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Vol. 33, No. 6
February 10, 2010 -- Covers the period January 31-February 6.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Executive Committee: March 13, 2010 @ 8:30am in Denver, CO
Technical Relations
Reported by Brennan Price, N4QX
Brennan Price is drafting documents for the next United States cycle of
Working Party 5A, attempting to contribute to our 500 kHz position
despite continued and unyielding opposition from the Coast Guard.
Jon Siverling has capably represented Amateur Radio interests at the
meetings of Working Parties 1A and 1B in Geneva, where PLT continues to
be a big topic. Brennan prepares to continue the effort next week at
the Radiocommunication Advisory Group, where the allocation of PLT work
among the sectors will be discussed. It is in Amateur Radio's interest
for the ITU Radiocommunication Sector to maintain the lead on this
issue, and recent developments in PLT in the ITU Telecommunications
Standardization Sector have been taken without ITU-R input.
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
Thanks to the work of OK Section Manager Dean Feken, KL7MA, the city of
Mustang granted a 30-day delay on voting on the proposed antenna
ordinance. This is allowing time for the Mustang City Manager and Dean
Feken to draft an acceptable compromise. We will continue to work with
all parties on this contentious issue.
We continued to work on reciprocal operating issues for Haiti. In
addition, we are trying to work through some misinformation that the
Vietnamese licensing authority is using when considering applications
for operating permits. They are requiring CSCEs as part of the
application process, even for long-time amateurs who never tested
through the VE process. Perry Green, WY1O, in the ARRL VEC has provided
copies of correspondence with amateurs denied a permit because of a lack
of CSCEs. We will continue to try to resolve this issue.
State legislatures are back in session in many places and cell phone
bills are starting to work their way onto legislative agendas. We are
aware of bills in PA, VT and MA. We have also been approached about
helping draft an antenna ordinance for the town of Battlefield, MO. We
have explained that while we can provide assistance with drafting the
amateur radio portions of the Battlefield ordinance, that we are not in
the position to be developing the comprehensive ordinance to cover all
communications facilities (as was suggested by the amateur that
contacted us).
Several queries regarding the status of the waiver process with the FCC
were handled, as were several OO-type queries (in conjunction with Chuck
Skolaut, K0BOG in the MVP Department). Finally, several queries
regarding reciprocal licensing by visitors to the US were handled.
Media & Public Relations
Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP
The Haitian activities are settling down into a pattern now, and there
continues to be high use of Amateur Radio in critical areas. The
Dominican teams are currently erecting the third repeater system (from
Ham Aid) and the first two are in heavy use by Red Cross and other
groups with embedded hams. Several commercial/business groups are
reported to want to use them also, but are being told no. Meanwhile,
the University of Miami Hospital teams at the airport near the capital
remain very busy relaying emergency and priority messages between the
hospital unit, hospital ship Comfort and Miami. They report they have
also been put to work repairing others' radios and fixing medical gear.
(Ham know-how at its best). According to Julio Ripoll, cell phone
service is "about 80% but only in the immediate vicinity of the airport
itself." Land lines are still non-functional and satellite phone
systems are working but often overwhelmed.
Requests for reports to be included in the 2009 Annual Report were sent
out to departments and the new Web site work continues. We moved the PR
section into "About ARRL" as the direction and content seemed to fit
there much better in our outreach to media. Two more telephone
interviews were done on Amateur Radio topics and there has been a surge
in aid given to PIOs who needed help with local media questions. The
number of media hits coming in remains quite high.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Joel Hallas took part in an HSMM-MESH Networking Webinar (high speed
multimedia radio).
Khrystyne Keane and Steve Sant Andrea have been porting news and feature
stories from January 1, 2010 to date to the new Web site.
Harold Kramer and Mike Gruber took photos of Steve Sant Andrea's Toyota
Prius. Photos of the engine and traction battery will be used in a new
edition of the ARRL RFI book.
Khrystyne wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter for February 4, 2010.
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
ARRL membership totaled 155,941 in January, a loss of 184 members over
December 2009, and 317 members short of January's goal. 70% of January
expirees paid on time, compared to 74% last January. The timing of
December's large membership campaign returned greater-than-predicted
numbers in December-likely impacting January's lower returns. A large
direct mail campaign is planned for February.
January product sales were $213,594, falling short of the sales forecast
of $274,277. Direct sales were $115,726; dealer sales were $97,868.
Stronger-than-predicted sales in December may have contributed to
unusually soft sales in January. Handbook sales in January fell just
short of predicted sales-the first time since its release in October.
The 2010 ARRL Field Day product line has been ordered, including
t-shirts, mugs (new!), hats and pins. We will begin receiving stock in
March.
Tracking continues on QST delivery delays and non-delivery issues
involving some members in the Gary, Indiana region. With the help of
our mailer and US Postal Service representatives, we are closely
following March QST to determine the bottleneck(s) and to resolve these
problems.
Amy Hurtado has completed an investigation into ways to improve the
more-timely delivery of QST supplements mailed to members. Currently,
members renewing 6 weeks or less before expiration are picked-up in
'supplemental' QST fulfillment, administered by the ARRL warehouse
facility. Lists of members designated to receive QST supplements are
generated every week (or multiple times each week). Approximately 6,200
copies of each issue are fulfilled as supplements in the first 30 days
after publication. Beginning shortly, we will utilize our mailer to
fulfill the first 3 supplements, delivering to these members at least
two weeks sooner than current supplement distribution. This move will
also allow the ARRL warehouse to concentrate on the later supplements
(smaller lists) in a more timely manner. Even with these changes,
renewal notices will continue to note that members must renew 6 weeks
before expiration to ensure uninterrupted delivery of QST.
A follow-up version of the successful end-of-year "mini-catalog"
products mailing is being prepared. The follow-up will be mailed to all
domestic members who did not respond to the initial offer. The mailing
includes only a few changes, including the introduction of 2 new
products: Understanding Basic Electronics Second Edition and the 2009
ARRL Periodicals on CD-ROM.
During the last week, the warehouse crew fulfilled 704 packages for
publication and product orders, 273 membership premiums, and QST mailing
supplements.
Watch for these new products: ARES pin (coming soon) and Wouff Hong pin
(coming soon).
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
W1AW
Joe wrote and tested transmit macros that will be used by our digital
program MixW. These new macros will allow the digital lineup -
currently Baudot, PSK31 and MFSK16 - to be alternated each day to allow
more exposure for each mode. Joe also processed one W1AW Qualifying
Certificate. He swapped out a Harris amplifier power supply and
processed regular QSL card requests. Joe also began experimenting with
sending broadcast audio (CW practice/bulletins/digital transmissions)
via Echolink.
Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the early part of
the month of February. He also assisted the DXCC department with the
editing of applications.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Several intruder reports this week involved a foreign broadcast station
heard on 7125 kHz, thought to be Radio Conakry from Guinea. Also what
appears to be an encrypted signal on 75 meters is being investigated as
well as a beacon-like signal on 6 meters. Chuck Skolaut noticed several
reports were received regarding PSK-31. One such report involved bad
language and another was about an excessively wide signal. A
Connecticut Official Observer was able to assist in monitoring for the
wide signal. Steve Ford was able to identify several digital signals
that we received questions about. Regional OOs in Missouri, Kentucky,
Illinois, and Tennessee have been asked to assist in tracking down a
jammer to an Arkansas net.
Section Managers have been in touch with Leona Adams by providing her
with updates, new appointments and cancellations to their Field Services
appointment rosters. New Field Organization appointment packages with
supplies have also been sent out. Ballots for the Virginia Section
Manager election are still arriving. The receipt deadline is Friday,
February 19th. Ballots will be counted by MVP staff on Tuesday,
February 24th.
Steve Ewald worked on the some Web pages for the new Web site, and the
Public Service column for April QST was prepared and turned over to the
QST editorial and production staff.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
All Staff 2/15 Holiday
Leona Adams 2/12 Vacation
`` 2/26 Vacation
Kim Dotolo 2/16-2/17 Vacation
Scott Gee 3/8-3/10 Vacation
`` 4/14-4/16 Vacation
Mike Gruber 4/30 Vacation
Joel Hallas 2/26 Jury Duty
Ed Hare 2/11-2/14 BPL testing, Central VA
`` 2/26-2/27 VT Section Convention,
Colchester, VT
`` 3/10-3/12 IEEE Standards Dev. Committee
meeting, San Diego, CA
`` 3/15-3/19 Vacation
`` 4/19-4/22 ANSI asc C63 EMC Comm. meeting,
Piscataway, NJ
Dan Henderson 3/5-3/7 S. Texas Section
Convention/Greater Houston Hamfest
Debra Johnson 2/26-3/1 Vacation
Joel Kleinman 2/16-2/19 Vacation
Rose-Anne Lawrence 2/8-2/12 Vacation
Amy Leary 2/26 Vacation
Trevor Morris 2/11-2/12 Vacation
Diane Petrilli 2/12-2/14 N. Florida Section Convention
Brennan Price 2/17-2/19 Radiocommunication Advisory
Group, Geneva
Dave Sumner 3/12pm-3/14 Executive Committee Meeting,
Denver, CO
