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   PID: Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 master/6722f2783 Sep 30 2021 MSC 1928   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 master/6722f2783 Sep 30 2021 MSC 1928   
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   SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX014   
   ARLX014 Past AMSAT President and Director, and Amateur Satellite   
   Pioneer Tom Clark, K3IO (SK)   
      
   ZCZC AX14   
   QST de W1AW    
   Special Bulletin 14  ARLX014   
   From ARRL Headquarters    
   Newington CT  October 1, 2021   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB SPCL ARL ARLX014   
   ARLX014 Past AMSAT President and Director, and Amateur Satellite   
   Pioneer Tom Clark, K3IO (SK)   
      
   AMSAT-NA Past President and ham radio satellite and digital pioneer   
   Tom Clark, K3IO (ex-W3IWI), of Columbia, Maryland, died on September   
   28 after a short illness and hospital stay. An ARRL Life Member, he   
   was 82. Clark's accomplishments are legendary, and he left a lasting   
   footprint in the worlds of amateur radio satellites and digital   
   techniques.   
      
   "His long-time technical achievements, mentoring to others, and   
   technical leadership will be missed by his many peers and friends   
   the world over," said Bob McGwier, N4HY.   
      
   To honor Clark, AMSAT has rebranded its upcoming annual gathering as   
   the 2021 AMSAT Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Memorial Space Symposium and   
   Annual General Meeting. It will take place on October 30 via Zoom.   
   (AMSAT members may register to attend via AMSAT's Membership and   
   Event portal at, https://launch.amsat.org/ .) The event will be   
   livestreamed on AMSAT's YouTube channel.   
      
   A founding member of Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR), Clark was a   
   co-founder of the TAPR/AMSAT DSP Project, which led to   
   software-defined radio (SDR). He was a leader in the development of   
   the AX.25 packet radio protocol. Clark served as AMSAT's second   
   President, from 1980 until 1987. He also served on the AMSAT and   
   TAPR Boards.   
      
   In concert with McGwier, Clark developed the first amateur Digital   
   Signal Processing (DSP) hardware, including a number of modems. He   
   developed the uplink receivers and the spacecraft LAN (local area   
   network) architecture used on all the Microsats (AMSAT-OSCAR 16,   
   Dove-OSCAR 17, WEBERSAT-OSCAR 18, LUSAT-OSCAR 19, Italy-OSCAR 26,   
   AMRAD-OSCAR 27, and TMSAT-OSCAR 31). McGwier said it was Clark who   
   convinced him in 1985 that the future lay in DSP.   
      
   "We started the TAPR/AMSAT DSP [digital signal processing] project,   
   and it was announced in 1987," McGwier recounted. "We showed in our   
   efforts that small stations with small antennas could bounce signals   
   off the moon, and, using the power of DSP, we could see the signals   
   in our computer displays." This led to the software-defined   
   transponder (SDX) for satellite work, including ARISSat and AMSAT's   
   Phase 3E.   
      
   Clark received a doctorate in astrogeophysics from the University of   
   Colorado. He went on to serve as Chief of the Astronomy Branch at   
   NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and was a Senior Scientist at NASA   
   Goddard Space Flight Center, where he was principal investigator for   
   the Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) activity there.   
      
   In 2005, Clark became the first non-Russian to be awarded a Gold   
   Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his contributions to   
   the international VLBI network. He is a member of the 2001 class of   
   CQ magazine's Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.   
      
   In 2016, ARRL awarded Clark with its President's Award, to recognize   
   his 60 years of advancing amateur radio technology. On that   
   occasion, McGwier said, "There would be no AMSAT to inspire all of   
   this work without Tom Clark. Tom...saved the organization and   
   inspired all of us to look to the future and aim for the stars."   
      
   Clark was a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the   
   International Association of Geodesy.   
   NNNN   
   /EX   
   --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32   
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