Moderator Bios 2021

Moderator bios for HRU 2021 as of December 24, 2020. All times are shown in Eastern Standard Time.

Time Forum Moderator Biography
8:00am – 8:50am Newcomer’s meeting – an overview of HRU K2DO.jpg
Diane Ortiz K2DO
Diane Ortiz K2DO is past president of the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club, a member of QCWA, YLRL and Secretary and past president of the Order of Boiled Owls of New York. Diane was the ARRL Hudson Division Grand Ole Ham in 2009. Diane has operated from many countries including the Turks and Caicos Islands, Grenada, the United Nations HQ and recently from the Azores as part of the Azores Nine Island Hunt. Diane wrote the YL news column for the ARRL’s QST Magazine for 10 years and the YL Contesting column in CQ Contest Magazine. Join her as she provides an overview of Ham Radio University. She will talk about what HRU is, what to do and where to go. Diane’s insider “scoop” is certain to make you more comfortable and confident, both on and off the air.
9:00am – 9:50am ARRL Forum W2KFV.jpg
Jim_Mezey W2KFV
Jim Mezey W2KFV, is the Section Manager for NLI with over 50 years of experience in Emergency Communications, Jim has served as ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator for Nassau County. He holds an Extra Class license and is a member or officer of LIMARC, Nassau Amateur Radio Club, Nassau County Police Amateur Radio Club, QCWA, and IPARC. A VE Examiner, Field Instructor and Examiner, Jim is well versed in public service communications. He was a member of the ARRL Emergency Communications Advisory Committee and is also a certified ARRL instructor who is trained in ARRL Emergency Communication Courses as well as ICS and NIMS. He has been honored in receiving LIMARC’s N2MEI Award for Outstanding Public Service and the 2009 Hudson Division Amateur of The Year Award.
9:00am – 9:50am ARRL Forum N2RJ.jpg
  Ria Jairam N2RJ
Ria Jairam, N2RJ is the ARRL Hudson Division Director. She has been licensed since 1997 in Trinidad and Tobago and in the US since 2001. She first became interested in radio at 5 years old from her dad, an avid SWL and learned about amateur radio from a teacher, Mr. Tony Lee-Mack, 9Y4AL. Ria is active in contesting, Dxing, DMR, DSTAR and digital modes. To her name are several DX and contest awards including 9 band DXCC (160 through 10 meters), Challenge at the 1800+ level, all 3 modes and 325 entities mixed. She has also won several contest plaques including regional, national and North American titles in various DX contests. Ria has won a “Top Elmer” award in 2016 for her mentoring on the Flex Radio forums and also helping users use their radios remotely. She subsequently was awarded two “Top Tester” awards in 2017. She is a volunteer QSL card sorter with the W2 QSL bureau, run by the North Jersey DX Association (NJDXA) and is the Northern NJ section manager for the Frankford Radio Club (FRC). She is also the District 2 chair of the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL) and a member of the British Young Ladies Amateur Radio Association (BYLARA). Ria is an alumna of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, where she studied Electrical Engineering. In the ARRL, Ria is currently the chair of the IT Modernization committee, a member of the Programs and Services Committee, as well as ARISS and Band Planning committees. Look for her in the DX pileups, often operating remotely, or operating WSJT digital modes to snag a new one.
9:00am – 9:50am All things Digital VHF and above including DMR and D-Star W2PW.jpg
Preston Waterman W2PW
Pres Waterman W2PW has been licensed since 1977. Interested in many phases of Ham Radio and has been building and operating repeaters since the ’80′s in Patchogue, Manorville and Hauppauge. Early on his first repeaters had HF remote bases on them. With the popularity of cell phones, normal local repeater traffic has been dwindling but the advent of Internet linking has seen a resurgence of activity lately. Any one repeater may be very quiet, but 30 quiet repeaters makes a very nice mix. An open IRLP node 4700 on WR2UHF 444.700 (Hauppauge) begat a portable node 7373 in a briefcase, which spawned a home node … well, the addiction spreads. 4 or 5 nodes is not enough! Currently, the portable node in a briefcase features BOTH analog IRLP and also Digital D-Star, and will be demonstrated at the various talks being presented. Pres is “in charge” of over 10 IRLP nodes and is considered a local expert on nodes and VOIP linking.
10:00am – 10:50am EMCOMM in NLI W2KFV.jpg
Jim_Mezey W2KFV
Jim Mezey W2KFV, is the Section Manager for NLI with over 50 years of experience in Emergency Communications, Jim has served as ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator for Nassau County. He holds an Extra Class license and is a member or officer of LIMARC, Nassau Amateur Radio Club, Nassau County Police Amateur Radio Club, QCWA, and IPARC. A VE Examiner, Field Instructor and Examiner, Jim is well versed in public service communications. He was a member of the ARRL Emergency Communications Advisory Committee and is also a certified ARRL instructor who is trained in ARRL Emergency Communication Courses as well as ICS and NIMS. He has been honored in receiving LIMARC’s N2MEI Award for Outstanding Public Service and the 2009 Hudson Division Amateur of The Year Award.
10:00am – 10:50am Basics of HF operating KS2G.jpg
Mel_Granick KS2G
First licensed in 1977 as a Novice, Mel Granick upgraded to Technician, General and Advanced class licenses within six months and has been an Amateur Extra since 1981. He’s been active in numerous aspects of Amateur Radio ranging from traffic handling to the early use of packet radio. With a modest station consisting of a 100 watt transceiver, 3-element tribander and 40/80 dipole up just 35 feet, he’s been successful as a DX’er (DXCC-250+), awards chaser (5BWAS) and one of the leading contesters in the 2nd Call Area, repeatedly placing in the top ten among U.S. low-power single operators in the CQ World Wide DX, CQ World Wide WPX and ARRL 10-Meter contests. Mel, along with Phil N2MUN, are two seasoned DX and contest operators and will guide you through the HF bands, modes, propagation, on-air procedures, and using rig controls to get the most out of your HF transceiver.
11:00am – 11:50am The Art of Operating Amateur Satellites with an HT WB2OQQ.jpg
Peter Portanova W2JV
Peter was licensed in 1964 as WB2OQQ, his first station, in Whitestone, NY that year consisted of a Rohn 25g top section mounted on the roof of his parents house with six and two meter beams. The house he owned in Massapequa had three sections of aluminum tubing at 35’ attached to the house with a C3SSjr. Yagi. Peter is always experimenting with different antenna support systems that will accommodate a given location. Peter met another Mentor at Field Day, 2008, Neil Heft, KC2KY, who was operating the Satellite station for Radio Central and the Boiled Owls. He was making a contact on AO-51, an easy-sat, while Ritchie, KB2ZPB was rotating the antenna on both horizontal and vertical plains, and they were having a great time. He was, mesmerized, again recalling 1966 and the Oscar Satellites and he thought you had to be a Rocket Scientist to talk thru our Satellites. Neil, again a brilliant Engineer and communicator used simple everyday language to explain what he was doing. Peter went home, put in the uplink and downlinks of AO-51 into his Yaesu FT-50R , went to the AMSAT site for the passes and made my first Satellite contact with Tim, N3TL, it’s that complicated and that easy, a year later he received his VUCC Award and the Oscar Satellite Communications Award.; Peter is the NY Area Coordinator for AMSAT. He will talk about how you can become a Satellite operator using your HT.
11:00am – 11:50am How to Learn and Have Fun with CW WB2UZE.jpg
Howard Bernstein WB2UZE
Howard Bernstein WB2UZE has been an active ham since 1965 and holds an Extra class license. He graduated from SUNY Albany in 1974 with a BS in Business Administration and shortly thereafter started a company in the import and export of industrial chemicals. Being partially retired at this time gave him the opportunity along with Rich K2UPS, to co-found the Long Island CW Club in 2018. The club currently has 260 members in 37 states and 7 countries and teaches 21 CW classes weekly via internet video conference, in addition to having many local activities. Besides having a passion for CW, Howard has a vintage gear (boat anchor) station made up of the gear he wanted to have as a young ham in the 1960s but could not afford back then. Outside of ham radio Howard enjoys travel, antiques and his 1956 Oldsmobile. Howard has also written a book: Fire Island Lighthouse Maritime Communications: A History Spanning 1859-1973 which centers around post WW2 Coast Guard transmitters still miraculously remaining at the Fire Island Lighthouse.
11:00am – 11:50am How to Learn and Have Fun with CW K2UPS.jpg
Rich Collins K2UPS
Rich Collins, K2UPS got his Novice license in 1981 as KA2WWU and took an immediate liking to Morse Code and CW. After upgrading to Advanced and changing to KE2EC he continued to enjoy CW exclusively. Finally upgrading to Extra and changing call to K2UPS in 2005 he has been enjoying CW while operating mostly QRP and also while mobile. He likes collecting CW keys of all types and has about 40 that all get rotated in and used regularly. He has served as a board member and as president of the Nassau Amateur Radio Club. He is also a Volunteer Examiner and attends most of LIMARC’s VE sessions.
In January of 2018 he and Howard WB2UZE started the Long Island CW Club with the intent to share our passion for CW and offer classes to teach others Morse Code.
He resides in Hicksville NY with his wife, N2JYP, 3 children and 3 basset hounds. He has worked at UPS for 31 years and currently drives between NYC, Chicago and Louisville KY every week.
12noon – 12:50pm DXing W2UDT.jpg
  Bill Hudzik W2UDT
Bill Hudzik W2UDT has been continuously licensed since 1961. He has operated from KP2, KR6, C6A and V2 over the years. Bill has served as NNJ SM for 4 terms, NNJ Assistant Director for 3 years and is on his third elected term as Vice Director for the Hudson Division. He has been active with the North Jersey DX Association (NJDXA) for over 28 years serving as Secretary, Vice President and President of the organization and continues to serve as a volunteer letter manager, he is also a member of the New Providence Radio Club, the Raritan Valley Radio Club and the Frankfort Radio Club. Bill is an ARRL Life Member as well as a Diamond Club Member. He is an active contester and DXer.
12noon – 12:50pm Software Defined Radios for HF N2RJ.jpg
  Ria Jairam N2RJ
Ria Jairam, N2RJ is the ARRL Hudson Division Director. She has been licensed since 1997 in Trinidad and Tobago and in the US since 2001. She first became interested in radio at 5 years old from her dad, an avid SWL and learned about amateur radio from a teacher, Mr. Tony Lee-Mack, 9Y4AL. Ria is active in contesting, Dxing, DMR, DSTAR and digital modes. To her name are several DX and contest awards including 9 band DXCC (160 through 10 meters), Challenge at the 1800+ level, all 3 modes and 325 entities mixed. She has also won several contest plaques including regional, national and North American titles in various DX contests. Ria has won a “Top Elmer” award in 2016 for her mentoring on the Flex Radio forums and also helping users use their radios remotely. She subsequently was awarded two “Top Tester” awards in 2017. She is a volunteer QSL card sorter with the W2 QSL bureau, run by the North Jersey DX Association (NJDXA) and is the Northern NJ section manager for the Frankford Radio Club (FRC). She is also the District 2 chair of the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL) and a member of the British Young Ladies Amateur Radio Association (BYLARA). Ria is an alumna of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, where she studied Electrical Engineering. In the ARRL, Ria is currently the chair of the IT Modernization committee, a member of the Programs and Services Committee, as well as ARISS and Band Planning committees. Look for her in the DX pileups, often operating remotely, or operating WSJT digital modes to snag a new one.
1:00pm – 1:50pm Antenna Power Flow and SWR WY2U.jpg
Mike Kozma WY2U
Mike Kozma WY2U has been an amateur radio operator for over 28 years. He has a Master’s Degree in Electronic Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York, and has worked as a Design Engineer, and Engineering Manager in the electronics industry for over 45 years. During his engineering career, he was responsible for the design of Communications and Radar Systems, including Transmitters, Receivers, Antennas, and Signal Processing components, as well as Signal and Communication Components to support the Commuter Railroad Industry. Presently, he is semi-retired, and works as an Adjunct Professor at Queensborough Community College, teaching courses in the Electronic Engineering Technology curriculum. His primary ham radio interests are HF CW operation, and mentoring other ham radio enthusiasts, by teaching seminars and workshops at the local ham radio clubs. He is also a Volunteer Examiner for both the ARRL and W5YI VEC organizations. In addition, he holds an FCC General Radio Telephone Operator License with Radar Endorsement, and has had an Extra Class Ham license since 1990. Other interests include Optical and Radio Astronomy, and experimentation of electronic circuits and antenna systems, using both computer aided design techniques, and construction and testing. He currently lives on Long Island, is married, and has three children and three grandchildren.
1:00pm – 1:50pm Remote Station Operation K2RB.jpg
Rick Bressler K2RB
Rick Bressler K2RB has been licensed since 1957 and is very active in various clubs. He is past president and a current life member of LIMARC and a member of the order of Boiled Owls of New York Contest Club. With his current QTH in Glen Cove, New York, Rick is very active on the low bands. His current operating conditions are an Elecraft K-3 and the Flex Radio 6500 with SPE 1.3 amplifier. He uses antennas ranging from Steppir 3 element up 35 feet to various dipoles covering the other bands. When he had his business a few years ago, Rick always wanted to see what was going on the ham bands. He started with the OMNI VII which had a very early way to connect over the internet to the radio at home. Then when a company called remote rig developed a pair of interfaces that allowed many radios to be used remotely, a whole new part of ham radio was developed to operate a station from a remote location. In his forum, Rick will explore the history of remote operating and how very recent developments have changed so much in this area of our hobby. This will include operating superstations from our deed restricted QTH’s and how to have a 100 foot tower and high end antennas to compete for DX or contesting. He will review the use of an ipad, iphone or laptop to operate when not in front of your station. Rick intends to review how one can control various station activities such as antenna switching, turning of a beam and turning the station on and off for safety reasons. All of this can now be done with advances of technology which has taken place.
2:00pm – 2:50pm HF Digital Modes including FT8 W2NDG.jpg
Neil Goldstein W2NDG
Neil Goldstein W2NDG has been tinkering with radios since the early seventies when he used to hang out in his uncle’s ham shack in CT (W1PVC sk). These days he can be found in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains with a QRP radio, or sitting at his workbench amidst a cloud of solder smoke. After first getting licensed in 2011 as KD2APZ, he started looking for all of the ways to merge his two hobbies: computers and radio. Now, a holder of an Extra Class license, he experiments with SDR, rig control, digital modes, and has a well-used soldering iron. Neil is active in the OMARC, and QSY Society clubs, has written for AmateurRadio.com as well as The Spectrum Monitor, and frequently presents at various club meetings on computer-related subjects. Neil maintains radiokitguide.com, the complete list of radio kit sources on the Internet.
2:00pm – 2:50pm Overview of Ham Radio Logging programs KA2D.jpg
Tom Carrubba KA2D
Tom Carrubba KA2D was first licensed in 1978 as KA2DFO. He is an active DXer and Contester. Over the course of his on air activity he has earned DXCC in CW, RTTY and SSB along with 5BDXCC with 30, 17 and 12 meter endorsements and DXCC Challenge. He made DXCC Honor Roll via LoTW. Tom operates all modes/bands. His favorite modes are RTTY and CW and is also active on Digital modes. KA2D has helped coordinate and participated in various Special Event Stations from the Long Island area such as Montauk Point and Fire Island Lighthouses, The Long Island Air Show, National Weather Service/ARRL SKYWARN Recognition Day and ARRL Field Day. In 2016, Tom was active in National Parks on the Air and was part of the group that activated the White House. Field Day and Lighthouse weekend are his favorites. Tom become active in computer logging in 1988 and has logged on a computer since then. In his forum, we will review logging method history and demonstrate the advantages of computer logging. The presentation will cover the many logging program features such as award and QSL tracking at your fingertips. Tom hopes you will enjoy his presentation.
3:00pm – 3:50pm Raspberry Pi applications for Ham Radio W2NDG.jpg
Neil Goldstein W2NDG
Neil Goldstein W2NDG has been tinkering with radios since the early seventies when he used to hang out in his uncle’s ham shack in CT (W1PVC sk). These days he can be found in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains with a QRP radio, or sitting at his workbench amidst a cloud of solder smoke. After first getting licensed in 2011 as KD2APZ, he started looking for all of the ways to merge his two hobbies: computers and radio. Now, a holder of an Extra Class license, he experiments with SDR, rig control, digital modes, and has a well-used soldering iron. Neil is active in the OMARC, and QSY Society clubs, has written for AmateurRadio.com as well as The Spectrum Monitor, and frequently presents at various club meetings on computer-related subjects. Neil maintains radiokitguide.com, the complete list of radio kit sources on the Internet.
3:00pm – 3:50pm QRP low power fun W2XS.jpg
John Meade W2XS
John Meade W2XS started ham radio in the mid sixties as WB2SLI. The QRP bug hit him when Heathkit came out with the HW-8. Since that time, he has used many of the QRP rigs out there including Ten Tec, Small Wonders Labs, MFJ, OHR, NorCal, and Elecraft. There have been many successful outings with the Long Island QRP club with QSOs far and wide with simple (but effective) equipment and antennas. His career has been in the Electronics Management industry as well as teaching Electrical Technology at Nassau Community College.