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IN-Newsletter
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Vol. 30, No. 38
September 19, 2007 -- Covers the period September 9-15.
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
During the week we received daily calls and emails from PAVE PAWS
affected repeater owners. Many are voluntarily terminating operation of
their repeaters, while several are working with myself and the ARRL Lab
trying to find workable mitigation strategies for their repeaters. The
next conference call with the DoD is planned last week was rescheduled
for Wednesday September 19. Chris Imlay and I continued work on the
D-Star letter for the FCC.
A significant amount of time was spent with staff from the MVP
Department working on Contest issues, including correcting problems with
several sets of results, ordering stock for certificates and plaques,
assisting with the early budget planning, and determining if several
sets of contest certificates had been printed and mailed. This work
will continue during the upcoming week.
Media & Public Relations
Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP
A representative from WalMart's Emergency Operations will be meeting
with ARRL staff in October. Plans are being developed for a demo of
Amateur Radio in DC on Oct 3. A draft storyboard of a video for the
2008 campaign has been presented to various groups and is being edited
as focus group type information comes in. Jeanne Ryba of NASA's own
editorial staff has agreed to work with us in developing a story about
just how hams plan and execute an ARISS contact. The daily blog Al's
Morning Meeting, which is sent to reporters nationally, had a major
piece about Amateur Radio's EmComm role on Sept 11th which set the stage
for local PIOs to contact the media in their home areas about Awareness
Day. A new audio PSA is almost complete featuring the voice of Ted
Randall of KAIJ Radio. The Leonard Award announcement will appear in
QST and in Oct CONTACT! NPR is creating a collection of sounds of our
times and Gordon West has agreed to work with them for Amateur Radio
sounds. Allen has been asked by Computing Unplugged Magazine to write
an article on the status of BPL and interference issues and it will be
done in late October.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Editorial and production work is wrapping up on the November issue of
QST, which is to be released to the printer September 20.
Khrystyne Keane attended the New York Jets game against the New England
Patriots at Giants Stadium for the NFL season opener on September 9.
She went as a guest of former ARRL First VP Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML, who
is a Jets Game Day Frequency Coordinator. What's a GDFC? You'll have
to read the article in the November issue of QST (and yes, this was the
game of the Patriots' play-stealing scandal).
Khrystyne wrote and prepared The ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 37, for
Friday, September 14. It was distributed to 66,201 members, an increase
of 201 over the previous week. Khrystyne also voiced and produced the
September 14 edition of the ARRL Audio News.
Larry Wolfgang gave a presentation on "My Top 10 Favorite Hints & Kinks"
at the Roanoke Division Convention in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Lab
Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI
Technical Information Service
The Web/Software Development Department Staff modified about 1-1/2 dozen
TIS web pages so that they can be edited directly by the Lab Staff.
Zack Lau has made updates to these pages, mostly replacing dead links
with current URLs (uniform resource locators). Mike Gruber has been
supplying new links to the WSDD.
The lab staff is conducting a survey until the end of the month to see
what percentage of TIS inquiries are by members, non-members, and
non-hams. We are also breaking down the inquiries into a dozen
different types, such as article reprints and RFI questions.
Radio Frequency Interference
Mike Gruber worked with Allen Pitts to secure permission from TV Channel
11 in Lubbock, TX to add their news story to the ARRL Web site. The
story concerns the recent FCC citations to two power companies in an RFI
case.
Mike Gruber is working on a conducted emission testing facility.
BPL
Not surprisingly, I have been pretty active in the BPL arena. A few
weeks ago, the Ambient Corporation, of Briarcliff Manor infame,
contacted me, looking to discuss how Ambient could work with ARRL to
resolve some of the long-standing interference concerns. Last week, I
met with Ambient staff at their facility in Newton, MA. Although they
didn't see eye to eye on every issue, they did agree to work together on
interference issues. They reported that their generation-1 equipment in
all of their installations has been removed from service, and that all
areas are either running generation-2 equipment, or are in the process
of having G2 equipment installed.
By coincidence, I had attended the Arkansas state convention in Mena.
Ambient has a G2 BPL system installed in Little Rock. I took the
opportunity to look at the system. Although the noise levels in the
area were somewhat high, the G2 notching had been done satisfactorily,
and there was no interference on the ham bands. I also met with the
electric-utility staff. The local hams have enjoyed a good working
relationship with Entergy. Interestingly, Entergy was more interested
in power-line noise than BPL. They were pleased to learn about ARRL's
work on power line noise and wanted to know more about how they could
integrate that work into their RTVI program.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
QSL Branch
There is no delay in opening mail and a 2 day delay in slotting of
cards. This week, 93 pounds of cards were received from members.
W1AW
W1AW has a new MARS callsign. It is now AAN1ARL.
Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also
installed cabling for four (4) 6-meter operating positions in each of
the Operating Studios, and for two radios in the main area. He began
construction of the "new" digital operating position, which will be
located near the front door in the main area. Joe installed a new
bulkhead Harris patch panel for the additional 6-meter spots and radios.
He also readied two PCs for use at the new station. Joe is also working
with an outside individual to eventually sponsor the W1AW D-Star
repeater system.
Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of
the month of September and early October.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Michael Albers, K0FJ has withdrawn his Section Manager nomination
petition. Therefore, there will not be an election in the Kansas
section as stated in last week's report. Leona Adams has been preparing
for the Alaska and Tennessee SM elections. The following incumbent SMs
will begin new terms in January: Frank Filipowski, AD3M (Delaware); Ron
Cowan, KB0DTI (Kansas); Dale Williams, WA8EFK (Michigan); Rob Griffin,
K6YR (Santa Barbara); and Ed Emco, W1KT (Western Massachusetts). Also
new SMs starting in January include Jay Isbell, KA4KUN (Alabama); Jim
Latham, AF6AQ (East Bay); and Don Wood, W5FHA (New Mexico).
Steve Ewald worked on the Public Service column for November QST, and he
learned that the ARRL and National Weather Service will once again
co-sponsor the SKYWARN Recognition Day operating event on December 1.
We hosted a Section Manager teleconference with SMs of the Pacific
Division on Thursday night, the 13th, and Steve, Chuck Skolaut, Dennis
Dura, and Katie Breen were HQ staff representatives.
Chuck Skolaut received the monthly Intruder Watch monitoring report from
Region 1. Intruder reports this week included an OTH radar that has
been heard on 14002 kHz and 1823 kHz. The FCC is reportedly checking
out reports furnished them earlier concerning unlicensed fishermen who
are causing interference to channel 4 on 60 meters. Official Observers
have been keeping track of a repeat offender on two meters in Missouri
as well as interference and obscene language on a St Louis repeater.
Another report of unlicensed users of two meters in West Virginia was
noted.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
Leona Adams 10/19 Vacation
Jon Bloom 9/26-10/5 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 9/21 Vacation
`` 11/12-11/13 Vacation
`` 12/10-12/12 Vacation
`` 12/26 Vacation
Mike Gruber 10/1-10/5 Vacation
Ed Hare 9/19-9/21 Central VA Coop BPL/IBEC
`` 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
Dave Patton 9/14-9/19 W9DXCC Convention N. Illinois DX
Assoc./Vacation
John Proctor 9/27-10/9 Vacation
Maria Somma 10/4-10/15 Vacation
Dave Sumner 9/25-10/5 Vacation
Mike Tracy 10/26 Vacation
Larry Wolfgang 9/28-9/30 Digital Communications
Conference, Windsor Locks, CT
