| |
Note: The prize was awarded from 2001 to 2007. It has not
been awarded since. However, were it to be re-instated, the rules will need
revising, becuse CREG no longer has a formal organising
committee.
- The award will normally be presented at the annual BCRA
conference, which is usually held in the autumn. If the BCRA conference is not
held in the autumn, the award will be presented at the next suitable CREG field
meet.
- The CREG committee may withhold the award if they feel that
no suitable candidate has been nominated.
- Anyone may be considered for the award, even if he is not a
current CREG member.
- Anyone may nominate a candidate for the award, even if he is
not a current CREG member.
- Nominations must be sent to the CREG chairman before the end
of June.
- Each nomination requires the candidate's name, and a brief
statement of why he is being nominated.
- A candidate who has already received this award for the same
body of work at an earlier date will not normally be considered for the award.
- The nominations and supporting information will be presented
to the CREG committee, who will vote on the candidates within two months of the
closing date.
- No committee member may vote for more than one candidate.
- The CREG chairman will not have a vote except in the case of a
tie, when he will have the casting vote.
- A committee member who has been nominated by someone else is
allowed to vote for himself.
|
|
| |
- 2001 Mike Bedford
- Mike receives the award for his work as editor of the CREG
Journal which, over the years, has published some outstanding work in the field
of Cave Radio; and also for his other cave related electronics work. Mike
receives a lifetime trophy.
- 2002 Jean-Jacques Fauchez
- This year's CREG prize has been awarded posthumously to
Jean-Jacques Fauchez who, sadly, died earlier this year. Jean-Jacques was an
enthusiastic and prolific experimenter in the field of cave radio and
electronics. His published work covered a wide range of topics: receivers,
complete radios, propagation experiments, test gear etc. He was also an
engineer, a radio amateur and an inventor. From his work it is clear that he
was not afraid to depart from the beaten track in a number of ways and our
field of endeavours has benefited greatly from this.
- 2003 Stuart France
- Stuart France is probably the most prolific designer of
practical cave electronics projects in the UK. Some years ago Stuart (with Bob
Mackin) designed, built and published a design for a radiolocation beacon.
Stuart also designed a fully-functional cave radio and, recently, he has
produced a commercial design for a high-performance LED lamp. But the field in
which he deserves special recognition is that of data-logging. Stuart has
adapted his cave data-loggers to measure caver traffic, water depth,
temperature, barometric pressure and ultrasonic bat squeaks. CREG is a part of
BCRA, and the aims of BCRA include promoting the study of cave science. Stuart,
although not a BCRA member himself, has perhaps contributed more to BCRA's core
aims than any other member of CREG..
- 2004 John Hey
- One of CREG's main projects has been research and development,
over a long period of time, into cave communications. We remember the
pioneering work of Bob Mackin, and his Molefone; many others have also
contributed but we particularly want to recognise the work of John Hey. As a
result of John's work, the British Cave Rescue Council is the first and only
national organisation to systematically equip all its cave rescue groups with
modern cave radio communications equipment. Of course, development of the
HeyPhone was not all down to John, there are many others who have contributed
to this project. But, without John, the project might never have happened. John
did far more than just design the HeyPhone, he actually built all the
production units by hand which is a major achievement and a demonstration of
his commitment.
- 2005 Beat Heeb
- There are a number of people who have been associated with
cave radio and other electronics topics for longer than CREG has been in
existence - not only in the UK but in the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia.
These contributions are all, of course, 'special' and must be recognised. But
it would be very unadventurous of CREG to simply work its way through a list of
'the usual suspects'. It would be unusual for a single project or magazine
article to stand up against this wealth of experience, but this year, we have
found a contribution which does. In June 2004, we published an article that
described a cave radio device that sends and receives text messages, in much
the same way as a mobile phone. On first consideration this is merely an
'interesting project' - one of several similar ones. But on closer inspection,
we recognised that the designer - a Swiss caver called Beat Heeb - has done a
highly professional piece of design work. Many cavers who have worked on cave
radio and elec-tronics projects - even important projects - have, to a greater
or lesser extent, simply developed the practical work of others. Only rarely
have we actually experienced the work of a designer. Beat's project is quite
definitely, a 'design'. We feel that his article has been one of the best we
have pub-lished in the CREG journal for a long while, for the level of
technical competence of the author; the use of state-of-the-art concepts and
for its view of the future.
- 2006 Graham Naylor
- This year's award goes to someone whose name does
appear on the list of 'usual suspects' (see 2005 citation). Graham Naylor is
probably best known as the designer and driving force behind the French
Système Nicola - an earth current cave radio now in use around the
world. Graham has also played his part in encouraging international Europe-wide
cave-electronics projects. Graham is now working on a digital cave radio, with
its advantages of compactness and low power drain. Although these are good
credentials for an award, Graham receives this year's award specifically for
his proposal of a novel method of generating a single-sideband modulated
carrier that can be used with a digital power amplifier. Graham's proposal is a
true 'inventive step' in the design of what will undoubtedly become the next
generation of compact, highly-functional cave communications equipment.
- 2007 Phil Underwood
- This year's award goes to Phil Underwood for his development
of an electronic compass/clinometer/data-recorder for cave surveying; a device
with, potentially, a large market; and one of tremendous use to cavers. Phil is
one of several people who have been experimenting with instrumentation such as
this, but Phil receives his award not only for the development of the device
but for writing about it in Compass Points and the CREG Journal. Phil's project
shows innovation as well as significant mathematical, software and hardware
skills and gives to cavers a highly-useful tool which, in combination with the
continued developments in survey-drawing software that are happening, will make
it easier for cavers to produce higher-quality cave surveys.
|
|
