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

[arrl-odv:13703] Statement by Rep. Mike Ross
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

John Chwat has forwarded, from the Congressional Record, the attached statement made by Mike Ross yesterday saluting ham radio operators. Dave K1ZZ <<Cong_Rec_SalutetoHams_Feb8_06.pdf>>

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[arrl-odv:13702] Re: Big Gun
by Jim Weaver, K8JE 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

While I still sat at his left hand (right hand reserved for Mr. Bellows), Rick confided in me that he was actually using one of those portable, tunable loops that sat in his basement. The competition of performing this fete QRP wasn't enough, he said. Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel: 513-459-0142 ARRL Great Lakes Division ARRL, the Reason Amateur Radio is! Members, the Reason ARRL is! -----Original Message----- From: n5ok(a)arrl.org [mailto:n5ok.ok@att.net] Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 12:21 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:13700] Re: Big Gun Kay, Rick's accomplishment is all the more incredible since his antenna is a 6ft long wire and he runs QRP. He must be QRP because he is real weak here in OK. ;-) Coy -- ARRL West Gulf Division Director Coy Day, N5OK 20685 SW 29th St Union City, OK 73090 n5ok(a)arrl.org 405-483-5632

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[arrl-odv:13701] Re: Big Gun
by n5ok.ok＠att.net 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

Kay, I also note that Vice Director Ned Stearns, AA7A, is higher on the list than I am. Isn't this fun? Coy -- ARRL West Gulf Division Director Coy Day, N5OK 20685 SW 29th St Union City, OK 73090 n5ok(a)arrl.org 405-483-5632

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[arrl-odv:13700] Re: Big Gun
by n5ok.ok＠att.net 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

Kay, Rick's accomplishment is all the more incredible since his antenna is a 6ft long wire and he runs QRP. He must be QRP because he is real weak here in OK. ;-) Coy -- ARRL West Gulf Division Director Coy Day, N5OK 20685 SW 29th St Union City, OK 73090 n5ok(a)arrl.org 405-483-5632

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[arrl-odv:13699] Big Gun
by Kay Craigie 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

Let's hear it for Vice President Roderick, who's #6 on the 2005 DXCC Challenge list and still holding that position on the February 9, 2006, updated list. He's the only Board member in the top 10. Looks like Coy Day has the highest DXCC Challenge total among the Directors as of now. Congrats to Rick and Coy. The rest of us who like to DX had better get busy and see if we can catch up with these guys. 73 - Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:13698] Re: 90 Day Plans
by Jim Weaver, K8JE 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

As Tony would have said (if he hadn't been retired), G R R R E E A A T Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel: 513-459-0142 ARRL Great Lakes Division ARRL, the Reason Amateur Radio is! Members, the Reason ARRL is! -----Original Message----- From: Joel Harrison [mailto:w5zn@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 12:05 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:13697] 90 Day Plans Dave and I have received Chwat's 90 day plan and briefly discussed it this afternoon. We'll be getting more information to you shortly after we clarify a couple of points as we start to work it. Dave & Chris will be putting together a 90 day FCC plan for visits, etc. so we can make a major push for adoption of our petitions. I already have Paul Rinaldo's list of detailed meetings that his office has scheduled. To get our overall advocacy program fully in line, we'll be merging all of these next week and will start reporting to you on these efforts. Thanks for your patience as we get our advocacy effort reorganized and refocused. 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:13697] 90 Day Plans
by Joel Harrison 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

Dave and I have received Chwat's 90 day plan and briefly discussed it this afternoon. We'll be getting more information to you shortly after we clarify a couple of points as we start to work it. Dave & Chris will be putting together a 90 day FCC plan for visits, etc. so we can make a major push for adoption of our petitions. I already have Paul Rinaldo's list of detailed meetings that his office has scheduled. To get our overall advocacy program fully in line, we'll be merging all of these next week and will start reporting to you on these efforts. Thanks for your patience as we get our advocacy effort reorganized and refocused. 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:13696] Update - Ad-hoc ARRL National Emergency Response Planning Committee
by Joel Harrison 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

I want to give everyone an update on the Ad-hoc ARRL National Emergency Response Planning Committee the board voted to create. First Vice President Craigie will chair the committee. Kay, Rick and I in addition to F&ES Manager Patton have talked about the committee appointments from the list of recommendations we received and we are in the process of finalizing that. I'm waiting to hear back from one director on a possible appointment then we will be talking to each of selected members to ensure they understand the commitment prior to appointment. My goal is to have this committee in place this weekend, but please understand that will be contingent on being able to contact everyone. 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:13695] PRC Changes
by Joel Harrison 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

Greetings, FYI - Changes to the Public Relations Committee: The following members have been replaced: Tim Lewallen, KD5ING (West Gulf - Family obligations) and Tony Zona, WB3KGT (Becoming an AD in Atlantic) The following new members have been added: Kevin O'Dell, N0IRW (West Gulf) and Pat Mullett, KC8RTW (Great Lakes) 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:13694] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 08 Feb '06

08 Feb '06

IN-Newsletter Vol. 29, No.6 February 8. 2006 -- Covers the period January 29-February 4. Media & Public Relations The composition of the Public Relations Committee has been done. In the Hello! campaign, Richard Lubash, N1VXW, was been chosen as the Producer and has included special videographic animation and well as music enhanced by Emory Gordy, W4WRO. Individuals and clubs who have done great audio work in the past have been encouraged to develop a series of audio PSA files to go with it. Andree Duggan of Interactive Frame-Works is working on creating the website. Meetings have been held with key ARRL managers to stay coordinated, on time and on target. The first major roll-out will be with the April QST. The SuitSat experiment generated a great deal more press than expected - especially after NASA declared it dead while hams were still receiving weak signals. Media coverage complimentary to Amateur Radio was on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN. MSNBC, BBC, CBC, VoA, Assoc. Press and many others. A Google news search on news articles with the words SuitSat and Amateur Radio between Feb 3 - 7 resulted in 549 hits. Work is also beginning on the annual report for 2005. Regulatory Information John Hennessee made 17 updates to the page for states with a state codification of PRB-1 with help from WSDD. This is an ongoing project. See http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/PRB-1_Pkg/index.html#statut es. Readers in states that have codified PRB-1 are encouraged to check this URL and make sure that the legal cite and text of the statutes is correct (the bill number is no longer relevant) and let John know of any updates at n1kb(a)arrl.org. In addition to handling a number of varied regulatory inquiries, he also assisted with local government zoning concerns in Haddem, CT (W1FK); Bayville Township, NJ (KE2OI), North Port, FL (W0AC), McKinney, TX), Osage County, KS (WS4Y), and Cumberland, RI (KB1MWK). He assisted amateurs with convent concerns in Asheville, NC (N4ZYE), Sacramento, CA (WB2ZEI), Folsom, CA (KE6MYV), Phillipsburg, NJ (KA2QYS) Tigard, OR (W7WZ), Marvin, NC (K4KL), and Sun City West, AZ (N8PF). Production/Editorial The March/April 2006 issue of QEX has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 25, No. 05, distributed to 66,090 members on Feb 3. Rick stayed much later than usual on Feb 3 to first ascertain whether SuitSat-1 had launched successfully so he could update the lead story. He also posted an update on SuitSat-1 to the Web site Friday, and prepared and posted a lengthy update Sunday afternoon to reflect recent developments regarding the weak signal. During his short week (off Mon and Tues), Rick prepared/edited stories on the call to protest the NYSERDA grant to the Briarcliff Manor BPL project, new PRB-1 bills in MS and VT, ARRL's comments asking the FCC to deny a Part 15 rules waiver request and numerous news briefs and announcements. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News, which included some NASA-TV audio of the SuitSat launch and of the Expedition 13 crew coming aboard the ISS in April. Sales & Marketing January product sales were $230,055. The plan was $234,862 / a small variance of ($4,807). The amount came just short of our forecast by a half day of processing. The month also saw the rollout of new pricing strategies to help extend more of our resale product line to dealers. The response, so far, has been very favorable, and helps position ARRL as a preferred and single supplier for publication dealers. January membership total: 148,514 (363 fewer than December). We exchanged "goodbyes" with Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, who leaves ARRL to take on a new employment opportunity with RR Donnelley. A handful of duties have shifted during this interim vacancy. Routine membership inquiries are handled regularly by Mark Dzamba, KB1FMY and Cathy Stepina. Email to circulation(a)arrl.org and membership(a)arrl.org are routed to Cathy. A new email address has been established to receive Silent Key reports, sk(a)arrl.org (routed to Mark). The North Mountain Road warehouse team managed some housekeeping and reorganizing this week, freeing up a considerable amount of additional and much needed space. Prospective Ham Packages in January: 82. Online Courses We graduated 172 students in January. Mentor stipends have been mailed. With the end of grant reimbursements, an emailing was sent to 1,357 Certification Instructors and Certification Examiners reminded them about registering their classrooms or test sites, and to collect the appropriate fees. ON-LINE COURSES Registrations During this week Graduations Antenna Modeling (EC-004) 1 0 HF Digital (EC-005) 1 0 RFI (EC-006) 2 0 VHF/UHF (EC-008) 1 1 Ant. Design and Construction (EC-009) 0 0 Technician Licensing (EC-010) 1 2 Propagation (EC-011) 3 1 Analog Electronics (EC-012) 1 0 Digital Electronics (EC-013) 0 1 Emergency Comm. Level 1 (EC-001) 13 27 Emergency Comm. Level 2 (EC-002) 6 8 Emergency Comm. Level 3 (EC-003) 8 1 The following publications have been sent for review in Monitoring Times: Emergency Power, 2006 Handbook, Amateur Radio on the Move, 2005 Periodical CD-ROM. The reviews may appear in the April 2006 issue. AES will not be purchasing the two inside covers of the Repeater Directory. Efforts are being made to entice another advertiser to pick up the covers. Membership Services Awards Branch Category Processed WAS Cards Checked 400 WAS Endorsements 2 Replacement Awards 1 A-1 Operator Nominations 3 Awards Mailed 24 VUCC Initial Applications 9 VUCC Endorsements 1 WAC Certificates 22 5BWAC Certificates 1 Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. Contest Branch Working with Web Services and the CAC, we finalized the on-line presentation and documents for the HF-Contesting white paper opened to the public on Thursday. We spent a considerable amount of the week finalizing the 2006 Field Day packet, which was posted to the web on Friday. Data entry for the 160-Meter and 10-Meter paper logs continued, as did entry of Straight Key Night entries. DXCC Branch For the Week of: February 5, 2006 Beginning Credits 48,437 Credits Received 12,547 Credits Processed 8,693 Ending Credits 52,469 Applications Pending 419 Processing time 5.7 Weeks Year-to-date (2006) Credits Received 38,064 Credits Returned 61,275 DXCC is currently entering credits received on December 30, 2005. DXCC is currently mailing applications received on December 27, 2005. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 91,020,809 QSL records have resulted 4,796,924 Logs Processed 185,001 Active Certificates 17,435 Users registered in the system 11,565 Hybrids Pending Mail 101 QSL Branch There is a 4 day processing time delay. This week, 96 pounds of cards were received from members. 80,675 cards were shipped this past week. W1AW Scott worked on slow and fast 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. On Monday (1/30), as part of the burial ceremony for Rear Admiral Barry K. Atkins (information at http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/bkatkins.htm ) Joe sent a brief message (via Morse Code) to Mac Harper, W1FYM-who was stationed at Bushnell Park in Hartford-that a 21-gun salute had been rendered for the Admiral. The point of this exercise was to highlight amateur radio. Joe received word via the IRLP node on the 146.79 repeater that the salute had been made. That "word" came from Adam Hahn, KG4VNC, who was stationed at Arlington national Cemetery, and also linked to the repeater via IRLP. On Thursday, Joe met with Bill Barrett, W1WJB to discuss the possible implementation of Telpac nodes (Winlink 2000) within the CT EOC area. In addition to answering some of Bill's questions, Joe also demonstrated how the Telpac node and "Airmail" (HF) functions work. Joe updated the web code practice files. He also built an interface to use with the Harris keying Matrixes for the Ten Tec Omni VI that is in use as the 160-meter bulletin transmitter. Field & Educational Services Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams notified Section Managers of their section budget totals for 2006, and she also has sent each SM their updated Field Organization Appointment report. Twenty new Field appointments were added to the data base. Oregon Section Manger Randy Stimson, KZ7T, has been nominated to run for another term, and Ron Morgan, KB9NW, of East Peoria, Illinois, has been nominated to run for Illinois Section Manager. Steve Ewald has been making preliminary plans with Section and Field Leadership regarding the Amateur Radio Session at the 2006 National Hurricane Conference that's scheduled for Orlando in April. Headquarters continues to receive 2005 Simulated Emergency Test results from Emergency Coordinators and Net Managers. The monthly ARRL Monitoring System report was completed and sent to the IARU Region 2 coordinator. Chuck Skolaut handled documentation about problems occurring on a 220 meter repeater in California. Additional information was received and forwarded to the FCC that covers a monitoring request on 75 meters. Also, digital signals on 75 meters were identified as military transmissions and originating from a Europe. ARISS PR: Thanks to Allen Pitts, Rosalie worked on SuitSat stories with reporters from ABC, the Houston Chronicle, Canadian Broadcast Corp and the Associated Press. National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" ran a good SuitSat story plus a Web article that included a link to listen to the story. All week, the SuitSat Web site was getting 50,000 hits a day. During the first few hours, 8 stations had heard SuitSat, but audio level is low. The video of the Aquebogue School (NY) ARISS QSO was fed to three other local school districts. The audio was streamed on www.discoveryreflector.ca plus Echolink (38 connections) and IRLP (24 connections), and a story ran in the News-Review. For ARRL Members: Rosalie networked with Norm Fusaro about requests for SuitSat diplomas that Goddard Space Flight Center will print and fill out. Thus far, six ARRL members asked for more information offered in the February QST article about ARISS. Rosalie received a nice thank you from NVOAD for her past work with them, and from Westlink for her duties on their Young Ham of the Year award. ARISS News Update: As of Jan. 29, Bill McArthur has worked 97 of the 100 entities needed for DXCC. ARISS' Effect on Schools/Students: Rosalie garnered NASA financial support for ARRL exhibits at two national-level teacher conferences for Mark Spencer to attend. An ARISS QSO for National Engineering Week will be Saturday, February 18, at the National Building Museum (Washington DC), which should be full of kids. International Aspects: Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, was stationed per NASA's request at International Mission Control (Houston) during the space walk for SuitSat. Sergej Samburov trained ESA astronaut Marcos Pontes on radio operations, with another session to be scheduled soon. Rosalie prepared the agenda for the upcoming ARISS international education committee meeting. Field & Education Team Hamfest & Conventions Week Ending 1/27/06 Hamfest Applications sent to Division Director for approval 18 Hamfest Approval letters sent to event sponsor 21 Handouts and Door Prize Material Orders Processed 10 Label Requests for Upcoming Events 5 Convention Applications sent to Division Director for approval 3 Convention Approval Letters sent to Event Sponsor 3 New Club Apps. Reviewed & sent to JCH for review of Constitution & By-Laws 4 New Club Apps. sent to Division Director & Section Manager for approval 2 New Club Acknowledgement Letters sent to Club Officials 2 Clubs & Mentors Week Ending 1/15/06 Clubs Club Updates 124 Club assistance & histories Below 51% notification 3 SSC SSC sent to ACC 3 SSC Certificates & letters sent Instructors Instructor Reg 6 Teachers Teacher Reg Materials & Brochures Class Materials 50 Graduation Kits 20 Exhibit Kits 4 Jota Kits Label Requests Filled 1 Sales Orders Processed 3 Public Service Reports Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program-Mark Spencer Word from NASA was received that they will support my participation in the NSTA and ITEA national conferences. I have arranged the logistics for those trips. The letters of acceptance and equipment wish lists have been slow in coming in from the recent Project grant recipients, and I am working with the schools to get the information to me so that I can execute the grants. I have purchased some of the equipment for the Progress grant recipients, the equipment will be sent out to the schools after I QC the equipment. I am attempting to get the Education Working group engaged in developing lesson plans for the Tech License class now that the QPC has published the new pool. I sent a critique to the QPC on some problem questions in the new pool, but I have not received any acknowledgement of my input. The QPC's lack of acknowledgement is consistent with their historical pattern of not responding to input from the field, which is one reason why they have difficulty getting input from the ham community. Briefing materials and handout supplies have been collated and mailed to support a presentation at an upcoming NYC science teacher's conference. I was planning to attend that conference but it conflicted with the ITEA conference. The parts for the modulation demonstration board are on hand, the circuit boards are due in next week, kit production will begin when the boards arrive. The circuit board design for the Ohms Law board has been finalized, and due to the complexity of the board and the fact that surface mount components are used on the board, I have ordered a template board to confirm the board design before I commit to full board production. The Ohms Law board is on track. I have 5 applications in hand for the next round of teachers institutes. A meeting has been coordinated to discuss with a school their "Learn and Serve" curriculum concept (Section EC participation is anticipated). This school is planning a curriculum that involves students learning and participating in emergency service activities in their community including EMCOMM activities. This school's initiative may serve as a template for other schools. Travel to the meeting will be coincident with travel to the NSTA conference in April. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 2/20 Holiday 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 Bob Inderbitzen 2/6-2/10 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 2/13 Vacation `` 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 Harold Kramer 2/10-2/12 N. Florida Section Convention, Orlando, FL Zack Lau 3/2-3/3 Vacation Mark Dzamba 2/14 Vacation Dan Henderson 3/2 Vacation Wayne Mills 3/10 Charlotte Hamfest `` 4/20-4/21 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA Janet Rocco 2/9 Vacation Mike Tracy 2/10 Vacation

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