07/11/2019

ARRL Hudson Division Director Ria Jairam, N2RJ, and Vice Director Bill Hudzik, W2UDT, recently presented the ARRL 2018 Leonard Award for Outstanding Video Journalism to NJTV[1] public television correspondent Andrew Schmertz. The presentation took place at NJTV in Newark, New Jersey.

Schmertz was recognized for his story that featured interviews with New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT[2]) Assistant Research Professor Nathan Frissell, W2NAF, co-founder of HamSCI[3] and the Solar Eclipse QSO Party, and numerous faculty members, members of the NJIT Amateur Radio station K2MFF, and attendees at a February 2018 HamSCI conference at NJIT that Frissell spearheaded.

The conference focused on the significance of measuring the effects of solar activity on radio communication. Through HamSCI, Frissell was instrumental in enlisting the global Amateur Radio community to gauge the effects of the August 2017 solar eclipse on propagation.

The ARRL Board of Directors conferred the Leonard Award on Schmertz upon recommendation of the ARRL Public Relations Committee, which oversees the Leonard Awards for Outstanding Journalism in print, audio, and video. The award's namesake is the late CBS News President Bill Leonard, W2SKE.


[1] https://www.njtvonline.org/
[2] http://www.njit.edu/
[3] http://www.hamsci.org/

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