IN-Newsletter
Vol. 26, No. 49
December 11, 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 $151,617 from 3,419 donors.
The average contribution is $44.35 -- on par with prior campaigns.
The Diamond Club continues to attract new donors, thanks to the
editorial in the January QST. To date, 217 donors have renewed and/or
upgraded with an average contribution of $193.69. The total revenue
from renewals has reached $42,031. Renewals for the Diamond Club are
mailed monthly based on the expiration date of their participation.
Word on a new Notice of Funding Authorization from the Corporation for
National & community Service indicates that ARRL will qualify to submit
a grant proposal for Youth in Public Service. Details as they become
available.
The Citizen Corps Affiliates Conference in Emmitsburg, Maryland was
designed for affiliates to give input into Citizen Corps strategies for
2004. In the course of discussion, Citizen Corps staff confirmed that
all 2004 funding will go to state Citizen Corps Councils. Those
councils will award funding to local groups based on the integration of
strategies into the state's strategic plan for prevention, preparedness
and recovery in disasters.
Holiday greetings from ARRL Development have been mailed to donors who
made 2003 contributions of $500 or more. The total mailed was 300
cards.
Media Relations
Jennifer participated in a conference call with members of the PR
Committee, and briefed the group on recent PR activities and relevant HQ
news. PRC members reported on their recent activities in the field.
Chairman Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR, is working on the committee's report to
the Board, and asked individual members for their input as well.
Seven nominations were submitted for the 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE,
Professional Media Award. The nomination packages have been sent out to
the PR Committee for judging, and the group's recommendation is due at
the end of December. In all, seventeen nominations were requested this
year.
Jennifer heard recently from Danny Gregory, KC2KGT, co-author of "Hello
World: A Life in Ham Radio." Danny has spoken with a producer who is
interested in filming a DXpedition in progress. The two plan to go to
National Geographic with the idea. Jen put Danny in touch with Wayne
Mills for more information on upcoming DXpeditions.
Jen worked with a PIO in Ohio who is submitting information on ham radio
and its emergency capabilities to city and county officials. She
reviewed the document he plans on sending and made a few minor changes.
At Jen's request, Oregon Public Information Coordinator Everett Curry,
W6ABM, worked with a member in his section who wanted to respond to a
local newspaper article on BPL. Curry jumped at the chance to assist,
and the two collaborated on a well-written letter to the editor.
Production/Editorial
The January/February issue of NCJ has been released to the printer, and
we reordered the ARRL Instructor's Manual and the Amateur Radio Today
VHS video.
Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter distributed to 67,043 members on
December 5. In addition to compiling and editing the Letter, Rick
wrote/edited "In Brief" for the Web (22 items), two stories on ARRL
positions on FCC proceedings (migratory birds and towers and the
2390-2395 MHz compromise) as well as K8ZT's "QRP Community" Web column,
two updates on the ARISS/Roy Neal special event, ARRL's imminent BPL
study, a reminder for the ARRL/NWS special event, and C-CE and EC course
offering announcements. With voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy,
Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News.
Dave Hassler wrote and edited a number of articles for the ARRLWeb.
Joel Hallas has completed work on the January/February issue of NCJ and
the February QST Product Review column.
Bob Schetgen has turned in the Technical Correspondence and Hints &
Kinks columns for February QST.
Sales & Marketing
The week after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest week of the
year for our Warehouse crew. This year was no exception - the ever-hard
working staff shipped an average of 340 packages per day - about 1,700
individual packages for the week. Of course, many - if not most - of
these packages included more than one publication. In addition, we
shipped 300 complimentary books and 1,200 issues of December QST.
The much-anticipated Tech Class Video/DVD courses finally hit the
Warehouse floor last week.
Although Advertising staff has an Advertising Matters newsletter in the
works, Deb Jahnke and Joe Bottiglieri have contacted advertisers with
the new 2004 QST, QEX and NCJ reservations and materials due schedule.
The dates are slightly earlier in the month than in past years so an
early heads up helps our clients plan their business expenses. To avoid
having to make duplicate calls to advertisers, we have changed QEX and
NCJ reservation date to be identical to the QST dates.
Deb generated publication restocking reports, preliminary publication
sales reports for November and year-to-date, processed royalties and
generated calling assignments for February QST ad solicitations.
Joe Bottiglieri wrapped up advertising for Jan/Feb QEX and NCJ.
Billings for January QST and Jan/Feb QEX have been submitted to
Accounting.
Bob Inderbitzen turned in revisions for the 2003-2004 Winter edition of
the ARRL Publications Catalog. The catalogs will arrive in January, and
replace the Fall 2003 edition used throughout the holiday season.
Third renewal notices have been mailed to 2,900 December expirees. As
previously reported, these mailings include tests of some new appeal
letters. The test mailings will also carry into January and February
expiration notices.
There have been nine membership applications received because of the
recent ICOM/ARRL membership recruitment initiative.
Amateur Electronic Supply has started planning for Superfest 2004. Its
annual "meet the industry" show is held at their headquarters store in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The event is tentatively scheduled for April 2-3.
Bob exchanged some email with the software developers of TravelPlus for
Repeaters CD-ROM as they have begun planning for the 2004/2005 edition.
A handful of new features are being considered.
Holiday greeting cards were mailed to many of our advertising clients
and publication dealers. Janet Rocco led the effort that included
collecting 400 hand-signed cards from the entire Sales & Marketing
Department staff.
Membership Services
Awards Branch
WAS QSLs Checked 250
WAS Certs. (450 QSLs F/C) 9
WAS Cert. (50 QSLs ES/C) 1
5BWAS Certs. (500 QSLs F/C) 2
WAC Certs. (90 QSLs F/C) 15
5BWAC Certs. (60 QSLs F/C) 2
OTC Certs. 72
LTMA Inquiries 6
A-1 Op. Noms. 3
Awards Mailed 90
VUCC Initial Apps. 7
Grids 606
VUCC Ends. 3
Grids 229
Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks.
For the coming week-Basic WAS awards for November, RCC and Friendship
awards, Extra Class certificates, compile the latest list of VUCC award
recipients for February QST, mail out VUCC, OTC, and Specialty WAS
awards, and work on report for BOD.
Contest Branch
The IARU write-up was received from the author and work began on getting
it ready for production for QST and the web. The new address database
has taken considerable time to set up but we are continuing to work on
it. Mailing of DX Contest certificates continued. Data entry for SS
continues, as well as data entry for various cups and pins for that
event.
DXCC Branch
For the week of:
December 7, 2003
Beginning Cards 139,682
Cards Received 2,694
Cards Processed 8,657
Ending Cards 133,719
Applications Pending 1,109
Processing Time 10.4 Weeks
Year-to-date (2003)
Cards Received 597,536
Cards Returned 677,289
DXCC is currently mailing applications received on September 25, 2003.
DXCC is currently entering cards received on September 30, 2003.
QSL Bureau
QSL Service Status: There is a delay of approximately 1 week. Cards
mailed as of 12/07/2003: 1,273,775. No cards were mailed this week.
W1AW
Thanks to Mark Spencer, WA8SME for braving the snow and operating W1AW
in the SKYWARN event. He also made the first contacts (on three bands)
with the (Marshall) Ensor Museum Special Event Station W9BSP in
commemoration of the reactivation of this callsign.
Matt Strelow, KC1XX and Andrew Toth, both of XX Towers, Inc., were on
hand Monday to install a new M2 Rotator on the North tower. (The old
rotator on this tower had failed.) This failed rotator has been sent
back to M2 for repair.
Joe repaired a problem within the Harris Keying Matrix. He also updated
the web code practice files. Joe is in the process of inputting
Frequency Measuring Test submissions. (To date, there are 125+
submissions.) He also worked the late afternoon/night shift on Friday
for a vacationing Scott Gee.
Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the month of
December. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to
8 PM time slot. W1AW Telephone Sales year to date (2003): $33,386.
Field & Educational Services
Rosalie worked on a re-forecast of the departmental budget for 2003.
She took part in an ARISS-International telecon. An ARISS QSO took
place with a German school; 2 TV stations, 4 radio stations and 2
newspapers covered the event. We appreciate Rick Lindquist's Web
stories on the Roy Neal astronaut event.
CCE
Jerry Ellis recruited mentors for students for the next Level l course
that will open. He posted information on the Antenna Modeling class
that will open for student registration next week. He processed emcomm
field exam results.
Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project
Mark Spencer informed schools about grants offered by Best Buy stores,
and a number of schools are submitting grant applications. He worked
with a North Carolina teacher who wants to approach that state's
department of education about statewide inclusion of wireless technology
in the curriculum. Eleven Project schools sent requests to the FBI
regarding the offer of free surplus HTs, and some have been shipped.
Field and Educational Support Team
Mary Lau forwarded a Pennsylvania emergency communication group's
proposal to the Foundation Proposals Committee for review. Mary thanks
Development's Debra Johnson for her work on an ACCESS database process
that will benefit Foundation contribution acknowledgment activities.
Mary sent a notice to staff managers to ask for their assistance on a
video filming to take place at HQ on December 9th.
Tom Cote processed 2 new SSC applications, 1 SSC renewal application,1
club re-affiliation request,1 vanity email update, and 1 new club
affiliation for director approval. He also assisted the CCE program
with supplies-packing.
Gail Iannone sent 9 hamfest approval letters and 3 convention approval
letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's
approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 7 label requests, 2
door prize orders and sent 4 handout packages for upcoming events.
Jean Wolfgang worked with a member who is planning on participating in
GOTA 2004. She received several more JOTA 2003 reports, and is now
working on compiling JOTA comments. She also responded to questions
about the Radio Merit Badge and contacting the ISS.
Linda Mullally updated 40 club records, with 4 reactivations. She
registered 10 Volunteer Instructors and 2 schoolteachers, plus completed
this month's Video Inventory, F&ES Inventory, and F&ES Monthly Revenue
Report. She worked on contact information about new hams for clubs that
request this, as well as Label Requests.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Leona Adams reports she received two SM petitions for San Diego Section:
Pat Bunsold, WA6MHZ, and Stephen M. Early, AD6VI, but none from the
incumbent. Other SMs who sent petitions before Friday's deadline are:
Eastern New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, Louisiana, North Carolina, South
Dakota and Virginia. A new petitioner for Pacific Section, Kevin Bogan,
AH6QO, submitted.
Chuck Skolaut received reports on illegal 10-meter activity, on
buzz-saw-like interference on 40-meters, and got more reports on the
beacon-like signal on 14.318. He processed paperwork and handled
correspondence on a number of OO activities.
Regulatory Information
John Hennessee assisted an amateur with a local zoning problem in Pima
County, AZ (K7KI), and with a covenant problem in Hilton Head Island, SC
(W3HEA). With assistance from Bart Jahnke, John helped an amateur,
N5BU, whose call was also a tail number in the Aviation Service and
cancelled by an aviation company in 1999; Riley Hollingsworth was
notified. John also worked on the new printing of the FCC Rule Book and
edited the text of a new regulatory Web page on Voice over the Internet
Protocol (VoIP).
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 12/24 Vacation
Steve Ford 12/12 Vacation
`` 12/24-1/5 Vacation
Rick Lindquist 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
Jeri Forest 12/15-12/16 Vacation
Wayne Mills 12/19-12/31 Vacation
Dan Henderson 12/22-12/29 Vacation
Martin Cook 12/29-12/30 Vacation
12/31pm Vacation
Sandy Lund 12/29-12/31 Vacation
Kathy Allison 12/29-1/2 Vacation
Joel Kleinman 12/16 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
