2024-07-02

yl.beam #130 july 2024

Contents

  • 85th YLRL Convention Celebration
  • SARL RAE May 2024   Welcome New YLs
  • YL Recipient 2024 Yasme Excellence Award  Raisa R1BIG  
  • SYLRA 2025 Iceland Meet?  
  • Iceland    
  • Silent Key Patricia Nelson – KE0QXD  
  • OMIK Amateur Radio Association,  
  • Mary Watkins,103 years old,  Bletchley Park veteran  
  • Alan Turing – Enigma - Bletchley Park    
  • AO70AT- 70 Years after Alan Turing's Death
  • CONTACT  & Calendar

*****

85th YLRL Convention Celebration  (Young Ladies Radio League)
Will be in St George Utah, USA.  July 11th-14th. 2024
And our St George Convention Committee is chaired by Rachel KJ7CMI and her team.
There will be a meet and greet, tours, business meeting, banquet and fun!
The convention will be in conjunction with HamCon:Zion.

HCZ (HamCon:Zion):2024 July 12 & 13, is also the host event for The ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention, the RV Radio Network 2024 Western Rally, as well as the YLRL 85th Anniversary Convention, and HamCon:Zion will host various presentations and engage with amateur operators during this two-day event in St. George.
***** 

ZU6RK Rebekah during her RAE- HF assessment.
SARL RAE May 2024 -  Welcome to our newly licensed  ladies (YLs)
Tradition is not preserving the ashes but passing on the flame.
ZS1COG Claire, CT
ZS1DPW Lynnore,  Stillbaai, WC
ZS1GIS Giselle, Hout Bay
ZS3AB   Annick . Douglas. N Cape
ZS6AME Annemarie,  Magaliesburg
ZS6CRX Chantal, Pretoria
ZS6KRN Karen, Randburg
ZS6LB Lindi, Roodepoort,
ZS6MAG  Maria, Roodepoort,
ZS6NO Nina, Florida, WR
ZS6RST Ronel, Randfontein
ZU6RK Rebekah, Secunda
*****
Yasme Excellence Award YL Recipient 2024
Raisa Skrynnikova, R1BIG – For very actively promoting amateur radio on YouTube.
Her YL Raisa YouTube channel has more than 15,000 subscribers from all over the world, showing how a newcomer experiences amateur radio activities.
With her enthusiasm and charm, she attracts new comers and encourages radio amateurs that are looking for new challenges.
Well done Raisa, 33
*****
SYLRA 2025 Meet  (Scandinavian YL Amateur Assoc.)
Dear YL's. & everyone
Next year, 2025 TF land (Iceland) is supposed to hold the SYLRA meeting. Due to the fact that Iceland is becoming a very expensive tourist trap, Anna (TF3VB) and I (TF3VD) have been having a hard time trying to decide what to do without going into big personal financial risk.
And we have an idea: We are thinking about doing something different from other meetings in SYLRA. We are thinking about an expedition trip and run TF1SYL. We can go to a scout camp (Úlfljótsvatn scout centre) where we will have access to a 'shack' (Radio-scouts have one and will let us use it). Indoor sleeping in bunks, all meals. There is the  possibility of installing additional antennas and 'shacks' so we can be QRV all the time while it is bright outside. ..........oh wait a moment, it is bright outside all night in the end of  May in Iceland!
We are looking at the days Wednesday 28th of  May until Sunday 1st of June 2025.
Price will be affordable since the accommodation will be rented from the scouts.
First estimate is a maximum of 150.000 IKR. Including meals.

So here is a short survey for you - would you like to join us?
We need a minimum of 15 persons for this to be possible.
Please comment on our facebook or send email.. OMs are  welcome as usual!
TF3VD Vala Dröfn Hauksdóttir  · 18 June 2024  
tf3vd@amsat.org

SYLRA meets every other year.      https://sylra.is/SYLRA23/booklet23.htm
The founding meeting was in Denmark 2003 and the first open meeting was in Iceland 2005.
The countries that host the meetings are in this order:
OZ – Denmark
TF – Iceland
SM – Sweden
LA – Norway
OH – Finland

 Úlfljótsvatn
 Iceland
Founded in 1941, Úlfljótsvatn Scout and Adventure Centre, has been the home for Icelandic Scouts for over 80 years and is open to the public.
Located in the south west of Iceland, it is situated on Lake Úlfljótsvatn, which lies just south of Lake Þingvallavatn. It is approximately 70 km east of the capital Reykjavík.  
Iceland is one of the safest countries in the world with a rich history, involving Vikings and volcanoes. Easily reached from many major cities in Europe and North America.
*****

Does anyone know who the first African American YL was?

Silent Key - Patricia Nelson - KE0QXD,
Pat became a silent Key on January 29.2024, age 68.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, she moved to Minneapolis, MN, where she was involved with Fresh Air Radio - KFAI.  She hosted several shows and events on the air, and really liked broadcasting.  So much so, that she became a trainer at the station, which is 90% volunteer-based!
One of her students, who became a dear friend and co-trainer, Mike Stapp, KE0WW, told her about ham radio and his involvement of many years. It took a little over 10 years, but she studied and got her Tech. General and Extra ticket.  
She was an ARRL member. She was a lifetime member of OMIK and served as an Area Director of OMIK (primarily for African American folks) and a member of RARA (Queer Amateur Radio enthusiasts).
 Pat was the owner/principal of NelsonWorks, LLC, a business that provides computer  support for homes and small offices. She also served as a health care and an academic administrator.

OMIK Amateur Radio Association, Inc. founded August 17, 1952
by Black hams from the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky (USA).
 In the early 1950s, as Amateur Radio enjoyed a post-World War II boom, African American hams encountered discrimination. Many clubs denied membership to black hams and they were often subjected to deliberate interference on the air.
That was the impetus for forming their own association, the OMIK Electronic Communication Association. The acronym came about because most of the founders and initial members were from the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky (USA). OMIK, pronounced "Oh-Mike," had nothing to do with microphones or the ohm, the unit of electrical resistance, but "resistance" was certainly on the minds of its founders. Black Amateur Radio operators who encountered blatant racism in all aspects of their lives, including in their hobby of choice, finally had an on-air association they could call their own.
Founded in 1952 one of the first things that happened was the  establishment of  regular on-air nets so members had a virtual place where they could gather. The group soon expanded to become a national organization.
The OMIK group also discovered a priority public service they could render. At that time in U.S. history, black travelers were not welcomed in many hotels and restaurants, and that discrimination extended to all corners of the nation. There was a popular publication available that listed African-American-friendly accommodations--The Green Book, featured recently in the Academy Award-winning motion picture of the same title--but it was only printed once a year and thus was often out of date.

OMIK members realized that Amateur Radio operators who had mobile capabilities could get on the air as they drove through an area, speak with local hams, and learn of establishments that welcomed their business regardless of their race. Those hams could also report back their experiences and the group could maintain updated lists for members and others as they travelled. That information was freely available on the nets.
OMIK was the first and the largest organization for black Amateur Radio operators and is an American Radio Relay League affiliated club. Today they welcome members of all races and locations.
*****
Mary Watkins, 103 years old,  Bletchley Park veteran
Mary, who was born in 8 May 1920, got a job as a bookkeeper when she left school, but her life changed when, with the outbreak of war, she volunteered for the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women’s branch of the Army.  
Mary joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1939 at the age of 19. Because of her love of solving puzzles and crosswords, Mary was selected for special duties with MI8,  in London. MI8 was the signals intelligence department of the War Office that ran a  worldwide Y-stations network.
 She was told her work would be top secret and she would never be able to talk about it, nor would there be any formal recognition for what she did. As a result, as a member of the ATS, she started work on a punch card system of coded letters and numbers, which came from the German code device, the Enigma Machine. After being promoted to sergeant, she then went on to work at Bletchley Park, supporting the team that finally cracked the Enigma Code.
While at Bletchley, Mary met her first husband and having become pregnant, had to leave the military (around mid-1943).  After the war, she qualified as a teacher and was a deputy head in a Surrey school before retiring aged 61.
Having signed the Official Secrets Act, Mary never talked about her wartime work and her family only found out about it much later. Code cracker Mary, had previously only received a lapel badge in recognition for her intelligence work.
This 103 year old veteran, who helped Alan Turing crack the Enigma Code during World War 2 was finally recognised in 2023 for her service. Initially, Mary received a veterans’ pin badge similar to the lapel badge she had already been given for her services. Then her daughter Bobby had a call to say she was entitled to additional medals; one inscribed as a defence medal, the other a war medal that includes the dates of World War 2.
Mary Watkins' beloved mother, grandmother, great grandmother and Bletchley Park veteran died peacefully at Stildon, East Grinstead (UK) on 27th March, 2024  aged 103.

 Alan Turing – Enigma - Bletchley Park
In the field of radio communications, Mathematician Alan Turing led the Bletchley Park team in developing a machine which could decipher German messages during WWII. Decrypting the Morse codes sent by the Nazis through the "ENIGMA" machine it is estimated that their work shortened the duration of World War II by two to four years, resulting in a considerable number of lives saved.
 Turing's career ended suddenly after he was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952.  He was granted a posthumous pardon in 2013.
He died 7 June 1954 (age 41 years),

AO70AT- 70 Years after  Alan Turing's Death
To remember Alan Turing, the PADRÓN AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION (ASORAPA EA1RCI) are hosting the AO70AT station on the air, (info at QRZ.COM )
****
PLEASE update email -
failures for German yls using  @darc.de  & yls from Finland @sral.fi  
NB:  AMSAT Mail Alias Service is scheduled to end on August 1, 2024.The rise in domain name hacking and email account high-jacking has made it impossible to sustain this service

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****
Calendar
July 6  Marconi Memorial Contest HF 14:00
July 7  Marconi Memorial Contest   14:00 CW
July 7  Islamic New Year
July 9 1968  birth day of ORARI and Indonesian Radio Amateur Day.
July 11 - 14  YLRL Convention, @ St George Utah, USA.   2024
July 13 - 14  IARU HF Championships (2nd full weekend of July 2024).
July 20         Princess Elettra birthday - 94 in 2024 (daughter of Marconi)
July 21         ALARA  founded 21st July 1975
Julio 21        Concurso INDEPENDENCIA DEL PERU 2024
July 21         1st meeting-selvamar-news “In the street” Girona, 99 km NE of Barcelona.
                     https://selvamarnoticias.com/primer-encuentro-selvamar-noticias/
July 26, 2024 - 8th Aniversário YLs Portugal (started  JULY 26, 2016)
July  27 – 28   RSGB  IOTA Weekend (Islands on the Air) 1200 – 1200 UTC  

Aug 4 -10     YL event OL88YL Czech Republic
Aug 17 – 18  ILLW The 27th International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
Aug 25 – 26   A.L.A.R.A. Contest  (Australian Ladies AR Assoc.) last FULL weekend of August.