Contents
- Editorial New Year 2025
- SYLRA 2025 Cancelled
- Dutch YLs at HF day 2024
- Raisa R1BIG DXpedition
- Out-and-About: N6KLS Vicki Zumwalt YLRL
- Passion for Satellites Leticia Alonso LU5ILA
- Silent Keys - ZS6EM Elmarie Mccash LW1DGW. Maria del Carmen Romeo
Editorial: Hello Ladies – so grateful that we have made it together to another year.
Thank-you to those who shared and responded to the news-letters, it is much appreciated.
I love hearing from our lady operators across the world.
What do I wish for 2025? More On-the-Air time for all of us!
As technology continues to evolve we will need to continue networking, sharing and helping each other. Please keep your editor updated.
Best wishes for 2025 – see you down the log. 33 / 88 ZS5YH Heather (Eda)
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SYLRA 2025 Cancelled
Dear SYLRA friends,
unfortunately we have received an insufficient number of registrations for SYLRA 2025 and we must therefore cancel the event we were planning at lake Úlfljótsvatn, Iceland. The registration was very far from the minimum 15 persons we required.
We are looking at other options for hosting an event on the air and/or online and so on.
We will announce that at a later date. Our best regards to you all.
· Dec 1, 2024: Anna de TF3VB, Vala de TF3VD, Elín de TF2EQ, Guðrún de TF3GD
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Dutch YLs at HF day 2024 Posted on 22/09/2024 by pa1eng
Did you know that the Dutch Young Ladies Club is part of the VERON Traffic Bureau? From the moment that there is no longer a separate VERON YL committee, PI4YLC falls under the committee that deals with HF matters. And that committee organized the annual HF day again yesterday. A number of Young Ladies from the contest team were there. It was a beautiful sunny day full of ideas about what you can do on the bands.
At the HF day in Hoevelaken there were again interesting lectures about DX-peditions and Websdr, prizes for contests were awarded and there was enough space to meet acquaintances and strangers. There we also met other YLs who are active in our radio hobby. It was great to see Anne-Sophie NL13798 and Anneke PA3DGF again, just like last year, and to meet Marjolein PD2MDR.
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Raisa R1BIG’s First DXpedition
She will head to Cano Island in Costa Rica, Central America. (callsign TI1RRC) the only yl in the Team with 7 OM. Estimated dates of operation February 19th-25th, 2025
Watch an interview with Raisa on YouTube ·(click on link below) ·19 Dec 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo08QEywohY
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N6KLS Vicki Zumwalt Young Ladies' Radio League 20 Dec 2024
My son in law, Ahmed A. Ella who lives in Egypt, was able to set up a meeting with the The Egyptian Radio Amateurs Society For Development (ERASD) for me to meet their amateur radio operators. My thanks to (ERASD) for hosting myself and Ahmed A. Ella when I was in Cairo, Egypt.
The President, Mr Said Kamel, SU1SK, warmly welcomed us to their official meeting place where I presented 2 copies of Tom Schiller, N6BT’s book Array of Light. They were most appreciative and agreement was made for Tom to do a presentation to their club via zoom in the future.
Conditions were such that I was not able to make contacts from Egypt, however I was presented with 2 buttons from their club and their hospitality to us could not have been more pleasant. We shared several hours talking with them about amateur radio in their country and we felt fortunate for the generous amount of time these gentlemen spent with us.
We exchanged information and before leaving an invitation was extended for them to visit us in the U.S.A.
Of course my visit would not have been complete as the President of the Young Ladies Radio League had I not inquired about YL’s in Egypt? I was told that women in Egypt who are not hams resent their husbands hobby and present it as their husband’s other wife! It seems a reoccurring theme I hear. YL’s are very rare in Egypt. They were very interested to know about the YLRL, numbers of members and many other questions which I was more than happy to answer. I was treated in every respect as an amateur radio operator and never felt any difference because I was a YL and I look forward to going back!
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Leticia Alonso LU5ILA of Missions, Argentina, who in January 2023 reached the Crater Corona of the Inca in the Riojana range at 5.550 msnm, from where she made several contacts via satellite (see yl.beam #115 feb 2023)
Passion for Satellites
Leticia Alonso LU5ILA does not hide her passion for this mode of radio activation that amazed her. Here she tells us about her beginnings and how her husband Victor LU8IEZ and her children Veronica LU9IVN and Leandro LU1IAB accompany her on this journey.
Could you tell us how you were introduced to amateur radio and what motivated you to enter this world?
Since I was a child I wanted to be a radio amateur, I saw it in movies and I wanted to have my globe marked with pins from the countries I communicated with. In 2007 I had the opportunity to take the course and in 2009 I got my license, we traveled a lot and carrying a radio could be helpful, especially as we like extreme tourism.
Regarding satellite operations, when did you decide to make the transition and what were the main reasons behind this decision?
In 2019, while participating in Women's Day activities, I approached a large group of YLs united by Radio Club La Rioja, where several were doing various modes, including satellites. I began to collaborate with the Radio Club in organizing the activities and Blas LU8SAN insisted that I go out on satellite from Misiones, my home province. My husband gave me an antenna and I began to listen, encouraged by Patricia LU3FCA, who sent me material and information about it so that I could advance in satellites. That end of the year I got my first contact, which was with Patricia, my Satellite God-mother.
I never made a transition, rather I added one more mode, since I do Phones, Digital and Satellites. What is true is that satellites allowed me to channel my addiction to radio. I call it “15 minutes of glory,” which is the time it takes me to set up my antenna where I am and go out for the pass and I cut it off behind the pass, I finish and I can continue working, traveling or whatever I have to do, which doesn't happen to me when I do HF. I don't want to stop, I want to continue. In this way, I am able to operate a little radio, which gives me pleasure and I have a limit, which is the duration of the satellite pass.
What sensations did you experience when you made your first contact through satellites? How would you describe that experience?
It was night time and it was in AO 91, which could still be used in eclipse, LU3FCA Patricia came out and congratulated me, she kept jumping around the yard, she looked like a creature that had been given a treat.
I never thought that I would take my handy (talkie) and my antenna as my traveling companions.
Activating 100 grid locators is a considerable achievement. Could you share with us the key steps and challenges you faced to reach this milestone?
On my first vacation trip after leaving, I took my equipment to put it into practice,
when a satellite passed by, my husband would stop at the side of the road wherever he went and I would set up my antenna.
Totally naive, I bought a compass, but I trusted in my skills acquired with the scouts, that I would have no problems finding the north. Well at the first stop I lost the compass which I forgot on the hood of the truck. However the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; looking at the shadows, the mosses are always on the south on the trees and at night if you interpolate the Southern Cross with Canopus (it is the star Alpha Carinae) in between is the exact south, as long as it is not cloudy.
Well I bought another compass (just in case I bought two), but they did not last 1,000 km because I also lost them! It is clear to me that in this life I do not have my own north, hahaha. In the mountains, the mosses are to the west and the further south you go during summer, the sun is always to the north and has a slight movement from east to west, which I didn't notice either, and when I went into the mountains I didn't have internet so all the satellite passes in the app were deleted. Over time I solved these problems.
I also travel with two handys (hand-held radios) and three antennas, because I broke several. I capture the passes in images and I install apps that don't need internet, I synchronize them again when I reconnect. I'm not the one who plans, because when I plan that I want to leave a certain place the satellite is off, hahaha.
As for challenges, I have gone out in storms, cold (-10°) and without equipment because in the north it is hot; altitudes that I am not used to, making it is difficult to breathe; extreme heat, at night, with so much wind that I could not open the door of the van.
I have gone out to the most incredible places in Argentina and when I got my international permit (IARP) I added southern Brazil and Paraguay.
But the funniest thing was that I was on the side of the road doing satellites and a truck with animals passed by and I was bathed in urine and cow feces. I was angry and shouting on the side of the road. I approached our truck and my family looked at me and said, "You're not getting in like that, dirty!" hahaha. I changed between two doors and cleaned myself as much as I could, but the smell was horrible and we still had 600 km to go home, hahaha.
The worst thing of all is to go back and sit down to confirm the contacts. It is an important administrative task. You have to request aliases on the platforms, since there's no point in activating a grid if you're not going to confirm the contacts.
At any point in your career did you imagine that you would become the only woman recognized worldwide among the top twenty positions in the AMSAT ranking? What does this achievement mean to you?
I didn't think about it, but a friend Claudio LU7DW insisted that I apply for the ROVER certificate (activator). When I submitted my application, they asked me if I had really activated those grid locators and not done them from my house? I sent photos with signs from where I left and the reports that Google sent me of the places I visited during that period.They congratulated me and explained that I was halfway to obtaining the AR-wardVUCC www.amsat.org/reverse-vucc-or-vucc-r-award/ and that they expected me to achieve it. At that time I had 52 grids and then I thought that I wanted to reach 100 grids to apply for it; there were only a few awarded in the world and I wanted to get on the list and I worked hard for it.
I was awarded number 17 (first awarded to YL and first awarded to South America) and behind me another YL applied for it, today there are 18 awarded in the world.
I also had help from my family who accompanied me on this crazy adventure and my Godmother LU3FCA, great hunter of grid locators, who was always on the other side accompanying me on each trip notifying me from where I was leaving, giving me information about whether the satellites were active as I did not have internet in many places, and every so often, if we were alone, she would go out so I could continue the journey encouraging me to call and all my travel companions that I call who always accompany me on my satellite trips and with whom I always share a photo of where I am.
What message would you like to convey to women interested in exploring the field of amateur radio? What are, in your opinion, the main benefits and challenges of this field?
To the women who are interested, I can say that everything is possible if you want it, if you are determined to do everything for it, not only in amateur radio but also in life itself. There is no achievement without sacrifice, which makes us feel great emotions, if there is no effort behind each achievement, there is no satisfaction in having achieved it and the driving force is the passion of doing what you like.
The main benefits are knowledge, experience, and countless friends around the world. I think Roberto Carlos fell short in wanting to have a million friends, radio makes it possible. The challenges in this field? They are big, you have to build stations, antennas, dare to go out, start with what you have and what you can achieve, and step by step, with time you become more skilled in radio, you gain knowledge and experience.
How have your family reacted regarding your dedication and achievements in amateur radio?
My family are also radio amateurs, but without their support and collaboration I could not do what I enjoy. According to them when I activate satellites they say that I am "ET phone home", ET calling home and that at any moment they are going to abduct me, haha. They encourage me to continue, they follow my travel routes, they accompany me to grids that I have not activated, they sit on the side of the road to wait, sometimes for hours, for the satellite to pass over so as not to miss the grid. Or they go 70 km on a trail because there is a grid. On the last trip, my husband accelerated to get to the grid in time for the next pass; we were talking and we went too far and there were only minutes left... and I am saying “come back, come back because we went too far,” hahaha. I call them my heroes (LU8IEZ, LU9IVN and LU1IAB)
Finally, could I say a few words to the YLs of Chile and Argentina, encouraging them to continue on the path of amateur radio? Be passionate about what you do in your life and if it is radio, even more so. Involve your loved ones in this, so that it is not a burden for them and it is a way of life. Share it with your partners and children, who you know and even if they are not radio amateurs, join us and do not feel excluded, that way you will achieve great goals.
As we say in my family, let's go out and drink maté on the road and why not activate a new grid... Email: leticiara29@hotmail.com
By Jorge Tisera LU9OTA
Selvamar News - Publication No. 58 December 2024 p28, p29,30
https://download.frcuba.cu/REVISTAS/REVISTA%20SELVAMAR/Selvamar_58%20diciembre%202024.pdf
VUCC/r Award (VHF/UHF Century Club for Rovers)
maté is an Argentine herbal tea
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Silent Keys
ZS6EM Elmarie Mccash S/k 12/12/2024
From Vanderbijlpark (South Africa) she was licensed in October 2021, She was the secretary of the Sasolburg ARC and was often heard reading the Club's weekly. Her hamburgers were very popular at club events. She bequeathed her radio equipment to the club. She will be missed.
LW1DGW. Maria del Carmen Romeo (Argentina)
The news of the death of colleague María del Carmen Romeo LW1DGW caused deep sorrow.
Originally from Tandil, she settled in the sea-side city to study at the University of Mar del Plata, where she settled permanently.
She was a life member of the Mar del Plata Radio Club LU2DT, which counted her for years as a collaborator and as a member of boards of directors in different periods. Her husband Luis Alberto López LU4ECO, came to serve as president of the institution.
María del Carmen was also linked to the cultural and artistic environment of the city of Mar del Plata. 10/12/2024 by Carlos Almirón LU7DSY
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