The operators were said to be named Hyman, Almy and Murray, and the call sign an acronym from the initial letters. The popular version of the story tells of Hyman appearing before a Congressional Committee in Washington in 1911 and eloquently pleading the case of Amateur Radio, and the term "ham" becoming symbolic of the hobby. It concludes, "You can find the whole story in the Congressional Record."

The story is total fiction, and has been exposed as such several times, but to no avail. It appeared first in a medical journal in an article by Dr. Albert Hyman, together with a rather fanciful version of his experiences during WW2.

In 1990, John Huntoon, WIRW, contacted WOCO, past president of the Harvard Wireless Club, and also went through all the records of the period 1908-1912 of the Senate Commerce Committee, and there is no record of Dr. Hyman or Bob Almy or Peggie Murray.

There is a record of the appearance before the committee of W.E. Stokes Jr. pleading on behalf of Amateur Radio against greedy commercial interests, and related newspaper stories. It appears that Dr. Hyman, for some reason, claimed the story as his own.

Many people well-qualified to express an opinion as to the probable origin of the work "ham" agree that at least one thing is sure - the Hyman story is fiction. The matter is best summed up in this comment from Dick Baldwin, WIRU, in a letter to ZLIAN:

"As you know, I worked for the ARRL for many years, and for most of those years John Huntoon, whom you quoted, was my boss. We had many discussions about the origin of the word 'ham.' His careful research, and that of others as well, has thoroughly debunked the Hyman story. The truth of the matter is that nobody is really sure how the word 'ham' came into use. Its origins are lost in antiquity."