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Vol. 30, No. 39
September 26, 2007 -- Covers the period September 16-22.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Executive Committee
October 6 in Little Rock, AR
United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI)
October 8-12 - ARRL HQ
Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections
November 16 in Newington, CT
Administration &Finance Committee
November 17 in Newington, CT
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
The second PAVE PAWS teleconference was held with the DoD on September
19th. Only approximately 20 repeaters have responded towards meeting
the mitigation standards. Most of these have terminated operation while
a small number have apparently been able to find strategies to meet the
requirements. Retesting has occurred at the Otis AFB site with five
repeaters being deemed now acceptable and the rest still in question.
In addition eight more New England repeaters are being added to the DoD
list. However they are also reducing the area of concern for the Otis
sit from 150-miles to 60-miles, which means a substantial number of
repeaters will be in the clear that previously might have been declared
problems. The specifics of this have not been relayed to the ARRL and
until such time we are not releasing these details to the general
public. A date for re-measurement at Beale has not been set but the DoD
has indicated that the problem is still a major concern and the amateur
need to move on this. They also discussed whether action from the FCC
might be appropriate, as there is anecdotal evidence that many owners
are beginning to take a stance of no further cooperation or action
unless ordered by the FCC. The FCC has been informally apprised of this
and understand that any request for action will be from the DoD not the
ARRL. As expected. this round of reductions is only the first and the
DoD has indicated they are willing to continue working with the ARRL to
identify and finds ways for compliance, but has also indicated that
actions and responses need to occur sooner rather than later - they
don't have unlimited patience.
Outside of PAVE PAWS we have kept up with the public hearing on the
antenna denial in Palmdale CA which had a hearing scheduled for Thursday
September 20th. Early reports were that the hearing went against the
amateur. Director Norton is closely working on this situation, which is
a far ways from being concluded. Various general inquiries on the usual
areas were submitted via email and phone, as well as two powerpoint
presentations prepared for the two conventions on September 22nd in
Spokane and September 28-30 in Bend, OR.
We also spent considerable time working with the MVP Department
preparing missing certificates for the 2006 10-Meter and 160-Meter
contests, handling the data for the June VHF Contest, and redoing the
corrected data for both 2006 DX CW and DX Phone where there was a
missing multiplier issue for DX stations involving AR. This error was
from the log checker's database and has been corrected. While it does
not impact any significant orders of finish (only 2 of 26 box scores saw
any shuffling of order of finish) the new boxes will be updated on the
web, as well already being incorporated into the databases.
There will be no weekly report for the week of September 24th-28 as I am
on vacation and traveling between Spokane and Bend.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Khrystyne Keane wrote and prepared The ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 38, for
Friday, September 21. It was distributed to 66,304 members, an increase
of 103 over the previous week. Khrystyne also voiced and produced the
September 21 edition of the ARRL Audio News.
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
Following the recent improvements to online transaction processing,
membership data-entry is running very smoothly. A new standard has
emerged with all online and mail applications being processed within 2
days. The previous standard was approximately 3 days.
Warehouse inventory is scheduled for October 1.
A freight forwarding agent is now being used for non-US distribution of
our subscription periodicals QEX and NCJ. The change improves delivery
for standard subscribers at a comparable price. All non-US subscribers
will enjoy near-airmail quality delivery. As a result, we'll begin to
phase-out the previously-offered airmail option, used by only a small
number of subscribers. The changes will be phased into renewal
materials over the next few months.
Amy participated with other HQ staff in meetings to review our printing
contract for QST, including schedule-planning and to help identify areas
of concern and ongoing improvement.
Katie participated in the monthly Section Manger teleconference with
Pacific Division SMs. She also participated in ongoing benefit planning
with the account representatives for our new MetLife insurance program.
Katie recently spoke with ARRL member Curtis Roach, WB4NHM who phoned to
specifically share his being "thrilled" with our MetLife program. He
converted his homeowners and car insurance to the ARRL MetLife discount
program and is now saving hundreds of dollars and helping ARRL at the
same time.
The next edition ARRL Publications catalog is in-the-works. Jackie
Cornell is coordinating this work with designers Sue Fagan and Di
Szlachetka.
Over the past 2 weeks, the Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,440 packages for
publication and product orders, shipped 397 free book membership
premiums, and 3 September QST mailing supplements.
The Warehouse has taken delivery of 2 new ARRL editions: ARRL's Low
Power Communication-3rd edition and ARRL's HF Digital Handbook-4th
edition. Backorders for both new editions have shipped.
Business Services
Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ
During the past several days, in addition to ARRL On-Line Auction
donations from some of our advertisers, we have begun to receive
donations from ARRL members as well. In addition to a gorgeous vacation
package in St. Croix, we received a number of rare books and the offer
of a working Collins transceiver. We were also delighted to receive
donations from several staff members as well as several members of the
Board.
We sent the advertising section of QST off to press with a large number
of two-page spreads and are already working on December QST. During a
brief lapse, Diane has been working on the ARRL Pubs Catalog and several
other projects for Sales & Marketing.
We will shortly be launching our "Auto-Order" program with a select
number of ARRL Publication Dealers. An anecdotal survey found that
sample copies of new titles either never reach the intended recipient
when delivered to various stores or the recipient took the product home
as a perk without much thought of ordering.
Our plans are to negotiate a certain set quantity of books to be sent to
an ARRL Dealer store as soon as any new ARRL title becomes available.
This initial "auto" order of the new title will afford the dealer the
deepest available quantity discount (45%). We feel this is the best way
to assure that new publications immediately enter their ordering system
and insure that new ARRL titles appear on dealer shelves as quickly as
possible. Response to date to our idea has been very positive.
Obviously, if this test program is successful, we will expand it to more
dealers.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
QSL Branch
There is no delay in opening mail and a 1day delay in slotting of cards.
This week, 115 pounds of cards were received from members.
W1AW
Joe processed three Qualifying Run endorsements and two certificates.
He also created the texts for the October W1AW Qualifying Runs. Joe
uploaded both W1AW/6 (2007 SW Division Convention Special Event) and
regular W1AW logs to LoTW. He also moved the Icom ID-1 D-Star radio to
its new location and ran the antenna line for same. Joe also worked the
late afternoon/night shift on Friday for the vacationing Scott Gee.
Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of
the month of October.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Leona has been working with candidates for the two upcoming SM elections
that will be held in Alaska and Tennessee for a new term of January 1,
2008. She prepared statements, photos and ballot cards which are
currently being printed. Ballots, statements and photos are scheduled
to be mailed out to members by October 1, 2007.
Leona has been updating our Field Service database with new
appointments, cancellations and changes. She is also in the process of
getting supplies out to new appointees. Leona also reports that she
received an SM nomination petition for Gary L. Stratton, K5GLS for the
Louisiana section for the term beginning April 1, 2008.
Chuck reports that two amateurs from North Carolina and one from Wyoming
successfully completed Official Observer certification this week. One
amateur from Texas was appointed to the ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder
Watch program. A request from the FCC for assistance in locating the
source of six meter interference in Texas was received and forwarded to
local OOs. Word was received that the unidentified beacon on 30 meters
in California has ceased, but OTH radar continues on 40 meters.
Questions received this week dealt with operating out of the United
States, antenna zoning, Red Cross background checks, using a MARS call
sign on normal ham bands, and providing contact information about local
clubs to the Mayor of a small town in Washington looking for someone to
present information about amateur radio.
Before leaving for vacation this week Steve Ewald worked on making
preparations for the upcoming Section Manager's Workshop and updating
the SM workbook.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
Jon Bloom 9/26-10/5 Vacation
Steve Capodicasa 10/12 Vacation
`` 10/26 Vacation
`` 11/9 Vacation
`` 11/19-11/21 Vacation
Steve Ewald 9/19-10/2 Vacation
Steve Ford 9/28-9/29 ARRL/TAPR Digital Comm.
Conference, Windsor, CT
`` 11/5-11/6 Vacation
`` 11/11-11/12 MDC/FAR Digital
Conference, Washington, DC
Scott Gee 11/12-11/13 Vacation
`` 12/10-12/12 Vacation
`` 12/26 Vacation
Mike Gruber 10/1-10/5 Vacation
Ed Hare 10/22-10/25 ANSI asc C63 meeting for EMC
Committee
`` 11/8-11/10 IEEE EMC Society Standards Dev.
Comm (Ed-Secretary)
Dan Henderson 9/21-10/1 Wash. State Conv., Spokane,
WA/PC NW VHF Conf., OR
`` 10/11-10/15 Vacation
Mary Hobart 10/5-10/6 DARA Board meeting, Dayton, OH
Bob Inderbitzen 10/5-10/8 Vacation
Zack Lau 9/28 Digital Communications
Conference, Windsor Locks, CT
John Proctor 9/27-10/9 Vacation
Maria Somma 10/4-10/15 Vacation
Dave Sumner 9/25-10/3 Vacation
`` 10/5-10/7 EC Meeting, Little Rock,
AR
Mike Tracy 10/26 Vacation
Maty Weinberg 9/28 Digital Communications
Conference, Windsor Locks, CT
Larry Wolfgang 9/28-9/30 Digital Communications
Conference, Windsor Locks, CT
