Famous Radio Hams and What They Did for a Living


With two million radio hams worldwide, it is only to be expected that there will be some well-known names who hold an amateur radio license.

Famous Radio Hams and What They Did for a Living. We have divided the list of well-known radio ham celebrities into several sections rather than in a single long list. Famous radio ham names include Kings, Queen’s and Princes, a few Heads of State, authors, musicians, astronauts, and cosmonauts, plus those who took to the stage, screen, radio, and television.

The list is not complete, as it expected that there are a number of well-known people who prefer to remain anonymous on the ham bands.

4 Famous Radio Hams – Authors

K2ORS Jean Shepard “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash”,
“A Christmas Story”
KA6UXR Dr. Alex Comfort “The Joy of Sex”
KG7JF Jeff Duntemann Author and publisher of Coriolis Group
TI2DR David Ruben MD “Everything you wanted to know…”

 

15 Famous Radio Hams – Astronauts & Cosmonauts

7L2NJY D.r Mamoru Mohri Japanese
DB1KM Reinhard Furrer German
DP3MIR Dr. Ulf Merbold German
GB1MIR Helen Sharman British
KE5CGR Christer Fuglesang Swedish
KG6FZX Dennis Tito First space tourist
N5QWL Jay Apt American
N5YYV Kathy Sullivan American
ON1AFD Count Dirk Frimouth Belgian
RV3DW Sergei Avyeyev Russian
UV3AM Musa Manarov Russian
UA1LO Yuri Gagarin Russian
W0ORE Tony England American
W5LFL Owen Garriot American
WA4SIR Ron Parise American

 

8 Famous Radio Hams – Musicians and Singers

K0HWY Tex Beneke Band leader
KA6HVA Burl Ives Singer
KD4WUJ Patty Loveless Country singer
W4CGP
(Ex-WA4CZD)
Chet Atkins Singer-songwriter,
guitarist
WB4KCG Ronnie Milsap Singer
WB6ACU Joe Walsh The Eagles
WD4LZC Larnelle Harris Country singer
WN3OQW Jim Croce Singer-songwriter

 

6 Famous Radio Hams – Politicians

K4TPJ David Funderburk US Congressman
& Ambassador
K7UGA/K3UIG Barry Goldwater Senator (US)
VE3RX Arthur Meen Canadian Cabinet Minister
VE3VGW Gilles Morin Canadian Deputy Speaker
VK5NIV Ivan Venning Australian MP
W3ACE Armin Meyer US Ambassador to Japan

 

5 Famous Radio Hams – Presidents & Prime Ministers

I0FCG Francesco Cossiga President, Italy
LU1SM Carlos Saul Menem President of Argentina
VU2RG Rajiv Gandhi Prime Minister, India
ZK1AN Sir Thomas Davis Premier, Cook Islands
YN1AS General Anastasio Somoza President, Nicaragua

 

8 Famous Radio Hams – Royalty & Heads of State

9K2CS Yousuf Al-Sabah Prince, Kuwait
A41AA Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said Sultan of Oman
EA0JC Juan Carlos King of Spain
HS1A Bhumiphol Adulayadej King of Thailand
HS1LY Prince Titiphan Price, Thailand
HZ1TA Talal bin Abdulaziz Prince, Saudi Arabia
JY1 Hussein King, Jordan
JY2 Noor Queen, Jordan

 

10 Famous Radio Hams – Stage, Screen TV & Radio

G2DQU Lord Brian Rix Actor
G3YLA Jim Bacon Weatherman, BBC
K4LIB Arthur Godfrey Radio & TV broadcaster
K6DUE Roy Neal Television reporter, NBC
KB2GSD Walter Cronkite New anchor, CBS
KC4OCA Gordon Barnes Weatherman, KCBS
KD6WUS Hugh Downs TV game show host
KE6PZH /
FO5GJ
Marlon Brando Actor
KI6M Stu Gilliam Comedian
N6CKF Lloyd Bochner Actor

 

Famous Radio Hams – About This List

While this list has been carefully researched and checked, it is possible there are some errors and omissions. Some names which appear elsewhere have been ignored due to inaccuracy and uncertainty.

Many on this list of famous radio hams have become silent keys (died). In some countries, especially the United States, callsigns which have lapsed or belonged to hams who are silent keys, are re-issued.

Nigel Peacock

Nigel G4KIU was first licensed in 1978. He has travelled the world on a number of DXpeditions, operating from countries including Comoros (D6), Rodrigues (3B9), American Samoa (KH8) plus the US and several European countries. He lived in the South Cook Islands for a while and operated as E51SC.

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