Women in Ham Radio

I am a firm believer that women can do just as much as men and my
wife is living proof of that statement. Being in the military for
twenty years I was required to be away from my family for months at a
time and as such my wife quickly learned to do many of the usual tasks
around the home that are traditionally reserved for the man of the
house. In fact the personal joke for many years was to refer to her as
"Ms Villa" when something needed to be repaired at home. She has even
gone as far as changing out an engine on a small rally car which we
once had in Spain.Ham radio should be no different than any other task
for although one usually imagines the activity of radio communications
as being a male dominated game it is slowly being taken over by the
YL's of America. YL is short for young ladies of which all women are
addressed in ham radio regardless of their ages. It is the same as
calling all the male radio operators OM or old men.Most ham radio
organizations welcome women with open arms and are more than willing
to assist them in any way possible towards obtaining their technician
or higher license. An interesting point that was made to me in this
regards was that the normal high female voice makes it much easier to
understand and read a radio transmission than it would be for the
usual male voice. That characteristic is especially vital when
emergency radio communications is necessary and errors can not be
tolerated. During the good weather days women are taking to the
airwaves and chatting to their male counterparts about local or long
distance road conditions and the various community events which are
taking place in their part of the nation. However when a disaster
strikes and the storm clouds are on the horizon these same women are
busy sending out emergency communications via airwaves.Dawn Moss is
just such a woman. When her home was threatened by rising flood
waters, Dawn rushed her pets and children to a safe location and
quickly made her way to her local CERT center where she transferred
radio traffic for a continuous 36 hours. These messages were of an
emergency nature such as direct requests for help and various rescue
coordination transmissions.Ms. Moss is not alone in her pursuit of the
ham radio hobby. More and more women are learning the operations of
the radios, obtaining the necessary license and joining their
communities Amateur Radio Emergency Services. The number of these
female members has been increasing over the years and to this day
their numbers range as high as 30 percent in some areas. There are
more women involved today because they need only study some basic
electronics and possess a willingness to give back to their
community.I personally am planning to get my YL interested in the
program as well, for I feel it would be of great benefit in a retreat
to have the wife trained in radio use as well. If this sounds like
something you and your wife may be interested in you could conduct an
internet search of your area for ham radio clubs. They are all over
the nation.