December 2007 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:16215] FW: Drill Report
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 11 Dec '07

11 Dec '07

Here is the report from Dennis Dura regarding the Communications Drill that was held on Labor Day. Since some Board members have already seen this, we thought that it would be appropriate to share it among all Board members. Please feel free to direct your questions directly to Dennis. 73, Harold

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[arrl-odv:16214] RE: [arrl-odv:16213] Conflict of Interest Policy
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 09 Dec '07

09 Dec '07

I have been asked whether a Board member cannot simply sign the form in Houston and deliver it there. For present Board members who signed the form last year I believe this would comply with the requirement that the form be signed "annually" as long as it is signed and delivered prior to the beginning of the Board Meeting. Those joining the Board who have not yet signed a form, need to do so in order to take office. Dave K1ZZ ________________________________ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Sun 12/9/2007 1:03 PM To: arrl-odv Cc: Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ Subject: [arrl-odv:16213] Conflict of Interest Policy In accordance with the Conflict of Interest Policy that was added to the Bylaws by the Board in July 2006, the ARRL President, all Vice Presidents, the Treasurer, all Directors and all Vice Directors are required annually to sign a statement that he or she: (i) has received a copy of the current conflict of interest policy, (ii) has read and understands the policy, (iii) has agreed to comply with the policy, and (iv) understands that the Association is a non-profit organization and that in order to maintain its federal tax exemption it must engage primarily in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes. A copy of the policy is attached. Please note that the last page (page 4) is an Affirmation Form. Unless you are retiring from the Board at yearend, please print out, sign, date, and return the form to: Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ, ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 If it is not convenient for you to print the form, let Lisa know at lkustosik(a)arrl.org and she will send you a hard copy. Thanks for your cooperation. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ, Secretary, ARRL

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[arrl-odv:16213] Conflict of Interest Policy
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 09 Dec '07

09 Dec '07

In accordance with the Conflict of Interest Policy that was added to the Bylaws by the Board in July 2006, the ARRL President, all Vice Presidents, the Treasurer, all Directors and all Vice Directors are required annually to sign a statement that he or she: (i) has received a copy of the current conflict of interest policy, (ii) has read and understands the policy, (iii) has agreed to comply with the policy, and (iv) understands that the Association is a non-profit organization and that in order to maintain its federal tax exemption it must engage primarily in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes. A copy of the policy is attached. Please note that the last page (page 4) is an Affirmation Form. Unless you are retiring from the Board at yearend, please print out, sign, date, and return the form to: Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ, ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 If it is not convenient for you to print the form, let Lisa know at lkustosik(a)arrl.org and she will send you a hard copy. Thanks for your cooperation. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ, Secretary, ARRL

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[arrl-odv:16212] Viewing bandplan comments
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 09 Dec '07

09 Dec '07

The Web story that has been up since yesterday invited comments to the Ad Hoc Band Planning Committee chaired by Rick Roderick. Comments sent to bandplan(a)arrl.org are available for viewing by anyone who has access to ODV. Here's how: While logged into the Members Only portion of the site, click on "ODV" (this will be visible against the blue background under "Members Only"). This will take you to the "ARRL ODV Area." Scroll down to "Miscellaneous ARRL documents." The first one listed will be "Band Plan e-mailed comments." Click on that and you will get to a page headed "Comments to Ad Hoc Band Planning Committee." Before comments are available for viewing they are reviewed by the administrator (currently that's me) -- the reason is to weed out spam, etc. The automatic acknowledgment that goes out in response to messages received says that messages are available to members' Directors. So far we have received three comments, all of which are viewable. 73, Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:16211] Two Glasses of Wine...
by dick＠pobox.com 08 Dec '07

08 Dec '07

Worthwhile reading as we close out 2007... Two Glasses of Wine - Author Unknown When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the two glasses of wine theory... A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items on his desk in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar as full. The students responded with a unanimous "YES." The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life." "The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else; the small stuff." "If you put the sand into the jar first", he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the good things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness." "Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. Do one more run down the ski slope. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the wine represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend. Share this with someone you care about... I just did."

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RE: [arrl-odv:16198] RE: [arrl-odv:16193] December along the Northwest Coast
by K8JE 08 Dec '07

08 Dec '07

Jim, Kudos to the "troops" out there. They have obviously developed great relations with EMA as well as having served the public so well. Wouldn't it be great if the Red Cross would have enough self-confidence to do the same type of crediting? Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 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: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 9:07 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:16198] RE: [arrl-odv:16193] December along the Northwest Coast If you want to get an idea of what the coastal area has been coping with, Allen Pitts has permission to use the following video: http://www.hello-radio.org/video/oregon2.wmv http://www.hello-radio.org/video/oregon.wmv Dave K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: jfenster(a)pacifier.com [mailto:jfenster@pacifier.com] Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 9:30 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:16193] December along the Northwest Coast Hi Gang, Last year, it was the rain/wind/ice storms that caused over 1,000,000 people to lose power, trees, and lives in the Seattle area. This year, it was a massive rain storm and wind that hit Oregon and Washington earlier this week. I trust you have seen the pictures and articles of the current storm and conditions in our area along with the kudos to the Amateur Radio community for providing the communications links in the hard-hit communities. After spending the weekend at our Vancouver, WA QTH (with Shirley wielding the whip, encouraging me to finally finish the kitchen remodel that started in early 2005), we got back on the road to Seattle sometime after midnight on the morning of December 3. The forecast of a severe windstorm and "some" rain was on my mind as we began the 175 mile trip to our Seattle condo. The first 20 miles were relatively calm. Then, we ran (literally) into gusts of 50-60 MPH on I-5 just north of Woodland, WA. What impressed me was the volume of rain blowing sideways. I haven't seen this kind of water since we left the midwest nearly 25 years ago. Around 2:30 AM, we motored through the communities of Chehalis and Centralia, just half-way to Seattle. Even then, we could see water beginning to collect at the side of the road. About 2 hours later, we finally docked in the condo parking lot, listening to the wind and continuing to watch the sideways blowing rain. Just 1/2 mile to the west of the condo near the Puget Sound shore, a large mudslide washed away a road (fortunately the driver of the car it captured escaped). An apartment complex just north of us in a lower area was under 8 feet of water! But, most of the damage and flooding was in the area we drove through in the early morning with over 10 feet of the muddy mess covering I-5 where we were traveling a few hours earlier. Yes, it rains a lot in the Pacific Northwest but most of this is mist or light rain. Here at the condo, we had 4" of rain in 24 hours. Just south of our place (2 miles) and closer to the Sound, the paper reported over 5 1/2 inches in the same time period. The highway (I-5) is still closed and many homes in SW Washington and NW Oregon are still awaiting searches and hopefully rescues of people and animals. To get back to Vancouver/Portland areas, one has to take a 400+ mile detour through Ellensburg, Yakima, Richland WA then down through the Columbia Gorge. During this time, our ARES folks and hams in general, showed the populace our ability to communicate with "old fashioned" technology and just plain perseverance. The new WWA Section Manager, Jim Pace, K7CEX, lives in Centralia so he really got his baptisim by fire (or should it be flood water?). Jim is OK and lives far enough above the river that he has no flooding but has to commute by boat! All in all, it has been a rough week out here. I hope this is our winter excitement. We need a break to clean up and get things back to normal...what ever that is. 73 Jim Fenstermaker K9JF

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[arrl-odv:16209] Assorted Honduras Tales from HQ2A
by Richard J. Norton 08 Dec '07

08 Dec '07

Non-business report follows - 1) Honduras Background N6TJ had E-mailed HR2DX, president of the Radio Club Honduras, about the possibility of operating from the club station, HR2RCH. Jim was concerned about his 9Y4AA license status, as the Amateur Radio licenses in Trinidad were transferred from one government department to another. Trinidad got straightened out, and Jim asked me if I would be interested in HR. Without any other good options, I said, "Yes." The RCH voted to allow me to come, and with a two 3-500Z tube donation, I was accepted. 2) Host, HR2J Two days before I left the USA, got an E-mail saying that Javier Pinel, HR2J, offered to let me stay at his QTH, and even use his station if desired. I thought this might be a good idea and took him up. Check him out on QRZ.COM. Javier was born in Honduras, operated a travel agency in Seattle for a good number of years where he was also the honorary Honduras Counsel, and returned to HR after closing the business. He was a great host and appeared to be happy to have someone to talk with. QTH was on a very small lot in the good part of San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras. His station was a TS-480 or something, with a detachable front panel that he liked, driving an Ameritron 811H. Has a small tri-bander up 40 feet that is 10 or so feet above his tin roof, with inverted-Vs with included angles so small they really were 2-meter V-beams. Has power-line noise. A W7PHO DX-net certificate adorned his wall. 3) Club Station, HR2RCH The RCH has its own clubhouse, situated on about 1/4 acre, about two miles south of HR2J's. It sports a big meeting room, where the members meet every Monday night. There is an office, a classroom, two bathrooms, and a shack. A family that lives in a small house in the rear, guards and cleans the place. It is heavily locked, and a PITA to get in and out of. The location is along what is the circumferential divided highway around San Pedro. Traffic is heavy and large trucks and buses are frequent. There is line noise. The tower is a self-supporting, tapered, 60-footer, with a TH-7 on top. An 80-meter inverted-V was at 50 feet, and a 40-meter inverted-V was at 30 feet 4) Choice of Station On Wednesday night, I could hear 3 QSOs on 40 CW at HR2J's. There were 20 or so audible at HR2RCH. RCH was selected. Note that there was no room for a beverage at either location. 5) Putting Up the 160-Meter Dipole Brought 160-meter dipole and 100 feet of feedline to at least make a few QSOs on the band. Wasn't feeling like climbing the tower on Friday morning. Javier recruited the teenager from the family in back to climb. The horizontal tower members were pretty far apart, and he went up inside the tower. He was told to hang the balun off the west side of the tower, just like the 80-meter one on the east side. He pulled the antenna up, and I assumed he was tying it off. I looked up, and he was sending the balun with wires and coax, all tangled up, back down the tower, keeping some combination of coax and wire on top. Yelled at Javier to tell him what to do. The kid kept coming down the tower. Said he had to go to the bathroom, and was never seen again. Javier then went over to the fire department across the street and recruited two firemen for the job. One went up and attached the antenna while I was inside. Gave them $5 each and they left. The installation looked a little funny, so I looked through my binoculars to see that they had wrapped the balun, coax, and wire combination around a tower leg, and everything was electrically shorted together. I returned to the shack, somewhat dejected. Daniel, HR2DMR, Honduras's most enthusiastic contester came by, and was recruited. Daniel borrowed Javier's strap-on sandals, and up he went. The balun was tied off, at least electrically correctly. One end of the 160M dipole went to a tree in the median strip of the circumferential highway. It would take several minutes to get an opening in traffic big enough to cross. The other end went across the side street, and was tied to a fence at the fire station. That end got cut off at some unknown time, probably by firemen, and attached to an electric pole. They did something with the end insulator and some number of feet of the wire, which are still in Honduras. 6) 160 Meter Operation On the second night, things were going pretty slowly on 40 and 80. Decided to spend some time on 160, where I would at least give out the HR multiplier. Was going to try to get zone 3, and return. The line noise was horrible, and every contact was like pulling teeth. After over an hour, I had worked 51 stations, none in zone 3 or outside the local area. Thought I had at least made a few guys happy. At the radio club meeting on Monday, HR2DMR reported that he made a few hundred QSOs on 160 with 100 watts and a sloper 40-feet high at its peak. Had many Europeans and was proud to have worked EY8MM. Aaargh. 7) Contest Overview The bad. Only set up the station starting on Thursday. The good. Only set up the station starting on Thursday. With the line noise, wouldn't have done better enough to have been worth more effort. Of course the noise peaked toward Europe. Of high bands pointed the antenna southeast to a place where I could at least hear. Saw an Icom IC-765 in HR2J's junk room. Commandeered it. It appeared to have a 500 Hz CW filter, but not a 250 Hz one. There was no noise blanker. At least it seemed better in the high density contest environment than the TS-440 or TS-570 available in the club. The 3-500Zs were installed in the Swan Mark-I amp. The blower sounded like a vacuum cleaner, and the relays didn't look like they wanted to be switched 10s of thousands of times. HR2J lent me his Al-811H, which was quiet and operated well, albeit putting out a few less watts. 8) Some operating Details. Started on 20, which was a mistake. Couldn't get anything going. Went to 40. After 4 hours, had 600 QSOs as opposed to 800 last year from P40T. Had a better antenna, better location, and better radio then. Slept total of 4 hours, 1.5 plus 2.5, both on Saturday night. Didn't look like the result would warrant 47.5 hours of effort, and I'm glad I slept. Had one 30-minute opening on 10 to the USA the first day. 9) Honduras With the decline in the value of the US dollar, one feels that things are expensive in most of the world. You can still feel rich in Honduras. Example. At Momo's Restaurant in Ruinas Copan, saw fillet mignon on the menu for $6.50. Ordered it expecting some small tough piece of beef. It was large and tender, and so good that I ordered it again the following night. Main tourist attractions are the Mayan ruins at Copan Ruinas, which are OK, and beach islands. Roatan Island has established diving spots, and also hosts HQ9R/WQ7R. After the contest Javier drove me to Tela, a beach resort town 1.5 hours from San Pedro. Have a potential beach vertical hotel location available that maybe our group will use next year for CQWW phone. Will have to schlep all the antennas and equipment. Javier has driven it from the USA a few times. 10 days from Seattle. Hmmm. 10) Certain Statistics 6-bands with: N2NL, W3BGN, K4AB, K4FK, W3LPL, KC1XX, N3AD, J3A, HC8N, HI3A, N3RS Never heard once: 8P5A Never worked on 160 or 10: Europe or zone 3. Heard N6AA at start on 20. Thought N6VI was using my callsign. Later when I worked N6VI, assumed I was hallucinating earlier. N6TR explanation that he was there for the first hour restored self image of sanity. Worked over 10 people worked who will be at the next ARRL Board meeting: K1ZZ, N3KN, K5UR, K0QB, N2FF, K0BJ, K9JF/7, K1KI, K9KM, N6VI, NN1N Missed Honduras on two bands. Tried to get HR2/LT0E to QSY, but he never responded. 11) 21st Century CW Worked HR2DX on 10 meters. At club meeting Monday, thanked him for the QSO, and reported that he sounded proficient. He said he didn't know CW at all, and was using "Mix-W," which I assume is a computer program, to copy and send. 12) Radio Club Honduras Enthusiastic group. They actually meet every Monday night. Thanked me for coming and putting their station on the air. They want to do an expedition to Swan Island next March. They want guys to come. It's not a DXCC country any longer. Suggested they go during the IOTA Contest in July, but their trip appears to be planned for a Honduran holiday week when they are all available to participate. If interested, let me know. 13) Summary Had a good time. Worked more guys than I would have if I had stayed home, and had a higher score than N6RO's MM. The RCH location in San Pedro was a little too noisy. I'd return to HR at the coast, and may well do that. HR2J would be a good in-country interface. 73, Dick

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[arrl-odv:16208] FW: Custom award program is now LIVE
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 07 Dec '07

07 Dec '07

Hi, We are pleased to announce this new product line. Much of this thinking was a result of the Future Revenue Committee of the Board. Here's Bob's email. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer From: Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 5:05 PM To: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B Cc: Fusaro, Norm W3IZ; Hurtado, Amy KB1NXO; Patton, David NN1N Subject: Custom award program is now LIVE Harold, Our new custom award program is now LIVE. ARRL is pleased to introduce custom awards for clubs, groups and individuals for recognition and achievement. The program includes a selection of awards in a range of styles and price levels. Each award includes the ARRL logo and additional customization such as name, call sign, club, event name, occasion, etc. Orders can be placed online with Barker Specialty Company--our official partner for ARRL logo merchandise. Visit www.barkerstores.com/arrl to browse the new items. Amy Hurtado worked hard to pull this program together. Norm Fusaro assisted Amy with identifying the initial selection of products for the program which includes a leather keychain, wood pen and pencil set, wooden plaque, clock, and crystal globe. All of these items make great awards or gifts. The items can also be paired with other ARRL merchandise such as embroidered shirts, jackets and hats. Bob

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[arrl-odv:16207] Re:Web Story on R2 Band Plan
by Henry R. Leggette 07 Dec '07

07 Dec '07

An excellent story for the ARRL web, Letter and etc. I am proud Joel and others wrote and contributed in order to defuse the rumor mills on the bands. I am especially appreciative of the "Total E-mail by Divisions". I also received two letter or e-mails which were also in a form letter. Joel mention a few days ago concerning 73 Magazine and Wayne Greene making negative comments about ARRL. He further stated they are gone, now. It concerns me if CQ Editor Moseson maybe seeing down the same tunnel? I will try to think positive about all that negative comments Mosesen made. 73, Henry - WD4Q ----- Original Message ----- From: Joel Harrison To: arrl-odv Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 9:53 PM Subject: Web Story on R2 Band Plan Tomorrow, the attached story will be placed on ARRLWeb as well as appear in the ARRL Letter. The Vice President's (Kay, Rick, Rod & Dave) and I worked up and agreed on the story. This information is public information and may be distributed and/or used in any necessary replies to members (and non-members) in your division, but of course it will be on the web and in the ARRL Letter. This evening I went back and reviewed the emails I have received regarding this matter. The email I received was all the same form letter email. This is provided for info only. I'm not looking for analysis and I don't believe any conclusion can be drawn from it so please don't waste your time looking for one. Again, this is just for info only. In each response, the appropriate division director was copied on my response. Total Emails (all the same form letter email) - 51 Breakdown by Division: Atlantic - 7 Central - 4 Dakota - 1 Delta - 2 Great Lakes - 5 Hudson - 1 Midwest - 1 New England - 9 Northwest - 5 Pacific - 2 Roanoke - 6 Rocky Mountain - 0 Southeast - 5 Southwest - 2 West Gulf - 1 Email from Members - 33 (1 Diamond Club) Email from Non-members - 18 Members - 64.7% Non-members - 35.3% Of the non-members, the breakdown is this: Never been a member - 4 Membership lapsed 1-5 years - 6 Membership lapsed 5-10 years - 2 Membership lapsed 15-20 years - 2 Membership lapsed 20-25 years - 3 Membership lapsed >25 years - 1 After my response, 19 responded by saying thank you for clarifying the matter and setting the record straight. 5 responded (all non-members) and said I was a liar and there was no response from the remaining 27. 73 Joel W5ZN

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Sorry..here's the form.
by Shelley, Barry, N1VXY 07 Dec '07

07 Dec '07

Its Friday afternoon.... <<2008 Travel Expense Form.xls>>

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