January 2, 2017
St. Charles, MO.

THE YASME FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEW WEBSITE, YASME EXCELLENCE AWARDS AND YEAR-END SUPPORTING GRANTS

The Board of Directors of the Yasme Foundation is pleased to announce that it has completed a substantial revision of its website at www.yasme.org . The new website contains information on Yasme’s history, past recipients of the Yasme Excellence Award, prior grants, the Yasme Awards and an updated listing of eligible call signs. The website also makes available complete copies of The Yasme News published in the late 1950s by Dick Spenceley, KV4AA (SK), all prior Yasme press releases and information about the Yasme book authored by Jim Cain, K1TN. All readers are encouraged to spend a few minutes at the new website.

The Board is also pleased to announce the award of the Yasme Excellence Award as described below. The Yasme Excellence Award is presented 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 has awarded the Yasme Excellence Award to the following individuals:

Pekka Ketonen, OH1TV, in recognition of his many innovations, such as the Opposite Voltage Feed concept for amateur radio antennas, and for documenting his work in English to make it widely available.

Hani Raad, OD5TE, in recognition of his work advancing amateur radio in Lebanon and the Arabic Region and his efforts related to the reintroduction of amateur radio examinations in Lebanon.

The Board is also pleased to announce a number of supporting grants in furtherance of its goal of supporting the development of amateur radio:

A further grant to the Radio Club d’Haiti for the acquisition of radios to be used for emergency communications.

A grant to the Mongolian Radio Sports Federation for the acquisition of laptop computers for use in the Federation’s High Speed Telegraphy competition.

A grant to the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired for the acquisition of amateur radio equipment for the station at the new headquarters in San Francisco, California.

A grant to the Amateur Radio Society of Dominica for the acquisition of amateur radio training materials and the donation of a transceiver, power supply, tuner and headset.

A grant to WRTC 2018 for the sponsorship of the Ham Widows’ Ball.

A grant to the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand for support of the HSØAC club station.

May 2, 2017

The Board of Directors of The Yasme Foundation is pleased to announce several grants in furtherance of Yasme's goal of encouraging youth participation in amateur radio and operating activities. The Yasme Foundation encourages amateurs to support activities that promote amateur radio and result in new licensees around the world.

The seventh edition of the Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) conference will take place in August 2017 in North London (www.ham-yota.com) Over 100 young amateurs from all IARU regions will gather to participate in a series of programs and workshops about amateur radio as well as inter-cultural exchanges and social interaction. Gatherings such as YOTA exemplify the ability of amateurs to work together across national borders and ethnicities in the best "ham spirit" of friendship. The Yasme Board is pleased to assist in helping young amateurs attend this meeting that otherwise would be unable to attend. Continuing its support of YOTA that began in 2016, the Board is pleased to announce that it has made grants to young amateur radio operators to support their attendance at the 2017 YOTA conference, as follows:

A grant to make possible the attendance of two Ethiopian Amateur Radio operators at the 2017 YOTA conference A grant to make possible the attendance of two Tunisian Amateur Radio operators at the 2017 YOTA conference. A grant to make possible the attendance of two Kosovo Amateur Radio operators at the 2017 YOYA conference.

The Board has also made a grant to Kevin Richardson, G0PEK, and his daughter Lauren, M6HLR, for the purchase of ADRF and HF, VHF and UHF portable radio equipment in support of their activities to encourage youth involvement in amateur radio in the United Kingdom.

Yasme has been a frequent supporter of Contest University (CTU) (www.contestuniversity.com). Earlier this year the Board made a grant to CTU to facilitate the attendance of Dr. Tamitha Skov at this year's Dayton Hamvention CTU session. Dr. Skov is a Research Scientist at The Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles, California and is a frequent lecturer in the fields of solar and space physics. She makes regular "Spaceweather TV" presentations on her YouTube channel www.youtube.com/user/SpWxfx. Dr. Skov is one of the Professors at the 2017 CTU in Ohio and her talk is entitled "The Wonderful World of Space Weather."

November 6, 2017
St. Charles, MO
YASME FOUNDATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS AND SUPPORTING GRANT

The Yasme Excellence Award is presented to individuals and groups 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 Directors of The Yasme Foundation is pleased to announce the latest recipients of the Yasme Excellence Award:

Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA)--to pick up the world's largest amateur radio event on a few months notice and move it to a completely different facility is a daunting task. That it went so smoothly was a testament to the extraordinary efforts of the 600 volunteers and event leadership.

Paul Verhage KD4STH and Bill Brown WB8ELK--for their leadership and continued technical innovation in amateur radio high-altitude ballooning (ARHAB - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_balloon). While not the traditional means of introduction, ARHAB is exposing hundreds of students to amateur radio through an interest in science experimentation. Both have written extensively about ARHAB and have contributed material to the ARRL Handbook.

Nathaniel Frissell W2NAF and Magda Moses KM4EGE--for creating and leading the HamSCI (Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation) organization that sponsored the Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP). The SEQP was the largest amateur radio experiment ever devised and generated the world's most extensive set of HF propagation observations during an eclipse. Beyond the SEQP, HamSCI is attracting the interest of professional/academic researchers such as from numerous universities, the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico, MIT’s Haystack Observatory, and HAARP facility in Alaska.

The WSJT Development Team--initially the work of Joe Taylor, K1JT, the WSJT software is now maintained and extended by a team of developers led by Bill Somerville, G4WJS; Steve Franke, K9AN; Greg Beam, KI7MT; Michael Black, W9MDB; Edson Pereira, PY2SDR; and Nico Palermo, IV3NWV; along with Joe Taylor. Their latest digital mode, FT8, combines the extraordinary low-SNR performance of JT9 and JT65 with a much faster decoding and exchange process.

Dale Hughes, VK1DSH--for his excellent work as Chairman of the Amateur Working Group in ITU-R Working Party 5A and as Chairman of the sub Working Group dealing with a worldwide 60 meter amateur allocation during World Radiocommunication Conference 2015.

The Board also made a grant to Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, for his production and distribution of videos of interest to the amateur radio community through Ham Radio Now and YouTube.

The Yasme Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation organized to support 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 www.yasme.org .

Ward Silver, NØAX, President The Yasme Foundation

Board of Directors:

Ward Silver, NØAX, President and Director
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
Bob Vallio, W6RGG, Director