CQ has announced the 2020 inductees to its three halls of fame. The magazine named three new members to its Contest Hall of Fame, seven new members to its Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, and two new members to its DX Hall of Fame.

CQ Contest Hall of Fame

Geoffrey Howard, W0CG/PJ2DX. In 2000, Howard purchased and restored the former PJ9JT contest station owned by CQ Contest Hall of Famer John Thompson, W1BIH/PJ9JT (SK). Howard established the Caribbean Contesting Consortium to help manage and maintain the station, and has made it available to guest operators over the years, including young operators participating in the Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure. He has also worked closely with VERONA, Curacao’s IARU member-society. Howard served for more than 25 years in the US Air Force, retiring with the rank of colonel. He also worked for RCA (Radio Corporation of America) and the Federal Aviation Administration, and he taught in the Graduate School of Management at Kent State University.

Willard “Bill” Myers, K1GQ. A pioneer of computer-based systems for antenna switching, Myers designed the Cushcraft “Skywalker” series of monoband Yagis, helped build the early PacketCluster network, and was a mentor to several prominent contesters, the CQ announcement said. He was also a major behind-the-scenes force at the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC-2014) and is currently providing support and refinement of the SkookumLogger contest logging program for Mac computers.

Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ (SK). Zimmerman, who died in 2012, was a major force in VHF contesting, as well as an accomplished HF contester. He served on the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee and the CQ Contest Committee at various times between 1972 and 2012, was QST’s “World Above 50 MHz” editor for nearly a decade, and was CQ Contest magazine’s VHF columnist. “Gene took over the struggling CQ World Wide VHF Contest in 1999, reinvented it as a 6- and 2-meter only event, and sparked its growth into a truly worldwide competition,” the announcement said. “He was also instrumental in organizing the mid-Atlantic VHF contesting group that became known as the K8GP Grid Pirates.”

This was the 37th annual induction to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame, established in 1986.

CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame

Chet Atkins, W4CGP (SK). The legendary musician and producer known as “Mister Guitar” was among those who created the “Nashville sound” in country music.

Les Barclay, G3HTF (SK). A propagation expert, Barclay led various International Telecommunication Union (ITU) propagation study groups and chaired the ITU’s first Radiocommunication Assembly in 1993. He also served as an official in the UK’s telecommunications regulatory agency.

George Laurer, K4HZE (SK). Laurer developed the universal product code (UPC), or “bar code,” on merchandise, allowing purchases to be scanned on checkout.

Yasuo “Zorro” Miyazawa, JH1AJT. His Foundation for Global Children (FGC) helps fund educational and medical programs for children around the world. FGC also works with several countries to help organize and train teams for the Olympics and Paralympics

Champ Muangamphun, E21EIC. A DXer and DXpeditioner, he has been a spark for growing interest in ham radio in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia. He has also accompanied JH1AJT on many of his humanitarian missions.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, A41AA (SK). From 1970 until his death in 2020, the Sultan of Oman transformed his impoverished country into a modern and prosperous state with influence throughout the Middle East.

Tom Roscoe, K8CX. A champion of amateur radio history, Roscoe collects and makes available online his “Ham Gallery” of QSL cards and other historic photographs.

This brings the number of members inducted into the Amateur Radio Hall of Fame to 333 since its establishment in 2001.

CQ DX Hall of Fame

Tony Gonzalez, EA5RM. An active DXpeditioner for 20 years, Gonzalez often organizes and leads teams in operating from difficult and challenging DX locations. He and his teams have also helped establish or re-establish amateur radio activities in several countries, including Rwanda — where ham radio had been banned for a decade due to civil war — and the newly independent country of South Sudan. In addition, he has made 10 trips to Bolivia to establish and maintain HF communication links between medical facilities and remote villages, operating as CP1XRM during his free time. Gonzalez was the 2015 recipient of the ARRL International Humanitarian Award.

Edward “Ned” Stearns, AA7A. An accomplished DXer, DXpeditioner, and technical innovator, Stearns introduced the use of switchable vertical-dipole arrays on island DXpeditions and designed dual-band discone antennas for use by the Northern California DX Foundation’s worldwide beacon network. He also worked with 2019 DX Hall of Fame inductee Joe Taylor, K1JT, in developing the “fox/hound” mode for FT8 used by DXpeditions. The ARRL Southwestern Division Vice Director, Stearns is at the top of the DXCC Honor Roll (phone and mixed), was the first recipient of 11-band DXCC, and has logged more than 160 entities via moonbounce.

This marked the 54th annual induction to the CQ DX Hall of Fame, established in 1967. — Thanks to Southgate Amateur Radio News and CQ Communications