In-Newsletter
Vol. 25, No. 9
March 5, 2002
Upcoming Meetings
April 20th in Ft. Worth, TX at 8:00am
A&F Committee
Development
The meeting at UTC to discuss ARRL's proposal to expand ARECC has been moved
to Thursday, March 7.
The first quarterly Planned Giving mailing will go to 16,000 prospects by
week's end. The two-page letter will be accompanied by a brochure outlining
charitable giving opportunities after the 2001 Tax Act.
Tom Hogerty is developing a generic contribution message and form for the
web.
The donor list for the 2001 Annual Report is complete.
It's not too late to make a contribution to the 2002 Defense of Frequencies
Fund by mail, phone or e-mail. Your support will help us defend Amateur
Radio spectrum. Thank you.
Legislative Affairs
Steve Mansfield reports a successful "Day on the Hill" on February 28 with
Mssrs. Haynie, Fallon, Imlay, Riker and himself. The group made a number of
calls on The Hill to gather information and present our issues.
Media Relations
Jennifer was interviewed by a reporter at the Washington Post. The reporter
had already talked to several local hams and he contacted HQ to get the
overall national picture of Amateur Radio today. He was particularly
interested in Morse code vs. voice for operating modes and why some hams
still prefer to communicate via Morse code.
Jennifer was also interviewed by an editor at Scientific American magazine.
This article will focus on the current state of Amateur Radio and how young
people are being introduced to the hobby. He was interested in how
restructuring might have affected ham radio and at what rate newcomers are
entering the ham radio ranks. Jennifer was able to offer several good
statistics and information on the ARRL Amateur Radio Education Project. The
editor said he'd be in touch for more information or with follow-up
questions as he begins writing the article. Thanks to Bart Jahnke for
clarifying information on various events and trends which have affected the
license statistics over the years.
The first issue of QSO/Media, a bimonthly newsletter for our PR volunteers,
seems to be popular. Thanks to exposure on the Web and via the PR
reflector, we have been receiving more than the usual amount of requests for
PSAs, additions to the PR reflector group and other tools available for
volunteers in the field.
Work on the 2001 Annual Report continues.
Field & Educational Services
The Expedition 4 crew had a successful QSO with Kursk (Russia) Techical
School -- the town that the sunken Russian submarine was named for. With
many scheduled space walks for this ISS crew, there has been little time for
QSOs -- even ISS science experiments were cut. ARISS volunteer VK5ZAI got
help from F&ES for a talk at the South Australian Secondary Teachers
Association Conference.
Rosalie wrote a presentation proposal for the APCO international conference.
She set up a telecon for the ARISS international school group and then
finalized the group's ToR. She also took part in the ARISS US team telecon.
She revised FSD-191 and prepared the minutes and pending agenda items after
taking part in a VRC telecon. Steve, Dan and Rosalie worked with WB1CTC to
plan a seminar for the Connecticut OEM.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Steve Ewald posted a question for Jim Maxwell to the SM Reflector asking who
had set up a Speaker's Bureau; responses will be summarized soon. Steve and
Bob Inderbitzen sent a questionnaire about ARES vests or jackets to Section
leaders; as of Tuesday (deadline is March 5), over 200 responded.
Leona Adams handled a many e-mail items and phone calls for Steve while he
was on vacation. She also took care of nomination petitions that came in
from SMs for the term beginning July 1, 2002, sending the acknowledgment
letters. Petitions were from incumbent Bruce Boston, KD9UL, and Sharon
Harlan, N9SH, of Illinois; from Marshall Johnson, KK7CW, of Oregon (Lewis
Williams, WB7NML, requested information about petitions); and Richard Beebe,
N0PV, of South Dakota (this was in response to a re-solicitation). She
reminded incumbent SMs who have not sent in nomination petitions. SM
expense reports are starting to pick up.
Regulatory Team
John Hennessee assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in
Cape Coral, FL (K1KHP); Manituck, NY (W0MMR); Franklinville, NJ (KB2VSE);
and West Bloomfield, NJ (N8REE). He also received news from SM Turley that
West Virginia HB 4335 has passed the House and Senate and is awaiting the
signature of the Governor. John is revising the Regulatory Web pages to
reflect the updated FCC Web pages. John submitted the final version of the
Marsh insurance ad.
Brennan Price put finishing touches on the Repeater Directory, securing data
from a few late-reporting coordinators and facilitating a collaboration for
a better listing for New York City. He conferred with Jean Wolfgang
regarding possibly establishing guidelines for adult supervisors of youths
during events such as JOTA, School Club Roundup, or Field Day.
The Big Project
Jerry Hill has heard from all new Pilot Schools saying they have received
their equipment. Also, all schools that were given Progress Grants have
received their checks, and they are ordering books, tools and small pieces
of equipment. Jerry made introductions between the Pilot Schools and
Progress Grant Schools, and is working to network them together. Once the
ice is broken, he hopes they will try joint activities.
Field & Educational Support Team
Mary Lau boxed and shipped the ARRL Foundation's 2002 scholarship
applications, and all attendant schedules, keys, and software. The
Scholarship Committee will return its findings by May 1.
Jean Wolfgang continues to work on the nominations for the annual ARRL
Educational and Technical Awards. She has also been fielding a questions
from several schools that will submit applications for upcoming ARISS
contacts. Ham/Scout leaders are already asking Jean questions about JOTA
2002.
Margie Bourgoin sent eight new club applications to the EC for affiliation
approval at the March 2nd EC meeting. This is in addition to the nine
approved in mid-January -- she notes that this increase in interest by clubs
to become affiliated seems to be due to the Amateur Radio public service
activity following the 9/11 attacks. Margie also reports that she now
receives newsletters from close to 300 clubs, with more newsletters still
coming in via US Mail rather than via e-mail.
Gail Iannone sent eight convention applications to the Executive Committee's
March 2nd meeting for their approval. She also sent 12 hamfest approval
letters to the sponsoring. Here is another reminder that Dayton Marriott
reservation information must be sent to Gail by March 15.
Linda Mullally updated 59 affiliated club records plus one de-activation and
two re-activations. Linda assisted Leona, handling appointment supplies to
17 appointees, and updating 101 appointment records. She updated 26 C-CE
students who passed and received graduation letters, with some requesting
certificates and ID cards. Linda worked on FSD-128 and FSD-191,
requisitioning new versions of the forms to be printed. Linda noticed an
increase in video sales this week -- Volume I in particular, was requested
to show at club meetings.
C-CE Team
Steven Blair has been working on materials for the Antenna Modeling course
manual. He has also been instrumental in getting fixes to on-going on-line
courses.
Two people have now graduated from the new Antenna Modeling course.
Comments about the course have been very favorable, and technical questions
have been minimal. Nineteen students enrolled in the Level III Emergency
Communications (EC-003) February class. Good progress has been made on an
HF digital communications course for the future.
Membership Services
Awards Branch
WAC Certificates 44
WAC Endorsements 14
5 Band WAC Awards 1
Extra Class Certificates 52
Long Term Member Inquiries 4
VUCC Endorsements 8
VUCC Grids (Data Entry) 1703
Thirty Specialty awards and eight 5BWAS awards were numbered, but will be
processed next week. HF/VHF Awards Manager Appointments: Bill Wagaman,
K5MAT, Albuquerque, NM and George Jones, N1GJ, Bourne, MA.
DXCC Branch
Week Ending March 3, 2002
Beginning Cards 55,753
Cards Received 3,494
Cards Processed 25,975
Ending Cards 33,275
Applications Pending 252
Backlog Time 1 Week!
Year-to-date
Cards Received 75,582
Cards Returned 156,568
QRP Issued this week 13
QRP YTD 147
Card Return: DXCC is currently mailing applications received on February 19,
2002. Card Processing: We are entering cards received on February 22, 2002.
Kathy Kostek began assisting Eileen Sapko with some awards.
QSL Branch
QSL service status: Current. Cards mailed year to date as of 03/03/2002 -
350,225. No cards were mailed this week. Janet Rocco spent 5 hours
conducting tours around HQ.
W1AW
Thanks to Dan Henderson, N1ND, for operating W1AW in the ARRL International
Phone Contest. He made 282 QSOs, with 56 countries, for a claimed score of
42,336. He was a Single Band (20 meters) entry. Scott Gee worked on fast
and slow code practice runs for the early part of March. He handled evening
phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. Joe Carcia reorganized
visiting operating Studio Two. This included the installation of an antenna
line to add another HF operating position in the Studio. He also installed
a UPS backup power supply on the computer running APRS. He also updated the
web code practice files. W1AW telephone sales year to date (2002) are
$1,622.
73,
Sincerely,
Mark Wilson, K1RO
Chief Operating Officer
MW:lk
Staff Absentee List
Name Date(s) Reason
All Staff 3/29 Holiday
Dave Sumner 3/8 MARS Strategy Conference,
Washington, DC
`` 3/13-3/20 Geneva
`` 3/21-3/27 Vacation
Mary Hobart 4/6-4/7 MD State Convention, Timonium
Mark Wilson 4/1-4/3 Vacation
Dan Miller 3/11 Vacation
`` 3/28-4/1 Vacation
Wayne Mills 3/8 Charlotte Convention
Scott Gee 3/6-3/8 Vacation
J. Kleinman 3/5 Vacation
`` 3/7-3/12 Vacation
Rosalie White 3/15-3/18 Annual meeting, Natn'l Vol. Active
in Disasters
