July 27, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, YHOTY Chairman, Amateur Radio Newsline, (newsline@arnewsline.org)
Rich Moseson, W2VU, CQ Magazine, (w2vu@cq-amateur-radio.com)
Bryant Rascoll KG5HVO is the 2018 Young Ham of the Year
Bryant Rascoll, KG5HVO, of Montgomery, AL, participates in the 2018 World Radiosport Team Championship in Wittenberg, Germany in July 2018. (photo provided by KG5HVO)
NEW YORK – Bryant Rascoll KG5HVO, of Montgomery, AL, has been selected as the 2018 Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year.
Bryant, 14, is the son of Tim and Lauren (KG5TQO) Rascoll.
He is a member of the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club.
Bryant was first licensed as a Technician in May 2015. Within a short time, he earned his General ticket in August 2015.
He became an Extra Class operator in November 2017.
Bryant says he was hooked on amateur radio after joining Boy Scout Troop 64 in New Orleans and taking the Radio merit badge. He says listening to a counselor’s QSO with a station in the Netherlands during an ARRL DX contest fueled his desire to become a ham.
He was 11 years old at the time and decided to pursue and earn a Technician license.
Bryant then visited the Jefferson Amateur Radio Club W5GAD in the New Orleans area – where he lived from 2015-2017.
He joined JARC and credits his many mentors there for exposing him to several aspects of the hobby, including radio contesting, CW, Field Day, special event stations, public service events, hamfests and conventions.
Bryant’s passion for contesting prompted him to enter the 2017 Dave Kalter Youth DX Essay Contest. He says the committee was so impressed by his essay that they invited him to join the Youth DX Adventure team for an August 2017 trip to operate from Costa Rica.
He was selected to compete in the 2018 World Radiosport Team Championship in Wittenberg, Germany. The competition, labeled the “Olympics of Amateur Radio,” was held in July.
Bryant worked the WRTC with a Chilean partner - Mathias Acevedo CE2LR.
Bryant was the only youth competitor from North America for the 2018 WRTC. A recent article published in the ARRL National Contest Journal highlighted his accomplishments and identified him as one of the next generation of contesters.
Bryant taught himself Morse Code and his first “key” was a push-to-talk handheld microphone which he used to complete several CW QSOs during a contest.
He is a member of the CW Operators Club and can copy CW at 40-50 wpm.
Bryant is an honorary member of the Georgia Contesting Group and has operated from the award-winning WW4LL contest station of Lewis “Fred” Dennin.
Individually, he placed first in the low-power rookie category in North America in the 2017 WPX SSB contest and first place in the Louisiana section for single-operator, low-power unlimited category in the ARRL 2017 DX CW and SSB contests.
He has also earned the ARRL Worked All States Award.
Bryant was named the Jefferson Amateur Radio Club Member of the Year for 2016.
He was recently appointed ARRL Alabama Section Youth Coordinator. He had been serving as assistant coordinator.
Bryant, who is homeschooled by his mother, Lauren, has written articles published in “Solid Copy,” the CW Operators Club newsletter, and the “K9YA Telegraph” e-zine.
Bryant is a Star Scout in Troop 307 in the Tukabatchee Council in Montgomery, Alabama, and is on the trail to earning the rank of Eagle Scout.
Last October, he manned the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club BSA Jamboree on the Air CW station.
He earned a first-place award and the People’s Choice Award for the Classical Conversations Montgomery Science Fair this past February for his project on “Antenna Height Effectiveness.”
Bryant also earned a Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Achievement on the 2018 National Latin Exam.
He is a member of the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame and has played baseball for eight years. His team, the NOLA Predators competed at Cooperstown, N.Y. He is currently a member of the Triton Rays in Montgomery, a competitive traveling team.
Bryant was a speaker this past May at the Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum moderated by Carole Perry, WB2MGP.
Bryant will be recognized during the Huntsville Hamfest on Aug. 18 in the Von Braun Center, Huntsville AL.
The Young Ham of the Year Award was inaugurated by William Pasternak, WA6ITF, in 1986. Upon his passing in 2015, Bill’s name was added to the award as a memorial to his commitment to recognizing the accomplishments of young people to the amateur radio service.
Amateur Radio Newsline, CQ Magazine and Yaesu USA are primary sponsors of the award, along with Heil Sound Ltd. and Radiowavz Antenna Company.
