December 2010 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

Web project status report as of December 16
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 16 Dec '10

16 Dec '10

Officers, Directors and Vice Directors: On Tuesday I gave you a report on website performance. Here is the weekly report with regard to the rest of the project. During the week of December 6-12 there were 20 Bugzilla tickets closed, 3 by Fathom and 17 by ARRL staff. There were new ones opened that week as well as so far this week, leaving us as of now (not counting enhancements) with 11 open tickets assigned to Fathom (down from 13) and 18 to ARRL staff (same as last week). From these figures you can deduce that during the week quite a few tickets were opened, quickly fixed, and closed by ARRL staff; there were just a couple of new tickets opened that remain open, and this number happens to equal the number of older tickets that were closed. One of the open tickets assigned to Fathom is to correct a problem connecting a guest account to a membership account once the guest has decided to become a member. Last week I asked Fathom to make this a matter of priority, and they did so; earlier today we were advised that changes have been made that Fathom believes will correct the problem, and these are now being tested by our IT staff. Speaking of which - until this week it was normal for Fathom to make changes and deploy them directly to the site. Sometimes this led to unintended consequences; a change that fixed one thing might break something else. Fathom's changes are now sent to our IT staff, who do more intensive testing on our own test servers prior to deployment. We believe this will reduce the "two steps forward, one step back" phenomenon that has occasionally plagued us and has caused a lot of head-scratching. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

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Re: Telephones
by Bob Vallio 16 Dec '10

16 Dec '10

What were the annual savings going to be? Bob -- W6RGG On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 12:10 PM, Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ <dsumner(a)arrl.org>wrote: > Some of you are aware that recently we have had some problems with people > being unable to connect to the in-house telephone conference bridge. > Unfortunately, that was just the tip of the iceberg. We have had, and > continue to have, a variety of ongoing problems with both outgoing and > incoming calls. > > This came about because three weeks ago, in a good-faith effort to reduce > the telephone bill and on the recommendation of the company that maintains > our office telephones, Barry switched our service from AT&T to Verizon. It > was supposed to be a seamless transition, but it turned out to be anything > but. The last straw came today when Verizon provided conflicting > information and gave us no reason to believe they would EVER get it right > – or for that matter, that they would be responsive to problems in the > future. > > The switch was based entirely on cost savings; we have not had service > problems with AT&T. So we are going back to AT&T. I don’t know how > smoothly the transition back will go – at this point I have no expectation > that any technology company can get it right the first time – but at least > with AT&T (unlike Verizon) we have the phone numbers of people who will > actually talk to us and know how to solve problems. > > I’m beginning to think the Luddites may have a point. > > Dave K1ZZ > >

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RE: Telephones
by Jim Weaver K8JE 16 Dec '10

16 Dec '10

Dave, Don't forget that when all else fails Amateur Radio gets through. Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 3:10 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: Telephones Some of you are aware that recently we have had some problems with people being unable to connect to the in-house telephone conference bridge. Unfortunately, that was just the tip of the iceberg. We have had, and continue to have, a variety of ongoing problems with both outgoing and incoming calls. This came about because three weeks ago, in a good-faith effort to reduce the telephone bill and on the recommendation of the company that maintains our office telephones, Barry switched our service from AT&T to Verizon. It was supposed to be a seamless transition, but it turned out to be anything but. The last straw came today when Verizon provided conflicting information and gave us no reason to believe they would EVER get it right - or for that matter, that they would be responsive to problems in the future. The switch was based entirely on cost savings; we have not had service problems with AT&T. So we are going back to AT&T. I don't know how smoothly the transition back will go - at this point I have no expectation that any technology company can get it right the first time - but at least with AT&T (unlike Verizon) we have the phone numbers of people who will actually talk to us and know how to solve problems. I'm beginning to think the Luddites may have a point. Dave K1ZZ _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3319 - Release Date: 12/16/10

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Telephones
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 16 Dec '10

16 Dec '10

Some of you are aware that recently we have had some problems with people being unable to connect to the in-house telephone conference bridge. Unfortunately, that was just the tip of the iceberg. We have had, and continue to have, a variety of ongoing problems with both outgoing and incoming calls. This came about because three weeks ago, in a good-faith effort to reduce the telephone bill and on the recommendation of the company that maintains our office telephones, Barry switched our service from AT&T to Verizon. It was supposed to be a seamless transition, but it turned out to be anything but. The last straw came today when Verizon provided conflicting information and gave us no reason to believe they would EVER get it right - or for that matter, that they would be responsive to problems in the future. The switch was based entirely on cost savings; we have not had service problems with AT&T. So we are going back to AT&T. I don't know how smoothly the transition back will go - at this point I have no expectation that any technology company can get it right the first time - but at least with AT&T (unlike Verizon) we have the phone numbers of people who will actually talk to us and know how to solve problems. I'm beginning to think the Luddites may have a point. Dave K1ZZ

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RE: IN-News-Rev.
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

There were other typos, including a very serious one: Dr. Mathias's call sign was W8KGD, not K8KGD. I want to assure you all that if you leave the ARRL a million dollars (or even a bit less) we will definitely get your call right! Dave From: Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ [mailto:lkustosik@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:48 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: IN-News-Rev. <<121510.doc>> Was a typo in Mary Hobart's report. So I am resending. The correct version is on the web.

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IN-News-Rev.
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

<<121510.doc>> Was a typo in Mary Hobart's report. So I am resending. The correct version is on the web.

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RE: LOTW VUCC beta testing
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

Excellent suggestion, Jim - will do. Thanks. Dave From: Jim Weaver K8JE [mailto:K8JE@ARRL.org] Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:03 PM To: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ; arrl-odv Subject: RE: LOTW VUCC beta testing Dave, Sounds good. I'm not a candidate for the beta test (not really involved in VHF/UHF awards). To get a few more people involved in the testing I wonder if you might consider including the VUAC? Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio ________________________________ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:58 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: LOTW VUCC beta testing We're looking for volunteers from the ODV community to help beta test the new VUCC award feature of Logbook of the World. Qualifications are: 1. VHF and/or UHF confirmations in the LoTW system 2. Interest in the VUCC program 3. Willingness to follow directions (the beta test will be done on the live site, not the test site, so any changes you make to your LoTW account will not be reset when VUCC is launched for all users) 4. Willingness to test and report, especially if problems are encountered We already have President Craigie on the list. If anyone else wants to participate, please let me know. We plan to do the beta test next week. Dave K1ZZ ________________________________ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3317 - Release Date: 12/15/10

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RE: LOTW VUCC beta testing
by Kay Craigie 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

Gee, how'd you know I'd want to be a tester <grin>. 73 - Kay N3KN

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RE: LOTW VUCC beta testing
by Jim Weaver K8JE 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

Dave, Sounds good. I'm not a candidate for the beta test (not really involved in VHF/UHF awards). To get a few more people involved in the testing I wonder if you might consider including the VUAC? Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:58 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: LOTW VUCC beta testing We're looking for volunteers from the ODV community to help beta test the new VUCC award feature of Logbook of the World. Qualifications are: 1. VHF and/or UHF confirmations in the LoTW system 2. Interest in the VUCC program 3. Willingness to follow directions (the beta test will be done on the live site, not the test site, so any changes you make to your LoTW account will not be reset when VUCC is launched for all users) 4. Willingness to test and report, especially if problems are encountered We already have President Craigie on the list. If anyone else wants to participate, please let me know. We plan to do the beta test next week. Dave K1ZZ _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3317 - Release Date: 12/15/10

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LOTW VUCC beta testing
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

We're looking for volunteers from the ODV community to help beta test the new VUCC award feature of Logbook of the World. Qualifications are: 1. VHF and/or UHF confirmations in the LoTW system 2. Interest in the VUCC program 3. Willingness to follow directions (the beta test will be done on the live site, not the test site, so any changes you make to your LoTW account will not be reset when VUCC is launched for all users) 4. Willingness to test and report, especially if problems are encountered We already have President Craigie on the list. If anyone else wants to participate, please let me know. We plan to do the beta test next week. Dave K1ZZ

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