YASME Awards and Grants for 2015

In 2008 The Yasme Foundation (www.yasme.org) established the Yasme Excellence Awards, to be awarded to individuals who, through their own service, creativity, effort and dedication, have made a significant contribution to amateur radio. The contribution may be in recognition of technical, operating or organizational achievement, as all three are necessary for amateur radio to grow and prosper. The Yasme Excellence Award is in the form of a cash grant and an individually engraved crystal globe.

The Board of Yasme Excellence Awards have been made to the following individuals during 2015:

Mike Mertel, K7IR, for his revolutionary invention of a tunable Yagi antenna that was later made available to the amateur radio community under the brand name SteppIR.

Koos Fockens, PA0KDF, for his investigations, measurements and publications regarding noise in the Amateur Radio bands that played a key role in the global fight against Broadband over Power Line (BPL) interference.

James Ying, N2IW, for his creation of an online scheduling application that was used by many W1AW/portable operations during the 2014 ARRL Centennial and remains available without charge.

The Yasme Foundation Board of Directors has named the N1MM Logger+ free logging software development team to receive its Yasme Excellence Award. Team members include Tom Wagner, N1MM; Rick Ellison, N2AMG; Steve London, N2IC; John Bednar, K3CT; Nikolay Safronov, NA3M; Pete Smith, N4ZR; Andreas Hofman, KU7T; Larry Gauthier, K8UT, and Richard Ferch, VE3KI.

N1MM+ represents a major revision to the original N1MM Logger. Its development involved a significant volunteer effort to rewrite and test more than more than 250,000 lines of code. The program continues to be available at no cost and is updated and supported on a regular basis.

The Board of Directors of The Yasme Foundation has announced several supporting grants in furtherance of its goal of supporting the development of Amateur Radio. The grants will support the Foundation's aim to encourage youth participation in Amateur Radio and in operating activities.

The Yasme Foundation Board of Directors has announced several grants to Amateur Radio organizations and activities. Beneficiaries include the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program, the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology, and the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN). The value of each grant was not released.

“The Yasme Foundation encourages amateurs to support activities that promote Amateur Radio and result in new licensees around the world,” the announcement said.

In support of scholarships and youth programs, the Yasme Foundation will fund the Yasme Foundation scholarship through the ARRL Foundation. It also designated grants to the Foundation for Amateur Radio (FAR) in support of its 2016 scholarship program, to the Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) program to support programs aimed at promoting Amateur Radio among those under age 26 throughout IARU Region 1, and to the ARRL Teacher's Institute to fund one teacher’s attendance at a 2016 Teachers Institute session.

In support of scientific and technical programs, the Yasme Foundation will make a grant to the ARISS program to support effort to place higher-power Amateur Radio equipment on theColumbus Module and standardize the equipment configuration; to the Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) Beacon Project to update the beacon station in Sri Lanka, and to the Reverse Beacon Network, to build and install a node to provide coverage in an area identified as both underserved and of particular interest to propagation studies.

To support HF operating around the world, the Yasme Foundation will make a grant to a representative of the Haiti Amateur Radio Club for the purchase of Amateur Radio training materials aimed at developing future licensees in Haiti as well as donate a Kenwood TS-440S transceiver for use by the new licensees; to the International Amateur Radio Club at International Telecommunication Union Headquarters in Geneva (4U1ITU) for station maintenance and the acquisition of needed equipment; and to World Radiosport Team Championship 2018 (WRTC 2018) to support the expense of mounting the contesting competition in Germany and to encourage other organizations and individuals to contribute as well, and to the Ethiopian Amateur Radio Society club station ET3AA, to acquire a new computer, interfaces, and programs for logging and operating digital modes and to purchase new headsets

The Yasme Foundation announced grants to organizations supporting Amateur Radio. These include a grant to the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) in support of its ongoing activities, and to Dokufunk, the Research and Documentation Center for the History of Radio Communications and the Electronic Media in Vienna, Austria, in support of its activities to preserve the history of radio communication.

The Yasme Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation organized to conduct scientific and educational projects related to amateur radio, including DXing (long distance communication) and the introduction and promotion of amateur radio in developing countries. For additional information about The Yasme Foundation, visit our website at: http://www.yasme.org

Ward Silver, NØAX, President
The Yasme Foundation Board of Directors:
  Fred Laun, K3ZO, Director and Vice-President
 Rusty Epps, W6OAT, Director and Treasurer
 Kip Edwards, W6SZN, Director and Secretary
 Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, Director
 Ken Claerbout, K4ZW, Director
 Martti Laine, OH2BH, Director
 Robert Vallio, W6RGG, Director