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Patrick Clark, KC8BFD, Amateur Radio Newsline™ Young Ham Of The Year for 2001 (Los Angeles, CA) -- Patrick Clark, KC8BFD, a 17-year-old from Elkview, West Virginia who is heavily involved in public service, emergency communications and youth recruitment of new radio amateurs, has been named the 2001 "Amateur Radio Newsline™ Young Ham of the Year" (YHOTY), according to ham radio operator and Award Administrator Bill Pasternak, (WA6ITF). The award is jointly sponsored by Pasternak's Los Angeles-based Amateur Radio Newsline™, Vertex Standard USA, Inc. of Cerritos, California and CQ Magazine of Hicksville, NY. Licensed since age ten, Patrick comes from an all-ham family. His sister Erin is KC8PZZ. Mother Tina is N8TSY and his dad is Jeff Clark K8JAC. Following in his family's footsteps, Patrick has been involved in emergency service work from the day his ham radio ticket arrived in the mail. This included the West Virginia Field Day flooding of 1998 when the annual emergency preparedness drill took on a real life meaning as the skies unexpectedly opened up. "It was sad to see how many people lost their houses," said Patrick, who with his mother drove to the flood ravaged area to provide communications assistance. The story of one of the disaster victims still hangs in Patrick's mind: "People showed up at the shelter having nothing. The incident I remember best most is when a family came in and said that they had just lost their father, and the child did not have his medication...and we need his medication because he is a diabetic...so we contacted Metro 911 and got him his medication. And it sort of made mom and I feel we had actually accomplished something and helped save a kids life..." If you get the feeling that providing public service communications is almost a way of life for Patrick, you would not be wrong. In addition to his Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) activities, KC8BFD is also a Certified Severe Weather Spotter with Skywarn, a National Weather Service volunteer program. He also holds certification in Basic Life Support and use of a defibrillator. While not a scout, he is a regular operator with the Jamboree on the Air, has spoken twice at the Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum, and promotes Amateur Radio to other youngsters through personal appearances. This includes the annual Sheriff's Youth Camp. And while maintaining a 3.5 gradepoint average, Patrick still finds the time to act as Net Control Station for the weekly Kanawha Amateur Radio Club's weekly 2 meter net. In his spare time he is trying to get the Worked All States Award on 10 meters: "I like the challenge of getting [awards like] the Worked All States Award (WAS). I am mailing out QSL cards tomorrow to try to get 42 states confirmed." Among those commenting in favor of Patrick's nomination was Morris "Mac" McMillian, W8XF, who is ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator for West Virginia. McMillian believes that the future of ham radio is in good hands with a young man like Patrick Clark, KC8BFD: "I have always been able to rely on Patrick's ability to think on his feet in a drill or actual ARES activation, both as EC and now as SEC, " says W8XF, adding: "To how many youngsters can you turn over a brand new Yaesu FT-847 on Field Day and say go for it? I did just that with Patrick. Not only was he proficient with it, be he taught me new features on my radio!" |
