December 2003 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[ARRL-ODV:9818] More on American Samoa
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 23 Dec '03

23 Dec '03

Yesterday Jim Haynie sent the attached letter to Larry Gandy, AH8LG, in American Samoa. It was in response to a letter dated November 4 that simply said: "Dear Jim, "Following Kan Mizoguchi, JA1BK (Founding Director of IARU Reg. III) approach regarding American Samoa Amateur Radio Association to become an IARU member. As you did not seem to have any problems with this suggestion, we request the ARRL to support our membership application to the IARU Region 3. "Due to transport difficulties from and to American Samoa, we would appreciate if the ARRL would continue to represent American Samoa Amateur Radio Association at IARU conferences. "Many thanks in advance for your support. "Best regards Lawrence A. Gandy AH8LG President American Samoa Amateur Radio Association." The first time that this letter was received directly from Larry Gandy was yesterday, by FAX to HQ. Other copies of the letter were in circulation and had been forwarded to us, but we did not think it appropriate to respond until the letter was received directly from someone in American Samoa. The main reason for that was that the letter obviously was not written by someone whose native language is English. Also, it bore a remarkable resemblance to a letter sent on March 11, 2001, to then-president of the RSGB, Don Beattie, on behalf of the Pitcairn Island Amateur Radio Association: "Dear Don, "Following Jim Smith, VK9NS approach regarding Pitcairn Island Amateur Radio Association to become an IARU member. As you did not seem to have any problems with this suggestion, we request the RSGB to support our membership application to the IARU Region 3. "Due to transport difficulties from and to Pitcairn, we would appreciate if the RSGB would continue to represent Pitcairn Island Amateur Radio Association at IARU conferences. "Many thanks in advance for your support. "Best regards Tom Christian VP6TC President Pitcairn Island Amateur Radio Association." In the case of PIARA, RSGB did give its blessing and PIARA was voted into IARU membership with one vote to spare. As Jim states in his letter to Larry Gandy, despite the letter's statement that "you did not seem to have any problems with this suggestion" no one had apprached him prior to the letter being written -- and clearly we do have very big problems with it. The common thread between Pitcairn Island and American Samoa is Kan Mizoguchi, JA1BK, who is the IARU liaison for PIARA. As I said before, his interest is in creating DXCC entities. The admission of PIARA created Ducie Island as a separate entity. The admission of American Samoa would create Swain's Island as a separate entity. However, having American Samoa separately represented in the IARU would mean that the ARRL would no longer have the right to represent the interests of amateurs in American Samoa to the U.S. government, which is not acceptable for obvious reasons. Applying the same reasoning, Guam, the Northern Marianas, and other U.S. territories in Region 3 would be able to "secede." Now Kan, in the guise of the PIARA, is proposing an amendment to the IARU Region 3 Constitution to disqualify ARRL from Region 3 membership. That proposal is also attached, and is something that Rod Stafford and I will have to deal with when we go to Taipei in February for the Region 3 Conference. There is no way to interpret this as other than a hostile act. Clearly things are getting out of hand, and all because of a DXCC rule that provides "parent" status to an entity that is separately represented in the IARU. This is a self-inflicted wound on our part; it's our rule. We need to eliminate this provision. While DXCC rules changes normally go through the DXAC, in this case the need for the change is not driven by DX considerations but rather by more fundamental ARRL interests. It would be extremely beneficial for this change to be made prior to the Region 3 Conference, February 16-20. So Jim and I request that at the January meeting, the Board adopt a change in the DXCC rules to eliminate this provision. Specifically, it is 1.c. in the list of "DXCC List Criteria." The provision was needed originally in order to provide a basis for Taiwan being a separate DXCC entity. Eliminating it will not affect entities that are already on the DXCC list but will prevent future outside pressure to create IARU member-societies in places where there is no reason for them to exist. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ Chief Executive Officer <<PIARA proposal #2 Suppl #2.JPG>> <<PIARA proposal #2 Supple #1.doc>> <<PIARA proposal #2.doc>> <<ah8lg.doc>>

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9817] Conspiracy Against Maturity
by dick＠pobox.com 20 Dec '03

20 Dec '03

20 DEC, 2003 - 1730 CST What follows is another rationale for getting younger people into amateur radio.... otherwise the ham community will become even more paranoid. 73 - Dick, W9GIG ==================================================================================== We Must Stop This immediately! Have you ever noticed that when you're of a certain age, everything seems uphill from where you are? Stairs are steeper. Groceries are heavier. And, everything is farther away. Yesterday I walked to the corner and I was dumbfounded to discover how long our street had become! And, you know, people are less considerate now, especially the young ones. They speak in whispers all the time! If you ask them to speak up they just keep repeating themselves, endlessly mouthing the same silent message until they're red in the face! What do they think I am, a lip reader? I also think they are much younger than I was at the same age. On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than I am. I ran into an old friend the other day and she has aged so much that she didn't even recognize me. I got to thinking about the poor dear while I was combing my hair this morning, and in doing so, I glanced at my own refection........Well, REALLY ! NOW- even mirrors are not made the way they used to be! Another thing, everyone drives so fast today! You're risking life and limb if you just happen to pull onto the freeway in front of them. All I can say is, their brakes must wear out awfully fast, the way I see them screech and swerve in my rear view mirror. Clothing manufacturers are less civilized these days. Why else would they suddenly start labeling a size 10 or 12 dress as 18 or 20? Do they think no one notices that these things no longer fit around the waist, hips, thighs, and bosom? The people who make bathroom scales are pulling the same prank, but in reverse. Do they think I actually "believe" the number I see on that dial? HA! I would never let myself weigh that much! Just who do these people think they're fooling? I'd like to call up someone in authority to report what's going on -- but the telephone company is in on the conspiracy too: they've printed the phone books in such small type that no one could ever find a number in here! All I can do is pass along this warning: Maturity is under attack! Unless something drastic happens, pretty soon "everyone" will have to suffer these awful indignities. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO WE CAN GET THIS CONSPIRACY STOPPED! PS: I am sending this to you in a larger font size, because something has caused fonts to be smaller than they once were too!

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9816] Re: Topoff 2 Report
by R. B. Vallio 20 Dec '03

20 Dec '03

Officials had to resort to using three ham radio operators to communicate, Homeland Security Department officials said. I believe this must be an error in the quotation, as they surely must have said they were fortunate enough to have had three well-trained and licensed Amateur Radio Operators to provide communications for them...

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9815] Topoff 2 Report
by dick＠pobox.com 20 Dec '03

20 Dec '03

20 DEC, 2003 - 1330 CST The article appended below was published in today's Chicago Tribune. According to the Chciago area hams involved in "Topoff 2", there would have been some bad screw-ups if it were not for amateur radio. 73 - Dick, W9GIG ====================================================================== Simulated attacks called valuable Terror exercises exposed flaws in communications Advertisement By Frank James and Gary Washburn, Tribune staff reporters. Frank James reported from Washington and Gary Washburn from Chicago December 20, 2003 WASHINGTON -- Federal and local officials said Friday that they gleaned useful information from the simulated terrorist attacks on Chicago and Seattle this year, including the need to urgently fix communications flaws that hampered the emergency response. In a briefing with reporters in which they shared tidbits of declassified information from an otherwise classified 250-page report, Department of Homeland Security officials said they were mostly encouraged by the results from the TOPOFF 2 exercises in May. They indicated, however, that the exercises revealed weaknesses in the response network that could have contributed to problems if there had been real attacks with weapons of mass destruction. "It's an important message for the American public [that] we already have in this country a robust emergency response system at the federal, state and local level," said Michael Brown, homeland security undersecretary for domestic preparedness who also is director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "It's not perfect," Brown said. "There are ways to improve it. ... We know there's an enemy out there trying to invent new ways to hurt us. So we're always trying to stay ahead of that game as much as possible. That's the lesson of TOPOFF 2." Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said the city will work to make improvements based on the report. But he said he wasn't displeased by the shortcomings pointed out by the exercise. "That is what it was for," Daley said. "We were supposed to evaluate these and come back and look at it. That's what we're supposed to do." Terrorist `chatter' Friday's briefing came on the first day of Hanukkah, with Christmas only days away. Administration officials said they are concerned about the increased volume of terrorist "chatter" intercepted by U.S. and allied intelligence experts in recent weeks. Such communications have sometimes preceded attacks. There were media reports that New York, Washington and Los Angeles could be targets, but an administration official said there was no credible information pointing to potential attacks in those cities. The official said the administration didn't plan to raise the terrorist threat advisory level, now at yellow, which signifies an elevated risk for terrorist attacks. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, concerns about threats of attacks have grown during the holidays. In discussing last spring's exercise in Chicago, officials said the communications problems were pronounced. For instance, after actors complaining of flu like symptoms began showing up at hospitals, a phone system was overwhelmed at an undisclosed location where officials were trying to monitor the situation. A Homeland Security official said details of precise locations where problems occurred wouldn't be disclosed for fear of providing terrorists with a road map to weak spots in the system. Similarly, because of heavy call volumes, fax machines became tied up. It took two hours instead of a few minutes for officials to send out "blast" faxes disseminating information about the supposed attacks to the 64 hospitals involved in the exercise. Officials had to resort to using three ham radio operators to communicate, Homeland Security Department officials said. Since the exercise, Illinois has launched an initiative to provide hospitals with access to a secure, satellite-based communications system so the institutions could communicate if there were a real crisis. Overall, Chicago got high marks, said Cortez Trotter, executive director of the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. "We found out very early on [in the exercise] that we had a communication challenge--I wouldn't say it was a problem--that dealt with our ability to have a direct, secured line of communication" with the Homeland Security Department, Trotter said. "We have rectified the problem." Problems at hospitals The communication problems at hospitals, he said, largely involved hospitals trying to communicate with each another. "The alternative is being able to sit down at computers and receive real-time data over secure e-mail systems," he said. In Seattle, where officials simulated the explosion of a "dirty bomb," which would spread radioactive material across the downtown area, police and firefighters were hampered by the lack of radiation detectors, said Bob Stephens, special assistant to the Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. "We need to get the technology in their hands to make sure they're able to know what kind of harm's way they're being put in," Stephens said. "We're working hard to figure out better ways to do that and less expensive ways to do that." Copyright © 2003, <http://www.chicagotribune.com/>Chicago Tribune

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9814] January Issue of WorldRadio
by Andy Oppel 20 Dec '03

20 Dec '03

Hi, Well, this all came as a total surprise. The January issue of WorldRadio features coverage of the Pacific Division Convention (Pacificon), including the ARRL forum, which I conducted (with support from Joel Harrison) and the breakfast speech that Joel provided. All very positive comments on what the ARRL is trying to do in serving its membership. I see they also put me on the cover in a collage that superimposes my image on a dish that looks like it might be responsible for my hairline (had to say it before one of you did... hi). Joel is pictured on page 8. Happy Holidays to all. 73, Andy Oppel, N6AJO Vice Director, Pacific Division, ARRL n6ajo(a)arrl.org home: (510) 864-2299 cell: (510) 910-1508

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9813] Software defined radios; FCC moves the ball downfield.
by W3KD＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Long before this came up, Ed Thomas at OET told President Haynie and me about it, and said he sure hoped that ARRL could support this item. He didn't say anything about the high power part 15 devices in rural areas though.... more when we see the text.... 73, Chris W3KD Washington, D.C. December 17, 2003 In light of the ever increasing demand for radio spectrum, and to facilitate new technologies and services and permit more intensive and efficient spectrum use, the Federal Communications Commission today adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice) and Order -- FCC 03-322 -- that sets forth proposals and seeks comment on the use and applications for cognitive “smart” radio systems. The Commission’s proposals would provide additional technical and operational flexibility for service providers, particularly in rural and underserved areas, and also offer the potential for facilitating increased interoperability for public safety first responders. As a result, consumers may benefit from new and enhanced services. Smart radios have the technical capability to adapt their use of spectrum in response to information external to the radio. For instance, a system could use geolocation information to determine whether certain transmissions are permissible. Alternatively, such radios could sense their operating or radiofrequency (RF) environment and use this information to determine the optimal frequencies and transmit powers to use, while avoiding harmful interference. Many smart radios also can interpret and transmit signals in different formats or modulation schemes. Because of their technical and operational flexibility, they also make it possible to use vacant spectrum channels – that is, spectrum that may be available in a particular geographic location or during a particular period of time – spectrum that would otherwise go unused. Certain smart radio capabilities are employed to some extent today in applications such as commercial mobile wireless services and wireless local area networks (WLANs). Further advancements in the technology promise greater future benefits. The Notice seeks comment on the ways in which the Commission can encourage and remove regulatory impediments to continued development and deployment of smart radio technologies, including, for example, facilitating the ability of licensed spectrum users to deploy them for their own use to increase spectrum efficiency, and to facilitate secondary markets, allowing licensees to lease their spectrum access to third parties using such technologies. The Notice also seeks comment on ways in which smart radios can facilitate opportunistic use of the spectrum by unlicensed devices, while protecting incumbents from harmful interference. In addition, the Notice seeks comment on rules permitting additional technical flexibility, including allowing unlicensed devices in limited bands to use higher transmit powers in rural and underserved areas. This would potentially reduce network infrastructure costs, facilitating broadband and other services in these areas. The Notice also seeks comment on a specific technical approach that would provide licensees with the ability to retain real-time access to spectrum they lease to third parties, such as public safety entities, if the Commission decides to permit such leasing. Also, the Notice seeks comment on how smart radios could facilitate public safety interoperability. Specifically, because of their frequency agility, smart radios may potentially be used as a communications bridge between two different radio services – effectively translating the signals from one service into the format and frequency of another. This could enhance the ability of different public safety entities to communicate with one another in the event of an emergency. The Notice also seeks comment on specific applications for smart radios, such as mesh networks and real-time frequency coordination between NGSO satellite and other services. Further, the Notice proposes changes to the Commission’s equipment authorization processes to better accommodate software-defined radios and smart radio systems. Action by the Commission December 17, 2003, by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (FCC 03-322). Chairman Powell, Commissioners Abernathy, Copps, Martin, and Adelstein, with separate statements issued by Chairman Powell, Commissioners Copps, Martin, and Adelstein. Office of Engineering and Technology contact: Mr. Hugh L. Van Tuyl, (202) 418-7506, e-mail Hugh.VanTuyl(a)fcc.gov or Mr. James Miller, (202) 418-7351, e-mail James.Miller(a)fcc.gov.

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9812] Re: ARRL Mission Statement 12-11-03a.doc
by James Weaver 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Walt, thanks. I am aware of previous efforts to change the name, but was surprised to see the name change in the draft document. I put the name change for the ARRL in much the same category as the well-discussed name change for AREC -- now ARES -- i.e. a fine thing to discuss, but much more difficult to conjure up a better one. (Actually, I prefer Amateur Radio Public Service Corps over ARES or AREC, but then the old rose still smells the same.) K8JE AMATEUR RADIO: The only fail-safe communications system in the world. ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio is! Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040-9660, Tel. 513-459-0142, E-mail k8je(a)arrl.org

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9811] Two FCC actions of interest
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Here are the Public Notices on two of today's FCC agenda items dealing with cognitive "smart" radios and dedicated short range communications at 5.9 GHz in support of intelligent transportation systems. Dave K1ZZ <<DOC-242312A1.doc>> <<DOC-242309A1.doc>>

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9810] Re: ARRL Mission Statement 12-11-03a.doc
by Walton Stinson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

One of Dick's themes in this document is that the League should consider becoming much more inclusive - an umbrella organization for all those with an interest in experimenting with wireless technology. He felt a new name would serve that goal and addresses that point in the document. At the board level, we've kicked the idea around a few times. I outlined, informally, a rationale for a new name a few years ago. Before my time there was a very serious re-consideration of the name. In the end it was decided to add a tag line, create a new logo that highlights ARRL (rather than American Radio Relay League), and not to change the name. There are a lot of very practical reasons to stick with ARRL, and this still seems like a good decision. 73, Walt W0CP -----Original Message----- From: James Weaver [mailto:k8je@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 12:49 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [ARRL-ODV:9808] Re: ARRL Mission Statement 12-11-03a.doc Walt, I am not intending to be facetious when I ask if there are thoughts, again, to change the name American Radio Relay League to Amateur Radio Relay League via The Future Mission statement you distributed for our review. I suspect not, but . . . I admit that I've not gone through the document, but the title page and subsequent referrals I noted to the League caught my attention. I do not intend the above comments to be derogatory of the intended goal of this document. 73, Jim, K8JE AMATEUR RADIO: The only fail-safe communications system in the world. ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio is! Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040-9660, Tel. 513-459-0142, E-mail k8je(a)arrl.org

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:9809] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

IN-Newsletter Vol. 26, No. 50 December 17, 2003 Upcoming Meetings January 15th in Newington, CT at 8:30am A & F Committee January 15th in Newington, CT at 8:30am Volunteer Resources Committee January 15th in Newington, CT at 9:00am Membership Services Committee January 16-17, 2004 in Windsor, CT Board Meeting Development The 2004 Spectrum Defense Fund has reached $178,297 from 4,097 donors for an average gift of $43.52. The Diamond Club continues to grow. To date the program has 919 donors. The W1AW campaign will mail mid-January to the full file. Media Relations Jennifer and Ed Hare worked with a reporter from The Tampa (FL) Tribune for an upcoming story on the negative effects of BPL on ham radio. With the help of Oregon Public Information Coordinator Everett Curry, W6ABM, Mark Perrin, N7MQ, succeeded in getting his response to a recent BPL story printed in The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR). Jennifer helped a member prepare for an interview he had scheduled with a local newspaper in Culpeper, VA. Based on several recent requests for radio public service announcements, Jennifer put in a duplication order for 50 spots on CD. Requests will be fulfilled shortly. The October clip reports were mailed out to the Directors. Jennifer submitted "Media Hits" for the February issue of QST. Production/Editorial Brennan Price reports that the first submission to the 2004-2005 edition of The ARRL Repeater Directory (Hawaii) came in well ahead of deadline and appears to be in good shape. The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 49, distributed to 66,627 members on Dec 12 (up by 1941 from a year earlier). There's one more issue in 2003. Rick compiled "Happenings" for Feb 2004 QST and wrote/edited reports on FEMA's comments on the BPL NOI, an ARISS school group contact in Germany, a Spectrum Protection/CC&R bills update, the debut of ULS License Manager, the ARISS Phase 2 equipment, "In Brief" (17 items), ITU-R Morse new draft recommendation, FCC amateur enforcement actions and some Web crawlies. Rick compiled and edited The ARRL Letter, and--with voiceover assistance--from Jennifer Hagy, he voiced/edited/produced ARRL Audio News. Production and editorial work is wrapping up on the February 2004 issue of QST. Sales & Marketing Fulfillment staffers Mark Dzamba and Cathy Stepina report we are just starting to receive early returns for the third renewal notice test mailings. These returns are from the East Coast so we expect to see greater numbers as the mailings work westward. There have been 15 membership applications received as a result of the recent ICOM/ARRL membership recruitment initiative. The redeemed membership vouchers have been associated with equipment purchases made at Ham Radio Outlet, Amateur Electronic Supply, and GigaParts. A couple of email solicitations sent to members last week helped sustain high levels of Holiday ordering activity via the ARRLWeb e-Store. This past weekend saw over $16,000 in gross sales (excluding shipping & handling and tax) in 343 orders. A computer glitch resulted in several copies of Friday's promotion going to members who are subscribed to the product promotion email list. Bob Inderbitzen has handled several complaints from members. A pop-up ad also directs ARRLWeb browsers to the online store and our recent "free shipping" promotion. Jon Bloom has designed the pop-up to display only once for users. We use pop-ups infrequently--and particularly when we want to ensure that all of our members and customers know about an unusual promotion. This gimmick has proved to be an effective sales tool, and (surprisingly) generates very little criticism. As anticipated, early orders indicate that our customers prefer the new DVD-format Technician Class Video Course to the VHS videotape format. 90 DVD courses have shipped in this first week vs. 40 VHS courses. Bob Inderbitzen turned in material to produce a handful of new house ads for QST. Among these are ads for the upcoming new edition of The ARRL Operating Manual, 2003 ARRL Periodicals on CD-ROM, Klingenfuss Radio Monitoring products, and the International Antenna Collection. Roseanne Lawrence reported on a successful promotion conducted in the lobby store during November. Bob and Roseanne have plans to offer a new promotion every month for HQ visitors. Throughout the month of December, visitors purchasing a copy of TravelPlus for Repeaters CD-ROM are given a free ARRL Repeater Directory. Bob contributed ideas used in new artwork celebrating the organization's 90-year anniversary. Janet Rocco and Steve Capodicasa assembled and shipped holiday gifts sent to our major business clients. Our four-page newsletter to advertisers, Advertising Matters is at the printer. Advertisers will be able to look at a full year's schedule of regular and specialty advertising (including reservation and materials due dates. Secondary solicitations for many of our specialty offerings will be taken from this core newsletter and enhanced with some additional text and graphics. Thanks to Joe Bottiglieri, Janet Rocco, Lisa Tardette, and Di Szlachetka for pitching in with all aspects of advertising duties this month. In addition to shouldering new tasks, their assistance and input has been invaluable in scrutinizing our current processes and will result in many streamlined changes. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS Certs. (450 QSLs ES/C) 9 WAS Certs. (350 QSLs F/C) 7 Extra Class Certs. 20 RCC Certs. 7 Friendship Certs. 7 LTMA Inquiries 1 50-Year Member Award 1 A-1 Op. Noms. 1 A-1 Op. Certs. 5 Awards Mailed 140 VUCC Initial Apps. 4 Grids 457 Also compiled the latest VUCC award recipient list for February QST. Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the coming week-WAS and WAC QSL card checking, WAS endorsements, OTC and VUCC awards, mail out all awards processed this week, work on report for BOD, and complete the filing chores associated with the long term member awards issued earlier this year. Contest Branch The IARU write-up was sent to Production and to the WSDD for layout. The 2003 September VHF results were received from the log checker, formatted and imported to the master database. The preliminary boxes were then run and sent to the author. Data entry for SS, entries, cups and pins continued. Due to band conditions sale of clean sweep mugs is dramatically down from previous years. Final revisions for the PDF of the Field Day write-up were done and taken to Production. We finished importing data for the new contest address database and printed mailing labels for DX stations for the 2003 DX Contest from the new database, making adjustments in the new queries for creating them. The semi-annual report for the Board was written. DXCC Branch For the week of: December 14, 2003 Beginning Cards 137,468 Cards Received 2,900 Cards Processed 20,464 Ending Cards 119,904 Applications Pending 1,003 Processing Time 10.7 Weeks Year-to-date (2003) Cards Received 600,436 Cards Returned 697,753 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on September 30, 2003. DXCC is currently entering cards received on September 30, 2003. Heather Dzamba conducted two tours this past week. QSL Bureau QSL Service Status: There is a delay of approximately 1 week. Cards mailed as of 12/14/03: 1,273,775. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Thanks to Dan Henderson, N1ND for operating W1AW in ARRL 10-Meter Contest. 374 QSOs were made, with 45 sections and 36 countries, for a claimed score of 60,588. Thanks also to Joel Hallas, W1ZR for his running EZNEC profiles on two 6-meter vertical dipole antennas to be used at W1AW for possible use for a 6-meter bulletin station. Joe started construction on the antennas. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of December. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. Joe continues in the process of inputting Frequency Measuring Test submissions. (To date, there are 184 submissions.) The cut-off date for FMT submissions is December 19, 2003. He also worked the late afternoon/night shift on Monday for a vacationing Scott Gee. W1AW Telephone Sales year to date (2003): $34,862. Field & Educational Services Rosalie and Jerry Herman (Hurricane Watch Net) were named co-chairs for the ham radio forum at future years' National Hurricane Conferences. She assisted a volunteer who will present an ARISS talk at a Johnson Space Center national Educators Conference. She took part in the videotaping of ARRL Hq. An ARISS QSO took place with a school in Niebull, Germany. We've begun to receive QSLs for the Roy Neal special event. Dennis and Kathy came to an F&ES department meet to talk on the interface between Sales & Marketing staff and F&ES staff. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams completed sending the monthly Field Organization Appointment Reports to SMs. Now that we are nearly at the end of year, she has been handling the expected increase of submitted Section expense reports. In a follow-up to an FCC request, Chuck Skolaut prepared and sent two tape recordings of an operation by a Technician class licensee in Florida on 20 meters. Per another FCC request, Chuck received documents from several OOs about an on-going interference case on a California repeater. Steve Ewald worked on the February QST Public Service Column and FO reports. NC SEC Bernie Nobels reports: "In a critique that NC Emergency Management held for Isabel, they gave us many praises for our work during and after the storm." NNJ SM Bill Hudzik described the Amateur Radio & Emergency Communications workshop that he and NNJ SEC Steve Ostrove presented at the New Jersey League of Municipalities Convention: "70 elected officials and municipal professionals attended our workshop. Steve opened with the Cronkite video that just wowed the audience! We passed out 30 CDs and 50 ARES fliers. This was the first time amateur radio was featured at the convention in 40 years!" Regulatory Information John Hennessee has completed his review of the FCC Rule Book for the next printing. He also assisted an amateur with a local government zoning problem in Palm Springs, CA (K8ZZO). Field & Education Support Team Gail Iannone processed 27 hamfest and 4 convention announcements, and generated 8 hamfest approval letters. Jean Wolfgang is seeing an increase in emails and phone calls pertaining to the upcoming Kid's Day event scheduled for January 4. She received an ARISS application and responded to several ARISS-related questions. Tom Cote processed 2 club vanity email forwarding requests and 2 SSC renewals. He assisted the CCE program with package assembly and data input, and continued with physical file organizing for our SSC records. Congratulations to Tom on passing his Technician License exam. His new call sign is KB1KOS, and the F&ES staff has already helped him with his first QSO. Linda Mullally updated 41 club records with 3 reactivations. She registered 6 Instructors and 1 Teacher. Linda worked on Club new amateur mailings, label requests, and compiled Field Organization Reports [PSHR, BPL, SEC, STM] for QST. Mary Lau processed Foundation contribution acknowledgments and continued work on revisions to the Club Kit (forms package for those seeking to affiliate a club). Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer says a number of schools gratefully received the 2-meter radios donated by the FBI, and reported these arrived at a good time. One of our members offered schools up to 5 free subscriptions to HamTestOnline, a Web site for practicing for Amateur Radio exams. Seven schools took advantage of the offer. The program is an alternative to the more traditional methods of studying for a license. A school reported success using APRS in the classroom, and will send lesson suggestions. EmComm Grants Dan Miller reports that 86 of the 130 participants at his Salt Lake City seminar filled out surveys showing that 75% were ARRL members, and 28 were Field Org appointees who put in about 9 hours per month on emcomm-related activity. Attending the conference were personnel from the Elizabeth Smart search and rescue effort, which included some ham radio. SM John Thomason (OK) is working with the state OEM about offering an event like the one in Salt Lake City. VEC Department On December 1, the new Element 3 General class question pool was release by the QPC on schedule. The new pool contains 432 questions, up from 385 in the circa 2000 pool. All General written exams administered by VEs must use these new questions starting July 1, 2004 at 12:01 am local time. VEs will have updated software and hardcopy test booklets by mid June 2004. A public call for syllabus input was made in conjunction with the General pool release. The new Extra syllabus and pool will be developed over a two-year window years (barring any changes to the license structure, any newly revised Extra class pool would not take effect until July 1, 2006). FCC On Line Filing: FCC held a Conference Call with several VECs and COLEMs on December 3rd to discuss new FCC web screens for ULS on line filing (a project underway for the better part of a year). FCC's planned deployment for the updated page(s) is later this month. FCC expects these new web screens to overcome the current JAVA script security and limited platform challenges on-line filers have faced over the past few years. The new screen should be fully functional under Windows or Mac, and should be compatible with screen reading devices for the handicapped. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 12/25-12/26 Holiday All Staff 1/1 Holiday Dave Sumner 1/29-2/5 Vacation Mark Wilson 12/24-1/2 Vacation Jennifer Hagy 12/24 & 1/2 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 12/29-1/2 Vacation Mary Hobart 12/23-12/24 Vacation Debra Johnson 12/19 Personal Steve Ford 12/24-1/5 Vacation Rick Lindquist 12/17 Vacation `` 12/22-12/24 Vacation Zoe Belliveau 12/29-12/31 Vacation Lisa Tardette 12/24pm-1/2 Vacation Cathy Stepina 12/23-12/24 Vacation Scott Gee 12/29 Vacation Deb Jahnke 12/24-1/2 Vacation John Hennessee 12/19-12/29 Vacation Perry Williams 12/23-12/29 Vacation Joe Carcia 12/19 Vacation Bill Moore 12/11-12/17 Vacation Wayne Mills 12/19-12/31 Vacation Dan Henderson 12/22-12/29 Vacation Martin Cook 12/29-12/30 Vacation 12/31pm-1/6 Vacation Sandy Lund 12/29-12/31 Vacation Kathy Allison 12/29-1/2 Vacation Mike Tracy 12/15-12/19 Vacation `` 12/29-12/31 Vacation Monique Levesque 12/24pm-1/2 Vacation Fatima Lorusso 1/2 Vacation Dave Hassler 12/29-12/31 Vacation Bob Schetgen 12/17 Vacation `` 12/22-1/5 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 12/22-12/24 Vacation Mark Spencer 12/15-12/24 Vacation Gail Iannone 12/22-1/2 Vacation Dan Miller 12/22-1/2 Vacation Leona Adams 12/23-12/24 Vacation Rosalie White 12/29-1/2 Vacation Sharon Taratula 12/19 Vacation `` 12/24 Vacation Diane Szlachetka 12/29-12/31 Vacation

1 0