08/17/2018

Former Wisconsin ARRL Section Manager Don Michalski, W9IXG, of Madison, died on August 11. He was 77.

Michalski led the Wisconsin Section from 1999 until 2015. He served as net manager for the Badger Weather Net and was active in the Wisconsin Badger Amateur Radio Society (W9YT) at the University of Wisconsin. Michalski served as an ARRL Official Observer and as a Technical Specialist. He also was a technical specialist for Wisconsin Emergency Communications (WeComm[1]).

A graduate of Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering, Michalski relocated to Wisconsin for graduate school at the University of Wisconsin (UW). That led to his involvement in the UW Astronomy Department. He designed electronics for numerous sounding rocket payloads, the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO), the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE), ground-based instrumentation for Washburn Observatory, the WIYN telescope, and the High Speed Photometer, which launched in 1990 with the Hubble Space Telescope.

He was the Program Manager and electrical engineer for the Astro WUPPE payload, flown successfully on two Shuttle missions. He served as Associate Director of the UW Space Astronomy Laboratory for 16 years and was liaison with NASA project management. An enthusiastic cyclist, he averaged 4,000 miles a year and combined his love of Amateur Radio and biking by organizing support for public service events.


[1] http://www.wecomm.org/

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