The Women Operators (YL's) of Ham Radio! Ria N2RJ, Cat W4DXY, Mary KI4HHI & Linda VK7QP

Amateur (Ham) Radio is a communications hobby that throughout its history has been dominated by men. Luckily times are changing and more and more women (YL's) are becoming involved in the varied aspects of the hobby.

Today's live stream features a chat with some of the women in ham radio! We'll ask them how they got started, what interests them the most about the hobby and much more.

 

Very nice, happy to hear and see, I have been on the XYL net, but always seem like it was more of a OM net to me. I mainly stay on CW when I get the chance. Sometimes when I am heard it's really not me it is my granddaughter Victoria on CW using my call. she does not have her own maybe soon. very best Ladies god speed.
73 de W4XYL

 

Wonder if KI4HHI does cw? Man imagine if she was an Italian op in a 5 region! Dots from beginning to end of the call.! But regardless congradulations to all you ladies being a radio ops. N2RJ very impressive op and education. Glad your doing for hams all the ARRL stuff. As for being retired, being a retired ham is fun too. Keep on keeping on. I recall lady ham op telling me when I was a novice, "tell it on cw. I do". She made me laugh and Im sure you are having fun too. Forgive me for being so patronizing. But cannot allow the chance to praise all of you partaking of such a wonderful hobby. God bless. Very 73 Bill WJ2L/4

 

Vk7qp what a wonderful involvement. Major developement inyour hx as well.
On the licensing fees, drop them for the youth or retired. Glad you all think about this.

 

I am disappointed my prior (deleted) post was misconstrued.

My point is that great people come in all pursuasions, and that we should attain and maintain our attitude of friendly support and involvement. If this post and others help acknowledge that in a positive way, then we have certainly lived up to our objective of the 'Radio Amateur's Code'.

As always, best to the women of ham radio

73
Chip W1YW

 

YL Raisa on YouTube. She has good lighting.

 

Yes, the YL amateurs should check-out "YL Raisa", on YouTube. She really enjoys the hobby and is doing a lot to get the word out !

 

I was one of the multi-ops of station K4GIG along with Cat, W4DXY during her live stream of the North American QSO Party a few weeks ago. Super nice lady and eager to learn. It was neat seeing the difference in her confidence and operating efficiency as time passed.

 

Thanks so much for the kind words Jon.

 

Totally unnecessary and predictable.

 

Thanks for bringing the spotlight to YLs in the man's world of hamradio!
I am only 62 years young, but I vividly remember contacting, chasing, and admiring W6QL, Iris (and her OM Lloyd W6KG (both SK).
Iris, Lloyd and before them- KV4AA Dick- brought new DXCCs and exotic faraway lands to me, a young boy stranded in bleak southeastern Europe.
Iris and later, WA3HUP Maryann (SK) brought the fresh air into DXing, dxpeditions and colorful QSLs that followed.
But, that was a lifetime ago!

For the past 20 odd years, another YL (OM/XYL team, actually) has been following Yasme/Iris's steps- YL Nuria EA3WL (ad hubby EA3BT),
activating and bringing to us, less fortunate and earthbound to our native shores, new DXCC countries, islands, IOTAs, whatever...

From my own experience, being ham since 1972 (almost 50 years now), women have always been a rarity, so much needed on the air- to soften the often harsh world of this manly, technical hobby. True, some YLs followed in after their husbands, some occupied a specialized niche of 2m repeaters, or strictly SSB chatrooms or networks (I've been a member of one I immensely enjoyed, YLISSB)...but, I have contacted many YLs with full-blown DX instincts, capabilities and passion, just to name a few: OH2YL, DJ9YL, G5YL... Some of the YLs I have met on the radio, like HZ1HZ Laila and 5A0YL Elham, are a rarity in their countries, where women, in general, are banned from many "male" activities, ham radio included. So, their efforts and achievements in countries like Saudi Arabia ought to be recognized and praised.

But, to narrow this down to the topic and the podcast YL stars presented here: I have contacted N2RJ Ria 18 times at least (some of my previous logs/calls were paper logs destroyed during the civil war here). Ria is a great operator, a trued DXer and still a lady and a perfect example of why women should at least equal the numbers of OMs on the air- the YLs I have met don't have the usual male ugly, competitive side- they respect the QSO, they don't break-in, they follow the decency and courtesy in communication, they don't appear intoxicated (like some guys I've spoken with on the air), they don't use profanities...I could go on, but you get the picture. Just like in politics, in traffic, in public communications, in all walks of life women make the world better, and the ham radio world too. We need it, and we need more women in ham radio. Hopefully, nowadays, when you don't need technical skills to build an antenna or your radio, when you can use ham radio for communication (in my opinion, the most essential part of ham radio)...more women will join our ranks and make our world a more interesting, and a better place.

Finally, I would like to mention another US YL from my logs- Carol, N2MM (21 QSOs at least). Her Morse code is superb and she is a joy to talk to.
I am happy to her call and it's like old friend knocking on my door.

Again, congrats on this article and bring some more YL to the spotlights!

 

Totally vile and disgusting comment that has no place on here or anywhere in civilized society. Good grief!

 

No, Mrs. D KI4HHI doesn't do CW - but I do (slowly). Indeed, lots of dots. 73 de KI4ASK (Mr. D)

 

Thanks for putting together the show Hayden. KI4HII & I had a blast. One of the things Mary Catherine and I talked about after the show is how different all of the perspectives were. There isn't a single "woman's view" of ham radio. Linda, Cat, Ria, and Mary Catherine all came to the hobby from different places and enjoy different aspects of it - just like us guys.

Here's a few "behind the scenes" pictures while we were setting up that podcast with you.

 

Unbelievable wasn’t it? I’m glad it was removed. Hopefully the author will also be removed!!