IN-Newsletter
Vol. 26, No. 40
October 8, 2003
Upcoming Meetings
November 8th in Dallas, TX at 8:30am
Volunteer Resources Committee
November 9th in Dallas, TX at 8:30am
Executive Committee
November 21st in Newington, CT
Division Election Ballot Counting
Development
The Special Spectrum Defense campaign against BPL has reached nearly
$293,000 from more than 5300 donors. So far 143 organizations have
responded to the campaign appeal and are recognized on the Honor Roll on
the Development pages of the ARRL website.
The Diamond Club renewals continues to come in with 108 in so far,
including all three at the Director Level ($5000+ annually) and one
Platinum level ($2500).
The 2004 Spectrum Defense campaign is on track to mail the week of
October 24.
The next issue of the Legacy Letter will mail in early November.
Grant applications for funding for the Education & Technology Program
have been submitted to The Home Depot Foundation and to the RGK
Foundation for $25,000 each request.
An estate gift of $5000 -- the proceeds of an insurance policy -- was
received for the W1AW Endowment.
Development has been notified of a Microsoft stock gift that will be
matched by Microsoft. No contribution amount available yet.
Production/Editorial
The November/December issue of QEX was released to the printer last
week, and the November/December issue of NCJ will be released to the
printer this week. It was Joel Hallas' first issue as NCJ Managing
Editor.
Rick Lindquist reports that The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 39 (Oct 3, 2003)
circulated to 66,585 members, an increase of 140 from the previous week.
This means about 43% of our members are receiving the Letter each week.
Rick prepared stories on the end of the first round of Morse-related
petition comments, Logbook of the World's smash success, funding worries
for the Space Environment Center (and what it might mean for ham radio),
"In Brief" (22 items), a Japanese junior high school's ARISS contact
(the last school group scheduled for the Expedition 7 crew), and how ham
radio support for Hurricane Isabel is winding down. Rick voiced, edited
and produced ARRL Audio News with voiceover assistance from Jennifer
Hagy, N1TDY.
Dave Hassler finished the November installment of his Web "ARRL in
Action" column.
Joel Hallas wrote and submitted a Product Review for the December
column.
Bob Schetgen submitted the Digital Dimension, Hints & Kinks and
Technical Correspondence columns for December QST.
Sue Fagan and Di Szlachetka collaborated on a new design for our
Publications Catalog, which was released to the printer October 8.
Sue Fagan also finished work on pins and printed materials for Telecom
2003.
Thanks for assistance from Shelly Bloom and Dan Wolfgang, our two
imagesetters and related materials that we no longer use went onto the
eBay auction block.
Readex is wrapping up work on the QST reader survey. Steve Ford, Bob
Inderbitzen and Mark Wilson reviewed the final revisions to the survey
booklet.
Sales & Marketing
Advertising efforts for December QST are in full swing and we are
working on obtaining increased commitments from advertisers showcasing
new products for the Holidays. Call sheets for this issue have already
been created and call assignments doled out.
Deb Jahnke worked on Publication Sales preliminaries, author royalty
payments, and a current publications re-order sheet and billing for the
MFJ Ride-Along Catalog that will appear in mailboxes along with November
QST.
Lisa Tardette is continuing to contact the few dealers who have not yet
placed Antenna Book and Handbook orders. She will also be focusing on
several titles that have not performed as expected.
Ingram Publishing has made inquiries about carrying several items in our
audio/visual line. After explaining that our audio visual line is
fairly small, samples and pricing was sent to them.
The advertising department spent some time last week rearranging their
area so that ad layout can take place in the office.
The yearly Statements of Ownership, Management, and Circulation for QST,
QEX, and the NCJ have been completed and submitted to the USPS. These
reports are very important because failure to submit them by October 1
could result in the loss of eligibility for Periodical Class mailing
privileges. As required by the Postal Service, printed copies of all
three statements will appear in the respective upcoming issue of each
periodical.
Bob continued work on the Fall/Winter edition of the Publications
Catalog with Sue Fagan and Di Szlachetka. This edition has a fresh
look--largely the result of a new design created by Sue and Di. Some
cost saving changes have also been integrated, which should have little
or no impact on the effectiveness of the catalog. Lisa Tardette and
Kathy Capodicasa have assisted with proofreading. The catalog left for
press on October 8.
Coming in late-October: the 20th anniversary edition of Passport to
World Band Radio (2004 edition), ARRL Order No. 9135, retail $22.95.
The book is published by International Broadcasting Services, Ltd. The
current edition is regularly carried by ARRL.
We're still seeing brisk returns to the recent BPL-themed membership
solicitation. Membership sign-ups have passed the 1,000 mark, and have
been climbing at over 100 applications/day. Lapsed-member Extra class
licensees are producing returns over 2.5%.
Rob Flickenger's new edition of Building Wireless Community Networks
(2nd Edition) became available in September. We've placed our first
order for copies to resell. The book will soon be available via the
ARRLWeb catalog. This is the second title on the topic of 802.11
wireless networks that we've added to our resale offerings.
Membership Services
Awards Branch
WAS QSL Cards Checked 350
WAC QSL Cards Checked 90
WAC Certs. (228 QSLs F/C) 38
5BWAC Certs. (120 QSLs F/C) 4
Extra Class Certs. 60
VUCC Certs. Processed 17
LTMA Inquiries 6
A-1 Op. Certs. 7
VUCC End. Apps. 8
Grids 305
VUCC Backfill Apps. 1
Grids 600
Awards Mailed 35
Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the coming
week-Basic WAS awards for September, U.S. WAC awards, certificates,
mail out all awards processed this week, and enter the awards-issued
information for the latest batch of LTMA recipients into their Siebel
records.
Contest Branch
Data entry for the September VHF QSO Party continued. Printing of DX
Contest certificates began, as well as other replacement certificates.
A certificate problem with the IARU Contest certificates was identified
and corrected with the help of Alan Cohen.
The slate of authors for the upcoming contest results includes:
June VHF '03 - W3IY
IARU '03 - K9LA
10 GHz '03 - K1ZZ
August UHF '03 - N1ND
September VHF - K1TEO
EME - TBA
November SS CW - KH6ND
November SS Phone - VE4XT
160 Meters - N0FP
10 Meters - N1ND
January VHF SS - TBA
RTTY Roundup - WS7I
DX CW - W4PA
DX Phone - N0AX
Field Day and Straight Key night will continue to be authored in-house.
We are talking with several possibilities for the remaining events. The
first draft of the Field Day article was written and photos are being
chosen for inclusion in the QST write-up.
DXCC Branch
For the week of:
October 5, 2003
Beginning Cards 143,541
Cards Received 37,674
Cards Processed 10,565
Ending Cards 170,650
Applications Pending 1,614
Processing Time 7.3 Weeks
Year-to-date (2003)
Cards Received 513,343
Cards Returned 554,315
DXCC is currently mailing applications received on August 15, 2003.
DXCC is currently entering cards received on August 25, 2003. Logging
of September mail continues. This should be completed on or by Friday,
October 10, 2003.
QSL Bureau
QSL Service Status: Current. Cards mailed as of 10/05/03: 1,087,050.
No cards were mailed this week. Martin covered the morning bulletins at
W1AW for the vacationing Joe Carcia.
Heather spent 4 hours conducting tours around HQ.
W1AW
Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the month of
October. He worked the early afternoon shift on Friday for a
vacationing Joe Carcia. He also handled some evening phone sales calls
in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot.
Joe processed regular W1AW QSL card requests. He created the texts for
the October W1AW Qualifying Runs. He also created a certificate to send
to amateurs that worked special event station W1AW/1 during the
ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference in September.
W1AW Telephone Sales year to date (2003): $25,809.
Field & Educational Services
Rosalie submitted a photo of W1AW to be used as a test image when the
ARISS SSTV is installed. At NASA's request, Rosalie critiqued new
teacher materials. She took part with Dan in a meeting on Year 2 CNCS
travel funds. Seven students involved in an ARISS QSO in Germany just
passed their amateur radio exams!
Field & Education Support Team
Margie Bourgoin sent a notice to clubs via email announcing the BPL
Honor Roll. The message was sent at the request of Mary Hobart, and it
honors those clubs that have donated to the BPL campaign. Margie
reviewed and forwarded 2 SSC renewal applications. She also worked on
cleaning up the Club database of bad email addresses.
Linda Mullally updated 42 club records. She registered 5 Volunteer
Instructors and 2 schoolteachers. She sent out 5 Exhibit kits and 8
JOTA Kits.
Gail Iannone sent 5 hamfest approval letters and 2 convention approval
letters to sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's
approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 6 door prize
orders, 5 label requests, and sent 22 handout packages for upcoming
events.
Jean Wolfgang did a phone interview for Amateur Radio Newsline; the
topic was JOTA. She continues to receive JOTA questions by email and
phone. She met with a ham from NJ who submitted an ARISS application.
Jean, Steve Ewald and Larry Wolfgang will be at Scout Show 2003 at
Hammonessett State Park (CT) with several thousand scouts and visitors.
They will operate WA1BSA and demonstrate CW and other aspects of ham
radio.
Regulatory Information
John Hennessee reports receiving messages that amateurs have sent to
Commissioner Abernathy concerning her comment on BPL. He assisted
amateurs with local government zoning problems in Collier County, FL
(KD4IQC) and Baton Rouge, LA KD5KNZ). He assisted amateurs with
covenant problems in Spring City, PA (K3YK) and Lake City, FL (N4UE).
He's requested via email that VCs and VCEs ensure the contact
information they provided to us in past years is up-to-date.
CCE
Jerry Ellis queued up October class sections for online classes. He
worked on two Field Exam submissions, and submitted emcom graduate
reimbursement requests, followed by mailing grant checks with
certificates and ID cards for current grads.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Steve Ewald reports that SATERN (Salvation Army hams) will be working
closer with us; they've requested updated lists of all SMs and SECs.
The request was based on their recent Hurricane Isabel experiences, and
wanting to ensure SATERN has the latest contact information when they're
doing emergency-relief. Our Public Service Web pages were enhanced with
a link to the TIS pages on Lightning Protection and EMP. Steve will
monitor this weekend for SET activity.
Chuck Skolaut continues to get Official Observer exams to grade; with 2
of 4 candidates passing this week. The others will re-test. Chuck
received a report of a business-repeater system in Mexico that is
possibly interfering with Fuji OSCAR-29's uplink frequency on 2 meters.
Over the last 3 weeks, 43 SM e-mail messages were relayed to members in
22 different sections. In about the same time, all but 10 sections have
seen activity on their ARRL-sponsored Web pages, e-mail relays or
monthly summaries. Sections without activity are AZ, DE, LAX, MDC, SCV,
STX, TN, USVI, UT, and WY. (Some of these support section communication
via their own Web sites and e-mail lists.)
Leona Adams received an SM nomination petition from Pat Bunsold, WA6MHZ,
in San Diego. Nominations for SM terms beginning April 1, 2004, must
arrive at HQ by Dec 5. Mark Tharp, KB7HDX (EWA) and Bill Hillendahl,
KH6GJV (SF) formally started their first SM terms on Oct 1. Leona
handled a number of new Field Organization appointments.
Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project
Mark Spencer sent a note to schools that have applied to be Big Project
Schools, asking them to refine or clarify proposed programs. With
school and after-school budget woes, teachers previously enthusiastic
about extracurricular activities, have less enthusiasm. But club and
individual hams who contact Mark are consistent in wanting to get
involved in school. Mark gave a talk at the local NARL club about
getting funds for hands-on material for 50 schools. Initial response was
positive.
EmComm Grants
Dan Miller worked with Dave Hassler on the September CNCS grant update
for the ARRL Web. Dan's travel schedule for CNCS Year 2 was reviewed,
and contacts are being made nationwide to line up events which best fit
the ARRL and federal grant goals and guidelines. UTC grads total 346
for Level I, 432 for Level II, and 193 for Level III.
73,
Sincerely,
Mark Wilson, K1RO
Chief Operating Officer
MW:lk
Staff Absentee List
All Staff 11/27-11/28 Holiday
Jennifer Hagy 10/15 Vacation
`` 11/3 Vacation
Dave Hassler 10/2-10/13 Vacation
`` 10/17-10/19 AMSAT Space Symposium
Annual Meeting, Toronto
Dennis Motschenbacher 10/10-10/12 NNY Section Convention
11/6-11/7 Training
Rick Lindquist 10/30-11/7 Vacation
Dan Miller 10/9-10/10 Vacation
`` 10/23-10/24 Hamfest, Mnpls/St. Paul,
MN
Bob Schetgen 10/3-10/10 Vacation
Bob Inderbitzen 10/17 Vacation
Joe Carcia 10/10 Vacation
Mark Spencer 10/30-10/31 ARRL GA Section Convention/Big
Project School visit
Rosalie White 10/28-10/31 Vacation/ARRL Michigan State
convention
Scott Gee 10/15-10/16 Vacation
Wayne Mills 10/17 W0DXCC Convention
Bob Inderbitzen 10/17 Vacation
