03/21/2022

Chairman of the Hamvention Awards Committee Michael Kalter, W8CI, has announced the 2022 Dayton Hamvention¨ award winners.

Special Achievement Award

Kerry Banke, N6IZW, of La Mesa, California, received the Special Achievement Award. Banke, first licensed in 1961 and now retired, spent most of his career in the research and development of electronics systems as a microwave RF electrical engineer. This included 14 years as a Qualcomm engineer, developing innovative microwave wireless technologies. Banke's electronic interests span dc to light, with particular interest and expertise in microwaves. His ham radio operations have included transmissions on 136 kHz up to laser.Banke's support to human spaceflight amateur radio started in 1994 when he served as a school technical mentor and certified ground station for the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) program. When NASA transitioned from SAREX to the International Space Station (ISS), Banke became a member of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) hardware team. For 7 years, working from his home and electronics lab garage, Banke led the circuit design, breadboarding, flight circuit board layout, assembly, and testing of the ARISS-developed multi-voltage power supply. This compact power supply innovation serves as the backbone of the ARISS next-generation on-orbit radio system.

Banke's contributions to the recently launched ARISS hardware system has significantly enhanced current ham operations on the ISS. Additionally, they enable future amateur radio expansion and experimentation that will permit new educational and operational capabilities for youth and hams. Annually, hundreds of thousands of ISS ham contacts are made via the voice repeater and APRS digipeater and thousands of youth are inspired and engaged through ARISS ham radio connections with astronauts aboard the ISS.

Technical Achievement Award

Adam Farson, VA7OJ/AB4OJ, of West Vancouver, B.C., received the Technical Achievement Award for his dedicated professional work with RF and telecommunications engineering issues and innovation. He has been a ham since he was a teenager.

Best known to the amateur radio community for his development of multiple sources of technical support for Icom radios, Farson started an Icom technical support net on 20 meters in the 1980s. He and came to know several senior Icom Japan engineers while living in, and traveling around, Japan while working. With each week's net, Farson helped hams solve challenging technical and logistical issues.

Farson has spent 3 decades creating an online resource for HF radios. His website -- a repository for highly technical information on Icom and other HF transceivers and amplifiers -- is now one of the most widely cited internet resources.He independently performs measurements on nearly all new radios, including noise-power ratio, a measure he developed. His work includes producing the only data radio hobbyists have, which clearly delineates how modern software-defined radios (SDRs) perform across the spectrum of band noise levels. Farson has written multiple articles for technical and amateur radio journals. Recently, he penned a multipart series on modern HF solid-state amplifier design principles.

Amateur of the Year Award

Jim Simpson, KF8J, of Xenia, Ohio, was named the 2022 Amateur of the Year. First licensed as a teen, Simpson built his first tower in 1966. He worked 39 states, including Hawaii, while living at home with his family. His first shack was in the corner of his dad's garage. Simpson built all his equipment from Heathkit.

He upgraded to a General-class license in the late 1970s. He built two towers at his current location in Xenia in 1980, a 100-foot guyed tower for HF antennas and a 55-foot, free-standing tower for satellite communications. Simpson operates on 80 through 10 meters, mostly using voice with some digital operations, as well as on 2 meters and 70 centimeters.

Simpson attended his first Dayton Hamvention in 1972. He was a member of the Hamvention committee for several years and was the first to use computers for the annual event to streamline recording data.

In 1974, a tornado devastated the city of Xenia, Ohio. In 1975, Simpson saw a way to serve the community, and as a young man, he founded The Xenia Weather Radio Network. He remains active in the organization.

Simpson was appointed Second Assistant to the Hamvention General Chair in 1983. In 1984 and 1985, he was appointed Assistant General Chair. He was appointed the Hamvention Chairman on the DARA Board for the 1986 and 1987 Hamvention events. Simpson has served on the Hamvention committee continuously since 1973. During that period, he introduced several technical innovations to the event and remains a senior advisor on the committee.

Over many years, he mentored many local hams and has been active in many amateur radio projects in and around Xenia.

Club of the Year Award

The Highland Amateur Radio Association (HARA), K8HO, an ARRL Special Service Club located in Hillsboro, Ohio, has been named the 2022 Club of the Year. HARA was established in 1977 and serves a small rural population in Highland County, Ohio. As a result of ongoing licensing classes and mentoring sessions, the club reached an all-time high membership in 2021 with 143 members. Since 2015, membership has grown by 86 percent, and the membership is comprised of hams from 10 surrounding counties in southwest Ohio and two states. The club maintains five repeaters within Highland County, of which two are linked to provide a broader footprint. The club hosts a weekly 2-meter and 10-meter net, with an average attendance of 28. There are bi-monthly programs, as well as a monthly gathering called the "Brunch Bunch."

The club has an excellent relationship with the local newspaper and leverages that relationship to make the community aware of its events and of the value and importance of amateur radio.

Hamvention 2022 is set for May 20 - 22 at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio. Xenia is about 16 miles east of Dayton, Ohio. For more information, go to the Hamvention website at www.hamvention.org[1].

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio[2]¨ is among the major exhibitors that participate in Hamvention each year.

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[1] http://www.hamvention.org
[2] http://www.arrl.org/

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