RAC Amateur of the Year

It is the intent of the Board of Directors of Radio Amateurs of Canada to recognize the outstanding Canadian Radio Amateur of the year, each year such candidates are nominated (see nomination page).

To qualify for the title “RAC Amateur of the Year”, an individual should have made an outstanding contribution to Amateur Radio in the last year, or have contributed consistently to the welfare of amateur radio over several years. Serving Directors, Officers and Section Managers of RAC are not eligible for this award while in office, nor in respect to their term(s) of office.

Selection of the winning candidate will be by majority vote of the Board of Directors of RAC, based on the supporting documentation supplied with the nomination.

The title “RAC Amateur of the Year” will be bestowed on the recipient and a plaque will be presented at an appropriate time and place.

The 1998 through 2002 Awards are sponsored by the Radio Amateur Educational Society of Edmonton Alberta.

Canadian Radio Amateur of the Year for 2014: Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA
Submitted by Stan Leschinsky, VE3TW

The RAC Board of Directors takes great pleasure in announcing the selection of Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA, as the Canadian Radio Amateur of the Year for 2014. Through the Radio Amateur of the Year Award, Radio Amateurs of Canada recognizes the outstanding contributions made by Canadian Amateurs.

Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA, is renowned through his unique and innovative software. Available at https://www.dxatlas.com/ his programs are in wide use by many operators around the globe. A diverse menu of tools is available to the Amateur. CWskimmer, as a notable example, allows the simultaneous decoding of all CW signals within the receiver passband. It is now well established, has changed Amateur Radio forever and is closely connected to the Reverse Beacon network. Many will credit his MorseRunner program as their main method of improving CW skills. Recently, DXAtlas has been supplemented with Gritty, an RTTY decoder. In addition, Alex also provides several other innovative tools for download as aids to the DXer.

“I was born in Ukraine, got my Masters degree from Dnipropetrovsk State University, and worked for several years as electrical engineer. I learned programming by self-education and have been a software developer for the last 25 years. Currently, I have a day-time job with a software company and I spend all nights and weekends writing my own Ham Radio software.

I got my first call sign, UB5EMI, in 1981. At that time I used only homebrew equipment. I still like homebrewing, but these days I prefer to homebrew software rather than hardware. In fact, all of my programs for Ham Radio were written for my own use. I just developed what I needed for DXing and, if I thought the program might be useful to other Hams, I published it as either freeware or shareware.

I like DXing more than any other kind of Ham activity. I started chasing DX from Canada in 2004, and now I am at 325 DXCC CW. I use a homebrew Hex-Beam and a dipole with my TS-570, but my most important tool is software – especially CW Skimmer. Ironically, I do not use its decoding capabilities, all I use is its waterfall display that helps me both find DX before it is spotted on the cluster, and crack the pileups once they develop.” – 73 Alex VE3NEA

In recognition of Alex’s numerous and significant contributions to Amateur Radio, he is the recipient of the 2014 RAC Amateur of the Year Award.

The plaque honouring VE3NEA’s achievements was presented by RAC Ontario South Director, Phil McBride, VA3QR/VA3KPJ, at the York Region Hamfest which was held at the Markham Fairgrounds on November 3. Congratulations Alex!

Recipients of the RAC Amateur of the Year Award

The “Radio Amateur of the Year” Award was created by the Canadian Radio Relay League which merged with the Canadian Amateur Radio Federation to form Radio Amateurs of Canada.