Women in early radio
[2] In 1906, Anna Nevins, who had been a landline telegrapher for Western Union, began work as a wireless operator for Lee de Forest's station "NY", located at 42 Broadway in New York City.
[13] The first woman known to have worked professionally as a maritime radio operator was Annie Tucker, beginning in October 1908 aboard the Indianapolis,[14] which made four trips daily on Puget Sound between Tacoma and Seattle, Washington.
[15] Tucker originally worked at Western Union offices in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, initially as a bookkeeper, where she learned to send and receive Morse code.
[5] The couple relocated to Tacoma, Washington, where Robert Tucker became the manager of the local United Wireless Telegraph Company station.
[16] After Packer finished college studies, she decided to go into landline telegraphy,[17] and was employed for two years as the manager of the Sanford, Florida office of the Postal Telegraph Company.
During voyages to New York City she became interested in the ship's radiotelegraph equipment, and made arrangements with United Wireless to be trained for a shipboard position.
[18] On November 29, 1910, the Mohawk set off from New York City with Packer on board for the first time, on a regular run to Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville.
[22] In early 1912, she began training, under the supervision of R. H. Armstrong, manager of the Seattle office of the United Wireless Telegraph Company, to become a maritime radio operator.
[23] On June 6, 1912, she was the first woman issued a "Certificate of Skill in Radiocommunication" under the provisions of the Wireless Ship Act of 1910, qualifying her to work as a maritime operator.
[24] Kelso was hired by United Wireless, and effective July 1 assigned to the S.S. Mariposa, a steamship which traveled between ports at Seattle and in Alaska.
R. H. Sawler, the new head of the Seattle office, soon discharged Kelso from shipboard duties,[26] stating that "it was against the policy of the company to employ women operators".
Captain Horace E. Soule's wife normally traveled aboard the ship, so she completed American Marconi's three month wireless school program and received a first-class operator's license.
During this journey Mrs. Soule acted as the ship's purser and wireless operator,[32] although the radio equipment, installed in New York, failed while along the Atlantic coast of South America.
[8] In San Francisco the ship was put into drydock for refitting, and in late January 1913 arrived at company headquarters in Bellingham, Washington to begin the Bellingham/Alaska runs.
[30] Edith Coombs began working aboard the North Pacific liner Roanoke, based in San Francisco, on September 17, 1912, just after turning 18 years old.
"[16] However, one young woman, inspired by Graynella Packer, found that, despite meeting all the requirements for a similar posting, many obstacles remained, and concluded that "lady radio operators were no longer fashionable".
[38] However, in his 1935 book SOS To The Rescue, Karl Baarslag reported that in 1913 Margaret King had briefly served as an operator on the Eastland on the U.S. Great Lakes.
[3] Amateur radio became a popular hobby in the early years of the twentieth century, and many hobbyists built their own transmitting and receiving equipment.
Informally known collectively as "hams", use of the term "YL" ("young lady") to refer to individual female amateur operators, in contrast to "OM" ("old man") for males, was adopted by the American Radio Relay League in 1920.
[42] Because all early radio work was done in Morse code, and individual operators were commonly identified by short call signs, it was possible to remain anonymous if desired.
[47] When the US entered the war in April 1917, the NLWS established training program for female wireless operators at Hunter College in New York.
