January 2006 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:13465] Re: Proposed NPRM
by jfenster＠pacifier.com 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

Dick and all: The sky just opened up and nirvana began to flow through the ether. This bit of prose puts everything into perspective. Too bad the other NPRM's aren't so clear! Jim K9JF

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[arrl-odv:13464] Meal Choices
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

Hello, Please let me know your meal choices. Please respond to me and not ODV. Dinner choices are: Thursday Roast Prime Rib of Beef-fingerling potatoes, root vegetables, natural jus, creamed horseradish or Crusted Chicken-pecan, mustard crusted chicken breast, leek mashed potatoes, Madeira jus or Ahi Tuna-grilled and served with fresh asparagus and basmati rice, minted melon chutney (low cholesterol) Friday New York Strip Steak-grilled to perfection, served with Yukon gold potato gratin, wilted organic spinach, herb roasted wild mushrooms or Roulade of Chicken Breast-stuffed with baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes, served with steamed broccoli rabe, light tyme (low fat) or Ahi Tuna-black sesame crusted, shiitake mushrooms, thai basil scented basmati rice, lemon thyme pineapple nage Please RSVP by Monday January 9, 2006. TNX Lisa

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[arrl-odv:13463] Proposed NPRM
by dick＠pobox.com 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

6 JAN, 2006 - 1500 CST I know that at least some of you are uncertain about the overall direction the FCC has been taking the past several years. Perhaps this NPRM will make things a little bit clearer... At least this message may lighten your day a bit. :) 73 - Dick, W9GIG ========================================================================== NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING Adopted: December 10, 2005 Released: December 14, 2005 Comment Date: 60 days after publication in the Federal Register Reply Comment Date: 75 days after publication in the Federal Register By the Commission: Notice of Proposed Rule Making 1000. A: No radio system owner, or radio system operator, or person or persons acting on the direction, or suggestion, or supervision, of any radio system owner, or radio system operator, may try, attempt to try, or make or make any attempt to try, to comprehend or understand, any or all, in whole or in part, of the herein mentioned Federal Communication Commission Regulations, except as authorized by the Administrator or an agent appointed by, or under the supervision of, the Administrator. 1000. B: If any radio system owner, or radio system operator, or group of associated radio system owners or radio system operators, becomes aware of, or realizes, or detects, or discovers, or finds, that he, or she, or they, are, or have been beginning to, or are about to understand the Federal Communication Commission Rules or Regulations or any of its provisions, (he) (she) (they) must immediately, within three (3) days of such discovery or awareness, notify, in writing, the Administrator. 1000. C: Upon receipt of any such above notice of impending comprehension, the Administrator shall promptly cause said Federal Communication Commission Rules and/or Regulations to be rewritten in such a form and manner as to completely and totally eliminate any further possibility of comprehension by any radio system owner, or radio system operator, or person or persons acting on the direction, or suggestion, or supervision, of any radio system owner or radio system operator. 1000. D: The Administrator may, at his or her option, require any radio system owner, or radio system operator, or person or persons acting on the direction, or suggestion, or supervision, of any radio system owner, or radio system operator, who commit(s), or attempt(s) to commit, or exhibit(s) any propensity to commit, the offense of understanding or comprehending the Federal Communication Commission Rules and/or Regulations, or any part thereof, to attend courses of remedial instruction in said Rules and/or Regulations, until such time as said radio system owner, or radio system operator, or person or persons acting on the direction, or suggestion, or supervision, of radio system owner, or radio system operator, demonstrate that they are no longer capable of exhibiting any comprehension or understanding of anything. Comment period: Persons wishing to comment upon said NPRM have until April 1, 2006 to send in comments regarding the above NPRM to the aforementioned agency, in triple quadruplicate, typed, certified, registered, no carbons, initialed and notarized with a photo identification authorized by the Homeland Security Agency, including original radio system license or licenses, medical certificate, three letters of recommendation from employer, police chief and FBI signifying no felony or misdemeanor convictions, poor work habits or personal disgusting habits which would offend the Administrator, including but not limited to: smoking, drinking, profanity, watching R rated movies, owning cable TV, non-church attendance, voting independent, listening to rap music, joining trade associations, speaking to attorneys, or talking snippy to anyone in Gettysburg. Send comments to: Administrator Federal Communications Commission Docket #: 24857-23.45.3562.A5PU.(6)b Attn: Past Due Comments 125 E SW St. NW, E, S Big Gray Building Third Floor, Second Door on Right Desk 4, In-Basket 7 Near Wastebasket 99-8877 Washington, D.C. 20591 Include $29.95 for shipping and handling payable to: Administrator

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[arrl-odv:13462] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

IN-Newsletter Vol. 29, No. 1 January 4, 2006 -- Covers the period December 25-31. Upcoming Meetings and Events Annual Board Meeting January 20-21, 2006 in Windsor, CT Administration &Finance Committee January 19 in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee January 19 CEO John Hennessee submitted updates to several regulatory Web pages and answered a wide range of regulatory questions. He also assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Watseka, IL (KC9FON) and Mesquite, TX KD5FGZ) and with a covenant problem in Port Isabel, TX (KI0G). Development The final two weeks of 2005 saw an exciting level of activity and a generous influx of contributions, especially for the ARRL Diamond Club. Final figures for 2005 will be ready for the Board meeting later in January. The new year has begun with carry-over contributions for Spectrum Defense Fund (totaling $4,021 with a very high average contribution of $121) and for the ear End campaign with carry-over contributions (totaling $1,313 with a high average contribution of $42). Work has begun on the first two campaigns of the year -- a limited appeal for the W1AW Endowment and a test campaign to build the Ham Aid fund. A new application is being prepared for the 2006 Combined Federal Campaign for federal employees. The ARRL Foundation has added three new scholarship awards for 2006 - the Challenge Met Scholarship, the Seth Horen, K1LOM, Memorial Scholarship and the Yasme Foundation Scholarship (five awards in 2006). The ARRL Foundation Annual Meeting will be held by conference call on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 8 pm. Production/Editorial Congratulations to Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, who has been named Managing Editor of QEX. The first issue under his aegis will be March/April 2006. The ARRL Letter and ARRL Audio News will resume their regular weekly schedule January 6. Sales & Marketing We have recorded over 800 returns from November's membership mailing to 20,000 lapsed members (General, Adv, and Extra)--an extraordinary 4% return, and still climbing. December product sales were $288,955, exceeding the sales forecast by $3,326. Sales of some of our mainstays were soft this month. However, brisk sales of our newer titles and non-ARRL products helped balance out much of the difference. In their second months, we continued to enjoy strong sales of new titles Basic Radio and Emergency Power for Radio Communications. Cumulative product sales in 2005 reached $2,961,877, exceeding forecast by $131,149. A great way to end the year! We were delighted to receive a good gathering of signed contracts for next years advertising. Previously this year, graphic designers Sue Fagan and Diane Szlachetka were selected as winners of the 2005 American Graphic Design Award. The award was a result of their design contributions to a special advertising section in May 2005 QST. The design was just published in the December 2005 issue of Graphic Design USA Magazine. There is a copy of the magazine available for viewing in the Advertising Dept. The congratulatory letter enclosed with the publication stated that all of the winners that appear in the nearly 300 page publication are the "cream of a competition that drew more than 10,000 entries." We were one of 462 firms represented that were winners out of those 10,000 entries. Online Courses An e-mailing to students that had graduated from the level 1 EmComm course but had not yet taken level 2 contributed to registrations from 21 additional students. The same thing was done for students that graduated level 2, resulting in 16 more registrations for the level 3 course. This doubled the registrations for these courses, as compared with November and December classes. More and more regularly, we hear from clubs that are pursuing grant monies to pay for training students in the ARRL EmComm courses. One of those clubs enrolled 21 students this week (with orders for 21 level 1 manuals!). Jean Wolfgang is exploring ways to encourage more clubs to do the same thing, and has met with Mary Hobart as she begins to investigate the grant process. Our goal is to assemble some tips that can be shared with clubs. In December, we enrolled 197 students. ON-LINE COURSES Registrations During this week Graduations Antenna Modeling (EC-004) 2 1 HF Digital (EC-005) 2 0 RFI (EC-006) 0 0 VHF/UHF (EC-008) 1 0 Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009) 0 0 Technician Licensing (EC-010) 5 1 Propagation (EC-011) 0 0 Analog Electronics (EC-012) 0 0 Digital Electronics (EC-013) 0 0 Emergency Comm. Level 1 (EC-001) 11 28 Emergency Comm. Level 2 (EC-002) 17 15 Emergency Comm. Level 3 (EC-003) 15 4 Membership Services Awards Branch Awards Mailed 47 Replacement Award 1 A-1 Operator Nominations 7 A-1 Operator Certificates 1 Assorted Other DXCC Items Mailed 11 Various DXCC Plaques Shipped 52 Charges for DXCC Plaques 3 VUCC Initial Applications 5 Grids 471 VUCC Endorsement Applications 4 Grids 103 Also prepared the paperwork for 40 various DXCC plaque orders, which entails researching each record to verify award eligibility, award numbers, dates, etc., plus tallying the charges for them. Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-WAS QSL card checking, Extra Class certificates, proof the VUCC data entry completed by DXCC staff, and do the orders for the latest batch of various DXCC plaques. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into system 87,481,644 QSL records have resulted 4,449,017 Logs Processed 173,103 Active Certificates 16,935 Users registered in the system 11,237 Hybrids Pending Mail 119 QSL Branch There is a 5 day processing time delay. This week, 128 pounds of cards were received from members. QSL Stats Cards received from members 128 pounds Cards Mailed this week 44,800 2005 Year-End total cards mailed 1,137,500 2004 Tear-End total cards mailed 1,100,535 Increase from last year 37,015 W1AW Jon Bloom, KE3Z and Joe finally made 2-way contacts with Bill Moore, N5ZPR and Jim McClellan, N5MIJ (both in Texas) via the D-Star 23cm repeater. Bill and Jim are two of the Texas D-Star sysops that have been assisting the station with getting the D-Star gateway (Internet side) up and running. Although all stations involved were using RF, the connection was made via the Internet. Special thanks to Jon for his setting up the network PC and software. Joe spent pretty much all week dealing with the heavy volume of visitors that is common during the week between Christmas and New Years. He also continued with experimenting with the D-Star repeater system, and finished inputting 2005 FMT entries into the database. 2005 marked the 13th year of the "3 Steves and a Kurt" operation from W1AW. Each year, three hams named "Steve" and one named "Kurt" will visit W1AW one day during the holiday week and operate the station. They will also bring one or two new hams with them. These hams are all from New Jersey. This past operation saw 530+ QSOs racked up, all made on 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 6 and 2 meters using CW and SSB. One of the Steves-KF2TI-was also the first visitor to put the donated Kenwood TS-480SAT on the air. A web site (which shows their visits) is located at, http://www.3stevesandkurt.dynu.com Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the month of January. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Scott continues to assist the DXCC department by proof-reading applications that have been inputted into the DXCC system (but require a check of the work). W1AW Nightly Telephone Sales year to date (for all of 2005): $39,017. W1AW Nightly Telephone Sales (since assuming the responsibility in 1998): $275,250. Field & Educational Services Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams and Steve Ewald have been assisting and keeping in touch with newly elected or newly appointed Section Managers in Delaware, Western Massachusetts and Maryland/DC as they begin their first terms of office at the beginning of the new year. Leona handled a dozen 2005 section-related expenses. Thanks to the Mailroom Staff for sending out the Virginia Section Manager ballots ahead of schedule. Members in Virginia will have until February 17th to vote and return their ballots. Don Michalski, W9IXG, has been nominated to continue as Wisconsin Section Manager for a new term beginning in July, 2006. Steve Ewald has been handling additional Ham Aid applications and some inquiries that arrived. We have received 203 individual applications since the Ham Aid grant was first announced during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. Chuck Skolaut received more documentation relating to an earlier FCC monitoring request on a 75-meter case. The ARRL's monthly report was forwarded to the IARU Region 2 coordinator listing intruders reported during December. We have received reports of jamming to a 440 MHz repeater in New York and interference to a 2-meter machine in Missouri. Two new Official Observer applicants successfully passed their exams to join this corps of Field Organization volunteers. Chuck helped conduct tours this week, and several visitors enjoyed their first time at League HQ. ARISS PR: Radio Netherlands aired a 52-minute interview (http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en <http://mymail.arrl.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw /en> ) of Andre Kuipers, PI9ISS, who described his ISS experiences, twice referring to ARISS school QSOs. Over 300 people watched the Flint (MI) ARISS QSO; the Flint Journal carried its story at www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-33/1135266661268.xml&c oll=5 <http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news=33/11352666612 68.xml&coll=5> ), NASA-TV ran live coverage, and Webcasts were done through EchoLink (44 connections including 7 repeaters) and EDU_Net, and broadcast into the IRLP Discovery Reflector. Japan's CQ magazine ran an article on SuitSat. ARISS News Update: Hams told the ARISS Team that they enjoyed QSOs with cosmonauts during the Russian Star Patrol holiday event. The ISS repeater is turned back on after it was shut off for that event. Rosalie sent email as a heads-up to Directors, Vice Directors and SMs whose constituents take part in early January school QSOs; she included a bit of background on school scheduling. She prepared a summary for the COO report on ARISS progress in 4th quarter 2006. ARISS' Affect on Schools/Students: The Mt. Carmel (CA) ARISS teacher reports that one of his students who is a ham, now hopes to work at Jet Propulsion Lab. Also, the student who pushed the school to apply for an ARISS QSO, is now a University of Colorado EE major. A Carman Park (MI) elementary teacher wrote that pupils learned about radio propagation from their NASA education specialist, and studied the ISS module. International Aspects: Johnson Space Center is pushing the ARISS US Team to work more quickly on a charter that will spell out what resources the space agencies and international ham groups will provide; the team will focus heavily on the charter in January. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program-Mark Spencer During this short holiday week I responded manly to member questions about Kid's Day operating procedures. The major theme of these questions concerned clarification of control operator responsibilities. Additional help and guidance on a satellite antenna system was provided to the Reno school scheduled for a January ARISS contact. Their antenna tracking bugs appear to now be fixed. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Lisa Kustosik 1/10 Vacation Rick Lindquist 12/27-1/6 Vacation Joel Kleinman 1/5 Vacation Ed Hare 1/9-1/13 IEEE Committee Meeting, LasVegas, NV `` 3/12-3/17 ANSI Committee Meeting, Piscataway, NJ Kathy Capodicasa 2/8-2/17 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 2/6-2/10 Vacation

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[arrl-odv:13461] Re: Strategic Plan
by Kay Craigie 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

This is very helpful, and many thanks for scanning it, Jay. Do we have a list of all the strategies that have been selected for implementation since the plan was adopted? That would help me get a better sense of how much juice is still in the orange. 73 - Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:13460] Strategic Plan
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

Jay Bellows has kindly scanned the Strategic Plan that was adopted by the Board in January 2004. It is available to officers, directors and vice directors at http://www.arrl.org/members-only/ODV/docs/Miscellaneous/THINKING%20PLANNING… Since that time, several strategies have been selected for implementation each year. However, the Strategic Plan itself has not been reviewed and updated. The time is approaching when it will be appropriate to do that. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:13459] FW: Interference Complaint from BPL System, Briarcliff Manor, NY, WD2XEQ
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 05 Jan '06

05 Jan '06

Today Chris Imlay filed a renewal of our longstanding complaint against the BPL system operating in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Dave K1ZZ ________________________________ From: W3KD(a)aol.com [mailto:W3KD@aol.com] Sent: Thu 1/5/2006 10:54 PM To: Joseph.Casey(a)fcc.gov; Bruce.Franca(a)fcc.gov; James.Burtle(a)fcc.gov Cc: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ; Rinaldo, Paul; Hare, Ed W1RFI Subject: Interference Complaint from BPL System, Briarcliff Manor, NY, WD2XEQ Greetings. Attached please find two PDF files, constituting a continued complaint of interference from a BPL system operated at Briarcliff Manor, NY by Ambient Corporation on power lines owned and operated by Consolidated Edison. The BPL system is operated pursuant to an experimental authorization, WD2XEQ, File No. 0118-EX-RR-2005. The complaint is being filed on behalf of ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio. A copy of the complaint is being mailed to counsel for Ambient Corporation. Paper copies of this filing with the attached engineering exhibit are being filed on paper at the Office of the Secretary and delivered to each of you. Please contact the undersigned counsel with any questions. Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper, P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:13458] Northwestern Division Vice Director Appointment
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 05 Jan '06

05 Jan '06

I am pleased to announce that President Haynie has appointed William J. Sawders, K7ZM to fill the remainder of the term as Northwestern Division Vice Director. The Election and Ethics Committee has verified his eligibility. Bill is a former Section Manager. His address is: 19821 Ponderosa St., Bend, OR 97702 Phone: 541 389 6258 Email: k7zm(a)arrl.org A good, short amateur radio bio for Bill is on www.qrz.com <http://www.qrz.com> . It reads: _____ Bill was first licensed in 1957 at the age of 12. He has held an Extra Class License since 1968. Previous call signs were K6ZMZ and W7KWK. He received the call sign K7ZM in 1977. His wife, Vicki is a licensed General Class operator and holds the call sign K7VKI. Bill was the ARRL Oregon Section Manager from 1998 to 2002, and is Past President of the San Diego DX Club (1968), Central Oregon Radio Amateurs (1992), Central Oregon DX Club (1989-1998) and is currently President of the Central Oregon Contest Club. Bill is the owner of the 145.490- repeater. At 3,900 feet elevation, it's located on the south end of Bend. In 2006, this repeater will move to La Pine, Oregon, and be switched to 146.960-. At 4,500 feet elevation, this repeater will serve south central Oregon, including the very popular Crater Lake National Park. Locals and visitors are invited to use the repeater at any time. The repeater is linked to ECHOLINK and listed at Echolink as K7ZM-R. The node number is 1584. Echolink users are invited to link to this central Oregon repeater at any time. _____ Bill has not been added to the ODV remailer yet, but will be tomorrow. He is arranging to attend the Board Meeting. David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary

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[arrl-odv:13457] FW: MSD Announcements
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 05 Jan '06

05 Jan '06

FYI Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL - The National Association for Amateur Radio 860 594 0220 http://www.arrl.org/ _____________________________________________ From: Mills, Wayne N7NG Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 2:13 PM To: HQ Staff Subject: MSD Announcements MSD Announcements It gives me great pleasure to announce two changes in the Membership Services Department. First, Sharon Taratula becomes Assistant Department Manager and Supervisor of a new MSD branch which will perform basic, high-volume awards data processing for all MSD awards. In addition to her responsibilities in this new branch, Sharon will continue to manage the QSL Service and provide support to the department manager. Bill Moore will continue to be responsible for all other Awards-based duties related to DXCC, WAS and other MSD awards. MSD is also pleased to welcome Frank Perez to Sharon's processing group. Frank has been employed in the DXCC Branch as a temp for the last five months. Please Welcome Frank as a new ARRL employee. Wayne Mills, N7NG, Manager Membership Services Department

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[arrl-odv:13456] CFO Report
by Shelley, Barry, N1VXY 05 Jan '06

05 Jan '06

Attached is Document # 11, the Report of the Chief Financial Officer, for the upcoming Board of Directors meeting. 73, Barry, N1VXY <<CFO Report 2006 Annual Meeting.doc>>

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