Sean Donelan won the challenge with his mobile app, "NetHam."

The CAC is a public initiative to encourage young people to learn how to code in an effort to inspire creativity and encourage interest in STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — education.

The winner of the challenge was Sean Donelan, who lives in Concord and attends Northgate High School. Donelan designed and created, "NetHam: The Public Service Event Coordinator's Third Hand."

Donelan's winning software application replaces amateur radio operators' large, unwieldy equipment and automates their more basic tasks. The app is meant to allow operators to more easily serve as long-range communicators for public events.

ARRL has told the FCC that no additional Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VEC) are needed to oversee the administration of amateur radio exams by Volunteer Examiners (VEs).

Examination opportunities have continued to be widely available throughout the US — except for a couple of months during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — and adding VECs to the 14 now in place would “have no effect” on the number of available exams, ARRL said. ARRL’s comments on February 4 were in response to a January 5 FCC Public Notice in WT Docket 21-2 seeking input on possible expansion of the VEC pool.