Dayton Hamvention\'s Amateur of the Year

DAYTON, OH, Mar 21, 2001--Dayton Hamvention has named engineer and propagation guru George Jacobs, W3ASK, as its Amateur of the Year. Hamvention also announced the winners of its Special Achievement and Technical Excellence awards.




Jacobs, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is a renowned engineer in world-wide broadcasting technology, has authored hundreds of technical articles and is a co-author of a handbook detailing shortwave radio propagation characteristics. Jacobs is perhaps best known in the amateur community as propagation editor for CQ for 50 years, and as a contributing editor for World Radio TV Handbook for 39 years. His contributions to Amateur Radio, both technical and fraternal, have furthered the state-of-the-art for half a century.



Frank Bauer KA3HDO, of Silver Spring, Maryland, has been chosen to receive Dayton Hamvention's Special Achievement award for 2001. Bauer's countless hours of behind-the-scenes work with the SAREX (Space Amateur Radio EXperiment) and ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) programs have made these very high profile activities world-wide successes. Bauer, who chairs the ARISS Board, organized and led the teams that provided the links to schools so that students could talk with astronauts as they orbited the earth. He developed band plans for spectrum utilization for Amateur Radio space operations and continues his leadership role as a technical liaison between the Amateur service and NASA.



Peter Martinez, G3PLX, of Cumbria, England, has been chosen to receive Dayton Hamvention's Technical Excellence award for 2001. Martinez, active on RTTY since the 1960s, is recognized as the father of PSK31, an increasingly popular mode of digital communication. Its design exemplifies the spirit of Amateur Radio tradition--simplicity of operation, optimization of precious spectrum, and reliability of operation. PSK31's elegant and effective design has helped revitalize interest in HF digital modes.



All three awards will be formally presented at the Dayton Hamvention banquet on May 19.--Dayton Hamvention news release