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Joel Harrison, W5ZN, is President of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national association for Amateur Radio, elected by the ARRL Board of Directors in January 2006.

First licensed as WN5IGF in 1972, Harrison went on to acquire his General, Advanced and Amateur Extra licenses as WB5IGF. He’s had his current vanity call sign in since 1996.

Harrison started his volunteerism with the League in 1981 after becoming a Section Emergency Coordinator in Arkansas. He then became Arkansas Section Manager, Delta Division Director, Vice President, and First Vice President in 2000.

Harrison currently chairs the League’s Executive Committee and has previously served as chair of the Enforcement Task Force and of the Administration and Finance Committee.

His interests in Amateur Radio include VHF/UHF/Microwave Weak Signal Communication, EME, low band DXing & contesting. Amateur Radio awards include DXCC Honor Roll, DXCC Challenge, 9 Band DXCC, 11 Band VUCC (50 MHz through 24 GHz), 6 Meter WAS & WAC and 2 Meter WAS & WAC. He held the ARRL June VHF Contest Single Operator World Record from 1996 to 2006 and currently holds the 80 meter record for the W5 call area in the ARRL International DX Contest, CW. In 2001, the Central States VHF Society awarded him the Mel S. Wilson Award for continuous service and dedication toward promoting VHF & UHF activity, and in 2008 La Federacion Mexicana de Radioexperimenatdores awarded him the prestigious Azteca Diploma for 25 years of service to Amateur Radio.

He began his formal education studying Industrial Electronics at Arkansas State University and then traveled overseas to further his education in Germany, Norway and Denmark, completing his curriculum at the Electric Power Research Institute.

In 1983, Harrison became the first person in the world to qualify an automated ultrasound imaging system for use in the nuclear power industry, and in 1995 he received Special Recognition for Contributions from the American Society for Nondestructive Testing.

In 2008 he was appointed by Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe to serve on the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority. Harrison is Manager, NDE Technology for the Washington Division of United Research Services (URS Corporation) in Princeton, NJ. He lives in Judsonia, Arkansas, with his wife, Kim, KB5YIQ.