IN-Newsletter
Vol. 27, No. 42
October 20, 2004
Upcoming Meetings
United States Telecommunications Training Institute Course: Amateur Radio Administration
October 18-22 in Newington, CT
Ballot Counting, Director/Vice Director Elections
November 19th in Newington, CT
A & F Committee
November 20th in Newington, CT at 8:30am
Development
Development teamed with Education & Technology Program Coordinator Mark Spencer, WA8SME, to visit the Bolton (CT) school district to present that district's leadership team with the idea of inaugurating a full school system immersion in wireless technology. Superintendent Joe Erardi gathered the principals of 3 district schools along with the head of student relations and the head of the curriculum team to talk about how Bolton can serve as a pilot for a three pronged approach to wireless technology education including an on-site Teachers Institute, the installation of a full amateur Radio station and a community volunteer component with the latter two initiatives supported by a local club and/or ARES group. This opportunity will give Spencer and ARRL an opportunity to really see how effective the Teachers Institute training is on the elementary, middle and high school levels. A final decision on this initiative will come after the Bolton Administrative staff and School board meet in the next two weeks. If approved, discussions will follow regarding funding, implementation strategies and timelines, etc.
The 2004 Education & Technology Fund campaign has raised nearly $109,000 from 984 donors.
The 2005 Defense campaign has raised $61,420 from 1401 donors so far. Response is a bit slower than usual, but this is the second full Defense campaign of the fiscal year. Follow up letters were mailed to 50,000 prior donors on October 17.
The Year End "Close the Gap" campaign will be mailed November 15 to 50,000 donors and members. The stated goal in the solicitation is $116,000 by December 31.
Production/Editorial
We checked printer's proofs for the November/December 2004 issues of QEX and NCJ.
Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 23, No. 41, distributed to 67,070 members on Oct 15. Rick was in Arlington, Virginia, Monday through Wednesday to cover the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station International Delegates meeting there. He also prepared stories on the FCC's action to adopt new Part 15 rules to govern BPL, ARRL's request to FCC to shut down NY BPL system, a couple of items on recent ARISS activity and ISS crew change, ARRL request for FCC Chairman Powell to excuse himself from speaking or voting on the BPL proceeding, AMSAT-NA Symposium and Annual Meeting, and several news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Oct 15, and wrote "Happenings" for Dec QST. Thanks to Allen Pitts for his assistance while Rick attended the AMSAT-NA and ARISS conferences.
Sales & Marketing
By the end of the second week of October, our Product sales target had been exceeded due to the overwhelming response to the 2005 Handbook rollout campaign. Sales for this new edition have passed $260,000--exceeding all recent sales history. The Warehouse has been making shipping history, too. The crew shipped out over 1,000 individual packages to our eager customers on a number of days. All that extra effort by the Fulfillment and Warehouse staff during this exciting time will insure those customers keep coming back. Congratulations!
Delivery of the fall/winter edition of the publications catalog is expected within the week. A mailing has been prepared. It will be sent to 20,000 members and customers. Copies will also be distributed to dealers, through hamfests, and at VE exams. The Warehouse includes catalogs in all outgoing orders. Other requests for catalogs can be directed to the Sales & Marketing Department.
Joe Bottiglieri was able to bring back advertiser QRP J-38. Joe also signed up new advertiser, M & P Audio, thereby extending his run of consecutive months of adding one or more new advertisers.
We are producing display advertising for the grant-sponsored CNCS emergency communications courses in cooperation with Dan Miller. These ads will run in QST through June 2005. Another interdepartmental activity has led to the creation of a Logbook of The World ad that will run in
December QST - Thank you, Wayne and the MBS crew.
We will take delivery of the collaboratively produced International Antenna Collection--Volume 2 in early November. RSGB is the publisher, and the book includes significant contributions from ARRL. One thousand copies of Volume 1, which debuted in October 2003, were sold in less than one year.
As a result of the considerable effort made by staff to help an advertiser with his ad design and production, the company has agreed to place a full page in December QST. We're delighted that this regularly occurring endeavor is helping to increase advertising commitments.
Membership Services
Awards Branch
WAS in the 90th Certs. 21
Extra Class Certs. 11
LTMA Inquiries 2
70-Year Member Awards 3
A-1 Op. Noms. 2
Awards Mailed 36
Also:
- Compiled the latest list of VUCC award recipients for Dec. QST.
- Ordered the 50- and 60-year member plaques.
Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks.
For the coming week- WAS QSL card checking, WAS Specialty awards, U.S. WAC awards, mail out recently processed foreign WAC and VUCC awards, enter the latest LTMAs into the members' Siebel records, and mail out the rest of the awards processed this week.
Contest Branch
The Field Day articles for QST and the web were edited and cut as necessary. The June VHF results article for QST was cut to meet space. Data entry for the September VHF QSO Party and 10 GHz Competition continued. We began printing 2004 DX Contest certificates. We worked with the log checking teams for a couple of contests revising reports from them for our databases.
DXCC Branch
For the week of:
October 17, 2004
Beginning Cards 58,997
Cards Received 9,369
Cards Processed 17,276
Ending Cards 51,090
Applications Pending 473
Processing Time 4.2 Weeks
Year-to-date (2004)
Cards Received 454,668
Cards Returned 457,596
DXCC is currently mailing applications received on September 17, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on September 20, 2004. One card checker resigned this week and was immediately replaced.
Logbook of the World
QSO records entered into the system 52,651,738
QSL records have resulted 1,880,650
Logs Processed 73,184
Active Certificates 11,492
Users registered in the system 8,375
Current Applications 180
Ready Applications 73
Applications Awaiting Mail 107
QSL Bureau
Processing time is approximately 3 days from receipt. This week 108 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 50 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 10/17/04: 801,460. No cards were mailed this week.
W1AW
W1AW operated in the 2004 Jamboree-On-The-Air (JOTA) event. Thanks to HQ staff Steve Ewald, WV1X, John Hennessee, N1KB, Mary Hobart, K1MMH, Debra Johnson, KB1LMT, Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG and Mark Spencer, WA8SME for their participation in JOTA. Thanks also to Newington Amateur Radio League (NARL) members Ron Cady, K1RKD and Doris Spencer, KF6QKL for operating W1AW in this event. (Thanks as well to all the scouts and visitors that showed up for the event, too.) At least 80 QSOs were made on 40, 20, 17 and 15 meters. Thanks to Larry Wolfgang, WR1B for his help in setting new North points (and one South point) for the Center (125') and Satellite towers. These new points will assist the antenna contractor to properly align the antennas.
Joe uploaded W1AW/90 logs to LoTW. He also updated the web code practice files and processed three Qualifying Run certificates and two endorsements. He upgraded the Satellite Tracking PC to Windows XP and began to ready some equipment for the tower/antenna inspection/work that is scheduled for later in the month. Joe built a small switch-box to swap the 2-meter antenna between the Kenwood TS-2000X and the Hamtronics R139 weather receiver. He also continued with the input of HPM/135 entries (currently 410).
Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of 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 daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots.
Field & Educational Services
Club/Mentor/Volunteer Instructor Program
Norm Fusaro networked with many clubs and mentors this week to aid with their JOTA plans, licensing classes and open houses. One open house is at a Volvo plant in Virginia, with potentially 11,000 people walking by a ham display. Linda processed these exhibit kit orders. Norm worked with a ham who is a manager at REI outdoor equipment stores, and is attempting to promote ham radio to outdoor enthusiasts; Bob Inderbitzen gave helpful input on this. Norm gathered data to write a story on the Utah ARC's activities and Elmer program. He developed a club survey with review by Rosalie and Gail, about hamfests to electronically distribute soon to clubs.
Field & Education Support
Gail Iannone wrote 8 hamfest announcements for December QST and sent them to the Managing Editor. She sent 8 hamfest approval letters to sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 10 hamfest/convention material orders and 1 label request for upcoming events. She sent affiliation paperwork for 6 new clubs and 6 conventions to the Executive Committee for their approval, and coordinated travel for Ed Hare to be HQ rep at the SFL Section Convention on February 4-6, 2005 in Miami.
Linda Mullally updated records of 20 affiliated clubs, and handled 1 club Vanity E-mail request. She registered 8 Volunteer Instructors and 1 schoolteacher. She fulfilled requests for and sent 372 assorted brochures, 11½ Exhibit Kits and 5 JOTA Kits. She mailed 16 Initial Field Appointment supply packages. She compiled the monthly statistic reports for QST [PSAR, BPL, STM, SEC].
At the ARISS Meeting in Virginia, Rosalie was elected to another term as ARISS-International Secretary/Treasurer, she gave 3 presentations, and recorded the meeting minutes. AMSAT presented Rosalie an award for her long-time ARISS support. About 60 people attended AMSAT's ARISS forum. She networked with AMSAT's banquet speaker/astronaut about ARISS being part of the Moon, Mars and Beyond initiative. Rosalie directed Smithsonian volunteers to ideas on hand-out materials.
Certification and Continuing Education
Jean had requests for 6 Field Test Kits and prepared these along with a few spare kits for future requests; these kits contain updated test materials. She assigned mentors to students, and processed 6 sections of registrants for classes that will begin October 22. She corrected a problem with reimbursement checks. Jean heard from two online Technician license course students who have taken and passed their test! She sent a special invitation to over 5,000 Level 1 students to register for upcoming Level 2 classes. Because many students updated their email addresses but hadn't shared that, Jean received many bounced messages, and is working to eliminate those addresses from the database.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Leona Adams reports that SM election ballots from Nebraska, New York City-Long Island and West Central Florida are being returned to HQ. Members have until November 19th to send ballots. She processed 25 new Field appointments and updated the appointment data base. Leona was also in touch with SMs concerning their section-budget reports.
Chuck Skolaut learned that the continuous dits on the CW portion of 15 meters was, apparently, originating from the area of France. The transmissions ended after a short time. Several US East Coast stations reported broadband interference to the 80-meter band this past week, and information is being gathered on intermittent interference to an aircraft frequency in the Northern New Jersey/New York area.
Steve Ewald asked Section Managers to help get the word out about SKYWARN Recognition Day, co-sponsored by the National Weather Service and ARRL. This operating activity is December 4th, and readers of December QST will be reminded of the event when seeing the Public Service column. Upon request from the ARESCOM Ad-Hoc Committee, Steve sent information to Section Leaders about the committee's survey of digital communication systems on VHF and UHF. News about "ARRL Holiday Toy Campaign" was posted to the SM Reflector, and later will go to the Field Organization list server and club server.
Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project
Mark Spencer finalized preparation for JOTA activity, with data uploaded to the Youth Skeds Web page on 69 JOTA operations around the globe. W1AW was operated by 5 staffers and 1 local volunteer to provide opportunity for local scouts to get on the air and to earn their Radio merit badge. There is some last minute interest in schools applying for Project grants; these entries are probably well thought out than previous applications, and show promise.
Regulatory Information
John Hennessee has seen an increase in the number of questions asked about the status of the restructuring docket. He has also received an increase in the number of questions on last Thursday's FCC meeting on BPL. John assisted an amateur with a local-government zoning problem in Reno, NV (N7GXI). He is reviewing the page layouts on changes made for the next printing of the FCC Rule Book. He updated a number of changes to the records in the referral database of ARRL VCs and VCEs; thanks goes to Jon Bloom for making programming changes to the database.
Emcomm Grants
Dan Miller gave his seminar at Pacificon, and 57 people attended -- standing room only in the forum room! Of the 24 surveys that were returned, 87% were ARRL members, 42% were involved with Citizen Corps, 2 were Novices, 8 Techs, 3 Generals, 1 Advanced and 9 Extras, with 3 having their license for 1 year or less, 4 for 1-5 years, 6 for 6-10 years, and 10 for 10+ years.
73,
Sincerely,
Dave Patton, NN1N
Special Assistant to the
Chief Executive Officer
DCP: lk
Staff Absentee List
Dave Sumner 10/22 Vacation
Barry Shelley 10/21-10/22 Vacation
Mary Hobart 10/25-10/26 Vacation
Dave Patton 10/20-10/25 FMRE Convention, Queretaro, Mexico
Robert Inderbitzen 12/2-12/3 Vacation
Joe Carcia 10/20pm Vacation
Dan Miller 10/21-10/22 Vacation
Kathy Allison 10/20-10/22 Vacation
Wayne Mills 10/21-10/27 RSGB Convention, England
Kathy Capodicasa 11/11-11/15 Vacation
Martin Cook 10/29-11/1 Vacation
Scott Gee 11/8-11/10 Vacation
