"Chick Factor Night" at W9IMS on May 24

"ALL CHICKS, ALL THE TIME":
MAKING A SPECIAL EVENT MORE SPECIAL

Fewer than 15 percent of all American amateur radio operators are female, but special event enthusiasts should have no trouble finding YLs on the air this Saturday, May 24, thanks to a first-time "event-within-an-event" presented by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club.

Since early May, the club has been operating its annual special event station, W9IMS (http://www.w9ims.com), in commemoration of the upcoming Indianapolis 500.

But for three straight hours on the night before the race — 2100 UTC Saturday to 0000 Sunday — it'll be "all chicks, all the time" as the club observes Chick Factor Night. During this time, only YLs will be allowed behind the W9IMS microphones, and any OMs on the premises will be required to serve snacks and beverages to the busy ladies.

The chivalrous celebration seems appropriate, considering that the legendary 500-mile auto race will feature a record number of female drivers (three — Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno) for the second straight year. W9IMS, the official amateur radio station of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has operated an Indy 500 special event station annually since 2004, but the YL-only mini-event is a first.

So what's a Chick Factor?

As explained in the November 2007 QST article "Girl Meets Brickyard," which highlighted 11-year-old Extra Class YL Amanda Feriante, Chick Factor refers to the ham radio phenomenon in which a female operator can instantly create a pile-up (and break a pile-up) with the mere sound of her voice. It also applies to the YLs themselves in addition to being the name of a new YL-oriented club, still in the process of organizing, called Chick Factor International (W9YL).

Amanda, AF6YL, will be back at W9IMS this year, and she'll be joined on Chick Factor Night by several other female club members and guests. The "scheduled to appear" list includes mom Kortnee Feriante, KF6Y; Heather Heininger, KB9ZLB; Kim Oberc, KC9IRN; and Emily Bishop, WE4MB. The club has also issued an open invitation to other YLs who reside or plan to be in the Indianapolis area Saturday evening.

The W9IMS Comm Center can put several transmitters on the air simultaneously, so there should be no shortage of opportunity to work the YLs. Look for W9IMS on several of the following frequencies (plus or minus): 3.840 MHz, 7.240, 14.240, 18.140, 21.340, 28.340, 50.140, 144.240 SSB and 146.52 simplex FM. For updated frequency information, look for DX spots at sites such as DX Summit — http://oh2aq.kolumbus.com/dxs/

As a special tribute to a Chick Factor pioneer, one of W9IMS's YL ops will conduct a CW sked at 2100 UTC Saturday with Denice Stoops (KI6BBR) on 14.050 MHz. Denice — the first female telegrapher hired at historic maritime radio station KPH (http://www.radiomarine.org/kph-proj.html) — will operate K6KPH, the Maritime Radio Historical Society station, located at the KPH facility at Point Reyes National Seashore in California.

Any station that works W9IMS (and any SWL who receives it) during the month of May is eligible for a special Indy 500 QSL card. The club also awards a certificate for working or receiving all three of its annual special event operations in any combination of years.

But nothing additional will be given to stations for working/tuning in one or all of the Chick Factor participants.

Then again, when it comes to chatting with YLs, when have awards ever mattered?

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73 (and 88),
Brian D. Smith,
W9IND

 

yeehaw, YL's behind the mic. It sounds like a great time and my hats off to ya for doing something differant. YL's need air time too!!!!!

 

Thanks very much for the vote of confidence. The ladies are really looking forward to Chick Factor Night, and I suspect we'll get bigger pile-ups than ever for our special event.

It only makes sense. The guys in our club have already observed a strange phenomenon: Every time we hand over the microphone to a female operator, the calls start increasing exponentially.

So ... instead of trying to swim upstream like salmons, we OMs figured -- in the words of the Natalie Merchant song -- "Hey, give 'em what they want."

The mystique of the Chick Factor can never be denied!

Hope we hear from you on Saturday night.

73,
Brian, W9IND

 

Sounds like a 'Sadie Hawkins Field Day"...

Not a bad idea, as long as the YL ops don't share some of the same traits as the typical OM OP... Can you imagine if they had beer guts?

 

one other thing...

How would anyone know that the station they are working CW is a YL ?

Unless they looked up the call, there's no way to realize that just based on a call...

Maybe the gals can adjust the tone of the CW up a few kcs...

(forgive me for being sexist. I am done now .. )

I'm not trying to start anything, gals, so please take it easy on me. I was just sayin.....

 

I hope they have fun doing it. I've created a few pileups myself, as the YL behind the mic of special event stations. I had a blast!

73 & Good Luck Ladies & Girls,
Ellen - AF9J

 

Good deal!
Everybody have fun.
2Thumbsup,NC
rot

 

W9IMS Chick Factor Night

As a male club member at W9IMS, I strongly support Chick Factor Night and wish them well. Good luck gals and know em dead!

73

Barry KW9DX

 

get real

people get back to reality...put the mic down and do cw men and women..this chick thing is anouther joke.wake america

 

trolling

Medication wearing off?

John K5MO

 

Geez, not another naysayer. ...get a life. Like I said before....Great Idea and hope all the YLs have a blast, my hat is off to y'all
73's
Bruce
KB1QNU

The Connecticut Connection

 

'FE, why the rip on the Chick Factor Night? Have you ever participated in a special event station? It's a lot of fun - especially when you generate your own mini pileup. Not everybody freaks out when several people call them at the same time.

With regards to the "CW is the only true amatuer radio" mentality - you do realize that some of us chicks also do CW? I passed my Extra 14 years ago at 20 WPM. Right now I'm taking a break from doing the the CW, CQ WPX, where I'm using a single lever paddle at 30 plus WPM, with NO computer sending or decoding. BTW, I've also been using Bugs for 25 years. Please don't make generalizations. There are many more facets to amatuer radio than ragchewing on CW. CW (along with QRP) is cool, but I will admit, if I really want to shoot the breeze. I'll take phone. One of the most interesting QSOs I had was on Xmas Eve night 1996, on 160m SSB. It was with an old gent, who talked about (among various things), his experiences as a B-29 pilot during WW2. VERY interesting. I don't think we would have been able to talk about half of the things we talked about during our QSO, during the same amount of time, using CW, even at 35 WPM, with tons of abbreviations.

BTW, trolling is really lame.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

 

Alrighty ladies and gents, I'll be one of the loverly YL's operating tonight!! WOOHOO!

Anyway, no...we don't have any beer guts. But...

...we will have men serving us snacks, drinks, and what every woman [young or old] needs to survive on a long CQ/QSO haul...chocolate!

Be expecting large pile-ups and good ops, if I do say so myself. We will have talented and brilliant young women operating all the radios at the W9IMS station!! This is going to be awesome, folks. Hold on to your hat...you might be surprised at how well we operate the rigs and handle pile-ups!

73,
Heather

We build the pile-ups with a few simple CQs...now can you get through them?

 

Just started on 7.245 !!!!! Id also like to point out as a new General my first YL contact!!!

 

The girls are doing great! I've already made two contacts
myself. Hats off to Heather and Kim. Hoping to hear the
others soon.