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Allen Pitts, W1AGP, is an Amateur Extra class licensee who lives in New Britain, Connecticut. Pitts came aboard September 20, 2004 as the League's Media and Public Relations Manager. As Pitts sees it, he arrived at the League at a critical juncture for Amateur Radio.
"I know of no time in history that our service has been under greater threats, nor any other time in which we have so many opportunities to shine," he said. Pitts emphasizes that while he takes his public relations role most seriously, he also wants it understood that he's an active radio amateur and "not just a PR person."
Pitts comes to the ARRL after a three-year stint as executive director of The Box Project Inc--a national, member-based charity that matches volunteers with families needing help. For eight years prior to that, he directed a multi-program human services agency that, among other things, was responsible for emergency shelters, transitional living, a court alternative sanctions program, emergency food services and an AIDS respite program. He also has many years experience as a senior therapist in hospital psychiatry settings.
A radio amateur since 1999, he's no stranger to the ARRL Field Organization, having served as an ARES District Emergency Coordinator and later as Connecticut's Section Emergency Coordinator and an ARRL Assistant Section Manager.
Pitts holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina and a master's degree from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (he served congregations in Kansas and Connecticut in the 1970s and 1980s) and plays a 12-string electric guitar.
He and his wife, Donna, have three grown children and six grandchildren. Pitts is active on HF, VHF and UHF. Although primarily a phone operator, he says he tries to keep up at a "basic level" on CW whenever he can. His most creative ideas come in the middle of the night as he talks things over with his friend, Bear.
In addition to his interest in Amateur Radio, Pitts was an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and gained "notoriety"--as he puts it--as an expert with medieval crossbows, holding top state and national rankings. He still shoots, but now it is often launching antennas over trees.
