February 2006 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:13725]
by Joel Harrison 15 Feb '06

15 Feb '06

Here is an update on a few things that are being worked. 1. I'm a couple of days behind my schedule in getting the Ad-hoc National Emergency Response Committee appointed. I'm still wrapping up a few loose ends and will have it completed shortly. 2. The VUAC is still be finalized as well. 3. Later today (Wednesday) at 3:00 PM, Sumner, Imlay, Rinaldo, and Eric Heis will be meeting Richard Russel, White House Associate Director of Technology, at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy regarding BPL. Chwat & Co. arranged the meeting. You will recall a meeting occurred on May 20, 2004 with Mr. Russel who at that time basically reaffirmed the White House's position on BPL, but challenged us to come back with a position on how to proceed with BPL in a way where the technology could still work but would address our concerns. Since that time, we've conducted and documented exhaustive engineering studies and have complied a large quantity of field data, as well as pursuing the Motorola BPL venture that is specifically aimed at avoiding interference. We believe we can present an alternative BPL position that will address Mr. Russel's charge to us while continuing to focus on the serious interference of BPL in general. 4. Tomorrow Eric Heis and I will be meeting with Representative Mike Ross at Mike's office in D.C. You will recall I mentioned my intention to do so at the board meeting to smooth over some bad feelings over our failure to garner more support for the BPL resolution Ross dropped on the House floor for us. 5. Also tomorrow, Sumner, Imlay, and Rinaldo will meet with John Giusti of FCC Commissioner Copp's office. Following that meeting, Sumner and Imlay (and possibly me, depending on my schedule) will meet with Fred Campbell of FCC Chairman Martin's office. FCC meetings will focus on license restructuring and BPL. 6. Regarding the Ross meeting, I trust each of you have sent your letter to your respective representative regarding H.Res. 230. If not, PLEASE, PLEASE do so immediately and make sure you copy either Chwat. It is imperative that we ALL take our legislative initiative seriously and personally cooperate and support this effort that was unanimously directed by the board. 7. CTO Rinaldo and General Counsel Imlay attended a meeting at NTIA regarding expansion of the amateur allocation at 5 MHz last week. Rinaldo made a formal presentation on amateur activity at 5 MHz that supported an expansion. Paul's attendance at the meeting and reason for his presentation is his status with these folks as Paul works with most of the attendees in other areas that the Technical Relations Office is involved in and knows most of these people on a first name basis. While it is the FCC, not the NTIA, that will make a decision on expansion of the amateur allocation at 5 MHz, that is not going to happen until we have the full support of the NTIA and the related agencies. A full report will be forthcoming following this evening and tomorrow's meetings. 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:13724] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 15 Feb '06

15 Feb '06

IN-Newsletter Vol. 29, No.7 February 15, 2006 -- Covers the period February 5-11. Development 2006 contributions to Spectrum Defense have met the budgeted goal of $40,000. The W1AW Endowment campaign has garnered $4700 in the first three days of returns. Still awaiting Ham Aid test campaign returns. 2006 Member Loyalty recognition is awaiting materials and the plan is to mail certificates by the end of February. Confirmation letters to major donors for listing in the ARRL Annual Report, in QST and on the web are being mailed, along with save-the-date postcards for the Major Donor Recognition Reception to be held on Thursday, May 18 at Meadow brook Country Club in Dayton. ARRL Foundation Scholarships are being processed. Media & Public Relations Audio and Video PSAs for Hello campaign are in production along with website. Tear-out section, main article and side articles done for April QST about Hello. Media Hits for April also done. Arrangements made to meet with possible volunteer producer for longer video piece this week. The regular PR Committee conference call was thwarted due to bridge not set, but is rescheduled for Feb 15. There continued to be many positive SuitSat related articles while some BPL promoters appear to be taking a new tactic of trivializing amateur radio. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 25, No. 06, distributed to 66,261 members on February 10. Rick prepared/edited several stories/updates on the SuitSat-1 satellite project, ARISS school group QSOs at West Point and Timber Creek HS in FL, Radio amateurs hailed as "true heroes" on US House floor, Telecoms attorney poised to be fifth FCC member, ARRL EXPO will return at Dayton Hamvention 2006, ARRL Field Day 2006 info now available, AD5X captures Bill Orr Award plus several news briefs and announcements. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News. Sales & Marketing Online Courses We're experiencing a larger number of field tests than is typical. Jean processed 8 this week, and sent out another 5. Normally, we might see 4 or 5 field kits in an entire month. ON-LINE COURSES Registrations During this week Graduations Antenna Modeling (EC-004) 3 1 HF Digital (EC-005) 1 0 RFI (EC-006) 0 0 VHF/UHF (EC-008) 0 0 Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009) 0 0 Technician Licensing (EC-010) 1 1 Propagation (EC-011) 1 0 Analog Electronics (EC-012) 1 0 Digital Electronics (EC-013) 1 0 Emergency Comm. Level 1 (EC-001) 11 32 Emergency Comm. Level 2 (EC-002) 7 15 Emergency Comm. Level 3 (EC-003) 5 5 The Business Services group wrapped up advertising duties with NCJ and QEX. The Repeater Directory ads are collected and placed. Work continues to attempt to replace AES on the inside covers of the Repeater Directory. The "Hello" tear-out pricing and placement information has been obtained and passed on to the editorial department. Membership Services Awards / DXCC Category Processed WAS Certificates 24 Replacement Awards 4 A-1 Operator Nominations 13 Awards Mailed 27 VUCC Initial Apps 9 VUCC Endorsements 4 WAC Certificates 22 5BWAC Certificates 1 Awards Managers appointed this week: Dean Davis, KL7OR (HF/VHF) and Sean Fleming, K8KHZ (HF). Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the Week of: February 12, 2006 Beginning Credits 42,237 Credits Received 8,503 Credits Processed 15,575 Ending Credits 35,165 Applications Pending 381 Processing time 6.1 Weeks Year-to-date (2006) Credits Received 42,266 Credits Returned 76,850 DXCC is currently entering credits received on January 20, 2006. DXCC is currently mailing applications received on December 30, 2005. Contest Branch Checked results for the 2005 Phone Sweepstakes were received from the log checker and processed. Over 50 emails were sent in conjunction with these results asking for clarification of category information (cases where sent exchanges and claimed categories in the log did not match). The QST announcement and rules for the 2006 IARU HF World Championships were prepared and sent to production and Web Services. The 2006 Straight Key Night submissions were finished and the articles for QST and the ARRL Web were prepared and sent on to Production and Web Services. The change in the W1AW 160-meter CW frequency set to take effect in April meant that the W1AW schedules related to Field Day needed to be edited, which was done, with new Word Doc and Adobe PDF files prepared and sent to Web Services to replace those already posted. We began printing certificates for the 2005 IARU HF Championships for non-W/VE stations, which will be printed as soon as the certificate program is updated to print the new ARRL President's signature. The combined list of paper/electronic Logs Received for the 2005 160-Meter and the 2005 10-Meter contests were prepared and posted. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 91,414,057 QSL records have resulted 4,831,749 Logs Processed 186,955 Active Certificates 17,523 Users registered in the system 11,612 Hybrids Pending Mail 75 QSL Branch There is a 2 day processing time delay. This week, 130 pounds of cards were received from members. The next scheduled shipping date is Friday, February 17, 2006. W1AW During the previous weekend, high winds had caused damage to the upper rotatable 20-meter yagi. (One of the reflector elements broke off.) Joe has been in contact with Matt Strelow, KC1XX (the station's antennas contractor) to decide on replacement antennas as well as when the antenna/tower work can be performed. On Monday, Joe met with Don and Marjorie Starks, N3HOW and N3HOZ, respectively, of the United States Power Squadrons. They all met to discuss the USPS operating W1AW as part of a Special Event operation on June 3-4 during Boating Safety Week. Joe also modified one of the Ten Tec Omni VI+ transceivers (that is being used as a bulletin transmitter) to help eliminate some key click issues. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the month February. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Field Organization/Public Service Team Prompt action was taken by the FCC with regard to interference caused by a 220 MHz machine in southern California. Chuck Skolaut has forwarded additional documentation to the FCC about on-going problems on 75 meters. He is also reviewing information that details observed infractions on a 2 meter simplex frequency in California. An Official Observer in Tennessee was able to rapidly provide useful information for the FCC upon their request to help in an investigation. Volunteer Monitoring Stations have reported hearing the Chinese shortwave station on 18160 kHz, the digital German station on 3995 kHz and several unidentified signals on 75, 40, and 60 meters. Leona Adams handled nearly two dozen new Field appointments and an equal number of appointment cancellations from Section Leaders. Also, over 40 supply packages were processed during the week. Incumbent Section Managers Bill Woodhead, N1KAT, of Maine and Kit Blanke, WA6PWW, of Santa Clara Valley, have been nominated for new terms of office beginning July 1. Virginia Section Manager election ballots are scheduled to be counted on Tuesday, February 21. A few more Ham Aid applications continue to arrive from Amateur Radio operators who provided communications and support service during the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. So far, there have been 214 individual Ham Aid applications received since the program started in September. Steve Ewald edited and turned in the April QST Public Service column to the production department as Field Organization activity reports arrived. ARISS PR: Many non-hams who've read about SuitSat are asking ARISS Team members how to get a ham license! Allen, Rosalie and the ARISS Team continued to hear from reporters updating SuitSat stories; some of the reporters included: CBS, Washington Post, Washington Times, National Geographic News, newscientist.com, Science magazine, AP, Herald Times (Bloomington, IN newspaper), Florida Today (newspaper), Playfuls,com, AstroNet, CNN and Discovery Channel. Spaceflight(a)nasa.gov features photos of SuitSat being deployed. For ARRL Members: SuitSat telemetry shows 26.7 V on the battery; Lou McFadin figures its life as 9 days 9 hours from start to finish. Please listen to telemetry near the expected end to help the ARISS Team track battery power and learn about the suit's finish. SuitSat has been a great project for merging Internet and ham radio. Bill McArthur has done over 1000 QSOs, and has worked over 100 DXCC entities. ARISS' Effect on Schools/Students: Several school teachers have posted to www.suitsat.org what students have heard. Kenneth Ransom at Johnson Sp Ctr gave a presentation to 200 teachers at the Space Explorers Education Conference. Rosalie asked F&ES to send a large quantity of youth brochures for 7000 attendees of the upcoming Discover Engineering Family Day, Washington DC. International Aspects: Rosalie moderated the ARISS-Intl education committee meeting and prepared the minutes. Field & Education Team Hamfest & Conventions Hamfest Applications sent to Division Director for Approval 9 Hamfest Approval Letters sent to event sponsor 8 Handouts and Door Prize Material Orders Processed 14 Label Requests for upcoming events 2 Convention Applications sent to Division Director for Approval 1 Convention Approval Letters sent to event sponsor 1 Approval Letters for Newly-Affiliated Clubs sent to Club Officials 0 Charter of Affiliation Cert. sent for Presentation to New Clubs 0 New club applications reviewed 0 New clubs sent to Director & SM for approval by Director 0 New SSC Application sent to Director, SM, & ACC for Approval 1 SSC Approval Letter sent to Club Official 1 SSC Certificate sent to newly-designated SSC Club 1 Acknowledgement letters sent to club officials 1 Hamfest announcements for QST 46 Convention announcements for QST 4 Clubs & Mentors Club Updates 29 Club assistance and histories Below 51% notification 6 SSC sent to ACC 4 SSC Certificates 7 letters sent Instructor Reg 4 Teacher Reg 0 Class Materials Graduation Kits 12 Exhibit Kits/brochure requests 0 Jota Kits 4 Label Requests Filled 1 Sales Orders Processed 0 Public Service Reports Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program-Mark Spencer The bid for the equipment for the November round of grants has been received and is in review. The total expenditure on the equipment is approximately $23,100. The purchase order will be coordinated Monday. The prototype Ohms Law board has been received and is being populated with parts to validate the board design before ordering production boards. A professional brochure to advertise the teachers institutes has been developed by the graphic artists in HQ, an excellent product. The brochure is being reproduced for distribution at teachers conferences and has been posted on the web. A new web page has been added under the Education tab of the main page to highlight the teachers institutes. This page will be improved in the near future with additional text, links and updates. Work is in progress in developing learning objectives related to the new technician question pool. A project school teacher presented a forum on the ETP and other project related topics at an Indiana State science teacher's conference (NSTA). The attendance at the forum was above anticipated and additional hand-outs and CD-ROMs were needed, they will be mailed to interested teachers that requested them. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 2/20 Holiday Dave Sumner 2/15-2/16 Washington `` 2/17pm Vacation Ed Hare 3/12-3/17 ANSI Committee Meeting, Piscataway, NJ `` 3/30-4/1 IEEE EMC Meeting, Orlando FL Kathy Capodicasa 2/8-2/17 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 3/3 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 2/13-2/21 Vacation Rick Lindquist 2/21 Vacation Joe Carcia 4/21 Vacation Scott Gee 3/29 Vacation `` 4/24-4/28 Vacation Zack Lau 3/2-3/3 Vacation Dan Henderson 3/2 Vacation Wayne Mills 3/10 Charlotte Hamfest `` 4/20-4/21 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA Leona Adams 2/23-2/27am Vacation Bill Moore 2/17 Vacation Mary Hobart 2/17 Vacation `` 2/23 Vacation `` 4/21-4/23 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA Monique Levesque 2/21-2/24 Vacation Dave Patton 3/16-3/19 Nebraska State Convention, Norfolk, NE Cathy Stepina 3/13-3/17 Vacation

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[arrl-odv:13723] Re: ARRL Complaint to FCC BPL Database
by Andy Oppel 14 Feb '06

14 Feb '06

Perhaps we should suggest Mr. Moroney as a new hunting partner for Mr. Cheney. -- Andy Oppel, N6AJO At 09:49 AM 2/14/2006, you wrote: >Early this afternoon Chris Imlay filed the attached complaint with >the FCC concerning errors and inadequacies in the "public" database >being maintained by UTC. > >While the complaint says a copy was provided to Bill Moroney of UTC >only by U.S. Mail, I asked Chris to send it to Moroney >electronically because UTC earlier today cut off access to the >database from the ARRL IP. While this gives UTC more opportunity to >respond, I wanted Moroney to begin worrying about our complaint as >soon as possible -- preferably right after lunch. > >We will prepare a separate complaint about the termination of our >access. In the meantime the BPL database should be accessible from >other IPs. We will be interested in hearing about anyone else who gets cut off. > >Dave K1ZZ > ><<BPL Database Content Complaint 2 14 2006.pdf>>

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[arrl-odv:13722] Re: ARRL Complaint to FCC BPL Database
by frenaye＠ntplx.net 14 Feb '06

14 Feb '06

Quoting "Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ" <dsumner(a)arrl.org>: I asked Chris to send it to Moroney electronically because UTC > earlier today cut off access to the database from the ARRL IP. While this > gives UTC more opportunity to respond, I wanted Moroney to begin worrying > about our complaint as soon as possible -- preferably right after lunch. That seems worthy of a complaint in itself. -- Tom

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[arrl-odv:13721] Re: ARRL Complaint to FCC BPL Database
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 14 Feb '06

14 Feb '06

Early this afternoon Chris Imlay filed the attached complaint with the FCC concerning errors and inadequacies in the "public" database being maintained by UTC. While the complaint says a copy was provided to Bill Moroney of UTC only by U.S. Mail, I asked Chris to send it to Moroney electronically because UTC earlier today cut off access to the database from the ARRL IP. While this gives UTC more opportunity to respond, I wanted Moroney to begin worrying about our complaint as soon as possible -- preferably right after lunch. We will prepare a separate complaint about the termination of our access. In the meantime the BPL database should be accessible from other IPs. We will be interested in hearing about anyone else who gets cut off. Dave K1ZZ <<BPL Database Content Complaint 2 14 2006.pdf>>

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[arrl-odv:13720] Advisory Committee Liaisons
by John Bellows 13 Feb '06

13 Feb '06

President Harrison asked me as PSC Chair to pass along to ODV his appointments as Advisory Committee Liaison.> They are: DXAC Liaison - NW Div. Director, Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF, CAC Liaison -- MW Div. VD,Bruce Frahm, KØBJ, VUAC Liaison -- SW Div. VD,Ned Stearns, AA&A, Joel also asked that I mention the final appointments of VUAC Representative are still a week or so away from being named. 73, Jay, KØQB

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[arrl-odv:13719] Re: Michael Gallagher leaving NTIA
by Kay Craigie 13 Feb '06

13 Feb '06

Dave wrote, "However, no one seems to know where he is going." If he needs a suggestion about where to go, I'm sure we can come up with something on short notice. 73 - Kay N3Kn

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[arrl-odv:13718] Michael Gallagher leaving NTIA
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 13 Feb '06

13 Feb '06

One of the Administration's leading apologists for BPL, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Michael D. Gallagher, has announced to his staff that he is leaving the NTIA. However, no one seems to know where he is going. Dave K1ZZ

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RE: Blizzard '06
by Jim Weaver, K8JE 13 Feb '06

13 Feb '06

Andy, The truth is out. The blizzard actually was planned by FEMA as a hurricane for the SE Division, initially. Just another foul up! Jim Weaver, K8JE Director, ARRL Great Lakes Division Chairman, ARRL Legislative Action Committee 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel: 513-459-0142 ARRL, the Reason Amateur Radio is! Members, the Reason ARRL is! -----Original Message----- From: Andy Oppel [mailto:andy@andyoppel.com] Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 8:36 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: Blizzard '06 I heard that the blizzard now hitting the Northeast was actually scheduled for our Board Meeting weekend, but it's apparently been on backorder. 73, Andy Oppel, N6AJO Vice Director, Pacific Division, ARRL n6ajo(a)arrl.org home: (510) 864-2299 cell: (510) 851-6214

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Re: Blizzard '06
by Frank Fallon 13 Feb '06

13 Feb '06

Andy, Here in western Nassau county about four miles east of the city (Queens) line we have what appears to be about 20 inches. A lot of it has drifted so it's a bit difficult to estimate just how much we have. It looks like Denver in April. But is a LOT of snow. At one point this morning it fell at about 6 inches plus in an hour. I brushed off the jeep at 8:30 and drove a half mile to get the newspaper. An hour late my wife reported that there was just as much snow back on the car as I had swept off. She was not exaggerating by much. I spent the day inside in the WPX RTTY Contest. I was single op low power with the quad at 30 feet and made 663 QSO's in about 27 hours. I felt pretty good about my efforts but there sure were a lot of folks with much higher numbers. I did get a JA on 40 meters which is not easy from here with my wire antennas. Tomorrow is a digging day. Frank...N2FF.... Andy Oppel wrote: > I heard that the blizzard now hitting the Northeast was actually > scheduled for our Board Meeting weekend, but it's apparently been on > backorder. > > > 73, > Andy Oppel, N6AJO > Vice Director, Pacific Division, ARRL > > n6ajo(a)arrl.org > home: (510) 864-2299 > cell: (510) 851-6214 > > >

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