August 2007 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:15904] Re:2007 ARRL National Convention
by dick＠pobox.com 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

20 AUG 2007 - 1235 CDT I do not normally chime in on an officers' report, but Joel's report of the youth activities is right on target. As luck would have it, I was sitting in the Development booth when the hoard of very enthusiastic young rabbit hunters arrived. It was fun to watch Joel getting a through shake-down by hunters. I was also a "rare 9 callsign" in the youth callsign scavenger hunt. (I only saw five "9-land" callsigns the whole weekend.) I enjoyed answering their questions and helping the kids to correctly write down my callsign and State. My hat's off to all the ARRL staff members and member volunteers who worked long hours to make the 2007 ARRL National Convention a great success. - Dick, W9GIG

1 0

RE: 2007 ARRL National Convention
by Joel Harrison 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

I have been chastised by one Vice Director (sorry Andy) for not mentioning Vice Directors in my email about the national convention. It was not intentional, just an oversight. If you were offended, I apologize. Joel

1 0

2007 ARRL National Convention
by Joel Harrison 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

I trust those of you attending the ARRL National Convention in Huntsville arrived home safely, or are safely returning. Coy left yesterday morning to return home where, as a result of the tropical depression in the gulf, received 9 inches of rain in his home town that prompted flooding, including his basement. Coy - hope the damage is not too severe and you and Judy arrive safely. For those of you that were unable to attend the convention, it was great! While we don't yet have attendance numbers, my perception is it was up significantly from last years Huntsville Hamfest. The ARRL Expo area was a big hit and traffic through the area was heavy. Huntsville always has a well rounded group of forums. The ARRL Membership forum room was full. I did not count the number of attendees, but here were several. There were a number of SM's in attendance as well. A number of good questions were asked at the conclusion of the forum and there were no complaints. In fact, I heard no complaints over the entire weekend. There may have been some, but they weren't expressed to me and if there were, I'm sure they were addressed and resolved given the group Directors, Officers, SM's and staff that we had on hand in the expo area. There was a considerable amount of excitement and competitive action in the expo area as well with approximately 25 youth involved in our youth area. Several transmitter hunts were held with the "rabbit" being placed in a different location each time. At one point, I was surrounded by about 5 kids with HT's demanding that I let them look into the podium I was standing. A bit confused, I noticed they each had an HT and had tracked the signal to my area, and when they reached the area and the identified the signal being full scale knew to remove the antenna from the HT to further define the area of search. When I raised the podium and they saw nothing was there, one kid demanded I empty my pockets on the table!! I laughed, but complied with his wish to further disappoint them. Unknown to me, the "rabbit" was in the Develop booth just behind me. In a few moments, a young lady refined her search sufficiently to discover the transmitter. The excitement of these kids using ham radio in a competitive event was quite impressive and we all enjoyed watching the action. A number of the kids won great prizes as well. Here is a snip from an email I received last night from ARRL Member KD5YP whose 8 year old grandson passed his Technician Class exam on Saturday at the Convention (he's now studying for his General!): "As you remember, Griffin at age 8 got his Tech. license Saturday morning. Shortly before the hamfest closed on Sunday, he won a dual band antenna from the kids corner at ARRL, then on another drawing at the kids corner, he won a Yaesu FT 60 R/E handi talkie. He was really excited. I wouldn't have taken anything for being there and seeing that. Thanks to ARRL for supporting this great activity and Convention." I saw Griffin walking out with his new antenna and from the look on his face you would have thought he had won $10,000! Actual attendance and sales figures will be available later as Bob Inderbitzen returns and has an opportunity to finalize things. I want to take this opportunity to thank the staff for their dedication and support in organizing the ARRL Expo for the National Convention and for all of the hard work in staffing it as well. An event like this just doesn't happen, and Bob Inderbitzen and his team did an outstanding job. I also want to thank each of you for your work and support as well. The board had a good presence in the Expo area, forums and all of the activities over the weekend. GAREC was also a great success, with over 100 attendees at the conference. Thanks again to all. 73 Joel W5ZN

1 0

[arrl-odv:15901] Thanks for cards & messages
by Kay Craigie 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

I'd like to thank everybody for the cards, messages, and good thoughts while I've been recovering from surgery. I'm making surprisingly good progress, all things considered, and I'll be ready to participate in the ARRL delegation to Brasilia next month. The other good news is that having been on a very restricted diet, I lost 10 pounds. Next time, though, I think I'll go to Weight Watchers. 73 - Kay N3KN

1 0

[arrl-odv:15900] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

<<081507.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 30, No. 33 August 15, 2007 -- Covers the period August 5-11. Upcoming Meetings and Events United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 8-12 - ARRL HQ Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 16 in Newington, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The specific PAVE PAWS mitigation information letter has been edited and approved. We will also include information on directional antennas put together by Zack Lau in the Lab (thanks Zack). Dean Straw, N6BV, was scheduled to visit Sacrament from San Francisco at the end of the week to work on confirming the identification of some repeaters in question. These letters will begin being sent August 13. We also confirmed with the DoD that the lack of any corrections to the PAVE PAWS list is the result of the staffer who will work on those currently working on another project. The current plan, proposed by Fred Moorefield of the DoD, is that after the individual mitigation letters go out, there will be another conference call early after Labor Day to discuss the next steps. Electronic submissions for Field Day from the Web applet now total 1797. During the week the non-applet electronic submission emails were opened and summaries printed. The data entry for those entries and the remaining paper entries should be done during the week of August 13. I also sent out approximately 75 emails to electronic submissions that were incomplete and required additional information in order to be reported and included with the results. We continue to watch PRB-1 cases in Palmdale and Poway, California. There were a routine number of phone calls and emails requesting information on reciprocal operating, general PRB-1 queries, and a couple of grandfathering questions related to licensing. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Draft concepts for technical aid work with a major retailer have been collected and passed on to Mary Hobart, with whom we will work to create a formal letter. Leonard Award announcement and Media Hits were sent on to QST for their October issue. A draft of the concepts for 2008 campaign and a prototype website featuring technological contributions of hams is being circulated among the PR committee and meeting set with key HQ staff. The final preparations are done for presentations at GAREC and the convention. Inquiries from or regarding the Red Cross should first be coordinated with Dennis Dura as well as Allen Pitts. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Development Team is preparing for the important 2008 Spectrum Defense campaign that is expected to mail the first week in September to all members, with some testing of special member segments of the file. The Diamond Club continues to grow with strong fall renewals starting to come in. Development is working with Allen Pitts and Dennis Dura on a possible emcomm funding project and with Education on the future growth of the Teachers Institute and the funding requirements dictated by that growth. One radio club has expressed interest in a full Teachers Institute in their area and are willing to fully fund it. Interest in a second off-site Teachers Institute has been expressed by a Florida science museum. The new membership web pages have produced a small influx of contributions - a good sign for the effectiveness of presenting the additional giving option at the point where hams join or renew their membership support. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The September/October issues of NCJ and QEX have been released to the printer. Khrystyne Keane wrote and prepared the ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 32, for Friday, August 10. It was distributed to 65,293 members, an increase of 164 over last week. Khrystyne also voiced and produced the August 10 edition of ARRL Audio News. There will be no ARRL Audio News on Friday, August 17. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R July membership ended at 151,695, the highest membership total since December 2004. The month saw brisk returns to the 100,000 piece membership mailing (mailed in June), which included licensees that have upgraded throughout the last 6 months-many new General and Extra class licensees. The mailing has returned 1,882 new members to date. July product sales were $228,901; exceeding the reforecast by $21,067. It was the best July, by a sizeable margin, when compared to recent years. Most of the product categories outperformed our planning. The direct and dealer split is nearly the same as 2006-meaning the gains were enjoyed across both customer groups. Our planning is complete for the ARRL National Convention in Huntsville, August 18-19. Both local hotels have sold out. Our convention team of Officers, Directors, Vice Directors, Section Managers and staff has topped 80 people. We're looking forward to a great event. An email solicitation sent to members on Friday generated web orders totaling $16,777 (excluding shipping and tax). Over 360 orders were received throughout the weekend-150 directly attributed to the solicitation. The fulfillment and warehouse teams are busy keeping up with this surge. On Friday, August 3, a major enhancement to our shipping options was integrated into the online web store. The on-line catalog check-out will now allow customers to select one of the FedEx shipping options that we support, which are: US/Canada - standard overnight, 2-day; and International - international priority, international mail service. Rates for these services are acquired directly from the FedEx Internet gateway in real time, enhancing our service to customers. In addition, staff will no longer have to manually find the shipping charges when Web customers choose FedEx options. Special thanks to Jon Bloom and the Web/Siebel Integration Team for their contributions to this new enhancement. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N QSL Branch There is no delay in opening mail and a 1 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 87 pounds of cards were received from members. W1AW Thanks to Bill Moore, NC1L and Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG for their running of the morning code transmissions for the vacationing Joe Carcia. On Sunday, 8/12, Mike Tracy, KC1SX hosted at W1AW the meeting of the NE QRP Association. Although NE QRP members were present, no one operated W1AW/qrp. Prior to vacation, Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also created the texts for the August W1AW Qualifying Runs. He processed one Qualifying Run endorsement. Joe also processed and uploaded logs to LoTW for contacts made the previous week. He also temporarily installed the Hamtronics R139 NOAA satellite receiver in the main area for use during the "Teacher's Institute" classes. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month of August. He also assisted the DXCC department with checking 119 database-inputted cards against DXCC applications. Scott also worked the early afternoon shifts. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams is in the process of updating the Field Organization data base per instructions from Section Leaders. Fifteen new Field appointments were added and over 30 appointment supply packages were sent out. The deadline for receipt of San Francisco Section Manger election ballots is getting closer (Friday, August 17), and Team members will count the ballots on August 21. Steve Ewald is working on the Public Service column for October QST while Field Organization reports continue to arrive during the first half of the month. The 2007 SET guidelines and reporting forms for this fall's exercises have been updated and are posted on the ARRL Web page to coincide with September QST's announcement. Preparations are underway for the next SM teleconference to be held later this month, and it will be with the SMs from the Northwestern Division. Chuck Skolaut notes that an Official Observer from Nebraska sent documentation this week regarding a station that was the subject of an earlier long-standing FCC monitoring request. The information was forwarded to the FCC. Several reports on unlicensed truckers using the low end of 10 meters were received from a radio operator in Texas. We received the monthly IARU monitoring report Regions 1 and 3. Additional data has been documented by OOs on previously reported cases of boot-legged calls signs, and an unidentified time-tone type signal on 17 and 15 meters has been heard. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ I've been continuing my investigation of new on-line course platforms, talking to WebEx, Learn.com, Angel Learning while Rose-Anne and I have been finishing the reorganization and updating of the Web pages for Scouts, JOTA and School Club Roundup. Through her research on the Scouting Web pages, Rose-Anne has now become the ARRL contact person for scouting information. We've hosted two Teachers Institutes during the past two weeks here at HQ and I've enjoyed many conversations with teachers who have told me about the school environment they come from and how they are thinking using ham radio in their classrooms. Our guest TI participant, Wally Banzhaf, WB1ANE sat in to learn about teachers' classroom contexts and their instructional needs as background for his development of a new edition of our publication, Understanding Basic Electronics, which he will be revising for publication next year. Jennie has completed the task of preparing and distributing new Emergency Communications Level 2 tests for offsite test sessions. Education & Technology Program Mark reports that changes to the curriculum for the Teachers Institutes were well received this summer. Forty-eight teachers representing 45 schools participated in the four Teachers Institutes offered this summer. Though the TI is not focused on licensing, during the last two sessions at HQ, 4 teachers have made an effort to take the exam and have received their license, and two others have upgraded to General. It's clear that the teachers are seeing the benefits that amateur radio can bring to their classroom instruction. ARISS Two Malaysian doctors who are new hams will be traveling to the Space Station under the Malaysian National Angkasawan Programme with Russia. ARISS Team member Samburov trained both on radio operation and QSO procedures. As of Aug 7, Astronaut Clay had handled 6 successful ARISS QSOs. A successful ARISS QSO took place at the 21st World Scout Jamboree (40,000 scouts) in Chelmsford, England, via special event station GB100J. The Jamboree station handled hundreds of QSOs from July 27 to August 8 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of scouting, which originated in England. Volunteer Examiner Coordinator Reported by Maria Somma, AB1FM The VE Honor Roll will debut in September QST on page 40. It will run quarterly in September, December, March and June. The honor roll recognizes the top 25 VEs according to the total number of exam sessions they have participated in since their accreditation. We also express our appreciation to all our Volunteers for their generous contributions to the ARRL VEC program. The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) conference was held on July 27th in Gettysburg, PA. Representatives of 11 of the nation's 14 Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) gathered for the 22nd annual conference. This yearly gathering offers an opportunity for VECs to discuss issues facing the volunteer examination program and to meet face-to-face with FCC staff members. The ARRL's delegation to the conference included ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM; Assistant Manager Perry Green, WY1O, and Regulatory Information Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. Also on hand were five FCC staff members: Donna Scott, Sandy Eckenrode, Terry Fishel, Bill Cross, W3TN, and Riley Hollingsworth. Cross and Hollingsworth addressed the conference. Cross reviewed recent Commission rule decisions that have affected VECs. Hollingsworth spoke about enforcement activity in Amateur Radio and mentioned that the enforcement bureau now has its own webpage at the FCC which lists all the enforcement activities. The NCVEC re-elected all the current representatives to new terms for 2007/2008. For the full story see the ARRL web http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/08/13/100/?nc=1. We have processed over 2,100 vanity renewals for members since we began offering this vanity license renewal service in May of 2006. We have also processed over 300 Club vanity license renewals. VE Patch sales are up 69% over same period last year ($1,108 YTD 2007 / $656 YTD 2006). The below stats show our accomplishments so far this year. I included information from the same period last year for a comparison. In most sections of our program, we have seen a considerable increase in activity. ARRL VEC ACTIVITY Jan 1 to July 31, 2006 Jan 1 to July 31, 2007 Test Sessions Held 3,258 4,145 Candidates Served 16,954 32,373 Exam Elements Taken 20,572 38,127 New VEs Accredited 782 1,364 New and Upgrade License application forms transmitted to FCC 11,431 25,354 License Renewals and Changes transmitted to FCC 2958 (341 were Vanity license renewals) 4637 (516 were Vanity license renewals) Club License applications transmitted to FCC 587 (29 were Club Vanity license renewals) (238 new clubs) 812 (121 were Club Vanity license renewals) (323 new clubs) VE Newsletter Subscribers 4,875 5,640 Donations collected by VEC n/a 23 Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Micah Murray and Hugh Brower continue to refine the membership screens and credit-card processing as they tackle problems that are of decreasing impact but that ultimately need to be fixed. Micah also spent substantial time on routine Web page maintenance. Hugh is discussing with Mary Hobart and LouAnn Campanello ways of implementing recurring billing such as Diamond Club monthly/quarterly pledges that will be trackable by Comptroller's. Hugh continues to work on the AT&T/BellSouth problem with bulletin/newsletter delivery. At this point, it looks like we may need to make some changes in the way we send messages to those ISPs in order to work around the issues. My principal focus has continued to be on putting together the information and components needed for pushing membership data into Siebel. (I could probably copy/paste that sentence into my weekly reports for a while to come!) I also fixed a few Logbook gotchas. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 9/3 Holiday Leona Adams 8/17 Vacation Jon Bloom 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/23-8/24q Vacation `` 9/26-10/5 Vacation Hugh Brower 9/7-9/14 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 9/4-9/10 Vacation Joe Carcia 8/17 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation Dennis Dura 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Norm Fusaro 8/20-8/27 Japan Ham Fair, Tokyo, Japan Scott Gee 8/20 Vacation `` 9/4 Vacation `` 9/21 Vacation Mike Gruber 10/1-10/5 Vacation Joel Hallas 8/20-8/24 Vacation Ed Hare 8/17-8/20 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/22 Ambient Corp, Boston, MA `` 8/24-8/26 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV `` 8/27-8/28 Vacation Dan Henderson 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation `` 9/21-10/1 Wash. State Conv., Spokane, WA/PC NW VHF Conf., OR Mary Hobart 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/20 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation `` 8/31 Vacation `` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS `` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL `` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN Gail Iannone 8/17-8/31 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 8/16 Vacation `` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/20 Vacation Joel Kleinman 9/6-9/15 Vacation Zak Lau 8/16-8/24 Vacation Monique Levesque 8/30-9/4 Vacation Bill Moore 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Patton 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL AnnMarie Pinto 8/13-8/24 Vacation Allen Pitts 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/20 Vacation `` 8/30-8/31 Vacation John Proctor 9/27-10/9 Vacation Barry Shelley 8/10-8/24 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 8/18-8/22 Kansas State Convention, Salina, KS/Vacation Maria Somma 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Sumner 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/8-9/15 IARU Reg. 2 Conference, Brasilia Mike Tracy 9/7-9/14 Vacation `` 10/26 Vacation Perry Williams 7/19-9/4 Vacation Larry Wolfgang 8/13-8/21 Vacation

1 0

[arrl-odv:15899] Re: Fwd: Reply to Opposition to Informal Objection: Ambient Corporation
by Tom Frenaye 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

At 11:42 AM 8/15/2007, w3kd(a)aol.com wrote: >Greetings. Continuing our effort to keep pressure on the worst BPL companies, the following is self-explanatory. We have been engaged in a pleading war with Ambient about this experimental authorization, which expired August 1, 2007. However, since Ambient timely filed an application for renewal, they can continue to operate the Briarcliff Manior, NY system until FCC adjudiates our informal objection to the renewal. Chris - Nicely done! Hasn't Ambient also had an obligation to file timely reports to the FCC on their (now expired) experimental license? I didn't see any mention that they failed to do - have they actually been making the filings? -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

1 0

[arrl-odv:15898] Fwd: Reply to Opposition to Informal Objection: Ambient Corporation
by w3kd＠aol.com 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

Greetings. Continuing our effort to keep pressure on the worst BPL companies, the following is self-explanatory. We have been engaged in a pleading war with Ambient about this experimental authorization, which expired August 1, 2007. However, since Ambient timely filed an application for renewal, they can continue to operate the Briarcliff Manior, NY system until FCC adjudiates our informal objection to the renewal. The informal objection, as I hope I previously explained, is the only procedural method of objecting to an experimental authorization, per the FCC's Part 5 rules. ? This document is public and can be circulated at your discretion. 73, Chris W3KD -----Original Message----- From: w3kd(a)aol.com To: Kathryn.Berthot(a)fcc.gov; Julius.Knapp(a)fcc.gov; James.Burtle(a)fcc.gov; george.wheeler(a)hklaw.com Cc: dsumner(a)arrl.org; prinaldo(a)arrl.org; ehare(a)arrl.org; w5zn(a)arrl.org Sent: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:38 am Subject: Reply to Opposition to Informal Objection: Ambient Corporation Greetings. The attached pleading?is being filed today by courier, and service copies are being mailed as per the certificate of service attached. It is filed by ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio. Should any question arise concerning this filing, kindly notify undersigned counsel for ARRL. 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 AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.

1 0

[arrl-odv:15897] DirecTV and BPL
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

Today's Wall Street Journal carries a brief article about an agreement reached between TV satellite provider DirecTV and Current Group LLC to market BPL Internet and VoIP service as part of a bundled package. I'm sure that will stir some concern in our community, but there is no reason to panic. As a longtime DirecTV customer I can understand why bundling and marketing Internet/VoIP service with their TV satellite service makes sense for DirecTV. They have similar agreements with several phone companies to resell Internet service. The Wall Street Journal article makes no suggestion that the DirecTV agreement will bring BPL to new areas. It is simply an agreement to market the service in areas that Current is already building out, i.e. for now, Cincinnati and Dallas-Fort Worth. ARRL's only concern about BPL is the interference potential. In that regard, the approach that Current has taken to date -- limiting its use of the medium-voltage lines to 30-50 MHz and using the HomePlug standard to avoid the HF ham bands on the low-voltage drop -- has been satisfactory. If the FCC mandated what Current has been doing we would be quite happy. In short, we can be glad that DirecTV chose to align itself with a BPL company that has taken the interference problem seriously and has a good track record of avoiding interference in the amateur bands. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

1 0

[arrl-odv:15896] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 13 Aug '07

13 Aug '07

<<080807.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 30, No. 32 August 8, 2007 -- Covers the period July 29-August 4. Upcoming Meetings and Events United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 8-12 - ARRL HQ Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 16 in Newington, CT CEO Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ I would like to thank (even if it is a little past the time) the individuals that helped her make the Board Meeting run smoothly. A special thank you to Greg Kwasowski for driving the van; to Maryann Macdonald and Margie Bourgoin for helping with the Board books; to Penny Harts for helping with the goodie table in the lobby; to Khrystyne Keane for taking pictures at the hotel and to those who made hotel runs during the day on Friday. Special acknowledgement and thanks to Andy Shefrin for working with the Marriott technicians in making all presentation and computer equipment run like a charm. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The first draft of the next Pave Paws mitigation letter was written and is being edited / revised. The letter will provide specific details on each repeater to the owner and are scheduled to be sent during the week of August 6. Several projects were also tackled during the week. The new VC/VCE certificate proofs were received, accepted and given to purchasing for ordering. There were several general PRB-1/CC&R, reciprocal operating and rules questions handled via email and the telephone. There were also several updates/changes for items on ARRL Regulatory Information web pages that were sent to Web Services to be handled. Electronic submissions for Field Day from the Web applet now total 1795. By the end of the week of August 6, the non-applet electronic submissions should be printed and ready to enter into the database. As of Monday August 6, there were 186 Field Day Online Soapbox entries on the website. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Final arrangements and materials are being prepared for the conventions next week. The design for the billboard donated by Cliff Segar, KD4GT, was acceptable with him and has gone on to the printing company making up the sign which will appear 10x24 on I-40 in Tennessee. The second round of conversations with WalMart Emergency Operations Center managers have been positive and a draft proposal is being created. Initial ideas for the 2008 PR campaign are being shared and having positive responses. A coordinating/planning meeting with other departments is being arranged. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH July was highlighted by the official opening of the Diamond Terrace at ARRL, and also by the continuing financial growth of the ARRL Diamond Club. While the number of Diamond Club members remained level, the revenue generated by the program continues to climb. Revenues for July 2007 (after deducting membership dues) reached $36,198, compared to $10,272 for July 2006. The number of new Diamond Club members reached 89 in July 2007, compared to only 24 in July 2006. The average contributions for new members and renewing members registered $231 and $284 respectively -- substantial increases over 2006 average contributions for the same month. For the first seven months of 2007 the Diamond Club has reached $204,983 in revenues (after deducting membership dues) compared to $97,915 for the first seven months of 2006. Revenues from new and renewing Diamond Club members are up134% and 83% respectively. The next group of 60 brick requests for the Diamond Terrace have been sent to the vendor for inscription. The next major project on the horizon is the 2008 Spectrum Defense Fund campaign scheduled to mail in early September. Development has been participating in the launch of the new membership web project which includes the Diamond Club. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE QST Technical Editor Joel Hallas gave two presentations at the Texas State Convention in Austin this past weekend. Khrystyne Keane wrote and prepared the ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 31, for Friday, August 3. It was distributed to 65,793 members. Khrystyne also voiced and produced the August 3 edition of ARRL Audio News. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, TIS Tony Nesta, the Lab's part-time administrative assistant, will now be working from 12 to 5 PM, four days a week, to help provide better phone coverage during lunch hour and from 4 to 5 PM. He is he staff expert on providing article copies. Anthony is also looking for dead links on the TIS web pages. Zack Lau is sending updates for the TIS pages to the web staff. Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke Advertising sales for the October issue of QST are off to a very good start. Several proposals that we presented to clients were accepted and commence with this issue. Both LDG and HamPros will feature two-page spreads. Kenwood USA will be showcasing a new product, using a bind-in, perforated two-page flier. And DX Engineering, who places a full page advertisement each month has agreed to slowly increase their advertising by adding a 1/3 page on the facing page of their existing ad. Over the next several months their additional space will grow to an additional 2/3 page and finally increase to an ongoing two-page spread. Dealer book sales continued to be robust in July with increased orders from amazon.com. We are preparing a new Dealer Newsline, announcing the latest new products and, as usual, will follow up with telephone calls to procure orders. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N With regret, we bid Tom Hogerty, KC1J farewell. Tom has worked for the League for nearly 20 years and most recently in the MVP Department as Contest Branch Manager for the past year. He will be missed by his fellow co-workers and friends. We wish him well in his new endeavors. The Membership & Volunteer Programs Department welcomes Dennis Dura, K2DCD as our Emergency Preparedness & Response Manager. We wish him well in his new position. Awards Branch Category June 2007 July 2007 Year-to-Date Year End Goal WAS Certificates (Manual) 37 24 187 282 WAS Certificates (LoTW) 13 20 149 295 A-1 Op Nominations 75 23 310 601 A-1 Op Certificates 31 9 145 288 Extra Class Certificates 6 3 145 194 WAC Certificates 3 35 174 313 VUCC New / Grids 10/1,204 11/1,460 48/6,699 144/13,581 VUCC Endorsement/Grids 3/141 8/211 56/2,799 109/6,533 Processing Time 6 Weeks 7 Weeks 2 Weeks DXCC Branch Category June 2007 July 2007 Year-to-Date Year End Goal Credits Processed 59,027 69,685 362,700 622,215 Credits Received 59,210 42,698 361,475 622,342 Apps. Returned 622 650 3,584 5,643 Apps. Received 452 401 3,483 5,643 Apps. Pending 960 756 761 599 Processing Time 10 Weeks 8 Weeks 3 Weeks Contest Branch Incoming logs for Field Day have slowed to a trickle. Here are the totals to date: Type of Submission # of Submissions Web Applet 1,794 Robot 951 Paper Submissions to be Entered 220 Paper Submissions Entered 229 Total 3,194 IARU logs continue to come in at a steady rate: Type of Submission # of Submissions Electronic 443 Paper 78 Total 521 The rules for the 2007 November Sweepstakes have been posted to the Web site. The Contest announcement has been sent to Production for inclusion in the October issue of QST. Logbook of the World Category June 2007 July 2007 2006 Year End QSO Records Entered Into System 132,688,128 135,575,770 116,730,953 QSL Record Matches 8,921,327 9,227,274 7,193,911 Logs Processed 392,235 409,873 305,569 Active Certificates 25,164 25,710 21,889 Registered Users in System 16,584 16,960 14,474 Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries June 2007 July 2007 Lost Certificate 96 121 DXCC Status Inquiries 26 45 Data Not Shown 22 49 No TQ6 File Received from LoTW 22 18 Additional Certificate Requests 17 36 Cannot Log on to LoTW User Page 17 18 Cannot Upload Log to LoTW User Page 15 24 No TQ5 File Received by LoTW 15 28 Logbook Server Down 13 1 Incorrect Date Range 12 27 Lost Personal Password 12 13 User Email Problems 12 21 WAS Status Inquiries 12 18 Club Inquiries 11 17 New Callsign Changes 10 14 Cannot Understand Error Messages 9 13 Logbook Startup Inquiries 9 30 Cannot Activate/Load TQ6 Certificate 7 9 Logbook Suggestions 7 7 QSO Downloaded 7 5 Additional Documents Needed 4 5 Need Postcard 4 8 Other Inquiries 85 69 Total Inquiries 444 606 QSL Branch There is no delay in opening mail and a 3 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 66 pounds of cards were received from members. Field Organization/Public Service Team As ARRL HQ welcomed Dennis Dura, K2DCD, to the MVP Department this past week, Section Managers and Section Emergency Coordinators were also introduced to Dennis and welcomed him through the e-mail reflectors. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly ARRL Monitoring System report to the IARU Region 2 coordinator. A radio amateur from Massachusetts has joined the ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch group. A list of recent topics covered in OO advisories along with some guidance concerning them was sent to all OOs and OOCs. Documentation was prepared and forwarded to the FCC regarding complaints arising from operation on 2 meters over a lengthy time period in Arizona. What appears to be a Spanish SWBC station was reported on 14200 kHz. Our monitor stations are investigating. Chuck also helped at W1AW and conducted two tours of HQ for visiting guests and members. Leona e-mailed detailed Section Field Organization appointment reports to each Section Manager for review. This correspondence has generated more input for updating our database. Twenty two new appointments were made along with data changes and appointment cancellations, and new appointee packages were sent out. The Arizona OOC has recruited six new OOs in recent weeks, and the candidates passed their required training. Steve Ewald worked on the on-line Net Directory registrations, and he continues to receive public service reports from all over the country that represent Amateur Radio participation in a variety of summertime public service activities. HQ kept in touch with Minnesota Section Leaders who were following the news of the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis. ARES has not been called to activate in this emergency. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Micah Murray continued to resolve minor glitches and nuances of the new membership application Web system. The system has processed more than 1,000 membership applications so far, most without any difficulty. Micah also continues to work on Web page maintenance and creation. Hugh Brower worked on refining the Web credit-card processing system, used at this point primarily by the new membership system, to further reduce the number of "declines" to only those credit-card submissions that should be declined. Hugh also worked on a recurring problem with delivery of our bulk mail (bulletins, newsletters et al) to e-mail addresses at AT&T and its subsidiary, BellSouth. Returning from vacation, Jon Bloom first instituted a workaround for the failed capability to produce DXCC listings daily. This was caused by a change of servers hosting the DXCC data at HQ, with the new server being incompatible with the Logbook server. (The Logbook server is the machine that reads the DXCC data from the DXCC system and produces the listings.) The failure had also kept Logbook from updating members' Logbook DXCC applications, and the workaround resolved that issue as well. Jon also completed the modification of the on-line catalog check-out system to provide FedEx premium shipping options, with quoted prices, to customers worldwide. Working with Micah and John Proctor, in ISD, Jon spent part of the week putting together more of the information needed to proceed to the next phase of Web/Siebel integration: pushing membership data directly into the Siebel system. This effort, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, will involve re-implementing many of the business rules that Siebel applies during membership data entry. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 9/3 Holiday Leona Adams 8/17 Vacation Jon Bloom 9/26-10/5 Vacation Hugh Brower 9/7-9/14 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 9/4-9/10 Vacation Joe Carcia 8/3-8/10 Vacation `` 8/17 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation Norm Fusaro 8/20-8/27 Japan Ham Fair, Tokyo, Japan Scott Gee 8/20 Vacation `` 9/4 Vacation `` 9/21 Vacation Mike Gruber 8/10-8/13 Vacation `` 10/1-10/5 Vacation Ed Hare 8/17-8/20 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/22 Ambient Corp, Boston, MA `` 8/24-8/26 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV `` 8/27-8/28 Vacation Dan Henderson 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation `` 9/21-10/1 Wash. State Conv., Spokane, WA/PC NW VHF Conf., OR Mary Hobart 8/10 Vacation `` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/20 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation `` 8/31 Vacation `` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS `` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL `` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN Amy Hurtado 8/13-8/15 Vacation Gail Iannone 8/17-8/31 Vacation Karen Isakson 8/6-8/13 Vacation Deb Jahnke 8/6-8/13 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 8/16 Vacation `` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Joel Kleinman 9/6 Vacation `` 9/11-9/15 Vacation Greg Kwasowski 8/6-8/13 Vacation Zak Lau 8/16-8/24 Vacation Monique Levesque 8/6-8/10 Vacation `` 8/30-9/4 Vacation AnnMarie Pinto 8/13-8/24 Vacation Allen Pitts 8/20 Vacation `` 8/30-8/31 Vacation John Proctor 9/27-10/9 Vacation Barry Shelley 8/10-8/24 Vacation Maria Somma 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Sumner 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/8-9/15 IARU Reg. 2 Conference, Brasilia Mike Tracy 9/7-9/14 Vacation `` 10/26 Vacation Perry Williams 7/19-9/4 Vacation Larry Wolfgang 8/13-8/21 Vacation

1 0

RE: [arrl-odv:15888] RE: [arrl-odv:15884] Division election mailings, ideas
by Joel Harrison 09 Aug '07

09 Aug '07

Mike, It is not a matter of cost, it is a matter of ethics. If any candidate wants to speak with an Officer, Director or Vice Director privately, either by email, phone or any means, that is fine. But to do so via a remailer whose purpose is official organizational business is not appropriate. 73 Joel W5ZN -----Original Message----- From: Mike Raisbeck [mailto:raisbeck@comcast.net] Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 8:40 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:15888] RE: [arrl-odv:15884] Division election mailings, ideas Hi Joel, I understand your point, but of course it started me thinking about just where limits might or should be placed. I present to you the following 4 scenarios: 1 - candidate sends campaign related email to the ODV list 2 - candidate compiles a personal email list of everyone on ODV and uses that, rather than sending email to ODV directly a) using each person's arrl.org address b) using each person's arrl.net address c) using each person's non-ARRL address (discovered from the ODV document that lists individual direct email addresses) So, we have 4 cases: In case 1, the ODV list is a private list, which is a League resource. In case 2(a), the board member email addresses are widely disseminated on the internet, but the email addresses are available only to those with official League position. In case 2(b), the email addresses used are available to any League member. In these first 3 cases, the "cost" to the League is identical. The email servers really don't care which one you use!! In case 2(c), it could be argued that no League resources were being used at all, unless one counts the initial peek at the list in the ODV area. However, the real cost (measured in minute fractions of a cent !!) between the first 3 cases and the 4th case is so small that I would argue it to be de minimus. So which if any of these 4 cases should be restricted? I suggest that the differences between these 4 cases are so small as to be meaningless. Each of us on the ODV list knows, by first name, all the other members of the list. If members of the board family want send mail to the list, for whatever purpose they might have, let them do so. Thoughts ??? 73, Mike K1TWF -----Original Message----- From: Brian Mileshosky [mailto:n5zgt@swcp.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 12:12 PM To: arrl-odv Cc: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:15888] RE: [arrl-odv:15884] Division election mailings, ideas Joel -- Thanks for the note. I'll certainly temper my posts accordingly in the future. My apologies. 73, Brian, N5ZGT On Wed, 8 Aug 2007, Joel Harrison wrote: > Brian, > > > > I want to wish you and all of the candidates the best of luck in the coming > months during our 2007 Director/Vice Director election period. > > > > Respectfully, though, I must tell you that your post is not appropriate for > ODV for any Officer, Director or Vice Director. ODV provides an avenue for > you to use at League expense that is not available to others, and is for the > purpose of facilitating ARRL related business, but not activities on behalf > of a candidate for the office of Director or Vice Director. > > > > Please call me if you have any questions. > > > > 73 Joel W5ZN > > ARRL President > > > > > > > > _____ > > From: Brian Mileshosky [mailto:n5zgt@swcp.com] > Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 10:22 PM > To: arrl-odv > Subject: [arrl-odv:15884] Division election mailings, ideas > > > > Ladies and Gentlemen -- > > > > I don't believe there's any problem with sending this type of email to ODV > in terms of appropriateness, as I'm not campaigning for any votes here. My > sincere apologies in advance if I'm wrong. > > > > As you all know, I will be seeking election to Rocky Mountain Division's > director this fall since Rev is hanging up the gloves after all these years. > My opposition will be tough, as he is a well-known section manager of > Colorado - a section that has nearly 50% of the members in my division. > Hence my challenge. > > > > I've been reading candidate statements on the ODV side of the web, and am > picking up lots of ideas there. What I am interested in - for those of you > who've done it before - are ideas for mailings to the membership. I need to > do this. If you sent a mailing to your members, can you please contact me > OFF-LIST and tell me what you did? If you have it in electronic form, I'd > love to see what worked for you. > > > > The main challenge I need to overcome is chipping away at the Colorado base, > somehow. There are no more hamfests in Colorado that I can attend, and I've > consulted a few active hams who told me that there's really no dominant > clubs in Colorado that'd provide a bunch of members at any given club > meeting. So I'm thinking that a darn good mailing, candidate statement and > perhaps a website is all I really have to go off of, along with perhaps a > letter of candidacy to Colorado (and other) clubs for posting on their > websites or newsletter (if they wish). > > > > I'm open for ideas, as I dearly want to be seated at the front row this > January. Your clever and effective ideas would be appreciated (again, > please send off-list and not to ODV). > > > > Thank you and 73, > > Brian N5ZGT > > ARRL Vice-Director, Rocky Mountain Division > > ARRL Vice-Director, Rocky Mountain Division

1 0