - The interesting way that ham radio could be both an isolated, individual hobby *and* a social activity.
2 - The image of radio technology and associated hobbies as clearly masculine and "manly" pursuits.
2 - The very few women hams and their difficulties "fitting in" on the air and in clubs. The author reported instances of clubs refusing to allow ladies to join, or male members walking out when women were allowed to join.
3 - The suspicions of the public about those men in their basements every night always building things, talking to foreigners, and causing interference.
3 - The stresses between girlfriends/wives and their ham-mates. Family time competing with the hobby time, etc...
Through all these issues she weaves a thread about gender images and roles. Contrary to some reports on the internet, the author does *not* claim ham radio was a haven for gay men, but she accurately shows that from our somewhat homophobic late-20th, early 21st century, viewpoint (in my words) the whole thing actually could look pretty "gay". Men talking with men on the air about personal things, especially doing it alone in a private place (the shack), at night. And all those photos of club members with their arms around each others shoulders...
But this wasn't unique to ham radio, and we have to keep things in historical perspective. Men weren't always so afraid to touch each other as we are now - consider all the old photos of soldiers with their arms around each other. And as the author shows, the endless stresses between ladies and their hams proves that things were certainly sexually normal on the homefront. She goes to great lengths to point out that ham radio and similar hobbies might look odd to outsiders, it was all quite "normal" in that sense.
Very interesting, and I was pleasantly surprised to come upon something new about a hobby which has been such a big part of my life.
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