At the time of landline railroad telegraphy, the males were traditionally referred to each other as OM (“old man”). What about the women? Starting from 1920 “YL” identified the women on the air by the American Radio Relay League referring to young ladies of all ages. Of course “Young Ladies” was better than “Old Lady”, that would certainly be really unwelcome.
From that time, many years were gone and a lot of YL operated from worldwide. Hamradio in general, has a huge debt to them. Their effort provide to our radio family a lot of fun. They were part of important dxpedition teams, they gained first places in contests. We listened them pass trough huge pileups before several well-known dxers and occasionally they provide us, also, a special sexy touch as this Mexican Lady Radio Amateur in thigh highs or IV3BSX with her erotic-soft QSL card.
Hamradio is a popular hobby and there are inside all facets of humanity. It is absolutely normal, to find inside all we are able to find in the our life’s.
Anyway, whatever was their effort, we must be grateful to all the YL of our hobby. Not only for what they did for dxing but also for their activities in Emergency Communication. Few years ago hamradio was a pure male-oriented hobby. It was mostly an hobby for males probably because it was based on electronics and CW, but today, many Ladies join in the “family” to serve during disasters. And from Emergency Communication the arrive to dxing more than before. Times are changing, sometimes in the wrong way, other times we are able to do a step forward to a better future.