Alan was a high school friend of mine and we reconnected many years later. Avid enthusiast does not do him justice, still interested while terminally Ill. He will be missed..
2005 Amateur of the Year Alan Kaul, W6RCL, SK:
Dayton Hamvention's 2005 Amateur of the Year Alan Kaul, W6RCL, of La Cañada-Flintridge, California, died December 22 after a long illness. He was 64. First licensed in 1958 as K7EHW, Kaul was a well-known and respected news producer at NBC. Within Amateur Radio, Kaul was best known for his behind-the-scenes efforts to promote ham radio, and he and his good friend Dave Bell, W6AQ, were largely responsible for producing the ARRL video, Amateur Radio Today http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9027, narrated by retired newscaster Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD.
"He had a good appreciation of 'truth telling,' and he was a wonderful writer," Bell said of Kaul. "He wrote all the words Walter Cronkite said in Amateur Radio Today." Bell said Kaul also was very interested in education. "I think Alan would like people to donate to the League in his name, especially the Education & Technology Fund https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/education/education.html, " he said. "You would never meet anyone more giving than Alan. It was just his nature to be cheerful."
Amateur Radio Today won the Chicago Film Festival's Award of Merit. Kaul subsequently helped produce The ARRL Goes to Washington http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9507, which documented the League's efforts in Washington to preserve Amateur Radio spectrum in the face of such threats as broadband over power line (BPL).
In the past, Kaul served as a writer-reporter for Amateur Radio Newsline http://www.arnewsline.org/ and its predecessor, the Westlink Report. In 1983, he produced a 30-minute video, Amateur Radio's Newest Frontier, profiling US astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL, who conducted the first human Amateur Radio operation from space.
Kaul was interested in many aspects of Amateur Radio, especially low-power (QRP) operating and contesting. An ARRL and A-1 Operator Club member, he helped establish the Hollywood Hills QRP Contest Club. He also served on the ARRL Public Relations Committee and was a CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame inductee (Class of 2006).
During his TV news career, Kaul played a role in NBC's coverage of many major events, including the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, the Mt St Helens volcano eruption, the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. In 1997, Kaul received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Television Journalism for his part in producing NBC's coverage following the death of Mother Teresa.
Survivors include his wife Christine and four children. A memorial service is set for Saturday, January 13, at La Cañada Presbyterian Church, 626 Foothill Blvd. The family invites donations to the Alexa and Ryan Kaul Educational Fund, c/o Bank of America, 537 Foothill Blvd, La Canada-Flintridge, CA 91011.
Source:
The ARRL Letter Vol. 26, No. 01 January 5, 2007