Contents
- 2nd Women On The Radio Award - WOTRA
- The Day of YLs HF/VHF MEMORIAL
- Hedy Lamarr – Inventor & Movie Star & N9H Hedy Lamarr Day 2020 Special Event
- UFT-YL-CW competition
- Radio 'sparks' in the Battle of the Atlantic (WW2)
- Making Waves FERN BLODGETT, (1918 - 1991)
- Silent Keys
- Contact us & Calendar
November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, so November was chosen for this Award. Women on The Radio Award was designed to show our support. You are encouraged to participate in this event.
2nd THE WOTRA AWARD (Women On The Radio)
Period: November 1 – 30th. 2020
Only YL's stations will be on the air, to give visibility to Amateur Radio women worldwide.
Frequencies: all bands
All modes (SSB, CW, PSK and RTTY), EXCEPT FT8
Exchange will be, signal report 5/9
Call: "CQ CQ WOMEN ON THE RADIO AWARD"
Scoring: contacts with the YL's stations will be worth 1 point, within their own Continent
YL stations from a different Continent, other than your own, will earn 3 points.
A total of 50 points must be completed to obtain the Award.
Repeat contacts with YL stations on the same band and mode, on the same day is not allowed.
All Operators who wish to participate in this event should email: ec1yl@yahoo.es for more information.
Organized by Angeles EC1YL(from Spain) in collaboration with Erica Sanna EI0EIK (from Italy).
" The Day of YLs " NOVEMBER 7 and 8 2020 HF/VHF MEMORIAL
Aim of this day : To promote YL activity around the world
Time : 2020-11-07 00h00 UTC to 2020-11-08 23:59h00 UTC
Bands: 80m; 40m; 20m; 10m;VHF: 2M
Modes : CW, SSB, FT8 RTTY
Exchanges : RS(T) + YL/OM
The same station may be worked once on each band and mode
Points:
YL / YL 3 points
YL / OM 1 point
DX YL's outside of your own continent 5 points
DX OM's outside of your own continent 2 points
An award will be issued to all participants (+ SWL) who have obtained 33 points
Logs : submit scores to 3830scores.com for DOYL by Nov 16. 2020
Contact hosts on facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/746304389193363/
http://ka1uln.blogspot.com/p/the-day-of-yls.html
Hedy Lamarr – Inventor & Movie Star
Every November 9, World Inventor's Day is celebrated in honour of Hedy Lamarr coinciding with the date of her birth.
Her invention used a pair of drilled and synchronized drums (like a pianola) to switch between 88 frequencies, the same number as keys on a piano.
A graveside memorial in the Vienna Central Cemetery incorporates 88 steel rods and 88 steel balls, representing the 88 frequencies in Lamarr’s patented frequency hopping technology.
Those rods, when viewed from the right angle, generate an illusion of Lamarr’s face.
N9H Hedy Lamarr Day 2020 Special Event
For the 5th year celebrating HEDY LAMARR DAY on November 9th 2020
This special event net will be on at 10am pst/1pm est, (18:00 UTC)
Help celebrate her accomplishments and her 106TH Birthday.
A celebration of her technological advancements in ham radio and her career on the silver screen. (movies)
The net will run 4 hours - 1 hour shifts 1800-2200 UTC
Join in the fun and check in to the Echolink *ROC-HAM* Conference server node #531091 or Allstar node #2585,47620
Also on the *DODROPIN* Conference server NODE #355800
4 YL Net Controllers
VA3ODJ Desiree
KI7BR/ Barbara
KN4SVL/ Margo
KD2GUT/ Caryn Eve
Find all of the details at: www.qrz.com/db/N9H
UFT-YL-CW competition UFT (French Union of Telegraphists)
DATE: November 20 and 21, 2020
Friday 20 Nov 19:00 - 21:00 UTC 80m 3.520-3.560 -
Saturday 21 Nov 08:00 - 10:00 UTC 40m 7.010-7.030
Deadline for sending results: December 15, 2018
At F5RPB Evelyne TERRAIL f5rpb@orange.fr
http://www.uft.net/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=118&mnuid=105&tconfig=0
M/V Mosdale
Radio 'sparks' in the Battle of the Atlantic WW2 When Nazi Germany invaded neutral Norway in 1940, most of Norway’s merchant fleet was at sea, Although the Germans ordered them home, not one turned back. King Haakon VII and his government went into exile in London. From there, they formed Nortraship (the Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission), which administered the Norwegian merchant fleet outside German-controlled areas. Nortraship operated some 1,000 vessels and was the largest shipping company in the world. It made a major contribution to the Allied war effort.
The Sparks (named after spark-gap transmitters) maintained the links between the ships and land-based stations. Operators provided aids to navigation, weather information and radio-direction finding, as well as visual signalling. They usually handled clerical and purser functions. If their ship was under attack, the Sparks had to get rid of the code books, no matter what – they could not fall into enemy hands. It was their job to transmit the ship’s name and position in the event of a submarine sighting, torpedo attack, surface raid or other emergency. Their main responsibility was to listen – signals were in Continuous Wave (CW), keyed in Morse Code. The operators had to decode messages to see whether they applied to their ship or convoy. The formats changed often. A missed or incorrectly-decoded message could lead the ship to disaster. The emergency frequency commanded their utmost attention.
Of the nine thousand foreigners who served aboard Norwegian vessels during WW II about 2000 were Canadians, according to records from Norway. Of these 2000 Canadians, twenty-two were young women who served as wireless operators aboard Norwegian vessels; little information is available on these women, aside from the Norwegian records. Fern Blodgett was one of many Canadians and Britons to sail the North Atlantic with Nortraship.
Fern Blodgett
Making Waves
Canadian born Fern Blodgett Sunde was the first woman to earn her wireless licence in Canada, the first to go to sea, and the first to serve as a wireless operator in the Norwegian Merchant Navy.
With the Battle of the Atlantic continuing for most of the duration of WWII, ship losses meant losses of trained personnel, among them the wireless operator. Who were these unknown and unsung wireless pioneers? One such pioneer was: FERN BLODGETT, (July 6, 1918 - September 19, 1991)
Fern grew up in Cobourg Ontario during the 1920s and '30s. Watching Great Lakes' steamers passing along the shores of Lake Ontario, Fern had childhood dreams of one day becoming a sailor and travelling the world, a life definitely not open to women at that time.
She completed Business School in 1939 and worked as a stenographer in Toronto.
Fern's youthful wish to go to sea was reawakened when the Merchant Marine began recruiting wireless operators in Canada. She applied to three wireless schools before being taken seriously and accepted as a student. Working as a steno by day, Fern attended night school for almost 18 months before writing her exams, which she passed among the top of the class. She became the first Canadian woman to earn a Second Class Wireless Operator’s certificate. On June 13, 1941, Fern graduated and answered an urgent call that would forever change her life.
Captain Gerner Sunde of the M/S Mosdale, a Norwegian merchant ship, desperately needed a radio operator in order to disembark from a Montreal port. Captain Sunde was shocked to see that his applicant was a woman. Neither Canada nor Britain permitted women to work aboard ships at sea. Luckily, Norway had no rule against it and Fern stepped into the role.
Fresh from radio school, almost 23, with no experience in operating or decoding, Fern found herself in charge of Mosdale's radio shack with instructions written in languages she didn’t know! Once clear of the St. Lawrence River on that first trip, Fern became violently seasick. However, being the sole operator, she had no choice and was handed a bucket to keep at her feet, somehow she coped. Fern gained her sea legs in time and soon proved to be a capable operator, but she often battled seasickness.
In 1939 Britain depended on its North Atlantic shipping routes. It was incredibly dangerous, as Allied ships fighting to get personnel and crucial supplies to Britain. The ocean battlefield held all kinds of danger, including German U-boats, enemy aircraft, at risk of hitting floating mines in uncharted waters and harsh storms, During the Battle of the Atlantic, 3500 Allied vessels sank, and 40,000 seamen died.
In all, 'Mosdale' made 98 crossings of the Atlantic of which Fern was aboard for 78.
Of the half dozen fruit carriers from Norway to start the Atlantic crossings in 1940, only Mosdale survived. A fast ship capable of 15 knots she often travelled alone. The crew hated it when they were assigned to so-called fast convoys of 8 knots. Many times Fern witnessed the horrors of torpedoing and the loss of ships and men.
Mosdale was a happy ship but they were glad to see the war's end. Nerves had been stretched to breaking point as everyone wondered how long their luck could last. In December of '45, after almost four and a half years on the harsh North Atlantic run, Fern left the ship to settle down at Kjorestad in her new homeland of Norway.
A year after joining the Mosdale’s crew, Fern had married Captain Sunde and after the war had two children. When Gerner Sunde died suddenly at sea, in January 1962, Fern remained in Norway, the only home her two daughters knew.
King Haakon VII of Norway visited Fern and Captain Gerner in 1943, presenting them with awards for their wartime service.
Fern was the first woman to receive the Norwegian War Medal.
Fern’s remarkable story became an unexpected beacon, leading to a small sisterhood of Sparks at sea. Fern was a trailblazer for her time and opened the door for many other women to join her in the radio operator’s room.
In Norway, seafarers who served on merchant vessels during WWI and WWII are called “krigsseilers” – literally, “war sailors”. Fern Alberta Blodgett Sunde, Canadian Sparks and courageous 'krigsseiler', died September 19, 1991. age 73.
Source YLRADIO - Western Canada Radio Website, Written byVE7ERA/ VA6ERA Olive Jesse Roeckner Olive visited Fern in Norway in June 1991. Fern passed away a couple of months later.
It was more than 40 years before the Royal Canadian Navy permitted women to serve at sea (1985), and a half-century before Britain’s Royal Navy allowed it (1993)
Fern Blodgett Sunde and the Battle of the Atlantic Commemoration 2020
October 2020 marked the 75th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the Battle of the Atlantic and Women’s History Month in Canada. The bronze monument of Fern Blodgett Sunde erected in Victoria Park, Cobourg, next to Lake Ontario, is in remembrance of the courage of all veterans who served in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Ref: Debra Dupuis The Canadian Amateur: September-October 2019
YL-Harmonics (YLRL) Sept/Oct 2020 p 26, Suzanne VE7IM
Silent Keys
LU5EOS Silvia Elena Orlando de Gomez died 12/10/2020, age 70
The Radio Club Pergamino (LU1DNQ) Argentina, regrets to announce the death of Mrs. Silvia Elena Orlando de Gomez wife of the Vice President of this Institution, dear friend and colleague LU9EOJ Antonio Oscar Gomez (CACHO) we accompany the friends and family in their grief at their loss; we pray for SILVIA's rest in peace
IU0LUZ Claudia Fanelli, a doctor from Cassino, FR Italy died 01/10/2020 Condolences to husband IZ0ANE Arnaldo and 3 children.
WB6NVO Sandra June Skinner became a Silent Key on 18 September 2020 after a long, difficult and valiant battle with Cancer.. Born in Bellingham, Washington (USA) in 1946.
(WB6NVO) enjoyed the comradery of her fellow "Hams" (including husband K6BPT) for 32 years. First licensed as a Tech (with code) in 1988, upgraded to General in March 2015, then to Extra in May 2015. She retired as a Senior Data Analyst in Aerospace.
CONTACT US:
https://web.facebook.com/ham.yls?_rdc=1&_rdr ‘HAM YL'
yl.beam news: Editor Eda zs6ye.yl@gmail.com
Earlier newsletters can be found on the website of WEST RAND ARC
wrarc-anode.blogspot.com & https://wrarc-anode.blogspot.co.za/
and: Italian Radio Amateurs Union: QTC U.R.I.
also @ https://www.darc.de/en/der-club/referate/yl/
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Calendar November 2020
Oct 31- Nov 1 Halloween – Witches-on-the-Air (Sat – Sun.) Radio Ladies-Portugal) 2020 - 5th year
Nov 01 Silent Key Memorial Contest (SKMC)
http://www.skmc.hu/en/rules.html
Hungarian Amateur Radio Society (MRASZ) hosts 1st November annually.
from 0600 to 0859 UTC on 80m & 40m. CW only. Call: CQ SKM
Nov 1- 30 “Maria Dolens On the air" The bell of peace in memory of the fallen of all wars
Nov 5 Brasil – Dia Nacional do Radioamador (Day of Radio Amateurs).
Nov 7 YL Net 1st Saturday of month, 2000 (UK) on GB3DA Danbury 2m repeater.
Nov 7-8 DOYL Day of the YLs memorial- F5isy Carine SK (Nov 3, 2019)
Nov 9 HEDY LAMARR DAY Inventor of "frequency-hopping”
Nov 10 Dia de la Tradición Actividades del GRUPO YL
Nov 11 Armistice day/Remembrance day – 102 years since the end of WW 1
Nov 14-15 Argentine Railways-on-the-Air 12th edition
Nov 20+21 UFT-YL-CW competition (French Union of Telegraphists)
Nov 25 International Day against Gender Violence (WOTR)
Nov 27 "FISTS Friday. aka "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving Nov. 26)
Nov 28 -29 CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW 0000Z, Nov 28 to 2400Z, Nov 29
