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 Previous: Indiana Ham Gets Tower Okay, Apology |  Next: The Amateur Amateur: Q-S-Who? |
 Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, is the both the 2004 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year and the recipient of the ARRL 2003 Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 26, 2004--Fifteen-year-old Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, of Grayson, Georgia, has been named Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year (YHOTY) for 2004. The designation marks the second major honor this month for the rising high school sophomore. On June 16, the ARRL Board of Directors designated her as a winner of the prestigious 2003 Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award. The YHOTY award goes annually to an Amateur Radio operator 18 or younger living in the 48 contiguous states who has provided outstanding service to the nation and community or to the betterment of the state of the communications art through the Amateur Radio. In a news release this week, Newsline says Hartlage has dedicated herself to doing that ever since she got her Amateur Radio license four years ago. Now an Amateur Extra licensee, Hartlage credits her father--Scott, KF4PWI--with getting her into ham radio.
"I just sort of got interested in the public service side," Hartlage told Newsline, "and I also serve as net control and I enjoy doing that." A member of several Amateur Radio clubs, she says she's participated in public service activities for parades, marathons and similar events. She recently completed the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level II course.
Hartlage serves as a net control station for the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society and the Gwinnett
County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) nets, and she took part in the
Georgia Emergency Management Agency/ARES net during an activation for the recent
G8 Summit in Georgia.
 Andrea Hartlage says her dad, Scott, got her interested in Amateur Radio. Here, the father-daughter team participate in a public service event in 2002. |
In addition, Hartlage edits the monthly Youth@HamRadio.Fun column on the ARRL Web site, and Georgia ARRL Section Manager Susan Swiderski, AF4FO, recently named her as an Assistant Section Manager for Youth. She also writes a bi-monthly youth-oriented column the Young Ladies' Radio League (YLRL) Newsletter, YL-Harmonics.
Among other achievements, Hartlage has taught ham radio classes at the J. E. Richards Middle School Amateur Radio Club, supporting that school's participation in the ARRL Amateur Radio Education and Technology Program. She also is an Elmer or mentor to new and aspiring licensees.
Hartlage also has been a presenter at the Dayton Hamvention youth forum and regularly promotes Amateur Radio to youngsters attending local hamfests, club meetings and other public events. She's put her ham radio technology skills to use building communication gear for the September 2003 World Canoeing and Kayaking Championships.
Hartlage is a member of The International Morse Preservation Society FISTS, the YLRL, Gwinnett County ARES, the Alford Memorial Radio Club, the A-1 Operator Club and scouting Venture Crew 73. She is on the county's EOC response team and serves on her club's Field Day and hamfest committees.
Looking down the road, Hartlage says Amateur Radio--and
all the opportunities it has given her--has opened her eyes to some career
possibilities.
 KG4IUM tunes the band at the station she shares with her dad. |
"I'm possibly thinking about some kind of journalism career, and writing these columns helps me develop writing skills," she says. "And, I'm also thinking about some [other] type of communication field."
In school, Hartlage is a straight-A student who takes courses designed for gifted and talented students. She'll start taking Advanced Placement classes in the fall.
An award ceremony and presentation for Andrea Hartlage will take place Saturday, August 21, at the Huntsville Hamfest in Alabama. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, and YHOTY Award Committee Chairman Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, will host the event.
Corporate underwriters of the Young Ham of the Year Award include Vertex Standard USA (Yaesu)--which is paying her expenses in Huntsville--and CQ, which will treat her to a week at SpaceCamp Huntsville. As Young Ham of the Year, Hartlage also will receive a gift of Yaesu ham radio equipment. Amateur Radio Newsline will provide her with a commemorative plaque, underwritten by Dave Bell, W6AQ.
The award sponsors expressed thanks to QST,
CQ,
Worldradio,
The ARRL Letter and the Radio Amateur Information Network for "their
generosity in assisting in soliciting nominations for the 2004 award."
| Previous: Indiana Ham Gets Tower Okay, Apology | Next: The Amateur Amateur: Q-S-Who? |
