Very sad news. The entire amateur radio community has suffered a huge loss. Deepest sympathies to his family.
John AG9D Sent from my iPhone On Mar 27, 2014, at 9:10 PM, "JoAnne Maenpaa" <[email protected]> wrote: > SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.01 > AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Tony Monteiro, AA2TX SK > > AMSAT News Service Bulletin 086.01 > From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. > March 27, 2014 > To All RADIO AMATEURS > BID: $ANS-086.01 > > Anthony "Tony" J. Monteiro, AA2TX (SK) > > AMSAT VP-Engineering and Board Member Anthony J. Monteiro, AA2TX of > North Andover, MA died on Wednesday morning, March 26, 2014 while > hospitalized in Boston, MA from cancer. He was 55. He is survived > by his wife, Mary Lou and daughter, Veronica, a college freshman. > > Tony was first licensed in 1973 as a Novice and subsequently held an > Extra Class Amateur Radio License. An avid operator, he described his > first contact in an AMSAT BoD Candidate's Statement in 2011: "I earned > > my novice ticket in 1973 and made my first ham radio contact with a > transmitter made from parts out of an old TV set. A Heathkit HR-10B > receiver and a 65-foot piece of wire strung out of a window for an > antenna made up the rest of my station, which was pretty modest even > by 1973 standards! Even so, I will never forget the thrill of my very > first contact." > > His interest in amateur radio and electronics led him to earn a BS > in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and a MS in Com- > puter Science from Stanford University. His professional career > started at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey developing network man- > agement systems and then consumer products. After working at several > startup companies, Tony landed at Cisco Systems where he managed > the development of ADSL, voice over packet, and content networking > products. He retired from industry in 2002 and focused his efforts > working on satellite projects. > > Tony joined AMSAT in 1994 and started working the satellites. He > earned ARRL VHF/UHF Century Club-Satellite #58 and worked 49 states > (only Hawaii was not logged) as well. Tony worked a number of stations > > while he commuted along the I-495 corridor outside Boston. Many will > remember working him through AO-40 as he utilized his "cardboard > box horn antenna." Tony led a workshop at the 2003 AMSAT Space > Symposium where students built similar antennas, demonstrating the > ease in which one could build a 2.4 GHz S-band antenna to receive > the AO-40 downlink. > > Additional technical contributions to the amateur satellite com- > munity that Tony made included "InstantTune Automatic Radio Tuning" > software, "A Simple Desense Filter for Echo", and several extremely > low cost projects such as "A $5 Mode V/S Adapter using a Sub-Harmonic > Mixer". AMSAT-UK currently offers a 70 CM Parasitic Lindenblad antenna > > based upon his design. > > Tony also played a significant role in space-based hardware develop- > ment. He collaborated on the NO-60 satellite. As AMSAT's VP-Engineer- > ing, he served as the software designer for the SDX (Software Defined > Transponder) on ARISSat-1/Kedr that was deployed from the Inter- > national Space Station by Russian Cosmonauts during a space walk in > August 2011. Tony led the Fox-1 Engineering Team from inception in > 2009 and led AMSAT's efforts to apply for acceptance of Fox-1 in > the NASA Education Launch of NanoSat (ELaNA) in 2011 and Fox-1B in > 2012. He established relationships with several universities to > secure scientific payloads for Fox-1 and Fox-1B, including student > experiments. > > A strong proponent of student involvement in satellite projects, > Tony served as coordinator of AMSAT Engineering relationships with > SUNY-Binghamton, Penn State-Erie, Virginia Tech, and Rochester > Institute of Technology where students developed new technologies > to be applied in future AMSAT spacecraft as "Capstone" projects. > These projects, such as the development of storage capacitors to > replace batteries developed by SUNY-Binghamton, provided student > experiences that will ultimately be flown in space. The AMSAT > JOURNAL in recent years featured several articles concerning these > projects. > > Tony was elected to the AMSAT Board of Directors in 2011 following > service for one year as a BoD alternate. Him wise counsel and focus > on finding ways to make it affordable for AMSAT to fly amateur radio > systems in space resulted in several innovative approaches. It was > Tony that convinced the NASA ELaNA program to modify their qualifi- > cation criteria to add "not for profits" to those that could apply > for launch grants. It was Tony that met with universities that were > looking for ways to fly their payloads but didn't have the experience > to build satellites, encouraging collaboration that would benefit > both AMSAT and the university. > > Tony's approach to participation in the AMSAT Leadership Team reflect- > ed his approach to life. Whenever he had a thought to share with the > entire AMSAT Board of Directors and/or Senior Officers via e-mail, he > always started with "Dear Friends". As AMSAT VP-Operations Drew Glas- > brenner, KO4MA noted, "I always admired how he reminded me we were > all friends despite whatever argument was raging." > > Arrangements for a service for Tony will be announced at a later > date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to > Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT), 850 Sligo Avenue, Suite 600, > Silver Spring, MD 20910. > > Barry A. Baines, WD4ASW > President-Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT) > > [ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW for the above > information] > > /EX > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? 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