The early days of radio were like the Wild West. There were no rules, and that lack of rules often led to problems.

Eventually, frequency regulations were put in place, which left a large swath of spectrum available to amateur radio operators.

Over time, these operators created a worldwide community that predated the Internet by decades.

It is still a community that exists today

with thousands of people around the world.

Learn more about amateur radio

and its origins on this episode

of Everything Everywhere Daily. The early days of radio were anarchy.

Literally so.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Heinrich Hertz proved the existence of radio waves,

and Gulliamo Marconi demonstrated their practical application with the creation late 19th and early 20th centuries, Heinrich Hertz proved the existence of radio waves, and

Gulliomo Marconi demonstrated their practical application with the creation of the first

wireless telegraph transmitter and receiver. After that, people began to tinker with simple

spark transmitters and crystal receivers. In these early days, there was no distinction between

amateur and professional radio operators.

Anyone with sufficient technical knowledge and financial resources could experiment with wireless

telegraphy. There were no firm international rules, call signs were inconsistent, and the

spectrum felt limitless because few yet understood that radio waves of different wavelengths

behave differently. Young experimenters crowded city rooftops with wire antennas and home-built gear.

Their signals were broad and noisy because spark transmission produced a train of dampened waves

that splattered across different frequencies. Even so, these amateurs quickly

learn the art of practical communication, passing local messages at night when interference

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