CQ has announced six new members to its Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, and two new members each to the DX Hall of Fame and the Contest Hall of Fame. This year’s inductions were conducted online due to event cancellations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made significant contributions to amateur radio and radio amateurs who have made significant contributions either to amateur radio, to their professions, “or to some other aspect of life on our planet,” CQ said. The addition of six new members brings the total number to 339 since the Amateur Radio Hall of Fame was established in 2001.

The 2021 inductees are:

Archibald Doty, W7ACD (SK), engineer, inventor, researcher into efficient radial systems for vertical antennas and pioneer of college radio; co-founded what is now WESU at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1939, the second-oldest college radio station in the US, and served as a pilot in the US Army Air Corps during World War II.

Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, founder of HAMSci (Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation), a collaboration between radio amateurs and ionospheric scientists; organizer of the 2017 Solar Eclipse QSO Party, which also served as a research project on the effects of a total solar eclipse on HF propagation.

Lorin Hollander, WA1PGB, world-renowned classical concert pianist who has performed with virtually every major philharmonic orchestra in the US as well as with many overseas; heavily involved in music and arts education and in relationships between music and medicine.

Christopher Imlay, W3KD, ARRL Counsel and General Counsel (1982 – 2018); represented ARRL before the FCC on a wide variety of issues including PRB-1, now enshrined in FCC Section 97.15 (b), which requires state and local regulations to reasonably accommodate amateur radio antenna structures.

Cathryn Mitchell, M0IBG, Academic Director of the University of Bath Doctoral College (UK) and recipient of the 2019 Edward Appleton Medal “for pioneering research in tomography and data assimilation revealing a completely new perspective on Earth’s ionosphere in response to extreme space weather.”

Admiral Charles “Chas” Richard, W4HFZ, commander of USSTRATCOM, the United States Strategic Command, one of 11 unified commands of the Department of Defense; served previously as Commander of US submarine forces and Director of Undersea Warfare at the Pentagon.

CQ DX and Contest and Halls of Fame

The CQ DX and Contest Halls of Fame honor those radio amateurs who not only excel in personal performance in these major areas of amateur radio but who also give back to the hobby in outstanding ways. The CQ DX Hall of Fame was established in 1967 to recognize those amateurs who have made major contributions to DXing and DXpeditioning. Two new members were inducted this year.

Jacky Calvo, ZL3CW/F2CW, a veteran of the French Air Force and the International Committee of the Red Cross, with postings that took him (and his ham station) to a dozen countries around the world; a participant in more than two dozen DXpeditions and WRTC (World Radiosport Team Championship) competitions from 2010 to 2018 (and a team leader for 2023).

Francesco Valsecchi, IK0FVC/HV0A, who has regularly activated Vatican City for the past 30 years using HV0A and other call signs, as well the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) as 1A0KM. Along with fellow operators, Francesco has logged more than 300,000 contacts from the two tiny entities, averaging roughly 10,000 contacts per year for hams around the world.

The CQ Contest Hall of Fame was established in 1986 to recognize those amateurs who have made major contributions to the art of radio contesting. These are the 2021 inductees.

Robert Wolbert, K6XX, a “renaissance man” of contesting, advancing the state of the art in designing amateur equipment at Elecraft, a participant in more than 1,100 contests over 35 years, and a winner of multiple competitive events. He is a nine-time recipient of the Jim Maxwell Memorial Trophy for the highest-scoring California single-operator unassisted station in the ARRL International DX CW Contest. He was also a member of the organizing committee for WRTC 1996 and a team leader in 2000 and 2014, has authored many articles for amateur contesting publications, presented at multiple conferences, and is a longtime member and leader of the Northern California Contest Club (NCCC).

David A. Pruett, K8CC (SK), author of the NA contest logging program as well as a log-checking program and host of many multi-multi operations from his Michigan contest station over 30 years; longtime chairman of the Michigan QSO Party; former editor of National Contest Journal (NCJ), and member and leader of the Mad River Contest Club.

CQ World Wide DX Contest Director John Dorr, K1AR, led the Contest Hall of Fame induction at the conclusion of Contest University’s (CTU) online seminar on May 20, while CQ DX Editor Bob Schenck, N2OO, will conduct the DX Hall of Fame induction on May 26 during the Ham Nation podcast on the Ham Radio Crash Course YouTube channel.