ARLA/CLUSTER: Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF - SK - Faleceu o Editor da Amateur Radio Newsline

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Amateur Radio Newsline Co-Founder, Editor Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF - SK

A well-known voice in the Amateur Radio news media has gone silent.
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, of Santa Clarita, California, died June 11
following a period of ill health. He was 73.

Pasternak was co-founder (with Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP) of Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm) (formerly The Westlink Report) ham radio news
webcast and a frequent presence at Amateur Radio conventions.
Pasternak served as Newsline's managing editor and occasional
newscaster for the program. Even while hospitalized earlier this year,
he kept his ear to the ground for news from the Amateur Radio
community, so he could pass it along to those who had taken over
Newsline during his illness - discovered after he broke two ribs in a
fall.

ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, got
acquainted with Pasternak at the Albuquerque hamfest and in 1997 was
named Newsline's "Young Ham of the Year" (YHOTY).

"An incredible man, ham, and one of Amateur Radio's too-few giants,
who woke up every day to make the hobby better for everyone,
especially its legacy - youth," Mileshosky said. "I've enjoyed the
energy he put into keeping hams informed via Newsline, and have been
honored to give back to his Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award
program, since being asked by him to sit on its judging panel well
over a decade ago."

ARRL Public Relations Committee Chair Katie Allen, WY7YL, said
Pasternak would be missed by those within and outside the Amateur
Radio community. "He truly was one of the good ones," she remarked on
Pasternak's Facebook page. "Thank you for sharing your light with us,
Bill."

A Brooklyn, New York, native, Pasternak became a radio amateur in 1959
as WA2HVK and once was very active on 6 meters. "I love the hands-on
approach to ham radio and built my very first transmitter using parts
salvaged from an old Dumont television set," Pasternak recounted in an
online biography. "It was a modification of a design by Bill Orr,
W6SAI, published in his famous Novice and Technician Handbook. A
crystal-controlled, low-power 6 meter AM transmitter that doubled in
the final, was screen grid modulated, and put out almost no output
power."

He eventually got into broadcasting and made his career in television
engineering and production. He retired as a broadcast engineer with
KTTV in Los Angeles in 2012 but continued as a broadcasting
consultant.

Pasternak was the spark plug behind the all-volunteer Amateur Radio
Newsline bulletin - which was relayed on repeaters around the US and
elsewhere - as well as the creator and administrator of the annual
YHOTY. He was the author of three books and served as a
writer/producer on several educational films and videos, including the
award-winning "Amateur Radio Today." In earlier years, he wrote the
"Looking West" column for 73 Amateur Radio Today Magazine for 26 years
and penned a "VHF, FM and Repeater" column for WorldRadio. He also
contributed to broadcast trade publications as well as to CQ.

In addition to the ARRL, Pasternak belonged to the Radio Club of
America and the Quarter Century Wireless Association. He also enjoyed
flying, including stints getting on the air from thousands of feet up.

He was the only person ever chosen to receive the Dayton Hamvention
Special Achievement Award (1981) and Radio Amateur of the Year Award
(1989). In 1995, the League presented him with an ARRL National
Certificate of Merit in recognition of his contributions to the
"furtherance of the goals of the Amateur Radio Service."

Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Sharon, KD6EPW.



Fonte : The American Radio Relay League