Two radio amateurs with close ARRL ties are among the winners of Dayton Hamvention 2014 awards. Hamvention will honor three Amateur Radio operators and one ham radio club for their “significant contributions to the Amateur Radio Service” when the annual, 3 day gathering gets underway May 16. Named Amateur of the Year is Larry E. Price, W4RA, a President Emeritus of the ARRL and of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, will receive the Special Achievement Award. The Technical Excellence Award winner is David Freese Jr, W1HKJ, and the Club of the Year is the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society (W4GR) of Georgia.

“We believe the winners have all made excellent contributions to the ham radio community,” said Hamvention Awards Chairman David Crawford, KF4KWW, adding that the number of worthy nominees presented the Awards Committee with a tough task. “We were impressed with the quality of the nominations,” he noted.

Hamvention Chairman Charles Kaiser, KD8JZR, praised the winners. “On behalf of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) and Hamvention 2014, it is my pleasure to congratulate this year’s award winners,” he said. “Please join me in recognizing the outstanding contributions and the many years of devotion the winners have given to the Amateur Radio Service.”

Price served as president of the IARU from 1999 to 2009, and as ARRL president from 1984 to 1992. Hamvention’s Awards Committee said Price’s leadership “had significant and direct impact on the development of Amateur Radio throughout the world.” Among his noteworthy achievements, the panel cited the protection of frequency allocations; the adoption of ITU Recommendation ITU-R M.1544 — minimum qualifications of radio amateurs; the expansion of the 40 meter band in ITU Regions 1 and 3, and the allocation of new LF bands for ham radio.

As Special Achievement Award winner, Sumner was cited for his contributions to the international Amateur Radio community through the IARU and for his leadership in the fight against Broadband over Power Line (BPL) interference to radio amateurs.

A Technical Excellence Award winner, Freese was recognized for his development and distribution of the Fast Light Digital Modem Application (fldigi) family of programs for use in amateur and emergency communications. Fldigi is an easy-to-use, free, and open-source, multi-platform digital computer soundcard modem program for Amateur Radio.

The Club of the Year Award winner, the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society, serves Gwinnett County, Georgia. The Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society offers several, well-rounded training programs for all ages. The club regularly hosts and supports Amateur Radio programs and participates in a multitude of public service events, the Awards Committee said. “Their last effort for Field Day was a massive effort that included eight stations,” Hamvention said in announcing the awards. “Their TechFest is an opportunity for the community to become aware of the many modes of operation of radio amateurs and view some of the preparations taking place by public service volunteers in the ham radio community.” The club also maintains a wide-area repeater system that is home to several nets.

Dayton Hamvention 2014 will take place May 16-18 at Hara Arena near Dayton, Ohio.