Radio Club of America (RCA) recognizes leaders and major contributors to the field of wireless communications. This year, several hams received awards.
Dr. James Breakall (WA3FET)
Dr. Ulrich L. Rohde Award for Innovation in Applied Radio Science and Engineering
Dr. Breakall began his career as a graduate student at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, working on antenna analysis and radar probing of the ionosphere. At LLNL, he and his group worked on the development of the Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC), the first sophisticated antenna modeling program. Other significant projects that he has worked on were the designs of the HAARP facility in Alaska, both HF facilities at Arecibo, and the Kinstar low profile AM broadcast antenna. Dr. Breakall (electrical) and Tim Duffy (mechanical) designed the very popular Ham Radio Skyhawk Yagi antenna, and Dr. Breakall is the inventor of the Optimized Wideband Antenna (OWA).
Dr. Breakall is also a member of HamSCI.
Stan Reubenstein
Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer Citation
[Mr. Reubenstein] is a member of APCO, ARRL Life Member (receiving the 1971 Public Service Award), Antique Wireless Association, Denver Area Council BSA (Silver Beaver Recipient 2011), QCWA (Life Member). He is a Fellow, Life Member, director, and previous officer of the Radio Club of America, serving as vice president, executive vice president and president. He received RCA’s Special Service Award and the Barry Goldwater Award.
Dr Nathan “Chip” Cohen (W1YW)
Dr. Arno A. Penzias Award for Contributions to Basic Research in the Radio Sciences
Dr. Cohen is perhaps most noted for his contributions to the field of electromagnetics and has authored over 120 technical papers, three books, and was awarded 94 issued U.S. patents. He is the inventor of fractal antennas and resonators, fractal metamaterials, and the invisibility cloak, conducting basic and applied research on same, and holds the source patents in these fields.
Rene Albert Steigler (posthumous)
Barry Goldwater Award
René Stiegler was an electrical engineer, prominent radio amateur, radio personality, broadcast engineer and pioneer in the fields of land mobile radio and marine communications. When he was ten years old he was recognized by the ARRL as the youngest ham to ever receive the general class license. Amateur radio then became his lifelong passion.
Alan Spindel (AG4WK)
RCA Special Recognition Award
Alan Spindel is the Senior Electrical Engineer for Ten-Tec/Alpha RF Systems in Dayton, Ohio. He develops hardware and firmware for digital HF radio data modems. He is active in volunteer emergency communications and has served as the Rutherford County, Tennessee, ARES Net Manager for nearly two decades.
Tucker Dunham (KD2JPM)
Carole Perry Young Professional Award
Tucker Dunham earned his amateur radio license in 2015. He presented in Carole Perry’s Youth Forum at the Dayton Hamvention in 2018 and again at the RCA Technical Symposium in 2018.
2024 Fellows
Hams that are RCA members recently elevated to Fellow status:
Michael Kalter (W8CI), Hamvention Awards Committee Co-Chair
Howard Rosen (VE2AED), Inventor and Entrepreneur
For a full list of award recipients with additional details, see the RCA 2024 award recipients page.
Source: RCA
