The ARRL Foundation Board of Directors has selected Paul Danzer, N1II, asthe 2004 recipient of the Bill Orr, W6SAI, Technical Writing Award. Actingupon a recommendation from the QST editorial staff, the Foundation Boardrecognized Danzer for his article "Open Wire Feed Line--A Second Look,"which appeared in the April 2004 edition of QST (p 34).

"I am surprised and proud to be named in the same sentence as Bill Orr, whowas a major contributor to the ARRL goal of providing practical technologyto radio amateurs around the world," Danzer reacted. "I am grateful that theeditors of QST have allowed me to make a small contribution toward thatgoal."

QST Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY, noted that the award pays tribute to thewinning author's ability to explain technical topics in a manner that iseasy for relatively non-technical people to understand. "I believe Paul'sarticle was a well-done explanation of balanced feed lines," he added.Danzer's article concluded that "with a little care," open-wire feed linescan allow using one dipole on many bands.

A resident of Norwalk, Connecticut, Danzer is a former ARRL Headquartersstaff member and served as a book editor for several years, during which hewrote the ARRL books Your Ham Antenna Companion and co-authored PCs in theHam Shack.

First licensed in 1953, Danzer says Amateur radio played a large part in his30-plus year career as an engineer. He holds bachelor's and master's degreesin electrical engineering and is a Life Senior Member of the Institute ofElectrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Danzer authored one of the first children's books on computers in 1981, AYoung Person's Guide to Computers. He is also the author of more than 200magazine articles on Amateur Radio and computers and holds 11 patents. He iscurrently a professor of computer science at Housatonic Community College inConnecticut.

The award's namesake, Bill Orr, was best known for his voluminouspublications for radio amateurs, including such reference gems as The RadioHandbook, The Beam Antenna Handbook, The Quad Antenna Handbook, The VHF-UHFManual and The W6SAI HF Antenna Handbook, some written in collaboration withStu Cowan, W2LX. From the 1940s through the 1980s, Orr was a frequentcontributor to QST, for which he authored dozens of articles, tips andpieces of correspondence. Additionally, Orr constructed some of theamplifiers once used at ARRL Maxim Memorial Station W1AW. He died in 2001.

Source:

The ARRL LetterVol. 24, No. 09March 4, 2005