MARS Volunteers Recognized with Gold-Level President’s Volunteer Service Award

A Taunton, MA amateur is among  twelve US Army Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) volunteers being honored with gold-level recognition for the President’s Volunteer Service Award for 2020.

Bob Mims, WA1OEZ, the former Director for Region One (New England) along with eleven other award recipients will receive a letter signed by the President of the United States, a certificate of achievement, and a presidential volunteer service lapel pin. Volunteer awards are based on the certifying organization’s recommendation and the number of documented volunteer hours for the year.

[Full story]

2020 K1USN Veterans Day Special Event Wrap-Up

K1USN Veterans Day 2020 CertificateFrom K1USN Happenings, November 19, 2020:

I want to extend my thanks to everyone who helped us make this a success. Obviously we would not be able to conduct our usual in-person activation at K1USN on November 11th due to the pandemic. We had some discussions back and forth and decided that a 31 hour operating event might just work providing we could get commitments from enough operators to get on the HF bands and give us coverage on SSB, CW and FT8/4. As things evolved we even had our first contacts on the 630 meter band using WSPR thanks to Dave – AA1A.

As I said, there were quite a few people who made this a success. We thought that a downloadable certificate commemorating Veterans Day would be a cool idea. Yes it is, but it meant that we had to create one (Tnx WA1MAD, N1VH & W1VP) and then create the ability for stations to submit an online certificate request (Tnx W1VP).

Oh, yeah, what if we make a certificate but nobody even works us? Well, we really had a good turnout of operators, some who covered multiple shifts!

Thanks to this crew of operators:

AA1A – Dave
K1EBY – Frank
K1RV – Pi
K1VUT – Dave
K1WCC – Henry
KC1G – Mike
N1DC – Rick
W1TJL – Tom
W1XD – Lou
WA1MAD – Mike

We need to give a special thanks to Rick – N1DC for the outstanding job he did compiling all our log data. This was quite a task, but the results are attached below and show the great results.

I’ve already received approximately 75 QSL requests via snail mail so far and Larry – W1VP said that we have at least 180 downloadable certificate requests so far. BTW, Randy – KB3IFH is updating our K1USN QSL card and I hope to receive our new order for 500 more cards soon.

If you managed to work K1USN during the 2020 Veterans Day event I urge you to at least submit a certificate request.

If you make contact with K1USN during Veterans Day and would like a certificate emailed to you, please fill out the request form here.

Here is Rick’s summary:

Rick Pendleton
Nov 16, 2020, 11:32 AM (4 days ago)

Hi,

Thanks to everyone that participated in this event. The K1USN team did an outstanding job this year. We had operators using CW, SSB, FT8, FT4 and WSPR. For the first time we had QSO’s on 630M using WSPR thanks to Dave AA1A.

After working through some issues with the logs, I was able to create a master log in N1MM+ that combined CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4. Thanks to Mike KC1G and Lou W1XD for the extra effort sorting out some adif issues. The WSPR log could not be imported since it wasn’t in ADIF format. However, the QSO data was included in the summary.

I will investigate WSPR log file conversions further.

There were a LOT of QSO’s completed using FT8, FT4 and WSPR providing many with QSO’s that might not have happened otherwise.

Overall results : 1,690 QSO’s , 53 DXCC countries, 20 CQ Zones
The were 500 FT8, FT4 and WSPR QSO’s accounting for 30% of the total.

In addition, there were 157 QSO’s made during the 1300, 1900 and 0300 UTC CWops CWTs by K1VUT, N1DC and K1RV. This was not actually part of the event but K1USN was on the air using “Watson” and MA as the exchange.

Attached are pdf files showing the Results and supporting details.

The Master ADIF and LOG files have been sent to Pi and Larry.

73,
Rick N1DC

Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, Awarded Knight Distinguished Service Award

Bob Beaudet, W1YRCFrom ARRL web:

The Board named veteran ARRL Rhode Island Section Manager Robert G. “Bob” Beaudet, W1YRC, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, as the recipient of the Knight Distinguished Service Award, given to an ARRL Section Manager. Beaudet has been Rhode Island SM since 2002.

The Board cited Beaudet’s active promotion of ARRL activities in his Section, including visiting hundreds of Field Day operations; participating in many Volunteer Examiner test sessions; attending at countless club meetings; staying active as a contester, DXer, and mentor, and serving as a model to other Section Managers. The Board said “Beaudet’s leadership of the ARRL Rhode Island Section Field Organization has led to a strong working cadre of volunteers within the Section.”

COVID Impact to ARRL Awards Program

ARRL flagThe following correspondence was posted on the ARRL-Awards mailing list on May 8, 2020 in response to a query about a pending award:

Congratulations on your achievements.

Our return to HQ is dictated first by the Governor of CT, and then by consideration for safety of staff and how best to manage that. 

Returning to HQ (even with minimal staff to ensure social distancing safety) is definitely still a few weeks out, and getting caught up on even the pre-shutdown backlog may take some weeks after that.  Following that are the shutdown receipts, which at this point are an unknown in part as they come from many applicants by mail – mail that has yet to be reviewed.

ARRL Awards are printed on high quality certificate stock – not a PDF printed on to paper. We know that (through this week) we have more than 1,000 Award Certificates near ready/pending printing, which will get our attention once we can safely return staff to the HQ Building.

We ask that everyone continue to be understanding and patient as we and the global community work to come out of this pandemic.

73,

Bart Jahnke, W9JJ

Radiosport and Field Services Manager
ARRL – The national association for Amateur Radio®

Norwood ARC Honors N1UEC With W1JLI Memorial Award

Lou Harris, N1UEC, was awarded the first Louis H. Schall, W1JLI, Memorial Award at the Norwood Amateur Radio Club Dinner on February 27, 2020. The Walpole resident was “recognized for his tireless efforts on behalf of the Norwood Amateur Radio Club exemplifying the best spirit of Amateur Radio.” 

Schall became a Silent Key in 2006. A longtime member of the Norwood Amateur Radio Club, W1JLI was also a founding member of the 19/79 Amateur Radio Association (K1VTE) in Malden, and a pioneer in New England Amateur Television.

Kudos to Lou Harris, N1UEC!

(via Facebook)

 

Norfolk County RA Presents ARRL Elmer Award to K1HRV

left: Dave Doe, K1HRV; right: Dick Bean, K1HC, President, NCRA

Norfolk County Radio Association President Dick Bean, K1HC, writes:

The Norfolk County Radio Association presented Dave Doe, K1HRV, with the ARRL Elmer Award at its September 11 meeting to thank him for his mentoring of so many fellow hams over 51 years of club membership (since January 10, 1968).  Dave has held many leadership positions in the club, and he is currently club secretary and historian.

KA8SCP Receives Kiwanis Person of the Year Award

Retired Veterans Service Officer Terry Stader (KA8SCP) has been named the Kiwanis Person of the Year, an annual award bestowed on members of the community who have made significant contributions.

Stader has always had a strong commitment to giving back, whether serving his country or serving his community. Early in his career Stader was Senior Chief Petty Officer for the Navy. During his time in the Navy he was decorated with many awards including the Navy Commendation Medal with gold star and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with gold star. He was also named Sailor of the Year for Naval Reserve Readiness Command Region One. This set the pace of hard work and commitment to public service that brought Stader and his family to Westford in 1993. [Full story]

(Terry Stader is a member of PART of Westford, and serves as an ARRL District Emergency Coordinator.)

Joe Reisert, W1JR, Wins Third Place in the 2018 QST Antenna Design Competition

Joe Reisert, W1JR

Congratulations to Joe Reisert, W1JR, on winning third place for his design of “The3/8-Wavelength Vertical for 20 Meters, a Hidden Gem”. Steve Ford WB8IMY described the “requirements for the 2018 QST Antenna Design Competition included an antenna for one or more bands between 2200 meters and 10 meters that could fit within a 30×50-foot area and be no taller than 30 feet above ground at any point.” 

A former resident of Chelmsford, Joe lives in Amherst, NH. He is a regular presenter at Boxboro. The full story is found at <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2018-12-06#toc02>

KD1CY Receives Blue Hills Observatory Outstanding Service Award

The Blue Hill Observatory awarded Rob Macedo, KD1CY, with their Outstanding Service Award on November 9, 2018. The award was presented at a Blue Hills Observatory fundraising event by meteorologist and Weather Channel personality Jim Cantore and former Weather Channel meteorologist Mish Michaels. The honor was especially meaningful for Macedo as it coincided with his birthday.

“It’s both rewarding and humbling to receive [the award] in the presence of some of the most respected people in the meteorology profession,” remarked KD1CY. “It wouldn’t be possible without the support of hundreds to thousands of SKYWARN spotters and Amateur Radio operators who support the program and give their reports during times of severe weather…”

Macedo serves as the ARES SKYWARN Coordinator, and Section Emergency Coordinator for Eastern Massachusetts.

“Chip” Cohen, W1YW, To Receive RCA’s Lee de Forest Award

Belmont inventor and entrepreneur Nathan “Chip” Cohen, W1YW, of fractal antenna and cloaking technology fame, will receive the Radio Club of America’s Lee de Forest Award for “significant contributions to the advancement of radio communications.” The award’s namesake, de Forest, is credited with inventing the Audion vacuum tube as an amplifier in radio circuits. De Forest also popularized the word “radio” in the US, in favor of the European term “wireless.”  [Details]

W1YW to Receive 2018 Hamvention Technical Achievement Award

photo of Chip Cohen, W1YW
Chip Cohen, W1YW

Chip Cohen, W1YW, of Belmont, Massachusetts, has been named to receive the Hamvention 2018 Technical Achievement Award. Licensed for 52 years and bitten by the antenna bug, Cohen became a radio astronomer and astrophysicist, working at Arecibo, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Very Large Array (VLA), and others. While a professor at Boston University, Cohen connected fractal geometry with antennas, pioneering a paradigm shift in the design of fractal antennas and what they make possible. An inventor with 41 US patents, Cohen is known for inventing the invisibility cloak using fractal antenna techniques.

Starting 30 years ago with simple flea market treasures, W1YW bootstrapped fractal antennas with modest gear and employed ham radio to report on the success of his new technology. He started Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc. with WA1ZWT (SK) in 1995, and is presently its CEO.

Cohen is a DXCC Top of the Honor Roll DXer and a strong advocate for technical “innovation culture” through Amateur Radio. He is a Life Member of ARRL and a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, where he served as Vice President and presently as a Director.

–ARRL News

Ed Weiss, W1NXC Honored as Herb S. Brier Award Recipient

Ed Weiss, W1NXC, Herb S. Brier Award recipientEd Weiss, W1NXC received the prestigious Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award this past Thursday night at the Framingham ARA’s “Night Out” Dinner at the Pacific Buffet in Framingham. Presenting the award and gift certificate were ARRL New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI and Eastern Massachusetts Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI. Many of the club members in attendance stood up and gave testimony to Ed’s ceaseless and unwavering commitment to volunteer teaching of Amateur Radio material spanning many years.

Photo courtesy http://www.fara.org. More photos under Photo Gallery.

N1IQI Awarded Brass Pounders League Award

N1IQI BPL award presentation
BPL awardW1GMF wrote:

The presentation of a BPL bronze medallion from the ARRL was made to Loren Pimental, N1IQI at the July 15, 2003 meeting of the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association for points assessed from traffic handling over a period of 6 months.

Presenting the award to Loren (center) were Phil Temples, K9HI, ARRL Section Manager (left) and Jim Ward, N1LKJ, Section Traffic Manager (right).

Congratulations, Loren, on this recognition of your participation in this important aspect of amateur radio.