New awards for YLs

The Oceania DX Contest will be held on 2nd and 3rd of October for phone and October 9th and 10th for CW between 0600z Saturday and 0600z Sunday.

The aim of the contest is to promote HF contacts with stations in the Oceania region, i.e., 9M6, DU, KH6, VK, ZL, YB, Pacific islands and all other Oceania entities.

See the full rules at Rules (oceaniadxcontest.com)

This year ALARA (Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association) is sponsoring two awards for YLs for the first time.

The Florence McKenzie (Mrs Mac) Award is for the YL (“young lady”) Single Operator entrant from inside Oceania with the highest combined score in the Phone and CW sections.

The Austine Henry YL Awardis for the YL Single Operator entrant from outside Oceania (i.e. the rest of the world) with the highest combined score in the Phone and CW sections

These awards recognise two women who have made significant contributions to amateur radio in Australia. Florence McKenzie is the first known licenced lady amateur in Australia. She established the Women’s Emergency Signal Corps to provide a morse code training facility and became known as Mrs Mac.  Austine Henry was first licenced in 1930. She constructed her own transmitters, for which she won prizes. She was a member of the RSGB, NZART, ARRL, and a foundation member of YASME. You can read more about them on the Oceania DX Contest website.

Please promote this contest to your members to encourage more activity from YLs on the air. They just need to exchange signal reports and a serial number starting at 001.

Make sure they tick the YL box when they put in their entry to make sure they are eligible for the new award.

Stay safe,

33  Shirley VK5YL

VP  ALARA