The semi-annual newsletter for The Radio Club of America membersmember The semi-annual newsletter for The Radio Club of America 2021 V.22021 V. 1
FROM YOUR PRESIDENT FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
In this issue of the RCA Aerogramaswewe begin a new year! We2021 are atwill thesurely beginning stages Greetings to all of our RCA members prove to beofana Mentoring exciting one as we return t will highlight all that has happened Program. RCA member David Witkowski is working on live activities. o
since my last message to you in the May a framework, to include collecting information on Proceedings. are an in-person First, some exciting news about this year's Technical S ympopotential sium andmentors AwardstoByounger anquet. people. We planIftoyouhave interested in being a mentor, please notify Amy. Techni•caTogether l Sympowith siumIWCE, and Aas wainrdprior s Banyears, quet on Saturday November 20th. We plan to live-broadcast and video-record RCA has co-sponsored the Young youtototravel. all who tookevents the time these events to allow participation for those who areThank unable Both willtoberespond held intoDethe nvesurveys. r, Colorado. As in Professionals awards to up and coming If you would be interested in helping in any of our new past years, we want to move the meeting locations around the country to provide greater local access for our members t young people (35 and under) in the wireless endeavors, please contact Amy our Executive Secretary. industry. This annual year 75% of theInrecipients The the Rocky Mountain area and the west coast. More details about the icipate in RCA's premier event. this case,were thatwomen! will be from • Additionally we have been conducting focus group surveys Margaret Carothers Lynch, Susan Kea, el, etc. will berecipients providedinclude: in the coming months. with younger people, to discover how RCA can provide Austin Schaller, and JoAnna Wang. Their bios and other services and will products That information We are especially excited to confirm that our k e y n o t e s p e a k e r at the Awards Banquet be Drof . Minterest arty Coto opthem. er, inventor of the first handdetails can be found on the RCA or the IWCE websites. willare alsohonored be usedto tohave develop services for our held portable cell phone. Marty Cooper is a long time RCA member, and we himfuture present this year at the Awards • inThe 2021 RCAwith Awardees, and the 2021 class The Cord members. Banquet conjunction the publication of his RCA new Fellows book Cutting . has been determined. They will be presented with their • A reminder to both radio amateurs and short wave I want to remind members that itatisthe time againMeeting to submit awardsall or our Fellows certificates Awards in nominations for Awards and Fellows. The nominations process closes on listeners: RCA Committee is hosting anrelies on-the-air event on Saturday, May 15. Our members have many connections in wireless, and the Awards and Fellow on your nominations of deserving November. 13th tobut celebrate the Full 100th anniversary of the people in wireless. Most of the awards do not require the awardee to be anNovember RCA member, some do. details and forms are on the • We completed a second survey of the remainder of our Transatlantic Tests. During the original event, amateurs RCA Website. members in June. This survey was of our younger members, with modest equipment were able to span the Atlantic, and complemented more of senior in a century of unprecedented wireless started. A is undertaking several New Inthe itiatfirst ivessurvey This Yof eaour r, some which build uponwhich work ushered that President Emeritus Carroll Hollingsworth members. We had a 23% response rate, which is good! invention, culminating in today’s smart phone. President Our ScholRCA arshimember p CommKeith ittee, Kaczmarek ably led bytabulated member Alan Spindel, has been hard at work our scholarship to be more the results, a few Emeritus Tim re-crafting Duffy has been working veryprogram hard to make responsiveoftowhich the needs newand scholarship funds. You will hear more about that are: of the 21st century. This the committee has created thistwo event, several other associated events, a success. soon. o More details are on the RCA Website. 88% would recommend others to join RCA Last year President Hollingsworth started looking into the future for RCA. To continue that effort, year Iatstood uptrade a newshows, temporary • We have returned to live this meetings several o 79% would take advantage of new RCA educational committee chaired by Vice President David Bart to do strategic planning foincluding: r the Club. The wireless world is changing, and we need to programs examine how the Club can prepare itself better for the future. o APCO in San Antonio TX in August, where we had our o 67% would travel to regional events RCA is increasing its outreach to our members, especially in developing n ew wbooth ays thand at Ran CAevening can addcocktail value to your wireless careers. As a event result, o we inaugurated newincommittees whopublications are looking at specific groups within our membership ranks to see how we can better 37% areseveral interested receiving print o RCA had a booth at the Utilities Technology Council serve those members. Todigital increase participation in these committees, I have asked several non-Board RCA members to work with or chair instead of (UTC) in Portland OR, also in August. This is a new these committees including Keith Kaczmarek, Denis Marin, Stephanie McCall, and David Witkowski. If other members are interested in o 53% would like to see RCA meet in New York City trade show for us, with a lot of potential future helping us please contact our Executive Secretary Amy. every second or third year synergy. UTC is very wireless and communications With so much going on, I have asked Executive Vice President Chip Cohe n to hfocused, elp me in working with these committees. and had a number of wireless presentations The surveys revealed a number of services that members are during their event. looking for, and we will be examining these ideas in the coming CA launched a NeTwo w Rthat egiowe nalhave Chapstarted ter thistoyear! A group of RCA members has been meeting in the ocky M ounin taiLas n areVegas a for in the past few o months. look at: We are attending theRIWCE show ars. That group is now formalized into an official RCA Section, and Director Charles Kirmuss is leading that effort. We will get September, and will be having our breakfast to meet these o Education Committee under Dr. Julio Urbina ction members atThe ourRCA meeting in Denver this November! networking event on Wednesday September 29th. is working on a series of wireless education modules, CA continues to be Tradwill e Sbe hoon wsWireless despite101, the pandemic, and o we plan to begin undertaking summer. RCA is the active first of at which for Although we are not a ham live club,activities a numberthis of our E i n S e p t e m b e r i n L a s V e g a s , and at least one other hibiting at several trade shows this year, including A P C O i n A u g u s t i n S a n A n t o n i o , I W C beginners in the wireless industry. The details of these members are hams, and so we attended two regional de show. We hope to see our members at these events and network with them after a long hiatus due to the pandemic. modules will be announced in near future. amateur radio events: Huntsville, AL in August, and year. the The ARRLnew Newwebsite Englandwill Convention in Marlborough, MA.more CA is launching a New RCA Website, which has been in the works for the past feature easier navigation,
ormation, improved visibility for our sponsors and advertisers, and better emphasis on our organizational partners. so, I want to encourage all our members to join us for RCA’s Virtual Events on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 9 PM ET, hosted by
FROM YOUR PRESIDENT At all of these events, we took a new two-sided brochure which describes what RCA is and what RCA can offer a prospective member. Partially as a result, we signed up new members at each event. An oft heard refrain was “I have been meaning to join RCA for years…” Also to protect our members and our booth workers, we invested in some RCA logoed face masks. These are high quality masks with 3 layers and adjustable ear straps. If any member would like one, please send a donation to RCA for $15, and Amy will mail one to you. o
To engage our California members in the Silicon Valley area, RCA is planning a networking dinner in San Ramon, California on Saturday evening, October 16th. Check the RCA Website for more details in the near future.
• As you may know, we reluctantly had to cancel the in-person portion of our Annual Awards Banquet and Technical Symposium in Denver in November. We will be conducting both as virtual events only on Saturday November 20th. Attendance at the Awards event is FREE to anyone, whether they are an RCA member or not. So encourage those you know in the industry to attend that. Marty Cooper, inventor of the cell phone, will be our keynote speaker and will present virtually.
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The Technical Symposium will cost $40 to attend, because of the significant technical knowledge that is being provided. Chair Dr. Jim Breakall has arranged many interesting presentations including: Software Defined Radar and Cognitive Radio; The HF Renaissance in the US Army;, The 1921 Transatlantic Test; Designing a millimeter Wave Sensing Module; Current Issues in Spectrum Management;
Modulation Dependent Carrier Modulation; and two presentations from the NIST Laboratories: Public Safety Communications Research and Trusted Spectrum Testing. CEUs are available for professional engineers and others needing them. There is a modest additional charge which goes to the university awarding the CEU certificate. • To continue to bring RCA closer to groups of its members, we are planning to organize an RCA section (chapter) in Texas. Our Denver group has been meeting for many years successfully, and we hope to duplicate that in TX. Stay tuned for details. • The RCA Board welcomes our newest Board member, Edward Ryan, Esq. who fills the RCA Vice Counsel position on our Board. Ed is a patent and trademark attorney and provides additional expertise to the general legal experience of our RCA Counsel Barney Scholl. RCA is your club. If you are interested in working on any of RCA’s committees, or would like to help RCA in general, please email our Executive Secretary Amy Beckham with your areas of interest: Amy@radioclubofamerica.org. You do not need to be a board member to help. We are especially looking for assistance in our marketing and membership committees, and for short term assistance on some specific projects. I hope you all enjoy the change of seasons as we enter the fall season. I look forward to seeing you all at our virtual events in November, and during our continuing Networking and Interview series on the second Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m. EDT.
JOHN FACELLA, President The Radio Club of America, Inc.
FRESH CONTENT – ON THE –
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2021 | The World’s Oldest Wireless Society
CONGRATULATIONS
2021 Young Professional Award Recipients RCA and IWCE are proud to announce the recipients of the 2021 Young Professional Awards, to be presented this year on Thursday September 30 at the IWCE EXPO in Las Vegas NV. Learn more about them below, and read their full biographies on the RCA website HERE. Margaret (Maggie) Carothers Lynch
Austin Schaller
Maggie has been CEO of Royal Communications International, Inc., since 2013, and is the majority owner of this woman owned small business. Royal Communications International, Inc. is a worldwide supplier of communications equipment, Maggie specializes in HF communication systems. Susan Kea Susan is a rising star in the wireless industry. She’s enthusiastic about the technology, attentive to her customers and others in the business, and is always there when needed. Susan goes out of her way to welcome new professionals in the industry, and she’s always looking for ways to create win-win situations in business.
Austin Schaller worked on electronics and amateur radio projects with his grandfather and participated in a local amateur radio club for youth at a young age. As an aspiring engineer and licensed ham radio operator, KDØFAA, he was invited to talk at the Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum in 2009 and subsequently the RCA Tech Symposium as the first Young Achiever presenter in 2011. In high school, he began interning at FreeWave Technologies, and later, XetaWave, both companies that design and manufacturer digital radios. Austin is currently a design engineer at Ball Aerospace in the RF Electronics group for Tactical Solutions since 2018 but originally interned with them in 2017. His experience includes broadband passive and active RF electronics design, embedded FPGA and microcontroller design, and software development. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from LeTourneau University in Texas and continues to work on projects in his free-time.
JoAnna Wang JoAnna Wang is the Director of Government and Community Affairs at Modus LLC. A licensed attorney and experience telecom professional, JoAnna is a consummate professional who understand that, at the end of the day, it’s critical for people and residents of a community feel comfortable with the build projects wireless carriers do to extend their networks. She’s always accessible, personable, and a pleasure to work with.
Congratulations
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL
AWARD RECIPIENTS! JOINTLY PRESENTED BY
Election for Officers and Directors Begins October 26 Review the candidate biograhies and position statements on our website and make an informed vote! Voting opens October 26 and closes November 5. www.radioclubofamerica.org/meet-the-candidates
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RCA’S 2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM & AWARDS PROGRAM SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2021 2021 Technical Symposium and Awards Program Will Be VIRTUAL Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and its numerous variants, we have regrettably made the decision to shift our 2021 Technical Symposium and Awards Program to a FULLY VIRTUAL event. This decision was not arrived at lightly and was made out of an abundance of caution and concern for all involved. We conducted these events virtually in 2020, with outstanding success, and are confident that we will achieve the same results this year.
2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED We are pleased to announce our slate of speakers for the upcoming Technical Symposium. This year’s event host is Prof. Jim Breakall, of Penn State. You can view the complete speaker information with bio’s on our website. Scheduled speakers include:
Dereck Orr
Col. Stephen Hamilton, KJ5HY
Division Chief for the Public Safety Communications Research Division NIST Communication Technology Laboratory Presentation: NIST Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR)
Chief of Staff and Technical Director of the Army Cyber Institute United States Military Academy, West Point Presentation: The HF Renaissance in the US Army
Frank Donovan, W3LPL
Melissa Midzor Program Manager National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network Presentation: Trusted Spectrum Testing
Chief Engineer (Retired) General Dynamics Corporation Presentation: The 1921 Transatlantic Test
Carole Perry, WB2MGP
Dr. Julio Urbina, KB3PZH
Presentation: RCA Youth Activities
Dale N. Hatfield Professor in the Technology, Cybersecurity, and Policy Program University of Colorado Presentation: Current Issues in Spectrum Management
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering Penn State University Presentation: Tutorial on Software-Defined Radar (SDR) and Cognitive Radios Register today to attend this year’s Technical Symposium!
Mike Pappas Vice President of Business Development and Co-Owner Orban Labs Inc. Presentation: Modulation Dependent Carrier Modulation (MDCL) in AM Transmitters
Registration now open! www.radioclubofamerica.org 4 | Edition 2
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RCA’S 2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM & AWARDS PROGRAM SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2021 2021 VIRTUAL RCA AWARDS PROGRAM Martin “Marty” Cooper will be featured in the Awards Program this November! Marty Cooper is a pioneer in wireless communications and radio spectrum management. He invented the first handheld cellular mobile phone in 1973, and is considered the father of the handheld cell phone. He is a recipient of numerous awards, to include the Radio Club of America’s Fred Link Award, and the RCA Lifetime Achievement Award.
ABOUT DR. MARTY COOPER Dr. Cooper, is a pioneer in wireless communications and radio spectrum management who has eleven patents. He invented the first handheld cellular mobile phone in 1973, led the team that developed it and brought it to market, and is considered the father of the handheld cell phone. He is also cited as the first person to make a handheld cellular phone call in public. He was born in Chicago and graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He served as a submarine officer during the Korean War, later returning to IIT and earning his master’s degree in electrical engineering, and also receiving an honorary doctorate degree. He currently serves on the university’s board of trustees.
Dr. Cooper started his career at Cooper Teletype Corporation and then joined Motorola, Inc. as a senior development engineer in the mobile equipment group. He worked at Motorola for the next 29 years, rising to Vice President and Corporate Director of Research and Development. He was responsible for building and managing Motorola’s paging and cellular businesses. He also led the creation of trunked mobile radio, certain types of oscillators, liquid crystal displays, piezo-electric components, Motorola AM stereo technology and various mobile and portable product lines. He was instrumental in expanding pager technology from use within a single building to use across multiple cities. He also worked to enhance the manufacture of quartz crystals used in Motorola’s radios, that later benefitted the company when it started mass-producing the first crystals used in wristwatches.
LATER YEARS A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Cooper and his wife, Arlene Harris, cofounded numerous wireless technology companies. This includes Cellular Business Systems, SOS Wireless Communications, GreatCall, and ArrayComm. He is currently chairman of Dyna LLC and a member of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council.
Registration now open! www.radioclubofamerica.org
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RCA Launches New Sponsorship Opportunities The new 1 Ask Annual Sponsorships are being offered! In addition to our varied Event Sponsorships, the new 1 Ask Sponsorships are an annual sponsorship offered at five different levels. Align your company for the entire year with the World’s Oldest Wireless Society across RCA’s Website, Virtual Platforms, Networking Events, Publications, and many more ways! Check out our Sponsorship page for complete information and to review all sponsorship options. Partner with us and commit to the future of RCA.
The Radio Club of America Celebrates the 100 Year Anniversary of the Transatlantic Test On December 9-11, 1921, radio amateurs who were members of both the Radio Club of America and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) successfully spanned the Atlantic Ocean from the United States to Androssan Scotland with Morse code signals for the first time. Not only were the signals heard in Scotland, but also in Holland (3,600 miles), England, Germany, Puerto Rico, Vancouver British Columbia in Canada, Catalina Island California (2,470 miles) and Washington. To commemorate this important event in wireless, the Radio Club of America is holding a contest that amateurs and short-wave listeners (SWL’s) can participate in. You can learn more HERE. Following are the logistical details for the RCA event:
1BCG Commemorative Monument in Greenwich Connecticut.
When:
1200Z November 13, 2021, to 0400Z November 14, 2021 (16 hours total)
Bands:
160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters
Modes: CW and SSB Calling: Call “CQ TQP” (for Transatlantic QSO Party)
Conference: March 21-24, 2022 Exhibits: March 23-24, 2022 Las Vegas Convention Center
CONNECTING CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONALS TO CREATE A SAFER, MORE EFFICIENT AND MORE INTERCONNECTED WORLD IWCE is heading back to Las Vegas, March 21-24, 2022! Interested in speaking or sponsoring at IWCE 2022? We would love to hear from you!
iwceexpo.com #IWCE2022
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CONTACT US
RCA CALENDAR
EVENTS
CALENDAR
Visit the event calendar on the RCA website for the most up-to-date event information.
RCA EVENTS
INDUSTRY EVENTS AGL VIRTUAL SUMMIT November 10, 2021 2–4 PM
MEMBER NETWORKING ROUNDTABLE
IWCE 2022
November 9, 2021
March 21-24, 2022 Las Vegas, NV
TRANSATLANTIC TEST CENTENNIAL
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS: CONNECTED IMPACT February 28-March 3, 2022 Barcelona, Spain
November 13, 2021
CONNECTIVITY EXPO
2021 RCA TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM & AWARDS PROGRAM
May 23-26, 2022 Denver, CO
November 20, 2021 Virtual
APCO INTERNATIONAL August 7-10, 2022 Anaheim, CA
RCA INTERVIEW SERIES December 14, 2021
AWA ANNUAL CONVENTION October 5–9, 2021 Rochester, NY
SUPPORT RCA WITH A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION Help RCA continue its mission of advancing wireless art and science for the betterment of society by making a tax-deductible donation today! RCA believes in the future of the industry and your contribution will help us with the important work of encouraging the next generation of wireless pioneers and entrepreneurs. Consider making a donation in someone’s honor as a memorial or gift. Donate online at www.radioclubofamerica.org/donate-to-rca/ or call us at (612) 405-2102 to contribute.
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