February 2010 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:18527] Re: DXCC Backlog Plan
by Marty Woll 02 Feb '10

02 Feb '10

Hi, Harold. Can you offer any estimate as to how close we are to having field-completable DXCC award / endorsement / update electronic applications? Distributing the inputting work to the applicants themselves seems to be the best hope of eliminating these crunches at Headquarters. Make it open source, and logging-program authors can add suitable output files to their respective programs. 73, Marty N6VI ----- Original Message ----- From: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B To: arrl-odv Cc: Ford, Steve, WB8IMY ; Glass, Katie ; Hare, Ed W1RFI ; Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R ; Jahnke, Deb, K1DAJ ; Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ ; Kramer, Harold, WJ1B ; Patton, David NN1N ; Somma, Maria, AB1FM Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 10:31 AM Subject: [arrl-odv:18526] DXCC Backlog Plan Hi, Just to keep everyone up to speed, here is some information on the DXCC backlog. We are addressing the current DXCC backlog by adding some overtime hours to the DXCC/MVP staff. Dave Patton, Bill Moore and Sharon Taratula are implementing the following plan starting February 1 (today). DXCC staff will be in the building from 7 AM until approximately 10 PM each weekday working shifts. Along with overtime from the existing staff, MVP management is also offering overtime to other employees in the building who have DXCC data entry experience. We always seem to get crunched this time of year with DXCC applications since the deadline for inclusion in the 2009 DXCC standings is Dec. 31. We currently have about 825 applications pending from 2009 and we intend to process all of them by the end of February by adding this overtime. At the end of February, we will be 4 - 6 weeks behind for 2010 applications. Another goal of this effort is to produce the DXCC yearbook earlier than in past years - hopefully by the Dayton Hamvention. According to Dave Patton, the MVP group has responded enthusiastically to the challenge. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL - The national association for Amateur RadioT 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Telephone: 860 594 0220 email: hkramer(a)arrl.org web: www.arrl.org/

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[arrl-odv:18526] DXCC Backlog Plan
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 01 Feb '10

01 Feb '10

Hi, Just to keep everyone up to speed, here is some information on the DXCC backlog. We are addressing the current DXCC backlog by adding some overtime hours to the DXCC/MVP staff. Dave Patton, Bill Moore and Sharon Taratula are implementing the following plan starting February 1 (today). DXCC staff will be in the building from 7 AM until approximately 10 PM each weekday working shifts. Along with overtime from the existing staff, MVP management is also offering overtime to other employees in the building who have DXCC data entry experience. We always seem to get crunched this time of year with DXCC applications since the deadline for inclusion in the 2009 DXCC standings is Dec. 31. We currently have about 825 applications pending from 2009 and we intend to process all of them by the end of February by adding this overtime. At the end of February, we will be 4 - 6 weeks behind for 2010 applications. Another goal of this effort is to produce the DXCC yearbook earlier than in past years - hopefully by the Dayton Hamvention. According to Dave Patton, the MVP group has responded enthusiastically to the challenge. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio(tm) 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Telephone: 860 594 0220 email: hkramer(a)arrl.org <mailto:hkramer@arrl.org> web: www.arrl.org/ <http://www.arrl.org/>

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[arrl-odv:18525] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 01 Feb '10

01 Feb '10

<<012710.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 33, No. 4 January 27, 2010 -- Covers the period January 17-23. Upcoming Meetings and Events Executive Committee: March 13, 2010 @ 8:30am in Denver, CO Technical Relations Reported by Brennan Price, N4QX Brennan Price received and relayed news regarding the issuance of amateur licenses in Haiti. Cometel, the Haitian regulator, has established a temporary office, at which United States amateurs seeking operating privileges in accordance with the Haiti-United States bilateral operating agreement, should apply. Jon Siverling and Brennan Price were more successful than they thought they would be in toning down and slowing a Current Technologies smart grid contribution to Working Party 1A, swallowed without vetting by the United States. Jon is in final preparations for the Working Parties 1A/B/C meetings in Geneva February 1-10. Brennan is preparing United States and IARU contributions to the Radiocommunication Advisory Group in Geneva February 17-19. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND Haiti and the Board meeting dominated the RIB agenda during the last two weeks. The presentation for the Board on 97.113 was finalized with General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD and several discussions were held with Board members on the Wednesday and Thursday leading up to their meeting. Shortly after the Haitian earthquake, we were in contact with Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX and the FCC International Bureau trying to ascertain the process for incoming amateurs with equipment to obtain permission to operate in disaster relief. This was necessitated by the destruction of the Haitian telecom ministry building. That information was received and posted to the web this past Saturday. We also received numerous reports of non-amateur stations operating on amateur frequencies as part of the Haitian disaster relief efforts. We were able to clarify that the Federal government's SHARES network was quietly activated and stations were participating on the Salvation Army's SATERN network frequencies. We also worked with HQ staffers Allen Pitts, W1AGP, Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, and Deb Jahnke in preparing and programming a VHF-repeater and other radios for a go-kit which was shipped for Haitian relief. With the assistance of Vice-Director Marty Woll, N6VI, we were able to provide information to an amateur in Torrance, CA on an antenna ordinance problem. We also worked with an amateur in Washington clarifying the new cell phone law affecting mobile operations into British Columbia by US amateurs. A report was received that eBay has started removing what are apparently legal 2-meter amplifiers from their site. We referred this information to Laura Smith at the FCC who was sending it to FCC officials who have contacts with eBay to clarify the situation. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Haiti related actions The ARRL HQ again assembled a multi-department team to coordinate response and support to Haitian related actions. While many departments were involved at different points, key members of this team have been Harold Kramer, Dave Patton, Norm Fusaro, Deb Jahnke and Allen Pitts. Ham Aid As reported on the main ARRL webpage, a shipment went to the teams of hams from Radio Club Dominicano who have been going into Haiti and set up two repeaters and other Amateur Radio assets. They have been in close contact with IARU Region 2 leaders and ARRL HQ. A shipment, an HF kit, went to Julio Ripoll, WD4R, for use with the University of Miami field hospital in Port au Prince. Their satellite phones are reported to be not working properly and asked for back-up options to help facilitate communications via Hams between hospitals on both sides. A shipment of HF gear was requested by Maj. Pat McPherson, WW9E, of SATERN and was sent to the Central Division of the Salvation Army for their volunteer teams going into Haiti. A shipment of 10 HT's went to the Dominican Republic club as well as two very high gain 2m vertical antennas donated by Diamond Antenna for repeater uses. Licensing Issues On Jan 23 we received relayed information from both Brennan Price and IARU Region 2 of the Haitian desires to resume oversight on the licensing process. This information was immediately posted on the ARRL website. Emergency Frequencies On Jan 24 we also relayed the information from IARU Region 2 of the release of certain HF frequencies from emergency use. Media & Public Relations There have been many positive news stories about the role of Amateur Radio on TV, newspapers, radio and Internet. These have been both local and national levels. For the most part all we could say is that we are monitoring, and there have been a few HF contacts that were recorded and re-broadcast (one was used by CNN). Unlike some other disasters, the communications infrastructure in Haiti was damaged, but never destroyed. Much of their Internet service was satellite-based even before the earthquake and survived. Coordination The ARRL hosted Amateur Radio leaders in conference calls on Jan 13, 15, 18 and 21. Invited to these calls were the major Amateur Radio news outlets, IARU Region 2 leaders, served agency representatives and key ARRL staff and elected officials who may be directly involved in relief efforts. The calls served to control rumors, clarify and share information and relay requests. Many calls and emails have been received, rumors squashed, information verified and passed to reporters. Daily contact with IARU Region 2 leadership has been maintained as well as with the Dominican club who appear to be the primary amateur group setting up equipment that will be used by others as actions turn to the recovery phase and there is more VHF/tactical traffic. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH January is off to a fine start. The Spectrum Defense Fund for 2010 has received nearly $12,000 from 135 donors yielding a healthy average contribution of $95.95. This month beings a new approach to Spectrum Defense that runs from January through December to coincide with ARRL's financial year. The Diamond Club has received $6,034 from 56 donors so far this month. Development hosted donors Steven Katz, N8WL and Constance Barsky WD8ODC on their inaugural visit to ARRL headquarters. They commemorated their visit by adding a brick to the Diamond Terrace. ARRL has been notified of the estate gift of David Gendle, K4DLG. Paperwork has been completed that will add an estimated $113,000 to t6he ARRL Endowment. Production/Editorial Reported by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA Members of the Production, Editorial and Graphics teams attended a meeting that introduced the new ARRL Web site. Staff members provided input about the Web site as it pertains to their respective departments. The ARRL Audio News will be temporarily suspended until the new Web site can support it better. The last edition (for a while) will be Thursday, January 28. Work continues on the Ham Radio Licensing Manual and the March/April issues of QEX and NCJ. Khrystyne Keane wrote and produced the January 21 edition of The ARRL Letter and the ARRL Audio News. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Our contribution to the new ARRL web site content is ongoing. Membership Mailings: * A 'test' mailing was sent to Technician licensees on January 25. * A mailing to lapsed and 'never' members who made purchases in 2009 was mailed on January 21. * February's large mailing campaign has been released to a printer. A mailing list is being prepared. * A mailing to active ARRL Volunteer Examiners that are not presently members was sent on January 22. Diane Petrilli has completed some analysis of several recent membership mailings-with plans to use the information to make improvements and decisions about 2010 direct marketing projects. The 2010 ARRL Field Day logo is being finalized. This year's Field Day product line will include a t-shirt, hat, pin, coffee mug, and a new Field Day publication. Jackie Cornell is working with Amateur Electronic Supply (AES) to help update ARRL publication information that will be featured in their spring/summer catalog. Bob Inderbitzen and Diane Petrilli participated in a teleconference with MetLife-an ARRL affinity benefit providers of home and auto insurance. A 2010 marketing plan was reviewed. Amy Hurtado is investigating options to help improve the delivery time of QST mailing supplements--copies mailed to members that renew later than the published cut-off dates ensuring uninterrupted delivery of QST. Steve Capodicasa is reviewing shipping wraps and supplies to help increase fulfillment efficiency and reduce costs. We are committed to making changes that do not sacrifice the delivery condition of goods shipped to ARRL members and customers. A shipment of ARRL Ham Aid equipment was fulfilled by the warehouse to the Dominican Republic for deployment in Haiti. During the last week, the warehouse crew fulfilled 844 packages for publication and product orders, 646 membership premiums, and QST mailing supplements. The warehouse and mailroom completed the 1,100 piece mailing for international members receiving the 2009 Periodicals CD-ROM. ARRL Conventions Date Name Division City State ARRL HQ Rep. Jan 29-30 Delta Division DL Jackson MS Feb 6 South Carolina State RK Ladson SC Norm Fusaro Feb 6 Virginia State RK Richmond VA Brennan Price Feb 12-14 N. Florida Section SE Orlando FL Diane Petrilli Feb 27 Vermont State NE Colchester VT Ed Hare Mar 6 South Texas Section WG Rosenberg TX Dan Henderson Mar 6-7 Alabama State SE Birmingham AL Bill Moore Mar 12-13 Louisiana State DL Rayne LA Norm Fusaro Mar 12-13 Oklahoma State WG Claremore OK Mar 13-14 Santa Clara Valley Sect. PC Monterey CA Mar 20 S. Florida Section SE Stuart FL Mar 20 Nebraska State MW Lincoln NE Bob Allison Mar 20 West Texas Section WG Midland TX Mar 26-27 Maine State NE Lewiston ME Mar 27-28 Maryland State AT Timonium MD H. Kramer & D. Petrilli Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N W1AW Joe processed regular QSL card requests. He updated the W1AW and West Coast Qualifying Run web schedules. He processed two W1AW Qualifying Run endorsements. He also rebuilt the Yaesu elevation rotator that was taken out of service earlier in the month. He continued monitoring the Haitian relief nets (both HF and Echolink). Joe also ran a quick frequency measuring test on all the broadcast equipment. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of January. Field Organization/Public Service Team The Field Organization/Public Service Team continued to help Allen Pitts and others at HQ to answer questions from Field Organization and Section Leaders among others about the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. More 2009 Simulated Emergency Test reports and EC Annual reports have been arriving at Headquarters in front of the announced February 1 receipt deadline. William Hudson, WAØKBZ, of Linn, Missouri, has been nominated to run for Section Manager when the next term of office begins. Leona Adams has been reporting the 2010 ARRL Section budget to each individual Section Manager. Thanks to the Controller's Office for compiling the budget data. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch to the IARU Region 2 monitoring coordinator. Radio amateurs from Indiana and Michigan successfully completed their training to become new Official Observers. Pertinent documentation was received on a case of intentional interference on 20 meters. There was also a report of an unidentified intermittent carrier on 7.040 MHz. This information was forwarded to our monitors to investigate and it was later sent to the FCC when our monitors verified it. ARRL HQ monitored frequencies used for information and Haiti-relief traffic after some isolated cases of interference were reported. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ A lot to catch up on: We continue to struggle with a severe staffing shortage in Education Services. This week we have posted a part-time position for an administrative assistant. Once that position is filled, we will also be posting a position for a new full-time position recently approved by the board, for an Education Services Coordinator. Education & Technology Program The Executive Committee approved grants to 14 schools applying in the November round of applications. Four schools will receive radio stations; the remaining grants are for equipment needs for existing stations or for resources to support exploration of wireless technology in school classrooms. Mark Spencer WA8SME has begun to execute the Progress grants and prepared the list of equipment for bids. Ham Radio Outlet won the bid for radio station equipment awarded. Executing this round of grants has been more difficult and time consuming than usual due to the complexity of the grant equipment requested. Additionally, the pre-planning of the grant applicants was not as comprehensive as has been done in the past. Much of the Progress grant equipment has to be hand-built (from designs and systems presented during the TIs. The project to develop material for club/local ham outreach to schools was completed. The printed brochure is being printed. The training materials will be finished after the new website is launched. The Teachers Institute 2010 announcement article was authored for Feb QST, TI applications were developed, the brochure for the TI was developed and will be available next week. Web pages on the current site were revised. Extensive time has been spent developing web pages for the new website. There is more work to be done-- and a lot more potential when we have staffing to support it-- but the essential information will be available at website launch. We received confirmation that Yaesu will be supporting the TI-2 Space course this year at the same level as last year. This is a huge contribution to the program on the part of Yaesu. Curriculum development for this year's TI-2s continues. Mark Spencer WA8SME reports progress on interfacing a buoy GPS tracking system to the FT817 and found some sound card software for display. This activity is in preparation to enhance the space in the classroom unit of the TIs. He is also evaluating the APRSat equipment setup for the TI. The build of the 5-building blocks boards for the Teachers Insititutes is complete. The parts and boards for the BOT Instructor's board (the last TI board in the build for this year) have been ordered and construction has been completed for boards needed for the first TI in mid-February. The BOT board was modified in the 2010 revision to reduce the costs of the board. All resources have been shipped for that session in Tucson, which will be led by Miguel Enriquez. Miguel Enriquez KD7RPP presented the TI agenda and activities to a parent-teacher group and answered questions for Jefferson Park Elementary School in preparation for the February TI at that location for the Tucson Unified School District. To assist the Jefferson Park Radio Club, he acquired and set up a TS-2000 transceiver to get them ready for an ARISS application. He also added seven hours of homework activities to the Jefferson Park TI agenda to help teachers qualify for professional development credit. Miguel researched and ordered modules to add to the underwater robot the Pueblo ARC built last year to assist southern Arizona cave explorers in mapping two lakes in a cave. He presented the CubeSat simulator to parents and students during Science Night at Pueblo Magnet High School. Nathan McCray K9CPO installed the rotor and satellite antenna received from an ETP grant at West School. The installation was successful and he made some contacts and copied telemetry. He also started working on a copper tube weather antenna for my school. Mark and Nathan have been working on a new gamma match for the antenna that can be built using material from a local hardware store. Nathan proposes this antenna as a project for TI-2. He reports that his advanced robotics program is going well, and continues to answer questions from teachers around the country about the weather stations and other ETP projects. ARISS The Salt Lake Tribune ran an article on December 10 regarding the Midvalley Elementary School's ARISS studies. The article reported that Principal Carla Burningham, KC7HON, was the driving force behind the project as follows: "I'm a former sixth grade teacher, I've been a 'ham' since 1994," she said. "So, this project was important to me because it was real life brought into the lives of students. It was an opportunity to inspire young minds to study hard, especially in the sciences and math. Dave Bettinson, KE7LMH, the sixth-grade teacher, played a major role, being responsible for lessons on space, communications, astronomy and the ISS. "Space is part of our sixth grade curriculum," Bettinson said. "This really is a once in a life-time opportunity for us." Local hams put together the ham station, including Steve Olsen, AE7AC, who built and tested the tracking antenna. An early January ARISS contact was one of the highlights for the Marconi Commemoration Events at the University of Rome, which celebrated the awarding of the Nobel Prize to the father of radio, Guglielmo Marconi. Students interviewed Astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ. ARRL staff/contractors are participating in interviews with an external educational consultant hired by NASA to evaluate the ARISS program. I have developed some ARISS web pages for the new website. More work remains to build out all planned pages. Licensing and Instructor Support I continued in dialog and review with the Publications Department and contracted editors about issues related to content and format of the revised Ham Radio License Manual currently in production. We continue to register instructors and teachers in our database so we can include them in our discount program and newsletter distribution. We now have 3820 registered instructors in our database and 726 teachers. Mark Spencer submitted solder kit suggestions for this year's Hamvention kit building booth. We are coordinating with Bob Alison WB1GCM to organize and staff this event. I have provided some guidance but have relied extensively on Katie Glass for development of new web pages in areas related to licensing support and instructor support. If time permits, I will devote some attention to filling out these pages over the next few weeks. Continuing Education Program The new advanced emcomm course for emcomm managers is almost finished being built into online course format. After another review and editing process next week it will be ready to transfer to our website. Then build- out of the final assessment will begin with another developer. This is expected to take 2-3 weeks. Web pages on our new site to provide information and accept enrollments for this course will be built after we see how the Continuing Education Program database will be merged to the new site. This new course should be ready to launch once the new website is launched and we have administrative staff in place. Continuing Education Program enrollments totaled 1421 for 2009, down 54% from 2008. Declining volume in all categories of courses offered through our Continuing Education Program reflects the reduced number of courses being offered. However we also experienced a very significant decline in enrollments in one of the most popular courses, the Technician license course. EmComm field exam volume is also down 62% reflecting the loss of Level 2 and Level 3 exam volume. 2009* 2008 EmComm 755 1731 Technician Licensing 421 931 All other courses* 82 124 Total 1421 3109 EmComm field exams 317 841 *2008 emcomm enrollments and field exam totals include Level 1, 2 and 3 courses. 2009 emcomm enrollments include Level 1 and Level 2 thru March. The Level 2 course was suspended in April. The Level 3 course was suspended in October 2008. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Leona Adams 2/12 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 2/8 Vacation Scott Gee 3/8-3/10 Vacation `` 4/14-4/16 Vacation Joel Hallas 2/26 Jury Duty Dan Henderson 3/5-3/7 S. Texas Section Convention/Greater Houston Hamfest Debra Johnson 2/26-3/1 Vacation Rose-Anne Lawrence 2/8-2/12 Vacation Diane Petrilli 2/12-2/14 N. Florida Section Convention Brennan Price 2/17-2/19 Radiocommunication Advisory Group, Geneva Jon Siverling 2/1-2/10 Working Party 1A/1B/1C, Geneva Dave Sumner 3/12pm-3/14 Executive Committee Meeting, Denver, CO

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