IN-Newsletter
Vol. 27, No. 1
January 5, 2004
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 raised more than $230,000 before December
31, 2003, surpassing its budgeted goal of $225,000. The success of this
campaign brings the 2003 revenues for Spectrum Defense to more than
$606,000 from more than 12,000 donations, against YTD expenditures of
$95,000 (through November 30).
The major campaign in support of the W1AW Endowment is in final
production. The campaign will be mailed to more than 132,000 ARRL
members in mid-January. This campaign is unique in two ways -- the
selection of high end thank you gifts (including a pen and ink drawing
of W1AW, a set of four etched glass tumblers, and an etched crystal mug,
and a two-tone metal pin) and a new fund raising tactic encouraging
multi-year pledges to support the Endowment. Keep and eye on the Web
and in the mail.
The Diamond Club continues to grow through new donors and renewals. A
new Director level donor contributed $5000 at the end of 2003. This is
one of Development's most important revenue streams since it provides
unrestricted revenue.
Mark Simcik is completing work on the new ARRL Scrapbook on the Web.
This new section of the Web was inspired by a donor who encouraged ARRL
to provide a platform for radio amateurs to tell their favorite personal
Amateur Radio stories. This new interactive web opportunity is similar
in concept to the contest Soapbox and will be promoted in a story on the
Web and in the ARRL Letter.
The 2004 application for ARRL to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign has been filed. If approved, ARRL will be listed on the web
and in brochures encouraging philanthropy by government employees. This
program brought ARRL more than $10,000 in contributions from federal
employees last year.
ARRL received a new planned giving commitment valued at $10,000.
Development is already planning a major donor reception for Thursday
evening, May 13 in Dayton. Time and place to be determined.
Media Relations
Jennifer is working on setting up an on-air contact between a ham in
Chattanooga, TN, and the president of the Turkish IARU society (TRAC) in
Istanbul. Chattanooga's ABC television affiliate wants to cover the
contact, and information on what Turkish hams are doing to help in the
aftermath of the earthquake in Iran. The station plans to interview the
US ham about the role Amateur Radio can play during disasters in this
country, and the connection to homeland security. The logistics are
being worked out.
The public relations report for the upcoming Board meeting has been
submitted.
The Public Relations Committee members have reached a decision on the
2003 Leonard Award winner, and a motion has been submitted to the
appropriate Director. The PRC report for the Board meeting has been
submitted.
On President Haynie's behalf, and with his approval, Jennifer sent
letters of appointment and reappointment to PRC members for 2004. We
expect the committee to be in place on January 19.
Production/Editorial
Joel Hallas has prepared several New Products items and a Short Takes
write-up for QST, and has delivered January/February NCJ Web page files
to the Webmaster.
Stu Cohen has turned in the technical articles, "The Doctor is IN"
column and the "Hands On Radio" column for March QST.
Dave Hassler prepared two feature stories for the Web site.
Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 1 (Jan 2, 2004)
distributed to 67,054 members. Rick wrote/edited news stories on the
additional AMRAD and DERA comments on BPL, which tied in with a sidebar
story on BPL deployment involving Lompoc, California, and Manassas,
Virginia. Rick also compiled/edited "In Brief" for Dec 31, 2003 (17
items), an obituary for Joe T. Knight, W5PDY, the Youth Web column, and
FCC enforcement actions. Rick voiced/edited/produced ARRL Audio News
for Jan 2 with voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy.
Sales & Marketing
On Friday January 2 the warehouse completed the difficult and
challenging task of the Year End Inventory process.
We are readying a large membership mailing. Plans include mailing to
100,000 expired and "never" members in January, and another 82,000 in
February.
An emailing was sent to ARRL members on Monday, soliciting subscriptions
for NCJ and QEX. Similar messages have been sent quarterly, producing
good results. By the end of the week, we had taken 142 QEX
subscriptions and 27 for NCJ.
Bob has been evaluating the results of using advanced list processing to
improve the deliverability of addresses within our mailing files.
Advertising launched our extremely aggressive First Quarter campaign to
book significant commitments for our specialty advertising products.
The opening results are very satisfying, providing us with optimism that
we will see many absent advertisers return to normal exposure levels in
our publications.
Membership Services
Awards Branch
WAS QSL Cards Checked 400
WAS Cert. (Replacement) 1
WAC Certs. (Replacements) 2
OTCs 18
Extra Class Certs. 9
RCCs 5
A-1 Operator Noms. 3
LTMA Inquiries 27
Awards Mailed 27
Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks.
For the coming week-More WAS QSL card checking, basic WAS awards for
December, order the 50- and 60-year member plaques, LTMA
research/letters from members' inquiries, VUCC awards processing, and
mail out awards processed this week.
Contest Branch
Revisions to the IARU QST write-up were made. An addition was written
and included to fill the remaining space. Additional tables and
information were prepared for the September VHF results author and
emailed to him. Several contesting rules violations are being examined
for possible forwarding to the Awards Committee for consideration.
Sweepstakes data entry continued. We handled numerous requests for
assistance with problem logs for the Sweepstakes, 160 Meters and 10
Meters contests. While the QST announcement and Contest Branch web site
have the correct dates for the 2004 January VHF SS, Contest Corral
inadvertently used the wrong dates. This is generating quite a number
of phone calls and email queries. Data entry for SS CW entries
continued as did data entry for Sweepstakes Mugs and Pins.
DXCC Branch
For the week of:
January 4, 2004
Beginning Cards 120,167
Cards Received 4,126
Cards Processed 9,315
Ending Cards 114,978
Applications Pending 910
Processing Time 13.1 Weeks
Year-to-date (2003)
Cards Received 621,087
Cards Returned 720,895
DXCC is currently mailing applications received on September 30, 2003.
DXCC is currently entering cards received on September 30, 2003. Data
entry and editing is finished for September 30 applications. We are
currently mailing out the remaining applications for this date and all
September applications should be out the door by the end of the upcoming
week.
QSL Bureau
QSL Service Status: There is a delay of approximately 2 weeks. Cards
mailed as of 12/31/2003: 1,358,474. Cards mailed on 12/31/2003:
84,700. This is a decrease of 604,690 cards in 2002.
W1AW
Thanks to Mark Spencer, WA8SME for operating W1AW in both the Straight
Key Night and "Kid's Day" 2004. During SKN, he made 22 QSOs on 80 and
40 meters. During Kid's Day, he made 34 contacts on 40, 20 and 15
meters.
It's worthwhile to note that for SKN, Mark used the Straight Key taken
from "Old Betsy," which was Hiram Percy Maxim's Spark Gap transmitter.
Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the month of
January. He worked the late 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 the last of the Frequency Measuring Test submissions. The
final tally is 214 submissions. This is up 56% from the 2002 FMT. (In
2002, there were 137 submissions.) Preliminary results of the test will
be posted shortly on the W1AW FMT web page.
Joe also updated the web code practice files and cleaned up the Hiram
Percy Maxim Straight Key (taken from "Old Betsy") for use during the
2004 SKN.
Field & Educational Services
Field & Educational Support Team
Linda Mullally updated 35 clubs with 2 reactivations and registered 8
Instructors. She checked club rosters for 2 clubs and mailed out 42
initial supply packages for new appointments.
Jean Wolfgang added a message to the Amateur Radio in the Classroom
online newsletter alerting teachers to a new ARISS lithograph. She is
also preparing International Humanitarian Award nomination packets to be
sent to the VRC, and answered several emails pertaining to Kid's Day.
Tom Cote processed 4 new SSC applications, 2 renewals and 2 new club
affiliations. He also helped Jerry Ellis with CCE Data entry.
Mary Lau wrapped and submitted her March, "At the Foundation" column,
and is processing scholarship applications that are starting to come in
advanced of our February 1 deadline. She also updated the database
information at The College Board organization, publishers of the popular
The Scholarship Handbook. Mary is also going to half-days starting the
week of January 5th.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Thanks to the Mailroom Staff, the San Diego Section Manager election
ballots and candidate statements were mailed from HQ on December 29.
League members in San Diego have until February 20 to return their
marked ballots. Leona Adams has been processing an influx of 2003
Section Leader expense reports.
An ARRL member from Pennsylvania visited Chuck Skolaut at HQ and
delivered an audio tape that documented some on-going 40-meter
interference involving Spanish-speaking radio amateurs. They got in
touch with Riley Hollingsworth who, in turn, asked the FCC's Monitoring
Station in Columbia, Maryland, to listen. The source of the
interference was coming from Cuba, so the FCC is referring the matter to
their international division for further handling.
Steve Ewald continues to receive ARRL Simulated Emergency Test reports
from Field Organization Leaders from across the country. These reports,
due at the end of January, represent local and section ARES emergency
exercises that were held on the SET weekend in October and throughout
the fall season.
Regulatory Information
John Hennessee assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems
in Fresno, CA (KF6SVI) and Marcy, NY (K2KLV). He also worked on a new
FAQ for the regulatory Web page on repeaters, auxiliary operation,
ancillary uses, types of control and similar issues. He also had an
interesting chat with KK4NO about possible operations by the Southern
Baptist Convention in Iran in the wake of the major earthquake (it isn't
possible for foreigners to operate an amateur station there).
CCE
Jerry Ellis processed a number of CCE Field Exam results and produced
and mailed relative EmComm Certificates and ID cards. He also opened
EC-003 Level III EmComm for the month, prepared certificates and ID
cards for the week's EmComm on-line graduates and mailed these with
refund checks. He also produced mentor stipends to accompany revised
mentor certificates for mailing.
The Big Project
Initial e-mail notifications were sent to schools that were approved by
the EC for Project/Progress Grants. A total of 14 schools were approved
for grants. Letter notifications will go out the first week of January.
Parts for the Project Activity Board were kitted over the holidays. The
VOMs were received from the manufacturer, and digital scopes are the
only components left to arrive. Notification was sent to schools that
the kits will be available to ship in February, and only to schools
that, per requirement, specifically apply to receive one.
73,
Sincerely,
Mark Wilson, K1RO
Chief Operations Officer
MW:lk
Staff Absentee List
Dave Sumner 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
`` 1/29-2/5 Vacation
Mark Wilson 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
Barry Shelley 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
Mary Hobart 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
Lisa Kustosik 1/15-1/17 BOD Meeting
Dennis Motschenbacher 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
Rosalie White 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
Wayne Mills 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
Dave Patton 1/16-1/17 BOD Meeting
