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Vol. 32, No. 38
September 23, 2009 -- Covers the period September 13-19.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Section Manager Workshop
September 25-27 - ARRL HQ
Global Emergency Communications Coalition Meeting
October 7-8 - ARRL HQ
United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI)
October 12-16 - ARRL HQ
Executive Committee Meeting
October 24 @ 9:00am - Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections
November 20 -- ARRL HQ
Administration &Finance Committee
November 21 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ
Programs & Services Committee
November 21 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
After learning that the FCC had similar questions, we contacted the Air
Force with some concerns involving repeater identification for the 2009
PAVE PAWS test results from California. We will continue to work with
the Air Force on addressing these concerns. We are pleased to report
that of the 18 repeaters identified in the 2009 testing at the Cape Cod
site, 16 have completed mitigation techniques or are in the process of
doing so while the remaining two are still pending action.
There continues to be a large number of email and phone queries on the
topic of appropriate use of amateur radio in conjunction with businesses
and EmComm. The most recent flurry of activity has been triggered by
publicity surrounding an FCC inquiry to an amateur's involvement with a
drill at his work place, as well as several exchanges with both Bill
Cross and Laura Smith at the FCC with amateurs who see this as a "new"
rule from the FCC. We await the outcome of the Board's discussion on
this very high profile topic.
Several ARRL officials and amateurs in the Southwestern Division
contacted us regarding an incident with a couple of amateurs during the
September VHF Contest the weekend of September 12-13. The amateurs were
set-up in a national park in the area but asked by park rangers to leave
and given a warning ticket for not having a permit. Checking quickly
with National Parks regulations, a special use permit is required for
any special activity (not just amateur radio). So while there can be
some discretion on the part of the rangers in cases like this, the
amateurs were asked to cease operation for lack of a permit, not because
they were operating radios.
Development
Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH
The Spectrum Defense Fund is in production. The first mailing will go
out in early October, with follow up solicitations before the end of
October with a request for contributions by November 30. Follow up
solicitations will be sent by email to members and donors for whom we
have email addresses. The only exception is the file of Prior Donors
that will split 60/40. Thos prior donors for whom there is no email
will be sent a follow up letter via post. This split in the prior donor
file will give us an interesting opportunity to test the response to
email vs. mail. By using email to many of the prospect the Defense
message will reach more members with a reminder without incurring the
expense of printing and postage. In addition, Development is
encouraging members to consider a monthly installment gift which should
help ease the burden for some members. Monthly giving has a minimum of
$10 a month. With the recurring billing process now in place, the
burden on staff for manual treatment of monthly giving is eased.
Likewise, consideration is being given to a monthly giving option for
the Diamond Club, beginning as low as $10 a month. This is a change
from the current process which limits monthly and quarterly payments to
commitments of $500 or more. The goal is to attract more new Diamond
Club members and boost Diamond Club renewals by lowering the monthly
option to $10 a month (or more) and adding token gift (lanyard, pen,
etc).
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
The November 2009 issue of QST was released to the printer September 22.
Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 28, No. 37,
for September 18, 2009. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News
for September 18.
Speaking of The ARRL Letter, it will be distributed on Thursdays
starting September 24, and will be available in both HTML and plain-text
formats beginning October 1.
Lab
Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI
RFI
Bob Allison has completed his TVI chapter for the RFI Book 2nd printing
and forwarded it to me. Ron Hranac is in Europe and will start the CATV
Chapter when he gets back. As mentioned previously, the transition to
DTV has forced a rewrite of both chapters.
Mike Gruber arranged to conduct a Power Line Noise Workshop with two
IEEE members in October. The Workshop will be held on October 24 and
25.
Spectrum
Ed Hare has concentrated only on his preparation of reports for Chris
Imlay to use in the upcoming BPL FCC filing next week.
Web
Mike Gruber needs new scans to complete the Larson E. Rapp Web page. It
is on hold while Anthony Nesta is out.
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
The team is knee-deep in 2010/11 planning.
The 2010 ARRL Calendar was released to the printer. Expected delivery
date is 10/1. The calendar features a selection of QSL cards from the
W1AW collection-all very attractive, interesting, and depicting a global
theme.
A full page ad featuring the 2010 Handbook is being prepared for the
winter catalog of a major ARRL publications dealer.
An interdepartmental team (representing fulfillment, warehouse,
accounting, IT, marketing, and operations) met with local sales
representatives from UPS. Presently, Fedex is our preferred shipping
carrier for ground and expedited shipments. UPS and Fedex compete
closely on rates, but have a variety of different benefits and services
involving technology, customer service, and delivery dates/times. Our
consideration of shipping options is ongoing.
We are finalizing a publications agreement with a software firm that has
developed a practice examination application for the iPhone and iPod
Touch. The application will sell for $1.99 on the Apple Computer's "App
Store" via iTunes. The product will be identified as an ARRL
publication. While the royalties are small, we are eager to demonstrate
some exposure for Amateur Radio and ARRL in the rapidly expanding
mobile/portable technology arena.
Amy Hurtado attended a National Postal Customer Council Seminar last
week on Packaging Services, Intelligent Mail Barcodes, and Results
Driven Marketing in a Down Economy. Among the key points: The USPS is
offering discounts for the first time ever - and ARRL is taking
advantage of these discounts by utilizing online postage systems. There
are new USPS programs and services that may also benefit our
international and bulk package shipments in the future. Intelligent
Mail Barcodes, currently being tested on QST circulation, will
eventually provide us with more information about delivery status,
improve traceability, reduce paperwork, and introduce additional
discounting. All mailers must implement this new coding standard by May
2011. Finally, the seminar offered some suggestions for marketing (and
staying present) in a down economy.
A large membership campaign will mail October 9, and features a 2010
calendar incentive as an early bird free gift for those who respond by
November 30. The mailing also features the Antenna Book as a free gift
incentive for 3 year membership commitments. The effort to promote
multi-year memberships during acquisition has resulted in many more
(over 1,000) multi-year signs-ups as compared to 2008.
The second mailing (of three) mailed to "new ham" prospective members is
beginning to generate responses. This mailing was introduced during the
summer. An online survey invitation is included with the solicitation.
So far, the mailing has generated 37 new members; 76 new hams have
responded to the survey; 18 cited the mailing as their reason for
joining.
ARRL Conventions
Date Name Division City State ARRL HQ Rep.
Sep 26 SEDCO V Conference DL Pigeon Forge TN Ward
Silver
Sep 26 Mid-AT States VHF Conf. AT Plymouth Meeting PA
Sep 26 Washington State NW Spokane Valley WA Dan
Henderson
Oct 3 EMCOMM East AT Rochester NY Harold Kramer
Oct 4 W. New York Section AT West Seneca NY Harold
Kramer
Oct 9-11 Pacific Northwest VHF NW Seaside OR Gene
Zimmerman
Oct 11 Connecticut State NE Wallingford CT Joel
Hallas
Nov 7-8 Georgia Section SE Lawrenceville GA
Nov 14 Alabama State SE Montgomery AL
Nov 14-15 Indiana State CL Fort Wayne IN Ward
Silver
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
W1AW
Logs for the Hiram Percy Maxim 140th Birthday Celebration continue to
pour into W1AW. To date, there are currently 200+ logs in the
certificate database.
Joe processed one Qualifying Run certificate. He also processed regular
QSL card requests. He spent time inputting the HPM/140 applications
into the database. Joe also built a keying box to be used with the
broadcast computers.
Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of
the month of September.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Preparations are nearly complete for the upcoming Section Managers'
Workshop to be held at Headquarters September 25 -27. A dozen Section
Managers are scheduled to attend, and they will be arriving in
Connecticut on Thursday, September 24.
Preliminary work on the candidate statements and ballots for the three
Section Manager Fall elections is progressing well. Several positive
comments on the National Traffic System's 60th Anniversary article in
the October QST Public Service column have been received at HQ and by
NTS leaders.
The monthly Official Observer summary was prepared and sent to all OOs,
OOCs, and Section Mangers. In addition, summary of monitoring activity
covering the three IARU monitoring regions was prepared for the upcoming
IARU Council meeting.
Last week's report of a constant carrier on 14.030 MHz has been
resolved. It originated from an Ethernet computer card. Since many hams
are in the same situation, it -- at first-- seemed to be a radio
frequency interference problem which many others had reported. An
Official Observer in Western Pennsylvania did excellent work in
following up on an incident involving third party traffic. A report of
continued bootlegging of an Alaskan call sign was passed on to Official
Observers in an attempt to isolate an area of origination.
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Reported by Dennis Dura, K2DCD
Participated in Alabama Section ARES Exercise.
Participated in National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
monthly teleconference meeting for the USI&A (United States Islands and
Alaska) Committee.
Participated in a business continuity webinar on Pandemic Preparedness.
Continued preparations for GERC (Global Emergency Communications
Coalition) meeting to be held at ARRL HQ on October 7th and 8th.
Education Services
Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ
The Education Services Dept has been experiencing the uptick in volume
of questions from license instructors and teachers that occurs at this
time of year. We processed 33 instructor and teacher registrations
during August and 35 thus far this month.
Continuing Education Program
We have been meeting with CTDLC to discuss developing the new advanced
emcomm course on the Moodle LMS. We are also pursuing discussions with
other vendors who might develop the course in an alternative CD format.
The course content is in process of review by a group comprised of
active emcomm managers and emcomm field instructors.
Education & Technology Program
We held a planning meeting to evaluate the Teachers Institute offerings
in 2009 and plan for 2010. Topics discussed included lessons learned
from the piloted TI-2 on satellite communications, TI locations and
schedule for 2010, topics for a TI-2 in 2010, administrative support for
the TIs, assuring redundant coverage for all planned sessions, role of
the website to support the ETP, relationship with ARISS and NASA,
advertising and promotional efforts, potential partnerships with
colleges and universities.
Mark Spencer WA8SME reports that the equipment from the May round of ETP
grants has been delivered. There also has been an up-tick in contacts
with project schools as teachers across the country are getting back
into the classroom swing and they are dusting off their TI information
trying to put it to use. He completed the final Progress grant
equipment which was a Mars Lander kit and sent it to the receiving
school. Mark had a lengthy meeting at Parallax about the future of the
TI program and the relationship between the ARRL and Parallax. Parallax
is very supportive of our efforts and will continue that support or more
in the future, including hosting one additional TI at the Parallax
facility next year. Newly designed Foxhunt Transmitters were
constructed and sent to the TI instructors. The units that will go out
to schools in the next round of grants were also completed and are ready
to go once the grants are approved. A summary article on the project is
being authored for submission to QST.
In addition, Mark reports that the prototype of a 70cm data link
transceiver is completed and is meeting expectations. These data links
are used extensively in ETP projects, including the CubeSat Simulator
that will be highlighted in a forth coming article in the AMSAT Journal.
A curriculum for a proposed TI-2 that focuses on basic electronics
(digital and analog) as well as working with signals and wave forms is
being drafted and tested.
A number of schools and interested hams have been sending queries about
hosting TIs at their facilities and in their local areas next year. It
appears that the latest crop of TI graduates have been talking up their
experiences this summer and publishing articles in local papers, which
is generating some interest and inquires. Mark has also been servicing
a number of requests from the general ham population about circuit
boards and programmed PICs used in the Radio Telescope project that was
published in QST a few months ago. One school has requested assistance
in the design/development of a data link system to connect a sea borne
buoy that they are developing back to the shore and their school. This
is an interesting challenge and has some utility beyond this school's
specific needs with the curriculum for Teachers Institute.
ARISS
As of late August, the ARISS Team has supported 72 school QSOs for the
year. The record is 75 in one year, so we are likely to set a new
record this year.
Recent international ARISS contacts have included:
- educators and students taking part in an international forum on
small satellite development and projects held at the Peruvian National
University, Lima, Peru
- students at Tension Woods College in South Australia. The
contact was integrated into the school's astronomy and physics lessons
that included hands-on activities.
- hands-on activities plus an ARISS contact at the European Space
Agency in Darmstadt, Germany. The contact was part of "The Long Night
of the Stars," which brought technology to students through
demonstrations involving space operations, satellite hardware, building
and launching of small rockets, asking engineers questions about the
education needed to reach the sky, plus viewing stars through
telescopes.
In the US, an ARISS contact on September 15 with Astronaut Mike Barratt,
KD5MIJ, was integrated into the Camas Space Education Program, an
eight-week curriculum at Liberty Middle School in Camas, Washington.
For twenty years, all Liberty sixth graders have taken part in hands-on
activities in the program as "astronauts in training," culminating with
a 10-hour flight in the school's space station, Alpha-Z 2000. Students
learned to use flight software, practiced using radios to link to their
mission control and teachers, mastered special software that allowed
their teachers and fellow students to record how the "astronauts" were
progressing with their mission research, and some students even
completed SCUBA training just as the astronauts do. Students and
teachers learned lessons on how Amateur Radio works, what it is, how the
ARISS radio systems work, the international ham radio teamwork in place,
how to proceed with the ARISS QSO, and a little about the organizations
that sponsor ARISS.
ARISS Team member Nick Lance, KC5KBO, was interviewed by Amateur Radio
Newsline. Nick reported: "We've probably licensed - I'm going to guess -
around 50 or so astronauts. Anybody [astronauts] with a KC5 or KD5 or
KE5 call sign has gone through the radio license class that we provide
there [Johnson Space Center]. There are some crewmen who have not gone
up to the ISS yet, and hopefully they'll get a chance [with ARISS]
before the space station program is over." He added: "We had several
classes of astronauts who brought their spouses and their children so
they could all learn together." Most recently, the ARISS Houston Team
sponsored a licensing session for Astronaut Tracy Caldwell; she is now
KF5DBF. Caldwell is scheduled to fly with Expedition 23 in April 2010.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
Kathy Allison 9/25-9/28 Vacation
Bob Allison 9/25-9/29 Vacation
Margie Bourgoin 9/25 Vacation
`` 10/2-10-6 Vacation
Joe Carcia 10/12-10/20 Vacation
Dennis Dura 10/1-10/5 Vacation
Steve Ford 10/9-10/11 AMSAT Symposium, Baltimore, MD
Scott Gee 10/5-10/6 Vacation
Mike Gruber 9/28-10/2 Vacation
Dan Henderson 9/25-9/29 E. Washington Section
Convention, Spokane, WA
Mary Hobart 9/25 Vacation
`` 10/2 Vacation
Bob Inderbitzen 10/8-10/9 Training Conference
Khrystyne Keane 9/25 Vacation
`` 10/23 Vacation
Joel Kleinman 9/28-9/29 Vacation
`` 10/5-10/6 Vacation
Harold Kramer 9/28 Vacation
Lisa Kustosik 9/25 Vacation
Maryann Macdonald 9/21-9/25 Vacation
Tony Nesta 9/21-10/2 Medical
Brennan Price 9/25-9/27 ARRL/TAPR Digital Com.
Conference, Elk Grove IL
Steve Sant Andrea 10/16 Vacation
Jon Siverling 9/17-9/25 ITU-R Study Group 1 and Working
Groups, Geneva
Dave Sumner 10/9-10/19 IARU R3 Conference/AC Meeting,
Christchurch, NZ
`` 10/23-10/25 Executive Committee
Meeting, Dallas, TX
