Award

ARRL NEW ENGLAND DIVISION 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

 NEW ENGLAND AND SECTION HAM OF THE YEAR NOMINEES ANNOUNCED 

July 23, 2025—The ARRL New England Division is pleased to announce the results of the 2025 Ham of the Year Awards. The nominating committee and judges consisted of Section Managers: 

• Douglas Sharafanowich, WA1SFH, Connecticut 

• Jon McCombie, N1ILZ, Eastern Massachusetts 

• Phil Duggan, N1EP, Maine 

• Pete Stohrer, W1FEA, New Hampshire 

• Nancy Austin, KC1NEK, Rhode Island 

• Paul Gayet, AA1SU, Vermont 

• Ray Lajoie, AA1SE, Western Massachusetts 

New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI, participated as non-voting members.  

The judges considered one nominee from each New England ARRL Section. Criteria included, but were not limited to, achievements in the areas of: 

• Club leadership 

• Ham class instruction / volunteer exams 

• Emergency Communications / ARES 

• Technical accomplishments 

• Youth activities 

In Eastern Massachusetts, Max Kendall, WØMXX, was nominated for this prestigious honor.  

He serves as vice-president of the STARS radio club at New England Sci-Tech, teaches Arduino, PCB design, and coding classes at New England Sci-Tech, and is the founder of the New England Weather Balloon Society.  He recently organized a high-altitude balloon (HAB) hackathon for students from all over the world, and he has designed and fabricated a four-layer printed circuit board (PCB) implementing a new Radio Frequency (RF) telemetry module that has been successfully used in the field now for many HAB launches. Max has also given public talks sharing his interest in high altitude ballooning and engineering projects at radio clubs and HamXposition for several years.  

Max works tirelessly as a teacher, mentor, and motivator to and for his age-based peers, helping them understand why Amateur Radio is cool, and motivating them to get involved. Max’s efforts advancing the state of the radio art are critical to getting youth involved in the hobby.  

For his service to Amateur Radio in Eastern Massachusetts, Max, WØMXX, has earned the honor of Eastern Massachusetts Ham of the Year. 

The New England Ham of the Year awardee will be announced in the near future. Max Kendall, WØMXX, along with the New England Division Ham of the Year, will be acknowledged at the New England Division (“HamX”) Convention in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in late August. 

For additional information, contact Jon McCombie N1ILZ, n1ilz@arrl.org, 508-246-4982. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NEW ENGLAND AND SECTION HAM OF THE YEAR NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

July 23, 2025—The ARRL New England Division is pleased to announce the results of the 2025 Ham of the Year Awards. The nominating committee and judges consisted of Section Managers:

• Douglas Sharafanowich, WA1SFH, Connecticut
• Jon McCombie, N1ILZ, Eastern Massachusetts
• Phil Duggan, N1EP, Maine
• Pete Stohrer, W1FEA, New Hampshire
• Nancy Austin, KC1NEK, Rhode Island
• Paul Gayet, AA1SU, Vermont
• Ray Lajoie, AA1SE, Western Massachusetts

New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI, participated as non-voting members.

The judges considered one nominee from each New England ARRL Section.  Criteria included, but were not limited to, achievements in the areas of:

• Club leadership
• Ham class instruction / volunteer exams
• Emergency Communications / ARES
• Technical accomplishments
• Youth activities

In the Vermont Section, Alden Jones, KC1JWR was nominated for this prestigious honor.

For the 2025 New England Ham of the Year, I would like to nominate Alden Jones, KC1JWR.

As a past club president of the Southern Vermont Amateur Radio Club (SOVARC), Alden was very active with club activities.  These included a meeting where he taught members to build their own fox hunting antenna.

He bought the supplies ahead of time, and only charged a small fee for the needed parts to the members.

He then organized various fox hunts for the club.  He has also led the club to do POTA activations during the summer months.

Alden is very active in both ARES and RACES, serving as an Emergency Coordinator, Digital Officer, and DMR Officer.

When inclement weather is upon us, Alden gathers the troops in local Nets to monitor for any emergencies.

In the past, Alden organized the ARES/RACES digital Nets, utilizing MK63-2KL and THOR22 on both 80 Meters and UHF linked repeaters.

Although no longer the club president, Alden held the club together during the difficult time when COVID was upon us.

He kept members updated with news via emails, and made sure that the club newsletter was distributed to everyone.  He even organized the holiday party when it was safe for everyone to get together again.

It is for these reasons and probably more that I can’t think of, I nominate Alden Jones KC1JWR to be “New England Ham of the Year”!  For his service to Amateur Radio in Vermont, Alden Jones, KC1JWR has earned the honor of the Vermont Section Ham of the Year.

The New England Ham of the Year awardee will be announced in the near fu ture. This individual, along with the Vermont Section Ham of the Year, will be acknowledged at the New England Division (“HamX”) in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in late August.

For additional information, contact Paul N. Gayet ARRL Vermont Section Manager.  

AA1SU@arrl.net (802) 734-7500

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ARRL Vermont Section
Section Manager: Paul N Gayet, AA1SU
aa1su@arrl.org
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ARRL New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, presented the 2024 ARRL Doug Demaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award to Paul Wade, W1GHZ,  at the Vermont State Convention (“Ham-Con”) on February 21, 2025 in Colchester VT.

George Allision, K1IG, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:

Congratulations to […] Fred, AB1OC, and Anita, AB1QB, who are co-recipients of the 2024 Orlando HamCation Gordon West Ambassador of the Year Award. This award is given annually to outstanding Amateurs who represent and inspire others, who embody the amateur radio spirit, and who have made outstanding contributions to the Amateur Radio community.

Fred and Anita are recognized for their outstanding work both in the New England division and U.S. with Ham Radio Bootcamp, ARISS school contacts, youth outreach, amateur radio balloon launches, and license training. In their spare time, Fred also serves as the New England Division Director, and Anita is the New England Division Assistant Director for Mentoring and New Ham Development.

Well done to Fred and Anita!

[The award was announced on the Ham Nation YouTube broadcast on January 3, 2024.  You can see the story at 27 min., 30 sec. into the video.]