In bringing you this next story, Newsline indulges in a bit of personal pride. The Hamvention Awards committee has chosen our own Neil Rapp WB9VPG, as Amateur of the Year. You may know him as a Newsline anchor and correspondent -- and as creator and host of the former HamTalk Live! webcast - but the ham world first heard from Neil at the age of 5 when he became one of the youngest licensed hams ever in 1976.
A visiting professor of chemistry at Xavier University and a former high school chemistry teacher, Neil has a long commitment of bringing ham radio to kids - first as a school ham club sponsor and as cofounder and camp director of Youth On The Air Americas. Neil is a contributing editor at the National Contest Journal and a member of the ARISS USA Education Committee
We are so proud of you, Neil!
Neil will share the stage in May during the Hamvention Awards in Xenia, Ohio, with three other recipients: One of them, Dr. Kristina Collins, KD8OXT, is chief operations scientist for the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station Network. She is being given the Technical Achievement Award. Julio Ripoll, WD4R, is being given the Special Achievement Award. Julio is co-founder of amateur radio operations at the National Hurricane Center and is assistant coordinator. He has managed emergency communications during Caribbean hurricanes and the Haiti earthquake of 2010. The Club of the Year award recipient is the RV Radio Network, which has more than 450 members who combine amateur radio with the joy of travel in recreational vehicles, hosting educational forums, rallies and seminars along their journeys.