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Edward F. \u201cEd\u201d Hare, Jr., W1RFI, who spent decades as an employee of the ARRL Laboratory, has become a Silent Key. He died on October 10, 2025, at the age of 74 after an illness.<\/p>\n
Hare was first licensed as a teenager in 1963 as KN1CV (later KA1CV) and was an active ham throughout his life. He was an avid QRP operator, earning his Worked All States certificate with 250 milliwatts on CW. In his professional life, he was an accomplished product test engineer and a leading expert on radio frequency interference (RFI). After an industry career in product testing, he came to work for ARRL in 1986.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, Hare led the technical aspects of many important advocacy efforts taken on by the ARRL Lab, including the successful fight against Broadband over Power Line (BPL). Hare’s extensive technical studies and solid factual data effectively supported ARRL\u2019s Court of Appeals submissions against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), thus contributing substantially to ARRL\u2019s victory in causing the FCC\u2019s flawed BPL rules to be\u00a0remanded\u00a0to the FCC.<\/p>\n
Hare developed a waiver process in cooperation with the United States military to allow amateur radio access to the 70-centimeter band near several high-power radar sites. He also started the ARRL RFI Program, which helps amateurs work through the FCC to resolve interference to their station. He was also instrumental in ARRL\u2019s 2023 defense against the high-speed stock traders\u2019 petition that would risk significant interference to amateur HF bands.<\/p>\n
Hare was a prolific author about RFI, from articles for QST<\/i> and The<\/i> ARRL<\/i> Handbook<\/i> to articles about the practical aspects of Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) appeared in professional trade journals. He was also one of the editors and authors of The ARRL RFI Book<\/i>, and the author of the ARRL\u2019s book on RF exposure, RF Exposure and You<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Hare held a seat for amateur radio on many industry committees, including several of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and on the American National Standards Committee C63, which develops standards for testing and measuring EMC.<\/p>\n
Many radio clubs may recall Hare\u2019s popular \u201cStump the Speaker\u201d feature that he held after giving presentations. Hare would allow the audience to try to stump him with radio questions and trivia. It was rarely successful.<\/p>\n
He retired from ARRL as Laboratory Manager in 2023 but continued to serve in the Lab as a volunteer until the time of his passing.<\/p>\n
He frequently mentored members of the ARRL staff on improving their operating skills and encouraged them to grow as radio amateurs. He was especially fond of creating new CW operators.<\/p>\n
Hare was a member of the ARRL Diamond Club and the A1 Operators Club. The ARRL Board of Directors bestowed the ARRL Technical Merit Award on Hare in 2008 for his work on BPL, an honor that, before Hare, was last awarded in 1976 and has not been given since.<\/p>\n