ARRL Board Designates Award Winners

NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 20, 2005--The ARRL Board of Directors has announced the winners of several prestigious awards. The Board made the selections when it gathered for its second meeting of the year July 15-16 in Windsor, Connecticut. With the exception of the Philip J. McGan Memorial Antenna Award, the awards recognize accomplishments from the previous calendar year. We congratulate these ARRL award winners!

ARRL 2004 Hiram Percy Maxim Award winner Rebecca Rich, KB0VVT.

ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award

The Board honored Rebecca Rich, KB0VVT, of Raytown, Missouri, as the recipient of the 2004 ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award. The Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award goes annually to an amateur under age 21 who has contributed in an exemplary manner to both the Amateur Radio community and the local community. A rising senior at Raytown South High School, Rich, 17, is president of her school's National Honor Society chapter and maintains a 4.0 grade point average while taking an accelerated course of study.

"I am really honored to receive the HPM Award," Rich said, expressing thanks to the Board for choosing her and to her parents, Dave and Barb Rich, KG0US and KG0UT, for introducing her to Amateur Radio nearly 10 years ago. "I would like to thank Steve Lufcy, K0OU, for introducing me to CW contesting, which I love so dearly," she added. She also thanked her teachers and the Kansas City-area ham radio community for their support. "They have all helped inspire me to do great things in Amateur Radio and have taught me a lot."

In its motion granting her the award--the League's highest youth honor, the ARRL Board of Directors called Rich "an outstanding example of a young amateur who epitomizes the precepts of The Amateur's Code." An ARRL member who obtained her license at age seven and upgraded to Amateur Extra the following year, Rich enthusiastically participates in local club activities and amateur contesting and has been a regular presenter at youth-oriented Amateur Radio forums, including at Dayton Hamvention. She recently was among the operators of Headquarters station W1AW/5 during the International Amateur Radio Union HF World Championships--her first multi-multi CW experience.

In endorsing Rich's nomination, Carole Perry, WB2MGP, who moderates the Hamvention "Youth in Amateur Radio Forum," called her an "inspiration to many others" and "the perfect example of a youngster who loves the hobby and service and is always out there helping to recruit other young hams." Sarah Guild of the Raytown South High School Science Department said Rich "epitomizes excellence in leadership and community service."

Her community service activities support Amateur Radio, her school and her church, the Board noted. "Among her community service activities are working with local homeless shelters, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and Special Olympics, tutoring middle school orchestra students and high school students in mathematics and science." Additionally, Rich is an accomplished violinist and member of her school's varsity color guard.

Rich "is an extremely intelligent, focus, well-rounded young woman perfectly suited to the honor of the Hiram Percy Maxim Award," the Board concluded.

Rich says she plans to pursue studies in engineering and mathematics when she heads off for college. Her top picks are the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Missouri-Rolla.

As winner of the 2004 HPM Award, Rich will receive an engraved plaque, to be presented at a suitable occasion, and a check for $1500.

2004 ARRL Herb S. Brier (W9AD) Instructor of the Year Award recipient Richard Davidson, K9RD.

2004 ARRL Herb S. Brier (W9AD) Instructor of the Year Award

The Board designated Rich Davidson, K9RD, of Lake Forest, Illinois, as the recipient of the 2004 ARRL Herb S. Brier (W9AD) Instructor of the Year Award. Named for the late, long-time CQ "Novice" column editor, the award honors an individual who represents the spirit of Brier's effective and caring Amateur Radio instruction. The Lake County Amateur Radio Club of Crown Point, Indiana, cosponsors the award.

"My students teach themselves the material, and I train their minds," says Davidson, who's taught at least three license classes a year since 1994 and has helped hundreds of students acquire the knowledge and skills they need to get an Amateur Radio license. "I teach the concepts that make reading Now You're Talking! understandable, easy and logical." Davidson has been education director and ham class instructor of the North Shore Radio Club for 10 years. His classes, which have included anywhere from 7 to 40 students, have proven popular with both beginners and upgrading amateurs.

To help explain radio and electronics theory, Davidson has designed a wide variety of hands-on tools and visual aids. He also incorporates his students' everyday knowledge and experience to get his lessons across. For example, in explaining why resistances in parallel reduce the resistance in a network, he uses the analogy of how moving from a two-lane highway to an eight-lane highway reduces the impedance in traffic flow.

A ham and ARRL member for 45 years, Davidson said he was "ecstatic" to win the Instructor of the Year Award. "This is an incredible honor, and I am truly grateful to the ARRL Board for bestowing this award on me."

As the 2004 winner of the Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award, Davidson will receive an engraved plaque.

2004 ARRL Professional Educator of the Year Award winner Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, teaching a ham radio class.

2004 ARRL Professional Educator of the Year Award

The ARRL Board named Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, of Bloomington, Indiana, as the recipient of the 2004 ARRL Professional Educator of the Year Award. This award goes to a teacher who uses Amateur Radio within the curriculum. The Lambda Amateur Radio Club of Philadelphia is the award cosponsor.

A chemistry teacher at Bloomington High School South and sponsor of the school's Amateur Radio Club, K9SOU, Rapp has woven Amateur Radio into his classes for the past 11 years. Bloomington South is an ARRL Education and Technology Program ("The Big Project") participating school, and Rapp also mentors club members as part of the Amateur Radio club's extracurricular program.

In his classes, Rapp emphasizes hands-on building and operating experiences, and he's made extensive use of ARRL Education and Technology program project boards. As a result, his students have become familiar with a wide variety of amateur activities, from transmitter hunting to constructing antennas.

During the past school year the main project was building a 220 MHz and 440 MHz repeater with a remote base. Over the years WB9VPG has made hundreds of students aware of Amateur Radio and has helped dozens of students join its ranks.

Said Monroe County ARES Emergency Coordinator Carl Zager, KB9RVB--one of Rapp's teaching colleagues: "At a time when Amateur Radio competes with a myriad of activities for the interest of young people, Neil has nurtured not only curiosity but has generated a cadre of new members for the service who have become active participants in the Amateur Radio activities in Bloomington and Monroe County."

As the 2004 ARRL Professional Educator of the Year Award winner, Rapp--who was first licensed at age 5--will receive an engraved plaque.

2005 ARRL Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award winner Jerry Martin, KC9BDA.

2005 Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award

Jerome E. "Jerry" Martin, KC9BDA, of Libertyville, Illinois, is the recipient of the 2005 Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award. The annual award honors an amateur who demonstrates outstanding public relations success on behalf of Amateur Radio at the local, state or national level. The recipient best exemplifies the volunteer spirit of the award's namesake--the late journalist Philip J. McGan, WA2MBQ, the first chairman of the ARRL's Public Relations Committee and an enthusiastic Amateur Radio booster.

ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, said Martin took advantage of a public relations window in the wake of last December's devastating tsunami in South Asia. Amateur Radio linked affected areas with the rest of the world after the disaster. "Jerry responded to my request for video help and, in record time, created a terrific video public service announcement (PSA) to go with the fantastic audio we had," Pitts said. The PSA's message was that Amateur Radio works when other systems don't.

"The successful placing of the 'Hamworks' public service announcement on thousands of TV screens is largely due to Jerry's timeliness and dedication to the project," Pitts said.

Starting with a radio public service announcement, Martin obtained still photographs, edited in some of his own video footage, generated graphics and coordinated the voice track with the video. "He helped get the right message on the right topic to the right people at the right time," said Ron Lane, N1FNE, who nominated Martin for the award.

The winner of the McGan Award receives an engraved plaque.

Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award co-winner Tom McDermott, N5EG.

Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award co-winner Karl Ireland.

Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award co-winner Jack Belrose, VE2CV.

2004 Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award

Three radio amateurs were honored as recipients of the 2004 Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award. Created to honor the late Doug DeMaw, W1FB--one of the most widely published technical authors in Amateur Radio history--the award is bestowed upon the author or authors of the best QST or QEX technical article during the prior year, as judged by the ARRL Technical Advisor group. DeMaw was the ARRL Technical Department Manager and Senior Technical Editor from 1970 to 1983.

For the best of 2004, the voting ended in a tie between the collaboration of Tom McDermott, N5EG, and Karl Ireland for their article "A Low-Cost 100 MHz Vector Network Analyzer with USB Interface," in July/August QEX, and Jack Belrose, VE2CV, for his article "On the Quest for an Ideal Antenna Tuner," in October QST. Accordingly, the ARRL bestowed the Technical Excellence Award on both articles and their authors.

An ARRL Life Member, McDermott has been licensed for 35 years. He's a member of the IEEE and holds a bachelor's in electrical engineering. His Amateur Radio interests lie in HF digital communications, hardware and software design, and an occasional HF contest. As part of the Texas Packet Radio Society, he designed the hardware and some of the protocols for the TexNet packet switching network, and has been involved in numerous TAPR projects. He has written a textbook on wireless communications, and holds eight patents. McDermott currently serves as chief technical officer at Chiaro Networks.

Ireland graduated from Ohio Institute of Technology and has worked as a broadcast engineer for KNUS, KVIL and WBEN. He designed high-speed VCXOs and receivers for fiber optics systems at Alcatel/Rockwell International, earning three patents in phase-locked loops and lock-and-acquisition circuits. Ireland is currently employed at Austin Info Systems, where he works on satellite systems.

A native of Alberta, Canada, Belrose holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering and a doctorate in radio physics. From 1957 until 1998, Belrose was with the Communications Research Centre Canada (CRCC--formerly Defense Research Telecommunications Laboratory) and was director of the Radio Sciences Branch when he retired. In honor of his 50-year career in radio science, Belrose was named an emeritus researcher at CRCC.

Belrose has been licensed since 1947 and formerly held the call signs VE3BLW and VE3DRC. Over the years, he's written extensively for QST and QEX as well as for other Amateur Radio publications.

The DeMaw Award consists of an engraved nine-inch pewter cup.

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