Lelia Constanța Băjenescu ( born 21 May 1908, Corlate,

Dolj Dolj County (; originally meant ''Dol(no)- Jiu'', "lower Jiu", as opposed to ''Gorj'' (''upper Jiu'')) is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova. Demographics In 2011, the count ...

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

― died 15 December 1980,

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

, Dolj,

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People ...

) was the first female

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

operator in Romania.

Biography

Born on May 21, 1908, in Corlate (

Oltenia Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

), daughter of Gheorghe and Smaranda Petrescu. In 1926 she passed her bacalaureat at the "Elena Cuza" high school in

. In 1929 she married Telecommunication officer Ioan Titu Băjenescu. He, being quite interested by radio technology, produced, in collaboration with dr. Alexandru Savopol of Craiova, the first Romanian amateur radio show on short waves on September 26, 1926. Together, they built the first

short-wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

transmission-reception radio station in Romania and laid the foundations of the CV5 radio club of Craiova in 1928. Lelia Băjenescu was intrigued by her husband's radio activities. With her solid education, ability able to speak

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and French fluently, and well rounded culture, she quickly joined him. She learned the radio essentials and Morse alphabet by participating in the construction and commissioning of radio transmitter-receivers and mastered all of the key aspects of amateur radio. Soon she became the first female amateur radio operator of Romania, using her husband's

call-sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be form ...

, CV5BI. She contacted other radio amateurs from all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and even

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

from 1931 to 1933. She gave birth to Titu-Marius on the 2nd of April, 1933. He would later speak about his parents in an interview and an extended CV as the intro to his life's story.

Notes

References

* George Marcu, ”Băjenescu Lelia-Constantza (Lilly)”, in ''Femei de seamă din România de ieri și de azi'' (Notable women from the Romania of yesterday and today), Ed. Meronia,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, 2017, p. 45-46, ; * George Marcu; Rodica Ilinca, ”Băjenescu Lelia-Constantza (Lilly)”, in ''Enciclopedia personalităţilor feminine din România'' (Encyclopedia of female personalities from Romania), Ed. Meronia,

, 2012, p. 45, ; {{DEFAULTSORT:Băjenescu, Lelia-Constantza 1908 births 1980 deaths Romanian radio people Radio pioneers Amateur radio women People from Dolj County