From Your President

Greetings to all our RCA Members! I hope you will enjoy this edition of the RCA Proceedings; it is one of the largest ones we have had recently, thanks to the efforts of VP David Bart, his Publications Committee, and Sapphyre Group. We started the year with an ambitious agenda to improve the services and products we offer to RCA members. We reached out to all of our members in two surveys (thanks to Director Don Root and RCA Member Keith Kaczmarek), and also in a number of focus groups with younger members. We learned that there was interest in getting more wireless education, in having mentoring available to younger members (or in being a mentor), and some members would pay an additional amount for printed versions of the Proceedings. Our committees are working on all of these initiatives, and several more. Despite COVID, we wanted to see our members in a live setting again. As a result, we attended more live events than in the past pandemic year. In addition to our usual APCO cocktail reception and our IWCE breakfast, we attended the Utilities Technology Council show, and several amateur radio events. Next year we hope to attend even more physical events, so our members can network. RCA logo masks were available to our booth workers, and we still have some available on our Website for RCA members.

Unfortunately, it was with great reluctance that the Banquet Committee, and then the full Board, decided to convert our 2021 Technical Symposium and Banquet to a virtual event this year. We understand that Denver area hospitals are at capacity with COVID cases, so it appears we made the right decision, although it was disappointing all around. Regardless, we have a great lineup of Technical Symposium speakers for Saturday November 20th, thanks to the event Chair Dr. Jim Breakall. We have a nominal charge for the Tech Symposium, but the Awards Presentation is available to all at no charge. You must register for these events on the RCA website. Marty Cooper, inventor of the cell phone, will still be our keynote speaker at the Awards Presentation, thanks to efforts of President Emeritus Mercy Contreras. Marty has very generously offered to provide some

autographed copies of his new book “Cutting

the Cord”. We are working on the details to allow RCA members to purchase these books.

In 2022, we plan to have a live Technical Symposium and Banquet in Atlanta, with the added option of attending in person or virtually. We have continued our monthly virtual Zoom Networking or Interview Series, begun at the direction of President Emeritus Carroll Hollingsworth last year because of COVID. Thanks to the tireless efforts of President Emeritus Tim Duffy, and his group of moderators, including our own Vice President Counsel Barney Scholl, every one of these events was interesting, and attendance continues to rise! They are archived on the RCA You Tube channel if you missed one. The RCA Officer and Director Elections have closed, and we will be announcing the results. Thanks to all the members who voted in this election, and had the tough task of choosing among many great candidates. A strong and experienced Board of Directors is necessary to continue moving the Club forward. Along this line, earlier in the year the Board added Attorney Ed Riley as VP Vice Counsel; Ed brings patent and trademark expertise. Ed will formally run for his position in the fall of 2022.

We continue our efforts to recruit and spotlight younger people and students, who represent the future of wireless and RCA. Together with IWCE, we awarded four Young Professionals Awards at the IWCE trade show. In a first time ever, 75% were women. This year’s Technical Symposium will feature Audrey McElroy as our Youth Presenter. The RCA website also includes a Member Spotlight on one of our Young Professional Awardees, Maggie Carothers Lynch. Maggie is the CEO of Royal Communications, a company that specializes in selling, installing, and maintaining HF SSB equipment for governments and military. Somehow she juggles her company and a young family! Further improvements were made to our student Scholarship program, thanks to the hard work by Chair Alan Spindel and Vice Chair Barney Scholl. That work included creating a new Young Achiever Educational Grant. The first award was made to Audrey McElroy. We have been continuing to improve and update the RCA website. Most of the earlier content is now posted, but often in easier ways of access. For example, in Quick Links, under the ‘World of Wireless’ are three categories of interesting fun things, such as wireless museums. Another of RCA’s initiatives is preserving the past. Last year under President Emeritus Carroll Hollingsworth, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first commercial broadcast radio station in the U.S., KDKA. This year, we are celebrating another milestone: The Centennial of the Transatlantic Tests by RCA radio amateurs. This is an important event that I would encourage all members to participate. Even if you are not a radio amateur, if you have a short wave receiver, you can listen in and obtain a certificate. Thanks to the efforts of President Emeritus Tim Duffy and Executive VP Dr. Chip Cohen, RCA is holding an on-the-air event on November 13th for any radio amateur, and also short wave listeners. Additional

Dr. Marty Cooper Maggie Carothers Lynch