Amateur of the Year

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Ward Silver, NØAX 2008 Hamvention® Amateur of the Year.

He was first licensed at age 17 in 1972 as WNØGQP, primarily Elmered by WBØDYV, now KJ7PC. He upgraded to Extra and NØAX in 1975. Ham radio led directly to Electrical Engineering studies at University of Missouri Silver Photo - Rolla and a BSEE degree in 1978. He spent 20 years in product development engineering, both as a direct employee and as an independent engineer. During that time he became more active in contesting and DXing, eventually appearing in the DXCC Honor Roll, lots of contest Top Ten boxes, and on a few Record lists. Competitive operating really gets his ham radio juices flowing, whether individually or in teams.

In 2000, he began writing and teaching in earnest, releasing "Ham Radio for Dummies" in 2004 and now has three "Dummies" titles. He has written a lot for QST magazine, including the Hands-On Radio column, now in its sixth year. He received the 2nd Bill Orr Technical Writing Award from the ARRL and has a couple of QST cover plaques. He said his best reward, though, is hearing from readers that have found his writing helpful in understanding some aspect of electronics or radio.

While living on Vashon Island, near Seattle WA, he worked closely with community leaders and the Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club (W7VMI) to provide effective emergency communications. Working together, the fire district, CERT, and radio club members have created one of the best local communications systems in the state of Washington.

He continues to pursue a variety of writing and editing projects with the ARRL, such as the training manuals for all three license classes and the ARRL Contester's Rate Sheet biweekly newsletter read by nearly 17,000 subscribers. He said, " Ham radio continues to open doors for me and I am honored to enjoy the friendship of my many ham radio friends in every corner of the globe."

Created 4/12/2008 HR