Awards
Hamvention® 2010 Awards
Frank Beafore, WS8B – Chairman
David Crawford, KF4KWW – Assistant Chairman
Hamvention® 2010 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2009 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2008 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2007 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2006 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2005 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2004 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2003 Award Winners
Hamvention® 2000 Award Winners
Past Hamvention® Amateur of the Year Award Winners
2010 Hamvention® Award Winners (PDF Format)
Three amateur radio (ham) operators who have made significant contributions to the Amateur Radio Service, will be honored guests when Hamvention® 2010 opens in Hara Arena on May 14. In addition, a club of the year will be honored in keeping with the 2010 Hamvention theme, Amateur Radio Clubs Worldwide: The Lifeline.
"Choosing the finalists was a difficult process due to the number of fine nominations" said Frank Beafore, Chairman of the Awards Committee. This year, an additional award category was added - Club of the Year. This award honors a ham radio organization that contributes to the good of Amateur Radio.
"Although we narrowed our club choice to North Fulton, GA, we had a number of deserving candidates" stated Beafore. "The winner of this year's award is certainly a great example of the thousands of clubs and organizations around the world perpetuating our avocation".
An intimate dinner on May 15 will be held in downtown Dayton honoring the 2010 Hamvention Award winners.
Recipients of this year's Hamvention® awards are:
Special
Achievement - Dick Ross/K2MGA for his excellent work over the past
number of years on CQ magazine.(PDF Format)
In September, 2010, Dick Ross will mark his 50th anniversary with CQ magazine. Dick started working for Cowan Publications and quickly worked his way up to Associate Editor for CQ Magazine. In July, 1964 he was promoted to Editor of CQ when Cowan Publishing moved its offices to Long Island. As Dick got more involved with the business side of the magazine, Dick in 1976 was elevated to VP/General Manager, Cowan Publishing, Corp where he was responsible for all fiscal matters and publishing operations for five publications. By 1979, he was General Manager and Controller for all of Cowan Publications, which at the time was publishing seven magazines. CQ was not the strongest of them, and Publisher Richard Cowan was considering shutting it down.
Sensing an opportunity, Ross and his successor as CQ Editor, Alan Dorhoffer, K2EEK, bought the magazine from the Cowans in 1979 and set out to build it into a totally new publication that would instill a new vitality to the ham radio hobby. Dick and Al quickly got the magazine on a solid footing and within three years, they were ready to start expanding. Popular Communications was introduced in 1982. In the years since then, CQ has published a variety of magazines and books. In 1992, the company added videos to its product line, followed by CDs, calendars and more. Today, CQ Communications publishes CQ, Popular Communications, CQ VHF and WorldRadio Online. The latter, acquired in late 2008, is the first major on-line-only ham radio magazine.
Over the course of the past 50 years, Dick Ross has also become a respected leader in the ham radio community, working closely with the many businesses that make up the ham industry, as well as with contesters, DXers and other active hams through oversight of the CQ contest and award programs. He is also responsible for starting the CQ DX, Contest and Amateur Radio Halls of Fame, which honor outstanding amateurs in all areas of the hobby.
He knows that the real future of amateur radio lies in the next generation of hams. As such he is a fervent supporter of bringing more youth to our hobby. He dedicates space in CQ and Worldradio Online to the achievements in ham radio by its youngest members through the "Kids Korner" column in CQ written by teenager Brittany Decker, KB1OGL, and in Worldradio OnLine in the longtime "Youth Column" penned by former Hamvention Radio Amateur of the Year, Carole Perry, WB2MGP.
In yet another youth oriented undertaking, since 1996, Dick (and CQ) have been one of two key corporate underwriters of the "Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award." As a result, beginning in 1996 with Toby Metz, KB0UIM, everyone selected to be a Young Ham of the Year Award recipient has had the opportunity to attend Spacecamp in Huntsville Alabama and take the course of his or her choice.
It is with great pride and pleasure we recognize Dick Ross as this years Dayton
Hamvention Special Achievement Award.
Technical
Excellence - Simon Brown / HB9DRV for the invention and development
of Ham Radio Deluxe. (PDF Format)
“I am very honored to have been awarded the Dayton Hamvention 2010 award for technical excellence, following in the footsteps of Tom McDermott, NE5G (2008) and Copthorne "Cop" Macdonald, VY2CM (2009).
Simon was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England on October 2nd, 1957. From the age of eleven he was fascinated by electronics and especially radios. First transmission experiments were sadly unsuccessful - connecting a microphone in series with the mains power cable of an old radiogram. Despite this and similar setbacks, the UK Radio Amateur Examination was passed in the winter of 1973. His first call sign GD8IQM (February 26th, 1974), then after passing the CW exam at 12 wpm GD4ELI (September 18th, 1975). Finally he obtained his Swiss license HB9DRV issued on June 12th, 2001.
From 1976 to 1979 studied for a degree in electronic engineering and mathematics at Bangor University, North Wales, passed with 1st class honors. He never worked as an electronics engineer, instead chose to excel in computer software development in the early 1980's. Left UK for Germany in 1986, then Belgium in 1988, followed by Switzerland in 1989.
In 1991 started his Ham radio programming passion with the program FT-817 Commander followed by Ham Radio Deluxe in mid-2003 with Peter Halpin PH1PH (SK). As of January 1, 2010 he has concentrated 100% on radio-related software. He is the founder of sdr-radio.com specializing in software defined radio. Simon currently lives in Laax, Switzerland with four cocker spaniels.
Amateur
of the Year - Jim Stafford / W4QO for 50 years of service to Amateur
Radio and his support for public service and unending efforts to recruit and
develop hams of all ages.(PDF Format)
Jim grew up on a farm in south central Indiana where he became an amateur operator at age 16 as KN9MAF. After graduating Purdue University and MIT in Electrical Engineering he started career at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ. He progressed through a number of positions at A.T.&T., Southern Bell, Bellsouth, finally retiring after 30 years as AVP - IT in 1994 in Atlanta.
Early on Jim reached out to young people to get them interested in the sciences and Amateur Radio. While a member of the Metro Atlanta Telephone Pioneer Radio Club, started a program called RadioActive Schools, taking science in general and amateur radio specifically to over 2000 students over several years. For 10 years beginning in 1990 as Station Manager, installed and managed the ham radio station (W4WOW) at the SciTrek Science Museum in Atlanta. Based on his work with youth and adults teaching amateur radio, was given the ARRL Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year award for 1992.
An avid QRPer, joined the QRP Amateur Radio Club International executive board in 1995, serving as VP in 1999, president 2000 to 2002 and chairman of the Four Days In May event in 2005. Most recently as a long time member of the North Fulton Amateur Radio League (NFARL) joined a team of 4 others to rejuvenate the club.
Jim became the president of NFARL in the fall of 2006. Due to club having only 57 members and only 6-10 routinely at dinner meetings the club skipped Field Day that year. Today the club has over 250 members, weekly activities for all ages, and is a Special Service Club.
Jim presently serves as the club’s youth/school liaison. He is also a
member of the SEDX club, the SE Contest Club, the Atlanta Radio Club, NFARL,
MATPARC, and a life member of the ARRL. He is an active member of Fellowship
Bible Church, Roswell, GA. He is married to Marilyn, K4ZOL, and has 2 children
and 2 grandchildren.
Club of the Year - North Fulton Amateur Radio League, NFARL, North Fulton, GA - Serving the greater Atlanta Area, the State of Georgia and the US with emergency services, training and the preparation of Amateur Radio in general. (PDF Format)
The North Fulton Amateur Radio League, NFARL, is the premier club in the greater North Fulton County, Georgia area with over 250 active members. The club features a variety of activities to appeal to the widest range of amateur radio interests from DXing and contesting to QRP operating, rag chewing and project building. We invite every ham and newcomer to the hobby to visit the friendliest club in the area.
Our monthly meetings focus on topics with broad appeal presented by highly rated speakers. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) offer in-depth training and discussion on topics such as antennas, learning CW, contesting and complex kit building. Mid-Month-Madness events offer opportunities to build antennas and kits, visit members’ shacks, explore new operating modes, delve into the bone yards at local hamfests and similar activities.
We seek to help every member grow in their skills and enjoyment of the hobby. HamCrams help new hams earn their first license and quickly upgrade to General followed by Extra classes to encourage the next upgrade step. A mentoring program helps ensure every ham has access to an “Elmer” and VE sessions are conducted bi-monthly. A weekly TechNet encourages discussion of all things technical, and a weekly YouthNet offers an opportunity for our young and older members to interact. We promote Ham radio to schools and Scouting and encourage youth membership and participation in all our events.
The club places a major emphasis on the public awareness of Field Day and enjoyed
the largest participation in the nation in 2009. Our sister club, the North
Fulton ARES, serves the communities of Alpharetta, Roswell, Johns Creek and
Sandy Springs. The club maintains six repeaters including EchoLink access and
an internet accessible remote base station capable of operation on 11 bands.
2009 Hamvention® Award Winners
Amateur of the Year - Wade D. "Danny" Hampton Jr., K4ITL, of Raleigh, North Carolina, is the architect of the Piedmont Coastal Repeater Network, established in the early 1970s, which today sports more than 40 machines in North Carolina. The system is heavily used for public service work. Hampton has enhanced the network's utility with custom audio processing boards and RF components. The North Carolina Office of Emergency Management and SKYWARN have recognized the network's vital role in emergency communication. Recently, Hampton helped coordinate the development of a local hospital-based Amateur Radio emergency repeater system that ties 10 facilities together.
Special Achievement Award - Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, is a legendary video game programmer/designer and ham radio operator who was the sixth private citizen to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).
Technical Excellence Award - Copthorne "Cop" Macdonald, VY2CM, who got his first ham license at 15, and while an engineering student at the University of Kentucky designed and built the first ham radio SSTV system. The paper he wrote describing the system won national first prize in the 1958 AIEE student paper competition. He worked with other SSTV pioneers to get the FCC to authorize SSTV operation in the HF ham bands — an effort that succeeded in 1968.
2008 Hamvention® Award WinnersAmateur of the Year - N0AX
2008 Hamvention® Amateur of the Year was Ward Silver, NØAX, whose book, Ham Radio for Dummies, helped many realize that becoming a ham does not have to be a difficult challenge. His other books, teaching materials and magazine articles have helped many become more proficient in their amateur radio skills and knowledge.
Technical Excellence - N5EG
Tom McDermott, N5EG, whose technical contributions helped digital ham radio expand won the Technical Excellence Award. He developed the TAPR-AMSAT windows software development system, wrote a textbook on Wireless Digital Communications for TAPR, and developed the TAPR VNA in 2004. These projects provide an on-going revenue stream for TAPR to help fund other activities and development projects.
KB9IBW - Special Achievement Award
Emery McClendon, KB9IBW, who started Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day (ARMAD) in 2003 as a way for Amateur Radio to express support and appreciation for our service men and women won the Special Achievement Award. He said he started ARMAD "as a way to have Amateur Radio serve as a tool for the people of our communities to be able to express 'live' support and appreciation for our Troops, Veterans, Military Retired; and First Responders."
Hamvention® 2007 Award Winners
The Dayton Hamvention 2007 Awards committee is proud to honor three hams who
have made significant contributions to the Amateur Radio Service.
Jim Haynie, W5JBP, whose leadership of ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio , helped define amateur radio's role in emergency communication was named Amateur of the Year.
Ed Hare, W1RFI, whose relentless pursuit of BPL interference documentation helped defend ham bands was selected for the Special Achievement Awards.
David Cameron, VE7LTD, who spearheaded the Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) which turned amateur radio repeaters into a worldwide communication network, will receive the Technical Excellence Award. All three will be honored guests when Hamvention® 2007 opens in Hara Arena on May 18.
Pat Johnson, KC8ZZO, Hamvention® Awards Chairman said the committee had a tough job because of the number of worthy individuals nominated for the three awards."We believe the winners all represent excellence in service to the ham radio community. We were impressed with the quality of the nominations."
Hamvention® Chairman Jim Nies, WX8F, praised the winners, saying: “On behalf of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) and Hamvention® 2007 it is my pleasure to congratulate this year’s Award Winners. Please join me in recognizing the outstanding contributions and the many years of devotion the winners have given to the amateur radio service."
Hamvention® 2006 Award Winners
When Hamvention® 2006 opened at Hara Arena on May 19 2006, three amateur radio operators were honored guests for their contributions to the Amateur Radio Service.
Gordon West, WB6NOA (Amateur of The Year), a man responsible for helping to recruit many new hams; Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH (Special Achievement Award), who helped bring improved enforcement to the ham bands; and Richard Illman, AH6EZ/W9 (Technical Excellence Award), whose efforts helped develop a solution to BPL interference, have been named as recipients of this year's Hamvention® awards.
Dayton Hamvention® 2005 Award Winners
A television news producer from California; a DXpedition leader turned communications hero from India and a researcher from New Jersey have been selected as recipients of the 2005 Dayton Hamvention® awards.
Radio Amateur of the Year
Selected as Radio Amateur of the Year for his dedication to the ongoing education of radio amateurs to the many facets of their hobby and in the area of publicizing Amateur Radio to the non-licensed world through the mass media is Alan S. Kaul, W6RCL.
Alan Kaul is a career electronic journalist currently serving as a West Coast Producer for NBC Nightly News. A licensed radio amateur most of his life, he began his service to the hobby in the late 1970's as a writer and reporter for the Westlink Amateur Radio News (the forerunner of today's Amateur Radio Newsline).
One of the best remembered contributions to Newsline was his report on the death of His Majesty Al Hussein ibn Talal, JY1, King of Jordan. Working from an intimate knowledge of King Hussein and the monarch's many ham radio friends Kaul wove a word picture of the man and his hobby, as seen through the eyes of those who knew him best. In 1983, as the first manned ham radio operation from orbit by Dr. Owen Garriott, W5LFL, was being planned Alan Kaul was tapped by the late Roy Neal, K6DUE, for a unique assignment. He would be the "volunteer" Producer of a half hour video about the flight to be titled "Amateur Radio's Newest Frontier." Shortly after the second version of this show was complete, Kaul accepted the assignment in Jordan and was gone for several years. While there, Alan filed a number of reports on ham radio in that region aired by Westlink Radio and later as Amateur Radio Newsline. These reports introduced the hobby as it is in the Middle East to radio amateurs world-wide. During that time, Kaul was on the air from across the region as JY9RL, operating mainly low power CW and bringing a number of rare locations on-the-air as time permitted.
After his return to Los Angeles, Alan became active in several worlds of Amateur Radio. Theses include QRP operation, CW operation and contesting to name only three. The latter led to his becoming a founding member of the Hollywood Hills QRP Contest Club in 2003. In 2002, Alan's talent as a documentary writer/producer was tapped once again, this time by producer Dave Bell, W6AQ. He asked Alan to devise a concept for participation by legendary CBS Newsman Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, to anchor a short presentation dealing with the reliability of ham radio during crisis situations. The project was eventually titled "Amateur Radio Today." It was released by the American Radio Relay League in January of 2003. This video has since been used by the ARRL in its dealings with Congress and other legislators and received the Chicago Film Festival's Certificate of Merit for a non-broadcast documentary later that year. Kaul's latest video project, known by the working title "The ARRL Goes to Washington" is slated for release this spring. It documents the work being done on the political front by the ARRL to preserve the precious spectrum upon which radio amateurs operate and to protect it from interference by such entities as Broadband Over Powerline Internet access. He is also very active in publicizing other ham radio activities and produced a 3 minute report on Kids Day that aired nationally on NBC News.
Alan and his wife Christine live in La Canada, California. They have two children: A daughter Alexa and a son Ryan. (Information supplied by ARNewsline?)
Special Achievement Award
Special Achievement Award recipient D. Bharathi Prasad, VU2RBI, was on the air from the VU4RBI/VU4NRO DXpedition in Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands when disaster struck on December 29th.
A massive earthquake occurred at 00:58 UTC off the west coast of northern Sumatra. It measured 8.9 on the Richter scale and triggered a tsunami that took over 300,000 lives across the region. An IndiaNews report termed the destruction in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands ''unprecedented, with the gigantic tidal waves sinking two civilian ships and destroying dry docks." After checking that everyone was safe and that the antennas were still on the roof, DXpedition team Prasad got back on the air and contacted HS0ZAA in Thailand and VU2UU and VU2MYL on the Indian mainland. Both confirmed the tremors at their locations. She then shifted the operation to handle emergency traffic and health-and-welfare inquiries between the island and the Indian mainland. Simultaneously, she sent team members to the office of the Chief Secretary, Government of Andaman & Nicobar Islands expressing the operators, willingness to support establishing an emergency communication network to assist the administration. For several days Prasad and the other DXpedition members were the lone voices on the radio bringing aid and comfort to the people of the isolated islands. Ironically, it was Prasad who organized the DX operation and worked to gain the special permission from India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Department of Telecommunication to operate from the island chain. She says that she shares this honor with her fellow operators, with India's National Institution of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad and India's Dept. of Information Technology. (Information supplied by CQ Magazine, ARRL, ARNewsline, others)
Technical Excellence Award
Technical Excellence Award winner Dr. Jerry Sevick, W2FMI, is well known in ham radio technical circles world-wide for his many books, articles and other writings.
He earned a BS in education from Wayne State University and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard University and taught physics at Wayne State from 1952 to 1956. In 1956, Jerry joined the staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He supervised groups working in high-frequency transistor and integrated-circuit development, reliability, applications engineering and high-speed PCM. Later, he served as Director of Technical Relations and retired in 1985. It was his interest in Amateur Radio that launched Dr. Sevick into experiments with short vertical antennas and broadband matching networks. He is noted for a classic series on short vertical antennas that appeared in QST. His April 1978 QST article on short ground-radial systems now serves as the world's standard for earth conductivity measurements. In the course of designing networks to match coaxial cable to short ground mounted vertical antennas, the transmission line transformer was looked at as a possible vehicle. He undertook the characterization and design of transformers for low impedance applications. This resulted in his book Transmission Line Transformers, published by the ARRL.
He also presented a series on baluns in Communications Quarterly and a series on ununs (unbalanced to unbalanced transformers) in CQ magazine. Dr. Sevick is a Technical Advisor for the ARRL and is a member of IEEE, Sigma Xi, Sigma Pi, Sigma and Phi Delta Kappa. He was a bomber pilot in World War II and was recently elected into Wayne State's Athletic Hall of Fame for his record in football and track. (Adapted from www.bytemark.com with additional information from CQ Magazine)
Hamvention® 2004 Award Winners
The organizer of the Young Ham Contest Program, a retired leader in the nation's ham radio community and the developer of a digital amateur television scheme have been named as recipients of this year's Hamvention® awards.
David Kopacz, KY1V, is being honored as Radio Amateur of the Year for his effort in creating and funding the Young Ham Contest Program. This program provides an opportunity for a licensed radio amateur under the age of 18 to apply for an expenses paid dream come true chance to go on a DXpedition to North Caicos Island.
The Young Ham Contest Program was developed by KY1V in 2003 to encourage teen and pre-teen hams to tell their friends about the fascinating possibilities associated with Amateur Radio with regards to contesting and DX-peditions. In a posting at his website, Kopacz says that as a teenage ham, he always dreamed of going on a DX-pedition, especially during a major contest weekend. He goes on to note that it was not until 30 years later that he had had first opportunity and he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring along a young ham and make his dream come true.
Kopacz continues by saying, "It is my desire to foster this program into an annual event by which young hams around the world can have a chance of making their dream come true. I hope to get other hams involved in the program and eventually sponsor kids for every major contest. Could you imagine the impact we could have on young hams sending them on expeditions around the world? We may even give away radios to the winners".
Young hams worldwide can apply for the Young Ham Contest Program by sending a 500+ word essay describing how he/she got started in ham radio, naming his/her elmer (mentor), and telling why he/she should be selected for a particular years contest operation. One winner is selected each year from the many world-wide entries. The Hamvention Awards Committee feels that it is this kind of support for young people that will assure the future of Amateur Radio.
A resident of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Kopacz is married and has four children. He holds an Extra class license and has been radio amateur since 1976, noting that his mentor was Dr. John Berry, DDS., W0NXU, whom Kopacz says: ...had the courage and patience to assist a hyper-active, bored young teenager in becoming a proud federally licensed amateur radio operator. His other interests include hockey (he played with the 1995 Chicago Blackhawks and 1995 Chicago Cheetahs RHI), barefoot water skiing (trained by world champion Mike Siepel), snow skiing, motorcycles (dirt bikes), computers and playing guitar. (Note: For more information on this project, please visit www.vp5x.com in the World-Wide-Web.)
Special Achievement
George S. Wilson III, W4OYI It is hard to know even where to begin to describe all tghat has been accomplished by Special Achievement Award recipient George S. Wilson III, W4OYI, of Owensboro, Kentucky. The Awards Committee selected Wilson based on more than five decades of service to Amateur Radio through the American Radio Relay League, his work in public service and emergency communications and his determination to overcome the debilitating effects of a stroke that has left him partially paralyzed.
It was on February 11, 1995, that then ARRL President George Wilson, W4OYI, suffered a massive stroke while in Washington D.C to represent the needs of all United States radio amateurs to the government of the United States. He was immediately transported to a Washington-area hospital’s Intensive Care unit where the prognosis was far from good. But miracles do happen and George S. Wilson III, W4OYI, is living proof of this.
First licensed in on his 16th birthday 1948 a young George Wilson rode a bus from Owensboro KY. to Nashville TN. to take the "Class B" test before the FCC examiner. 7 months later he learned that he had been assigned the call letters of W4OYI (the same call that he holds to this day). Not long after W4OYI got his first taste of a real life communications emergency during a flood. George and his comrades installed CW rigs on two ferries and one at the local courthouse to act as a "dispatch. The system worked flawlessly and made rescue of those stranded by the flooding more efficient. The die was cast and George Wilson, W4OYI, was hooked on public service. An area of ham radio that he is still active in to this day.
In the early 1960’s George and his fellow Owensboro hams began "playing" with the emerging world of VHF operation. It was during that time that George devised the "envelope drill." This is a highly effective method of training individuals in emergency communications response as the operators involved are never sure what they will find at a scene or what role they will have to play.
During this period George became an Assistant Emergency Coordinator and an Official Relay Station in the ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Corps. (the predecessor to the current ARES). Wilson worked closely with then Section Communications Manager Lawrence Jeffrey, WA4KFO (later K4HY) and also served as an SEC during WA4KFO’s tenure. When Jeffery unexpectedly died in the mid-1970’s, Wilson, who had gained a reputation as being a top-notch organizer and skilled emergency communicator was appointed to replace him.
In the 1980's, George and the Owensboro Amateur Radio Club were involved in numerous public service activities. They were on-call 24 hours a day to handle emergency communications for anything including tornadoes, blizzards, lost children, downed planes, water main breaks, and drownings, etc. The Owensboro hams had a great relationship with local disaster officials, thanks in great measure to George Wilson’s easygoing manner and his ability to deliver when the chips were down.
Wilson held the post of Kentucky SCM for close to 6 years. He only stepped aside when he was asked by the then Vice Director who was not standing for re-election to run for his post in the 1980 elections. George Wilson was unopposed. He later became Division Director when his predecessor, Leonard Nathanson, W8RC, was elected as ARRL First Vice President. When incumbent ARRL President Larry Price, W4RA, announced that he would not run for another term, George Wilson was elected to succeeded him. George was re-elected in 1995, but had the stroke in February of that year.
After that illness forced his retirement, George Wilson was named President Emeritus of the American Radio Relay League based on his lifelong commitment to Amateur Radio and the League -- one of only three people ever granted this honor. He continues his service to ARRL in the voluntary position of Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division. In 1999 George accepted a position as a judge for the Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award program and was deeply involved in choosing the last five recipients of this honor.
In 2003, the hams in the Great Lakes Division created the George S. Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award. Its presented to a Division member who has contributed greatly to the overall vitality of the Amateur Radio Service. George Race, WB8BGY, of Albion, MI, also a former Great Lakes Division Director was the first recipient.
George Wilson and his wife Marion still reside in Owensboro. They have two grown children and one grand child. When he is not directly involved in ham radio related activities, George Wilson can be found on a number of Internet legal round-tables and forums, providing his expertise freely for those in need.
Technical Excellence
Barry Sanderson, KB9VAKIndianapolis, Indiana resident Barry Sanderson, KB9VAK, is being named as recipient of the Technical Excellence Award for the development of a multi-channel, multiphase modulation scheme known as Redundant Digital File Transfer (RDFT). Not only did Sanderson perform the mathematical computations to develop the system. He also wrote the core software routines that allow RDFT to run on personal computers using sound card DSP capabilities. This allows error-free transmission of computer files via standard amateur radio equipment.
Sanderson, who holds a Technician class license is also credited for the development HDSSTV. This is a method for transferring exact copies of binary files to multiple recipients over a 460 - 2300 hertz bandwidth audio channel. This technology has been proven very powerful in the area of digital slow-scan television. He was a 2003 Hamvention® forum presenter.
Hamvention® 2003 Award Winners
Amateur of the Year - Larry Tyree
Larry "Tree" Tyree, N6TR, of Boring, Oregon has been chosen to receive Dayton Hamvention's Amateur of the Year award for 2003. Mr. Tyree is the creator, organizer, and promoter of the successful "Kids' Day", now adopted by the American Radio Relay League. Kids' Day is not a contest, but is designed to give young people a chance to experience Amateur Radio first hand, hopefully inspiring them to become future Hams. Mr. Tyree also created the very popular contest logging software called "TR-LOG". Mr. Tyree has been a Ham since 1967, lives in Oregon with his wife and three daughters. Hamvention is proud to honor Larry "Tree" Tyre, N6TR as its Amateur of the Year for 2003!
Special Achievement - Jonathan Taylor
Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, of Ridgefield, Connecticut has been chosen to receive Dayton Hamvention's Special Achievement award for 2003. Mr. Taylor is the writer and developer of the Internet linking program called EchoLink, and the repeater-control program called EchoStation. EchoLink allows Amateur stations to connect with each other over the Internet, to expand the coverage of repeaters and simplex stations and to provide licensed hams access from their PCs. EchoLink has given many hams both young and old whose license restricts them from using the HF bands the ability to talk and make friends all around the world via the Internet. Mr. Taylor provides EchoLink without charging any fees for its use. Hamvention congratulates Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD for his Special Achievement!
Technical Excellence - Steve Dimse
Steve Dimse, K4HG, of Cudjoe Key, Florida has been chosen to receive Dayton Hamvention's Technical Excellence award for 2003. Mr. Dimse invented, developed, and personally funded and maintains the Global APRS Internet network that links 20,000 plus worldwide APRS operators. This is a tremendous value in supporting emergency services, Amateur Radio Vehicle Tracking, Search and Rescue, Weather and storm tracking. Steve also wrote the global database software called FINDU, which can capture and integrate data for viewing by anyone. As the popularity of the APRS Weather grew, non-hams began to be attracted to the technology and develop and interest in Amateur Radio. Since non-hams could participate on the APRS-IS side, Steve helped form CWS, the Citizens Weather Service. Over a million live weather observations from the combination of APRS and CWS have been forwarded to the National Weather Service. Hamvention congratulates Steve Dimse, K4HG for his Technical Excellence!
Hamvention® 2000 Award Winners
Martti Laine, OH2BH, AMATEUR OF THE YEAR. Martti is well known in the international amateur radio community as our #1 Ambassador of Good Will. Martti has been responsible for promoting the activation of new DXCC countries – traveling under difficult and often dangerous conditions to promote the hobby worldwide. Additionally, Martti is the only person to be inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame as well as the CQ Contest Hall of Fame.
Dr. H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE. Paul is being honored for his pioneering work in the 1970’s in VHF, UHF and microwave receiver design; and for his recent design of amateur radio astronomy equipment for the 21-cm hydrogen line region.
Prose Walker, W4BW, SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT. Prose is being honored for his early involvement in developing the concept of obtaining new amateur frequency bands. Prose first went public with this concept in a speech to the Swiss Amateur Society in Geneva, Switzerland in 1974. Additionally, Prose was the guiding force behind the development of ACAR (Advisory Committee of Amateur Radio), having established the committee and serving as its first Chair.
Past Hamvention® Amateur of the Year Award Winners
1955- William C. Jenney, W8FYW; Westlake
, OH. & Benjamin S, Zieg, W9EHU,
K4OQK; Atlanta, GA.
1956- Edmund C Ryan, W8LRR; Mansfield, OH.
1957- Ralph Crammer, W8VHO; Columbus, OH.
1958- Rev.C. Lynn White, K4CC; Traverres, FL.
1959- Harlow Lucas, W8QQ; Columbus, OH.
1960- Paul Wolfe, W8IVE; Cincinnati, OH.
1961- Ed Bonnet, W8OVG; Dayton, OH.
1962- Dana Cartwright, W8UPB; Cincinnati, OH.
1963- Chester Funk, K8EUF, K7ZKL; Phoenix,
AZ.
1964- H. Ruble, W8PTF; Dayton, OH.
1965- Carl B. Snyder, W8ARW; Greenville, OH.
1966- Robert K. Caskey, W9DNQ; Indianapolis,
IN.
1967- Jack Gray, W8JDV; Mason, OH.
1968- Elmer Schubert, W8ALW; Cincinnati, OH.
1969- Wayne Walters, W9DOG; Plainsfield, IN.
1970- Kay Anderson, W8DUV; Huntington, WV.
1971- Al Michel, W8WC; Cincinnati, OH.
1972- Don C. Miller, W9NTP; Waldron, IN.
1973- Ray E. Myers, W6MLZ; San Gabriel, CA.
1974- Barry Goldwater, K7UGA; Scottsdale, AZ.
1975- Richard A. Daniels, WA4DGU. Arlington,
VA.
1976- Joseph M. Hertzberg, N3EA; Bryn Mawr,
PA.
1977- Rafael M. Estevez, WA4ZZG; Hialeah, FL.
1978- Frank Schwab, W8OK; Dayton, OH.
1979- George G. Batterson, W2GB; Rochester,
NY
1980- Wayne Overbeck, N6NB; Woodland Hills,
CA.
1981- Eric C. Shalkhauser, W9CI; Washington,
IL.
1982- Robert G. Heil, Jr., K9EID; Marissa,
IL.
1983- Katashi Nose, KH6IJ; Honolulu, HI.
1984- Dave L. Bell, W6AQ; Los Angeles, CA.
1985- John J.Willig, W8ACE; Sarasota, FL.
1986- Roy Neal, K6DUE; Woodlawn Hill, CA.
1987- Carole Perry, WB2MGP; Staten Island,
NY
1988- Bill Bennett, W7PHO; Seattle, WA.
1989- Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF; Saugus, CA.
1990- Stephen Mendelsohn, WA2DHF; Dumont, NJ
1991- John B. Johnston, W3BE; Derwood, MD.
1992- Richard Baldwin, W1RU; Waldoboro, ME.
1993- Harry Dannals, W2HD: Charlottsville,
VA.
1994- Perry Williams, W1UED; Unionville, CT.
1995- Rosalie White, WA1STO; Newington, CT.
1996 William A. (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, Kerrville,
TN
1997 Leo L. Meyerson, W0GFQ, Omaha, NE
1998 Andrew J. Feldman, WB2XFN Coram, NY
1999 Kenneth M. Miller, K6IR, Rockville,
MD.
2000 Martti Laine, OH2BH, Finland
2001 George Jacobs, W3ASK, Silver Springs,
MD
2002 Alanson "Hap" Holly, KC9RP,
Des Plaines, IL
2003 Larry "Tree" Tyree, N6TR, of
Boring, OR
2004 David Kopacz, KY1V, Hopkinsville, Kentucky
2005 Alan S. Kaul, W6RCL, La Canada,
California
2006 Gordon West, WB6NOA, Orange County
, California
2007 Jim Haynie, W5JBP, Frisco, TX
2008 Ward Silver, NØAX, Seattle, WA
2009 Wade D. "Danny" Hampton Jr.,
K4ITL, Raleigh, North Carolina
