In honor of his longstanding service to the broadcasting industry, Dielectric Communications, a division of SPX and a leader in broadcast antenna systems, announced that the company has established a scholarship honoring E. Noel Luddy. Awarded through the scholarship fund of the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE), the E. Noel Luddy scholarship will provide up to $2,500 per year to undergraduate students who are majoring in engineering or other fields associated with the broadcast and telecommunication industries.
"For decades, Noel provided invaluable service to the broadcasting community, both in engineering new technologies and in serving on numerous broadcast advisory boards. He has continued to remain active well after his retirement, and Dielectric is grateful for the commitment and contributions Noel has shared with us over the years," said Dielectric President Garrett VanAtta. "We recognize that there is an entire generation of future engineers who are ready to help shape the broadcasting industry, and we hope to do our part in encouraging them to develop the same passion, ingenuity and high standards that Noel has demonstrated throughout his career."
Luddy's interests in broadcasting started in 1930 when he became active in ham radio. He served in the military and was in charge of all communications throughout the South Pacific during World War II. Luddy served for many years in several engineering capacities with RCA. In 1986, with Dielectric's acquisition of the RCA broadcast antenna business, he joined Dielectric as a consultant, serving as a liaison to broadcast station engineers, consulting engineers and the FCC, and providing a voice for the company in helping to shape federal broadcast regulations. He remained as a consultant with Dielectric until his retirement in 2008.
Luddy is well known for his years of service on the AFCCE Board of Directors as program coordinator and was recognized numerous times for his contributions to the association and the broadcast industry. Additionally, he was the historian for the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, of which he has been a member since 1939.
