Katie Campbell, KE8LQR/DA2KT – Term expires June 30, 2029
Katie Campbell represents the future of amateur radio — and is already shaping it. From Columbiana, Ohio, Katie was introduced to ham radio at the age of 10 when her school started an amateur radio and electronics club, and quickly advanced to an Amateur Extra Class license by age 11.
CW became her favourite operating mode early on, which she learned through the Long Island CW Club. She went on to become an instructor for the group, teaching youth intermediate and advanced Morse code classes — an unusual arc from student to teacher in just a matter of months. She was president of the Columbiana High School Amateur Radio Club (K8LPS) from her 6th grade to senior years, and enjoys advising when she’s home from college.
Katie has helped plan YOTA (Youth on the Air) camps and led sessions at them, led CW operations during the Dave Kalter Memorial Youth DX Adventure, and presented at numerous events including the Dayton Hamvention. She is a member of the BCC (Bavarian Contest Club), the NCCC (North Coast Contesters), YACHT (Young Amateurs Communications Ham Team) and numerous other organizations. In 2025, she was selected as the Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year.
She spent her senior year of high school in Germany as a foreign exchange student, where she continued operating and representing the best of the amateur radio community internationally, and is now attending Ohio State University, studying Data Analytics. Katie brings energy, mentorship, and a powerful argument that the hobby’s future is in excellent hands.
David Cripe, NM0S – Term expires June 30, 2029
David serves as President of QRP ARCI and is one of the most prolific and respected kit designers in the amateur radio homebrewing community. Dave was bitten by the radio bug at age 7, spending countless late-night childhood hours building and listening to crystal, broadcast, and shortwave radios. He was first licensed as KA9MCV in 1981 while a student at the University of Illinois, where he earned a degree in Engineering Physics.
Following graduation, Dave designed VLF transmitter circuitry at Westinghouse Electric Defense Center in Baltimore, then went on to further transmitter design work at Broadcast Electronics and Harris Broadcast Division. His professional engineering career has spanned decades in the RF and electronics industry.
Lamenting the demise of Heathkit, Dave set out to create radio kits for the amateur community so that others could experience the thrill of kit building. Dave has designed over thirty kits for the Four State QRP Group, including the Hi-Per-Mite CW filter, the Nouveau 75 AM transceiver, the NS-40 minimalist transmitter, and the popular Cricket series. One of his designs is featured each year at 4SQRP’s OzarkCon Buildathon. He also revamped the kit lineup for the ARRL Teachers Institute workshops and the “Hands-On Radio” book series, providing a number of different kits to the ARRL. His kits are renowned for beginner-friendly through-hole construction, elegant minimalist design, affordability, and functionality.
Beyond the workbench, Dave is a passionate advocate for bringing new operators into the hobby, including through mentoring young people via the Boy Scouts radio merit badge program.
Jeff Hetherington VE3CW/VA3JFF – Term expires June 30, 2027
Jeff Hetherington holds two Canadian amateur radio callsigns — VE3CW and VA3JFF — and is based in Welland, Ontario, Canada. A dedicated QRP operator, Jeff has been a cornerstone of the QRP-ARCI community as a long-standing member (#9223), having served on the Board of Directors since 2010 and having been Contest Manager for many years prior to that.
Jeff’s contributions to the low-power amateur radio community were recognized in 2022 when he was inducted into the QRP Hall of Fame.
On the air, Jeff keeps things interesting with an active operating life that spans contesting, Parks on the Air (POTA), and DXing — all at QRP levels.
Professionally, Jeff is a Project & Operations Leader with over 30 years of experience in Canadian retail.
Jeff is married to Wendy, VE3TKS, and together they have one grown son, Ian
Bill Kelsey, N8ET – Term expires June 30, 2027
Bill Kelsey, N8ET, is one of the elder statesmen of the QRP community, with an amateur radio career beginning in 1962 and a lifetime of contributions that span kit building, international club support, portable operating, and technical experimentation.
From his passion for QRP and kit building, Bill founded the Kanga Kit Company, creating radio and test equipment kits for the ham community for many years. Operating as Kanga US, he served as the US distributor and marketer for kits from multiple designers over the years, making quality homebrewing accessible to a generation of American operators. He also served for many years as the US membership agent for the G-QRP Club, giving US-based QRPers a straightforward path to the British club’s celebrated journal, SPRAT.
Bill was inducted into the QRP ARCI Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his sustained contributions to the QRP community. Away from the workbench, he has taken his radio passion to sea: his QRP Quarterly article “Sailing with Ham Radio on the Great Lakes” documented QRP operation during circumnavigations of both Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. He has also pursued UHF moonbounce and digital modes, reflecting a restless curiosity that has never stopped driving him to the next project.
Hans Summers, G0UPL – Term expires June 30, 2028
Hans Summers, G0UPL, is one of the most influential figures in the modern QRP kit-building movement and the founder of QRP Labs, a name synonymous with affordable, high-performance amateur radio kits. A 2009 QRP ARCI Hall of Fame inductee, Hans is an electronic experimenter and amateur radio innovator extraordinaire, known for his careful attention to compact, minimal-parts-count designs.
Hans graduated with a Physics BSc in 1993 and spent 22 years in investment banking software development before leaving that career to pursue QRP Labs full time in 2016. Starting from a first FDIM presentation in 2010 on QRSS weak-signal modes, QRP Labs has grown from simple beginnings to remarkable complexity, producing a celebrated lineup of kits including the QCX, QCX-mini, QDX, and QMX transceivers — all widely used for CW, digital modes, SSB, POTA, and SOTA activations. Polar Modulation SSB and Controlled Envelope SSB (CESSB) in QMX-series transceivers represent a particularly significant innovation, bringing high-end features to inexpensive QRP transceivers. Hans also received the 2019 Homebrew Heroes Award in recognition of his contributions to the homebrewing community, 2019 CW Ops award for advancing the art of CW, and 2024 ARRL Technical Innovation Award.
Beyond transceivers, Hans has pioneered work in WSPR propagation beacons and high-altitude balloon telemetry, pushing the boundaries of what low-power radio can achieve. QRP Labs is now based in Turkey, where Hans lives with his family, and has grown rapidly to become a well-known name across QRP, portable, and home-construction communities worldwide.
Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL — Term expires June 30, 2028
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Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL, has been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1997 and is one of the most recognizable voices in the QRP and portable radio community. A 2023 inductee into the QRP Hall of Fame, Thomas is best known for his passionate advocacy for low-power, field-based operating.
He is the owner and curator of QRPer.com, a website devoted to field radio, and also runs the SWLing Post and the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive — two resources dedicated to shortwave radio and international broadcasting. His YouTube channel features ad-free, real-time field activation videos, giving operators an honest look at the joys of operating outdoors. He is also a regular co-host on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast.
Thomas’s call sign, K4SWL, is a nod to his other great radio passion — shortwave listening. His operating philosophy centers on simplicity and portability: lightweight gear, field antennas, and the satisfaction of working the world on just a few watts. He is a dedicated POTA and SOTA activator and a strong proponent of CW operating.
Thomas believes deeply in the values that make amateur radio endure — joy, kindness, community, diversity, and mentorship — and in the importance of Elmering to keep the hobby thriving for future generations.