A Yell from an XYL
June 1963 Popular Electronics

June 1963 Popular Electronics Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Most amateur operators know that "YL" is Hamese for "young lady," meaning a female operator. Less well known these days is "XYL" which decades ago, referred to an ex-young lady, implying either an older woman or the wife of a Ham. According to the FCC's Universal Licensing System (ULS) online call sign lookup service, Popular Electronics' poet laureate K8AOU call sign is no longer assigned to anyone, so it's up for grabs. If there is a YL out there wanting a notable call sign, this might be worthy of your consideration. When I first posted this article in 2014 (it has been colorized and updated), the call sign had been assigned to an OM ("old man;" i.e., male operator).

A Yell from an XYL

She had just received her General

So she got right on the air;

CQ'd and made a contact

Without a bit of care

The QSO was a good one

With signals loud and clear;

Not a sign of QRN

Or QRM to interfere.

Now you'd think she'd have been delighted

With a contact such as this;

The report that she was given would have

Filled any other ham with bliss.

But she stomped out of the ham shack

And announced that she was through;

"That man said I was FORTY OVER

But I'm only THIRTY TWO!"

Posted October 4, 2021
(updated from original post on 4/8/2014)