SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX007
ARLX007 Amateur Radio Newsline Co-Founder, Editor Bill Pasternak,
WA6ITF (SK)
ZCZC AX07
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 7 ARLX007
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT June 12, 2015
To all radio amateurs
SB SPCL ARL ARLX007
ARLX007 Amateur Radio Newsline Co-Founder, Editor Bill Pasternak,
WA6ITF (SK)
A well-known voice in the Amateur Radio news media has gone silent.
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, of Santa Clarita, California, died June 11
following a period of ill health. He was 73. Pasternak was
co-founder (with Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP) of Amateur Radio
Newsline(tm) (formerly The Westlink Report) ham radio news webcast
and a frequent presence at Amateur Radio conventions. Pasternak
served as Newsline's managing editor and occasional newscaster for
the program. Even while hospitalized earlier this year, he kept his
ear to the ground for news from the Amateur Radio community, so he
could pass it along to those who had taken over Newsline during his
illness - discovered after he broke two ribs in a fall. ARRL Rocky
Mountain Division Director Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, got acquainted
with Pasternak at the Albuquerque hamfest and in 1997 was named
Newsline's "Young Ham of the Year" (YHOTY).
"An incredible man, ham, and one of Amateur Radio's too-few giants,
who woke up every day to make the hobby better for everyone,
especially its legacy - youth," Mileshosky said. "I've enjoyed the
energy he put into keeping hams informed via Newsline, and have been
honored to give back to his Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award
program, since being asked by him to sit on its judging panel well
over a decade ago."
ARRL Public Relations Committee Chair Katie Allen, WY7YL, said
Pasternak would be missed by those within and outside the Amateur
Radio community. "He truly was one of the good ones," she remarked
on Pasternak's Facebook page. "Thank you for sharing your light with
us, Bill."
A Brooklyn, New York, native, Pasternak became a radio amateur in
1959 as WA2HVK and once was very active on 6 meters. "I love the
hands-on approach to ham radio and built my very first transmitter
using parts salvaged from an old Dumont television set," Pasternak
recounted in an online biography. "It was a modification of a design
by Bill Orr, W6SAI, published in his famous Novice and Technician
Handbook. A crystal-controlled, low-power 6 meter AM transmitter
that doubled in the final, was screen grid modulated, and put out
almost no output power."
He eventually got into broadcasting and made his career in
television engineering and production. He retired as a broadcast
engineer with KTTV in Los Angeles in 2012 but continued as a
broadcasting consultant.
Pasternak was the spark plug behind the all-volunteer Amateur Radio
Newsline bulletin - which was relayed on repeaters around the US and
elsewhere - as well as the creator and administrator of the annual
YHOTY. He was the author of three books and served as a
writer/producer on several educational films and videos, including
the award-winning "Amateur Radio Today." In earlier years, he wrote
the "Looking West" column for 73 Amateur Radio Today Magazine for 26
years and penned a "VHF, FM and Repeater" column for WorldRadio. He
also contributed to broadcast trade publications as well as to CQ.
In addition to the ARRL, Pasternak belonged to the Radio Club of
America and the Quarter Century Wireless Association. He also
enjoyed flying, including stints getting on the air from thousands
of feet up.
He was the only person ever chosen to receive the Dayton Hamvention
Special Achievement Award (1981) and Radio Amateur of the Year Award
(1989). In 1995, the League presented him with an ARRL National
Certificate of Merit in recognition of his contributions to the
"furtherance of the goals of the Amateur Radio Service."
Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Sharon, KD6EPW.
NNNN
/EX
