2017 Q2 Spring
Young Ladies' Radio League District 6 - Spring 2017
YLRL News & Views - District 6 - California
ARRL Affiliated Since 1939
Celebrating Women and Girls
of all Ages in Amateur Radio
YLRL Web Resources
YLRL National Page: www.ylrl.org
Facebook page: facebook.com/www.ylrl.org
Facebook group:
Young Ladies' Radio League, Inc.
District 6 - California
July 8 - KM6CIR Ladies of the Net to Activate the RMS Queen Mary Ship Station W6ROThe Ladies of the Net group continues to increase. We now have many ladies in the Southern California region. The event planned for July 8th will be on board the Queen Mary W6RO in their beautiful radio room. Our group has exclusive use of the transmitters and will be rolling a special event on board the vessel. Any ladies interested in participating may contact Tina KK6KSY for further details. Her email address is on her QRZ page. A beautiful commemorative certificate suitable for framing will be issued to all those who participate. Many of us will be staying at the hotel on board the ship. Please plan to attend and meet our friendly group.
Amateur Radio Exhibit at May 13 Girl Scouts STEAM Expo in Sacramento
The May 13, 2017 Sacramento Girl Scouts STEAM Expo celebrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics was held from 2-6 PM in the parking lot of the Girl Scouts Heart of Central California Office, 6601 Elvas Ave, Sacramento, CA.
On May 6, Kaayla Jaret, KA6YLA, Roger Cain KI6FYF and Carol Milazzo KP4MD conducted a survey of the ARRL Sacramento Valley Section/YLRL Amateur Radio Booth Site.
For HF we proposed a 40 meter full wave loop antenna--a 140 feet perimeter square of thin wire, approximately 35 feet on each side, and suspended from the tops of twenty foot telescoping fiberglass poles. The poles would be secured to existing posts with nylon cable ties. This location was expected to offer a clear path for radio propagation to the northeast, east and southeast.
Over 200 Girl Scouts of all ages attended Girl Scouts STEAM Expo on Saturday, May 13, 2017. The volunteers who assisted at the Amateur Radio Booth included the W6SFM Samuel F. Morse ARC President Michael Aretsky, N6MQL, North Hills RC President Kaayla Jaret, KA6YLA, River City ARCS Member James Chin, KK6FON, ARRL SV Section Youth Coordinator Dr. Duane Wyatt, WAØMJD, ARRL SV Asst. Section Manager Roger Cain, KI6FYF and ARRL SV Section Manager and YLRL District 6 Chair Dr. Carol Milazzo, KP4MD.
Our Amateur Radio Station operated using Kaayla's call sign KA6YLA. The HF station consisted of an Icom IC-756 Pro III and the 40 meter full wave Loop SkyWire at 20 feet. We used an Icom IC-7000 and a "split dipole" antenna on 2 meter FM.
For the adult leaders and parents we provided literature about amateur radio, the Young Ladies' Radio League and the ARRL and the new ARRL Girl Scouts Radio and Wireless Technology Patch program, and how to contact their area amateur radio clubs for assistance.
The Morse Code practice stations were very popular with the scouts, where they completed a look-up worksheet and learned how to use a telegraph key to send their names in Morse Code.
YL HF Nets
Weekdays 10:00 am PT
Ladies of the Net 7245 kHz LSB
Thursday 11:00 am PT (1800 UTC)
Tangle Net 14297 kHz USB
Thursday 6 pm PT (0100 UTC) - YLRL Net 14288 or 7198 kHz
Friday MINOW Net 8:30 am PT - 3812 kHz LSB
EchoLink Nets
Thursday YL Net 5 pm PT (0000 UTC) - EchoLink ALARA Conference Server Node 286905 or DoDropIn Chat
Thursday MINOW Net 7:30 pm PT (0230 UTC) - EchoLink ALARA Conference Server Node 286905
YL Contests
ALARA YL Contest - Aug 26-27, 2017
DX/NA YL Contest - Oct 6, 2017 1400 UTC - Oct 8, 2017 0200 UTC
YL-OM Contest - Feb 2, 2018 1400 UTC - Feb 4, 2018 0200 UTC
YL Forums & Conventions
July 18-21, 2017 CLARA 50th Birthday Bash, Winnipeg, Manitoba
October 21, 2017 YL Forum at ARRL Pacificon Division Convention, San Ramon, CA (Tentative)
April 20-22, 2018 YL Forum at International DX Convention, Visalia, CA (Tentative)
Scouts also experienced the excitement of their first on the air contacts with radio amateurs via 2 meter FM. The Reverse Beacon spots that we received demonstrated that the HF antenna radiated quite well. Unfortunately, the S9 power line noise level from nearby commercial power lines did not permit the HF contacts on CW and voice that we attempted on 7 and 14 MHz. We hope that a magnetic loop receiving antenna can eliminate the noise sufficiently for successful HF operation during our next activation from this site. The event organizers, adult leaders and scouts enthusiastically appreciated our participation and requested our return for future events.
Your local Girl Scout Council will appreciate your contacting them to participate in their STEM activity fairs. Set up a booth with an operating amateur radio station. Download and display the flyer, checklist and the full curriculum for the Girl Scouts Radio & Wireless Patch from the ARRL page http://www.arrl.org/girl-scouts-radio-patch. The patch program details all sorts of fun and easy tasks and activities within the ability of young and school age girls. The authors of the curriculum did all the work for us!
YL Forum at 2017 Visalia International DX Convention
The International DX Convention in Visalia, California held its first formal YL Forum on April 22 with approximately 40-50 attendees, both YLs and allies.
Leading our 40 minutes interactive YL Forum was Gayle Olson-Binder, K6GO. Assisting on the panel were Linda Souder W6QE, Anna Sombor W6NN, and Dr. Carol Milazzo KP4MD.
Gayle Olson, K6GO, is a member of The San Diego DX Club, the YL DXpedition club, the ARRL and YLRL, the Palomar Amateur Radio Club, Poway Amateur Radio Society, ARES, and is VE for SANDARC, ARRL and W5YI. Gayle shared many slides of the exotic DX locations from which she has operated.
Linda Souder, W6QE, member and winner of the prestigious Clipperton Award of the Southern California DX Club spoke of her experiences as an active DXer. Anna Sombor, W6NN, shared a dazzling photo show of how she and her boyfriend Rich KE1B have turned their every vacation on many Caribbean islands into a DXpedition.
Dr. Carol Milazzo, KP4MD, is a member of the River City Amateur Radio Communications Society, the Samuel F. Morse Amateur Radio Club, and the current YLRL District 6 Chair and ARRL Sacramento Valley Section Manager. Carol shared an invitation to join the YLRL and a slideshow with photos about the logistics and joy of packing an amateur radio station in a roller bag to a vacation condo in Puerto Rico for a budget DXpedition.
The program was followed by a lively question and answer session with the audience, most of whom signed up and availed themselves of YLRL promotional materials. Many attendees complimented us during the remainder of the convention on how they enjoyed the YL Forum and how they wished it had more time allotted.
Thanks to Gayle for organizing this successful forum!
New Children's STEM Book Will Feature the Young "Ada Lace" Adventure in Amateur Radio
Emily Dawn Calandrelli, KD8PKR, is an engineer from MIT, astronautics expert, former NASA employee and a licensed radio amateur. She is also the host of Xploration Outer Space, a Saturday morning children's television show in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) block of Xploration Station, and a field correspondent on Bill Nye Saves the World.
Emily is a professional speaker and presents on the topics of space exploration, scientific literacy, and equality of the sexes in STEM. Calandrelli is also a contributing writer at TechCrunch where she writes on technology developments in the space industry.
Emily writes about "Take Me to your Leader", a yet to be published book in her "Ada Lace Adventure" series of children's STEM books [no doubt a take-off on the historic Ada Lovelace]: "I'm excited to share the cover of the third book in the Ada Lace series! In the 3rd book, Ada learns all about radio waves and makes unexpected contact." The first two books of the Ada Lace Adventure series are now available for pre-order on Amazon.
YL Forum at 2016 PACIFICON Convention
Women in Amateur Radio
Women amateur radio operators (YLs) and members of YL clubs and groups joined the Saturday October 15 at 4 pm YL Forum at the ARRL Pacificon Division Convention at the San Ramon Marriott. The forum held in the Pleasanton/Danville Room included a brief presentation on our historical background information and current achievements, issues and challenges that women face in the amateur radio community.
Our speakers included Diana Feinberg, AI6DF, the ARRL Los Angeles Section Manager, Vicki Zumwalt, N6KLS, ARRL Pacific Division Assistant Director, Misa Siemons, KJ6BUE, Pacificon Chair, Janet Fisher, KK6RXO and Debbie Johnson, WB6LVC, of Ladies of the Net and others. Other YLs and representatives of YL clubs and groups shared their programs and accomplishments at the forum. The forum was open for all who attended to discuss their interests and activities and ways that we can network together.
PACIFICON is the annual ARRL Pacific Division convention, held each year in October. It is THE premier amateur radio conference in the western U.S.
October 11 is Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)
Limor "Ladyada" Fried, AC2SNPosted October 8, 2016
Graduate student, Fried posted plans of an open-source MP3 player and other electronic projects on her MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) webpage. The plans became so popular, she started making kits and selling them. In 2005 MIT hacker & engineer, Limor Fried known to her fans as Lady Ada (a nod to Ada Lovelace*, who’s been called the world’s first computer programmer), founded Adafruit Industries.
The company was an organic outgrowth of her own DIY projects online, which, she discovered, found an eager audience. “People loved the tutorials, and there was nothing else like it at the time,” says Fried.
Need to spec a battery? Don’t know how to solder? Want to sew electronics into your pants? Adafruit’s got an online tutorial.
Learning electronics and computer science can be intimidating—there's so much to know and do. 'Ask an Engineer' a weekly show started in 2010 in Fried's living room. The concept was that viewers could ask her any questions about engineering while she was assembling electronics kits and Phillip Torrone, her spouse, was preparing shipments. Using YouTube, company mascot Adabot and Fried herself, teach computer-generated robot engineering basics, “More people in the world can sew and do crafts than electronics,” she told Embedded Computing Design magazine in 2014. Today Adafruit offers two wearable platforms FLORA and GEMMA, and features interesting applications for both in a blog series, #Wearable Wednesday.
The first female engineer to ever grace the cover of Wired magazine; a maverick with an unconventional management style and a bright pink hair coif, Fried has made it her mission to educate others — especially young people and women — about the endless possibilities of DIY electronics.
*Ada Lovelace (10 Dec. 1815 -27 Nov. 1852) English mathematician and writer.
All YL Episode on Ham Nation Webcast
September 7, 2016 on TWIT TV
On September 7, 2016 the Ham Nation webcast was an all YL episode. Here is the video with a table of contents. In her talk, Katie Allen Breen WY7YL explains challenges that she and many other YLs face when entering amateur radio.
0:00 Leo Laporte W6TWT opens the program introducing hosts Val Hotzfeld NV9L, Amanda Alden K1DDN, Katie Allen WY7YL, & Dr. Tamitha Skov
5:20 Video of YL's around the world - Val
9:00 Interview with DXpeditioner Helen Archibald, VA1YL - Val
15:50 DX News and Conventions - Val
18:25 Katie Allen Breen, WY7YL shares her experience in Ham Radio
30:30 Icom America Commercial
33:15 Amateur Radio Newsline™ - Lisamarie Luminais
39:15 Space Weather and HF Propagation - Dr. Tamitha Skov
1:06:30 DX Engineering Commercial
1:09:10 Smoke and Solder - Audrey Mc Elroy, KM4BUN explains transistors
1:17:00 Public Service & Ham radio - Amanda Alden K1DDN
1:25:00 Chat Room Questions - Abbi Wilson KF5BEW & Kendra Wilson KF5FYS Wilson
Young Ladies' Radio League in District 6
In August 2016 I started serving as District 6 Chair (California) for the Young Ladies' Radio League (YLRL), ARRL affiliated and founded in 1939 with a current international membership of about 1,100 YL (Young Ladies, that is, women and girls of all ages) ham operators. The YLRL's primary purpose is "to encourage and assist YLs throughout the world to enter into the Amateur Radio Service." The YLRL encourages women's and girls' participation in amateur radio through YL contests, YL nets, member news in the bi-monthly journal YL-Harmonics, and also sponsors scholarships for YLs who pursue education in communications and electronics or related areas (science, technology, engineering and math).
A majority of newly licensed YLs are Technicians. More YL role models and all Elmers are needed to reach out and welcome both new and inactive YLs and encourage them to get on the air and to upgrade and join our mainstream amateur community. (The "Ladies of the Net" YL net meets on 7245 kHz LSB weekdays at 10:00 am Pacific Time). We see new opportunities to include YLs in our youth outreach through the Maker movement and through helping to implement the new ARRL "Radio and Wireless Technology" Patch Program in our local Girl Scout troops. This is good for the growth and health of our entire amateur community. Please do encourage YLs on the air, in your communities, and in your clubs to join this mission to welcome more YLs to our fascinating hobby by contacting me or the YLRL.
33, Carol Milazzo, KP4MD, YLRL District 6 Chair
October 20-22, 2017 Jamboree on the Air
If you do not plan to attend the Pacificon convention, consider reaching out to your local Brownies, Cubs, Boys or Girl Scout troop to offer an Amateur Radio demonstration and to support their participation in the Oct. 20-22 Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) to communicate with other scouts around the world. Offer to help your local Brownies, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts earn the Scouting Radio Merit Badge and the ARRL Girl Scout Radio and Wireless Technology Patch. JOTA officials ask participants and to report their experience. Read more.
73, Carol Milazzo, KP4MD
Young Ladies' Radio League District 6 Chair
You can always send compliments, suggestions and submissions for inclusion in our news to kp4md(at)arrl.net
ARRL Now Offering New "Radio and Wireless Technology" Patch Program for Girl ScoutsPosted August 25, 2016
The ARRL has begun offering a new Girl Scouts "Radio and Wireless Technology" patch program that offers opportunities for participants to learn about wireless technology, including Amateur Radio. Scout leaders and Amateur Radio volunteers associated with the Greater Atlanta Girl Scout Council and Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains developed the program to incorporate information and exploratory activities that provide a backdrop for understanding radio communication. The program will encourage Girl Scouts to take on activities to gain knowledge and skills, as well as kindle an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects and careers.
"The initiative for the program came about through my conversations with hams who wanted to work with Girl Scouts as well as Boy Scouts and wanted a patch program that would introduce ham radio, as the 'Radio' merit badge does in the Boy Scouts," said ARRL Education Services Manager Debra Johnson, K1DMJ. "I was introduced to a group of leaders with the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta who wanted to work in developing a new, fun patch program for radio that would fit with the Girl Scout Leadership Experience structure. This group was joined by Jill Galus, KB1SWV, of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains in New Hampshire. We collaborated on this over the course of several years." Galus's father, "Skip" Youngberg, K1NKR, and a team from the Nashoba Valley Radio Club helped test-drive the new patch program with Girl Scouts in New Hampshire, during "Thinking Day on the Air" this past February.
The program defines the requirements for Girl Scouts to earn the patch at the Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador levels. Girl Scouts can learn the fundamentals of radio communication and wireless technology, from broadcasting to smartphones, and apply what they learn to connect people, enhance safety, and explore related careers. In addition to acquiring the fundamentals, participants can explore radio science through hands-on learning with Amateur Radio, and use radio to talk around the world and for public service. They also can learn about the role of wireless technology in everyday life and in careers. Read more.
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