Hams have always enjoyed sharing information about themselves and photos of their stations. The Internet has provided a great venue for doing this today. WWW.QRZ.Com is the best on-line example I can think of. Hams can look up names and addresses, and if the ham in question has posted a photo, one can see their station or smiley faces.

QRZ.COM is owned and operated by Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, and is located in Phoenix, Arizona. There is no storefront, no office building, no receptionist, and no paid staff. This low cost operating structure has enabled them to remain continuously online and free to the ham community since 1993.

So what did hams do before they had the Internet? Well most of us used the famous “Callbook” to look up our friends. For photos, hams had to rely on prints and the US Mail, or had QSL cards printed with photos on them.

The “Who’s Who” column was first published in QST in the earlier years. They highlighted well know hams from around the country. Each column usually featured two hams.

Around 1934 a New York based company called Amateur Radio Publishers came up with an idea to publish a callbook where hams could tell about their stations and other interests, and also put their photo in it. They called it “Who’s Who in Amateur Radio.”

They advertised that, “There is no charge for this listing of your write up. Just send in complete details concerning yourself and the rig, - the kind of useful chat you enjoy reading about fellow hams. If you want your photo included, ask us for Form A.”

Around 1957 Arthur Lewis, W3VKD, came up with a similar publication called “Ham Register.” Ham Register did not have any photos though.