ARDC Nearly Doubles ARRL Foundation Scholarship “Pot” - Nearly $1 Million in Scholarships Awarded for 2022

The ARRL Foundation announced its 2022 scholarship grants in early July, awarding over $900,000 in financial aid to 139 young hams to help with college costs. This is up significantly from 122 grants totaling $564,000 in 2021, powered mostly by a $350,000 increase in scholarship aid from ARDC, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (<http://www.ampr.org>).

ARDC is a foundation that supports amateur radio and digital communications and technology. As part of its philanthropic activities, it grants multiple scholarships, ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each. In 2021, it provided 31 students with $400,000 in scholarship aid, and nearly doubled that amount this year, providing 45 scholarships valued at $750,000. Twenty students received $25,000 grants while 17 others received $10,000 each. There were also four $15,000 scholarships and four for $5,000 each.

Founded in 1973, the ARRL Foundation administers scholarships for more than 75 individuals and organizations, with grants ranging from $500 to $25,000. Other notable sponsors this year include the ARRL Foundation itself ($22,000 in scholarships), the W4NTO and WA8LOW scholarships ($10,000 each) and the Dayton Amateur Radio Association ($7,500). The complete list of 2022 scholarship recipients is at <https://tinyurl.com/3h6mm2vb>.

Radio Club of America Launches Mentorship Program

The Radio Club of America, which includes both radio professionals and amateurs, began a new program at the end of June to help young professionals learn from more experienced RCA members. The mentorship program pairs younger members with “more seasoned” members, according to an announcement. Participation is open to any adult RCA member who might benefit from working with a more experienced member. More information is available on the RCA website at <https://tinyurl.com/ycx4wuxe>.

Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN, Named 2022 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year

Young Ham of the Year
Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN
(Photo courtesy Newsline)

Eighteen-year-old Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN, of Cumming, Georgia, has been selected as the 2022 Bill Pasternak Memorial Newsline Young Ham of the Year. McElroy comes from a ham family and has been licensed since 2014, upgrading to Amateur Extra in 2016. She and her brother, Jack, KM4ZIA, were featured on the cover of CQ in March, 2021. Her parents are Tom, W4SDR, and Jan, K4PRM.

Planning for a career in biotechnology, Audrey will begin her sophomore year at Georgia Tech this fall, helped along by a $25,000 scholarship from ARDC, the Amateur Radio Digital Communications foundation. While in high school, she actively promoted amateur radio as part of her onging efforts to encourage more girls and young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). A graduate of her county’s STEM Academy, Audrey also served as president of her school’s chapter of Healthcare Occupations Students of America, and qualified for the organization’s international competition. She was named her school’s Biotechnology Student of the Year in 2021.

A fan of amateur radio high altitude ballooning (ARHAB), her senior capstone project in high school centered on launching a balloon carrying a payload including a biological sample for purposes of studying high-altitude conditions on a small roundworm (C.elegan). Her interest in ballooning has been helped by the fact that she has been mentored by ARHAB authority Bill Brown, WB8ELK.

Audrey also participated in the 2019 Dave Kalter Memorial DX Adventure Program, during which she joined other young hams in operating from Curacao, and has made presentations at the Dayton Hamvention, Youth on the Air Camp and Radio Club of America, which presented her with its 2021 Young Achiever Award. She currently serves as a director of the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL).

McElroy will officially be inducted into the pantheon of Newsline Young Ham of the Year awardees at the Huntsville Hamfest in Alabama later this month – the first in-person presentation since 2019 – and will receive gifts from corporate co-sponsors Yaesu, CQ, Heil Sound and Radiowavz Antenna Company.

Milestones: N1UL Honored; W4EA, N2OML, Silent Keys

Dr. Ulrich Rohde, N1UL
(From Rohde Foundation
website)

Dr. Ulrich L. Rohde, N1UL, was honored recently by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as the recipient of its 2022 Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award. A partner in Rohde & Schwarz, a manufacturer of a variety of high-end communications and test/measurement products, he has been an active ham since being licensed in 1956, according to the ARRL Letter. The Photonics Society award recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of optoelectronic signal generation and optical measurement equipment.

Richard “Dick” Ehrhorn, W4EA, a pioneer in magnetic resonance imaging technology and a major player in the amateur radio manufacturing world of the 1960s and ’70s, became a Silent Key in late June at age 88, the ARRL Letter reported. Best known for designing RF amplifiers, Ehrhorn founded Signal One and Ehrhorn Technological Operations (ETO), and was chairman of Alpha/Power, Inc. He later applied his expertise in amplifier design at General Electric, designing an RF amplifier to work with its then-new MRI systems.

Retired CBS engineer and senior vice president Bob Ross, N2OML, also became a Silent Key in June. Ross worked in broadcast engineering for over 45 years, according to an announcement in “TV Tech,” and served as CBS’s Senior Vice President of East Coast Operations from 1998 to 2017. A member of the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award, Bob could often be found searching for bargains at the Dayton flea market. He had moved to Arizona after retirement.