W3ABC - September 14, 2010

W3ABC - Hugh Turnbull Secretary 1982

Hugh Turnbull
Silver Springs, MD

QCWA #5820
Chapter 23
W3ABC - Hugh Turnbull
First Call: W2CTT in 1932

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ARLB024 ARRL Honorary Vice President Hugh Turnbull, W3ABC, SK

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ARRL Bulletin 24 ARLB024
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT September 14, 2010
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB024
ARLB024 ARRL Honorary Vice President Hugh Turnbull, W3ABC, SK

ARRL Honorary Vice President Hugh A. Turnbull, W3ABC, of Silver Spring, Maryland, died September 14 at age 93.

Turnbull served the ARRL as Atlantic Division Vice Director (1980-1982) and Director (1982-1996). The ARRL Board named him Vice President in 1996 and Honorary Vice President in 2000.

Aside from his long and distinguished service to the ARRL, Hugh was actively involved in several DC-area Amateur Radio clubs and organizations, including the Foundation for Amateur Radio, a group of clubs from the Maryland, Washington, DC and Northern Virginia area that awards scholarships to deserving radio amateurs.

In 2005, the Quarter Century Wireless Association awarded Turnbull a special plaque recognizing his "exceptional contributions to Amateur Radio in general and for outstanding work in the selection of recipients for the QCWA scholarship awards." He was also a charter member of the Goddard Amateur Radio Club.

A licensed and active radio amateur since 1932, Hugh's engineering career included employment with the FCC, the Voice of America and NASA.

Upon hearing of his death, ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, who served as Atlantic Division Vice Director during Hugh's tenure as Director, said: "Hugh's life was devoted to serving his country and Amateur Radio. Many times I heard him say that each of us should 'give something back' to ham radio. He was my first mentor in ARRL leadership, and it was my good fortune to have his example to learn from."

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, added: "Hugh was an exemplary member of 'The Greatest Generation' who unselfishly took on whatever needed to be done for the common good."

According to his daughter, Karen Shangraw, Turnbull will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Hugh A. Turnbull, 93, who helped oversee satellite-tracking stations for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and who also was an amateur radio expert, died Sept. 14 at Crofton Care and Rehabilitation Center in Anne Arundel County. He had pneumonia.

Mr. Turnbull worked for the federal government for 37 years and [W3ABC] was a NASA employee for 16 years. At Goddard, Mr. Turnbull was responsible for administering and technically supporting its global data-gathering network. In his work with satellite-tracking stations, he was often called on to assist NASA stations overseas. He retired in 1998.

Aside from his government service, Mr. Turnbull had a passion for radio. Before and after World War II, he worked with the Radio Intelligence Division of the Federal Communications Commission in New York. He moved to College Park in 1955 and worked as a broadcast engineer with Voice of America until joining NASA in 1961.

Over the years, Mr. Turnbull was vice president of the American Radio Relay League, president of the Goddard Space Flight Center Amateur Radio Club and a fellow of the Radio Club of America. His call sign was W3ABC.

In the 1990s, he was honored by the Smithsonian Institution for his years of volunteer service with NN3SI, the National Museum of American History's amateur radio station.

Hugh Alexander Turnbull was a native of Rahway, N.J. He was a 1938 graduate of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and received a master's degree in physics from West Virginia University in 1940. He was a Navy veteran of World War II.

W3ABC - Hugh Turnbull

W3ABC - Hugh Turnbull
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