Headquarters veteran Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, has been appointed as ARRL Radiosport and Field Services Manager. Jahnke, who has served as ARRL Contest Branch Manager for the past 3 years, succeeds Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, who was recently promoted to Director of Operations at ARRL Headquarters.

“This new role now offers me the exciting opportunity not only to be on the front lines of our radiosport community, but our international/DX and domestic radiosport operating and awards activities,” Jahnke said. “Having worked closely with tens of thousands of our Volunteer Examiners in my prior Headquarters tour, I’m able to re-engage with many of them now in our Field Services program.”

With respect to radiosport, Jahnke pointed out that contesting activity not only defends Amateur Radio allocations but builds a pool of operators and expands their skills in providing communication in times of emergency or disaster. Jahnke said contesters, DXers, traffic handlers, and everyday users of the amateur bands know what to expect in terms of propagation at different times of day and year, and can apply that knowledge in establishing disaster communication.

As Radiosport and Field Services Manager, Jahnke will oversee the Radiosport and Field Services staff in managing awards, contests, and Logbook of The World (LoTW), as well as issues involving the ARRL Field Organization on Section, club, and current volunteer monitoring and emergency services issues.

Before returning to ARRL Headquarters in 2016, Jahnke was in the private sector for about a decade, working in the emergency medical services, customer service, long-term care manufacturing sales and support, and information technology fields in the midwest and on the east coast.

Jahnke first joined the ARRL Headquarters staff in 1985, starting as editor of the ARRL Repeater Directory and as a Membership Services Representative, handling matters related to FCC rules. For the next 3 years, he also assisted with ARRL Award processing (except DXCC) and later trained incoming Awards Managers.

In 1989, he became the manager of the ARRL Volunteer Examining (VEC) Program, a position he held for 16 years.