The ARRL Board of Directors named four ARRL award recipients at their July 18-19 meeting in Windsor, Connecticut. The six awards conferred were the 2008 Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award; the 2007 Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award; the 2007 Hiram Percy Maxim Award; the 2007 Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award; the 2008 ARRL Technical Innovation Award, and the ARRL Technical Merit Award.

The Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award

The recipient of the 2008 McGan Award is Walter Palmer, W4ALT, of Lewes, Delaware. Palmer, the ARRL Delaware Section Public Information Coordinator (PIC), has demonstrated outstanding volunteer public relations success on behalf of Amateur Radio at both the local and state levels. Palmer wrote a television script for the Sussex County (Delaware) Emergency Operations Center, providing the public with an awareness of Amateur Radio and its relationship with Emergency Preparedness. This show was broadcast on the largest television station in the Delaware market. Through his positive messages and commitment to Amateur Radio, membership in the Sussex Amateur Radio Association increased almost 200 percent, gaining 69 new members; participation in ARES grew from just one lone member to 60.

The McGan award is named for Philip J. McGan, WA2MBQ (SK), the first chairman of the ARRL's Public Relations Committee. After his death, friends in the New Hampshire Amateur Radio Association joined with the ARRL Board of Directors to pay a lasting tribute to the important contributions he made on behalf of Amateur Radio. The McGan Award goes to that ham who has demonstrated success in Amateur Radio public relations and best exemplifies the volunteer spirit of Phil McGan. Public Relations activities for which the McGan Award is presented include efforts specifically directed at bringing Amateur Radio to the public's attention (and most often the media's) in a positive light. This may include traditional methods, such as news releases, or non-traditional methods, such as hosting a radio show or being an active public speaker.

Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award

The recipient of the 2007 Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award is Doug Loughmiller, W5BL, of McKinney, Texas. Since 2003, Loughmiller has worked to bring together the Fannin County Amateur Radio Club and the Fannin County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) by creating and teaching ongoing Amateur Radio classes. Loughmiller advertises the classes and recruits students; graduates of the classes usually end up joining both clubs. He mentors his many students about the wide-ranging facets of Amateur Radio, including high altitude balloon flights and real-world emergency response in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Loughmiller's classes are so popular, it is common for licensed amateurs to re-enroll or even take his class for a first time knowing they will walk away from it having learned something new.

Herb S. Brier, W9AD, long-time CQ Novice Editor, represented the spirit of effective, caring Amateur Radio instruction. The ARRL, in conjunction with the Lake County (Indiana) Amateur Radio Club, sponsors this award in his memory to recognize the very best in volunteer Amateur Radio instruction and recruitment.

The Hiram Percy Maxim Award

The recipient of the 2007 Hiram Percy Maxim Award is Jim Fagan, KE7IDC, of Tucson, Arizona. Fagan, an ARRL Life Member, is the ARRL Arizona Assistant Section Manager for Youth; he also serves as secretary/treasurer of the Tucson Repeater Association. He is 13 years old. Fagan teaches the Radio and Electronics merit badges, as well as hands-on radio demonstrations and kit building in his Scouting activities. Outside of Boy Scouts, Fagan helps out with bike races, walkathons and Red Cross drills. He serves as the Tucson Repeater Council's representative to the Arizona Radio Council. Every month, he writes a Youth and Scouting article for the ARRL Arizona Section newsletter.

This award, given annually to a licensed radio amateur under the age of 21, takes into account the nominee's most exemplary nature of accomplishments and contributions to both the community of Amateur Radio and the local community.

The Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award

The recipient of the 2007 Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award is John Stanley, K4ERO, of Rising Fawn, Georgia, for his article "Observing Selective Fading in Real Time with Dream Software" published in the January/February 2007 issue of QEX. Stanley was first licensed as KN4ERO more than 50 years ago, gradually working his way up to Amateur Extra class. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in electrical engineering in 1962 and did six years of graduate studies in theology and foreign languages. With Ruth, WB4LUA, his wife of 40 years, Stanley has visited 62 countries and operated from about a dozen of them while working as a broadcast engineering consultant and educator. He has taught in several universities and has worked for all of the major religious broadcasters, but spent the majority of his time with HCJB in Quito, Ecuador where he oversaw the use of a 24-element quad antenna for broadcasting on the 21 MHz shortwave broadcast band. While at HCJB, Stanley designed and built several transmitters and did major work on the 20 kW unit presently used by HCJB for SSB and DRM broadcasts.

Established in 1975 as the ARRL Technical Excellence Award, the name was changed in 1997 to honor the late Doug DeMaw, W1FB, a former ARRL Headquarters technical editor and well-known Amateur Radio author. The award consists of an engraved 9 inch pewter cup.

The ARRL Technical Innovation Award

The recipient of the 2008 ARRL Technical Innovation Award is Dave Bernstein, AA6YQ, of Wayland, Massachusetts. Bernstein authored and published the DXLab suite of programs for radio amateurs; he has placed these programs in the public domain for free use and collaboration. Bernstein, an avid DXer, was one of the earliest logging program authors to investigate functions for ARRL's Logbook of The World (LoTW), as well as programs for other developers. His DXLab suite consists of eight programs that cover every aspect of station operation. Bernstein goes beyond simply supporting DXLab; he mentors users in other aspects of programming and Amateur Radio.

The ARRL Technical Innovation Award is granted annually to the licensed radio amateur or to individuals who are licensed radio amateurs whose accomplishments and contributions are of the most exemplary nature within the framework of technical research, development and application of new ideas and future systems in the context of Amateur Radio activities.

ARRL Technical Merit Award

The ARRL Technical Merit Award, last given in 1976, is awarded to ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI. Since 2003, Hare has diligently and skillfully led the ARRL laboratory staff in studying the detrimental effects of Broadband over Powerline (BPL) usage on the Amateur Radio community. Going beyond the dictates of his job, Hare conducted field studies of geographically dispersed BPL deployments in his personal HF-equipped car, interfacing with amateurs in many different areas of the country to provide them with reliable and objective technical advice in identifying and addressing harmful interference from BPL systems.

Hare's extensive technical studies and solid factual data effectively supported ARRL's Court of Appeals submissions against the FCC, thus contributing substantially to the League's success in causing the FCC's flawed BPL rules to be remanded to the FCC. This action positively impacts ARRL membership and the whole amateur community.

Hare has earned the respect of technical representatives in the BPL industry and standards organizations, such as the IEEE P1775 BPL EMC Committee; the IEEE EMC Society Standards Development Committee (serving as Chairman of the BPL Study Project), and the ASC 63 EMC Committee (serving as Chairman of Subcommittee 5 -- Immunity and the Ad hoc BPL Working Group). Through these committees, Hare has contributed to the implantation of advancements in BPL technology, directly resulting in the capability of current generation BPL systems to reduce interference potential to manageable levels.