AMSAT Board Member and Vice President-Engineering Anthony J. “Tony” Monteiro, AA2TX, of North Andover, Massachusetts, died March 26. He was 55. First licensed in 1973, he reported making his first ham radio contact with a transmitter made using parts from an old TV set.

“A Heathkit HR-10B receiver and a 65-foot piece of wire strung out of a window for an antenna made up the rest of my station, which was pretty modest even by 1973 standards,” he said. “Even so, I will never forget the thrill of my very first contact.”

Monteiro held a BS in electrical engineering from Drexel University and a MS in computer science from Stanford. Following college he went to work at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, developing network management systems and consumer products. After working at several startups, he signed on with Cisco Systems, where he managed the development of ADSL, voice over packet, and content networking products. He retired from industry in 2002 and focused his efforts on satellite projects.

Monteiro joined AMSAT in 1994 and was a frequent presence at AMSAT events.He played a significant role in space-based hardware development. He collaborated on the NO-60 satellite. As AMSAT’s VP-Engineering, he served as the software designer for the SDX (Software Defined Transponder) on ARISSat-1/Kedr that was deployed from the International Space Station in August 2011.

He led the Fox-1 Engineering Team from its inception in 2009 and headed AMSAT’s efforts to apply for acceptance of Fox-1 in the NASA Educational Launch of NanoSatellites (ELaNA) in 2011 and Fox-1B in 2012. A strong proponent of student involvement in satellite projects, Monteiro served as coordinator of AMSAT Engineering relationships with several universities.

“Tony’s approach to participation in the AMSAT Leadership Team reflected his approach to life,” said AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW. “Whenever he had a thought to share with the entire AMSAT Board of Directors and/or Senior Officers via e-mail, he always started with ‘Dear Friends.’”

The family asks that memorial donations be made to Radio Amateur Satellite Corp (AMSAT), 850 Sligo Ave, Suite 600, Silver Spring, MD 20910. — AMSAT News Service