March 2010 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

RE: [arrl-odv:18753] ARRL Website on QRZ
by Bill Edgar 28 Mar '10

28 Mar '10

Brian, I agree with you. The only complainant that I have heard in the Atlantic Division is a Section Manager and it is very interesting to see that the people he is complaining to, are essentially ignoring his complaints. Today and tomorrow are the dates for the Maryland State Convention in Timonium, MD. We heard that members are anxious to see the new site, but no one was complaining. Incidentally, attendance at this hamfest appears to be up this year over the last two years. Kay N3KN and Dave K1ZZ are attending this convention and have participated in some of the forums. It has been a very positive event. - Bill N3LLR -----Original Message----- From: Brian Mileshosky [mailto:n5zgt@swcp.com] Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 1:12 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18753] ARRL Website on QRZ All -- Like you, I'm disappointed that the website has run into additional problems, but remain excited to see it deployed. To put our disappointment into perspective, there is some discussion going on on QRZ that you might have a look at. The people who've posted thus far generally understand the fielding of a major website and the issues it brings. I generally don't like to cite QRZ as a summary of thoughts of any particular issue since it's usually so one-sided (negative due to the bashers) but, in this particular thread, people just seem to get it. Coupled with zero complaints from any member in my Division, it might be fair to say that our members and general hams remain tolerant and understand that fielding a major site upgrade like ours pretty much never goes off without a hitch. Have a look at http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=242361 73, Brian N5ZGT ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org

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[arrl-odv:18753] ARRL Website on QRZ
by Brian Mileshosky 27 Mar '10

27 Mar '10

All -- Like you, I'm disappointed that the website has run into additional problems, but remain excited to see it deployed. To put our disappointment into perspective, there is some discussion going on on QRZ that you might have a look at. The people who've posted thus far generally understand the fielding of a major website and the issues it brings. I generally don't like to cite QRZ as a summary of thoughts of any particular issue since it's usually so one-sided (negative due to the bashers) but, in this particular thread, people just seem to get it. Coupled with zero complaints from any member in my Division, it might be fair to say that our members and general hams remain tolerant and understand that fielding a major site upgrade like ours pretty much never goes off without a hitch. Have a look at http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=242361 73, Brian N5ZGT ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org

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[arrl-odv:18752] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

<<032410.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 33, No. 12 March 24, 2010 -- Covers the period March 14-20. Upcoming Meetings and Events Programs & Services Committee: May 1, 2010 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ Administration &Finance Committee: May 5, 2010 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ COO The full-scale load testing of the new Website that we conducted on Friday is now complete and we have a much better picture of the problems that crashed the site earlier this week and how to fix them. All of us on the Fathom launch team appreciate your patience. We will continue to use our current Web site. We plan to run another test early next week and make sure that we get everything right when we do formally launch. Technical Relations Reported by Brennan Price, N4QX Brennan Price is working on comments in two FCC International Bureau proceedings: one seeking comment on an NTIA proposal to make 495-505 kHz exclusive to the maritime mobile service (thus precluding Amateur Radio operations in that band), and another regarding Amateur Radio concerns to be addressed at the World Telecommunication Development Conference (Hyderabad, May 24-June 4) and the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, October 4-22). Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND We became aware of a proposed local mobile cellphone ordinance in North Royalton, OH. After working with Ohio SM Frank Piper, KI8GW, we advised that the wording of the ordinance is such that it should not affect amateur radio communications. During the week we tweaked a few more pages for the new ARRL website. A request was sent to the DLAC volunteers asking them to solicit member letters in support of HR 4809, the House version of S 2881. The DLAC reflector was updated to include all Division Directors in the distribution list. President Cragie approved delaying a pending request to members for letters supporting an increase in the charitable mileage deduction rate (now scheduled for the week of April 12.) A VC in North Carolina contacted us asking that we assist a local club with a request they received to provide communications for an upcoming for-profit event. We explained that nothing in Part 97 prohibited the club from providing the communications for a for-profit event but that they might want to review the Board's statement on appropriate use of amateur radio. (The group subsequently decided not to provide communications since the organizer had not looked into using Part 90 communications). We worked with Mike Gruber, W1MG, who is assisting a Texas amateur with an RFI problem apparently coming from a Verizon FIOS installation. We also worked with another Texas amateur clarifying the rules about communicating with stations outside of the amateur service - a "cross-service" communications proposal he was trying to explore with a friend in the military. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP The ARRL PR Committee met last Wednesday via conference call. The RTDNA forum on "Disaster Communications: Getting Info from the Eye of the Storm" is back on track and being advertised by RTDNA. Information and aid was given to APCO's Emergency Management Magazine who had been incorrectly referred to www.ares.org as ARRL's website. Final polishing was done on the web pages for PR and advance press releases were sent out to many outlets involved with radio, technology or computers as well as to Amateur Radio related media. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The W1AW Endowment Campaign mailing is schedule to mail March 26 to 50,000 ARRL donors and members. The 2009 goal is to raise $65,000. The Teachers Institute has received its first major commitment for 2010, a stock transaction valued at more than $25,000. The Diamond Club continues to yield strong revenues for March, with gross revenues totaling more than $34,000 for the month. Invitations have been mailed to the annual Donor Reception in Dayton on Thursday evening before the opening of Hamvention. The reception will take place at the Meadowbrook Country Club from 6:30 to 9:30 pm with bus transportation provided. Invitees are donors whose contributions for 2008 or 2009 total $1000 or more. Development has fulfilled the requests of Maxim Society donors and Diamond Club Director donors for 2009 bound volumes or CD sets of ARRL publications. The annual Member Loyalty mailing of certificates and pins is in production. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The May 2010 issue of QST was released to the printer March 23. Khrystyne Keane attended the Santa Clara Valley Section Convention in Monterey, California March 20-21. Her report: It was a fairly well-attended event; the organizers counted about 150 people in attendance each hour. The only national brand there was Elecraft, and only on the first day. The hamfest/convention was scheduled on the same day as the M-squared annual picnic, and this might have diverted attendance away from the SCV event. I was listed as the keynote speaker. The organizers asked me to give a talk on "Net News," so I explained how we do The ARRL Letter and ARRL Audio News each week, and what goes into producing QST each month. There were about 25 people in my session, and I received a lot of good feedback about the Letter, QST and League publications in general. Pacific Division Vice Director Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT, and IARU Secretary (and former SCV Section Manager and ARRL President) Rod Stafford, K6ROD, were also in attendance. On Saturday afternoon, Jim spoke on the future of Amateur Radio, while Rod (who came in on Sunday morning) gave a talk about the ITU and the IARU and what both organizations do for Amateur Radio. I also joined in with Jim, SCV SM Bill Dale, N2RHV, and East Bay SM Jim Latham, AF6AQ, in a Q&A about the ARRL. Khrystyne wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter for March 18, 2010. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI BPL BPL testing in Indiana showed similar results to what Ed saw in recent testing in Virginia: Operation in the ham bands; operation on the bands prohibited to BPL and operation above the FCC limits. RFI Laura Smith will be sending letters to both AT&T and Verizon at my request. I've already sent letters regarding the U-Verse and FIOS systems, respectively. They have been ignored, and we still continue to receive some complaints. The letters will be from the FCC and addressed to the company CEOs asking for clarification and solutions for these problems. Product Review Testing The Lab just purchased an arbitrary waveform generator, to be used to develop tests of receiver AGC and noise-blanker characteristics. Travel Ed Hare attended the IEEE Standards Development Committee meeting in San Diego. Bob Allison traveled to the Lincoln Nebraska Hamfest Friday and attended a special dinner with officers of the Lincoln Amateur Radio Club and Cliff Ahrens, W0CA, the Midwest Division Director. The main topic was how to get more people involved in Amateur Radio, with a focus on women and youth. The attendance at the Hamfest Saturday was slightly lighter than expected, due to the bad weather. Bob and Cliff meted and greeted many of our Nebraska members, handled several membership renewals, and signed up a few new members. Bob's forum on Product Review Process went well-about 15 people attended. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R We have established an agreement with McSnyder Software to produce practice exam software for ARRL. The software will be Microsoft Windows compatible. Development has begun, and the product will be completed during the summer. McSnyder presently produces and sells a suite of Amateur Radio mobile software-designed specifically for use with the iPhone and iPod Touch-and licensed through a partnership with ARRL. On very short notice, the US Postal Service has discontinued bulk mail pick-up to all businesses. The service change will impact the daily pick-ups that had been a mainstay at both HQ and our nearby warehouse facility. Bulk mail pick-up includes renewal notices (180,000 pieces per year), QST supplements (60,000 copies each month), and many other in-house mailings. Amy Hurtado (circulation), Ann Marie Pinto (mailroom) and Steve Capodicasa (warehouse) are exploring options. We'll likely work with a private courier service to begin transporting mail to the Hartford bulk mail facility. A 'test' membership solicitation is being prepared, testing the effectiveness of local vs. national messaging. We have long fulfilled a mailing to all new licensees-the first communication ARRL has with new hams. The mailing includes a booklet with a mix of membership information, advice for new hams, and advertising. The booklet is being re-designed to include more relevant resources, and to encourage new hams to retain the booklet: articles for newcomers, band chart, WAS map, phonetic alphabet, RST system, and Q signals. The new mailing will be introduced by summer. The search for additional volunteer tour guides continues. Training will begin soon. Our contribution to the new web site is ongoing. We continue to fine-tune content and test functionality. We enjoyed a visit from Mike Crick of Ham University (practice exam software). A handful of new publication ads have been prepared for May QST. During the last week, the warehouse crew fulfilled 703 packages for publication and product orders, 339 membership premiums, and QST mailing supplements. Now Shipping: 2010 ARRL Field Day supplies; pins, t-shirts, hats, and mugs. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N W1AW The W1AW EchoLink conference server "W1AWBDCT" has been running for one week and has already seen a number of connects. No one as yet has commented on the quality of the audio. (This testing continues.) It may still be a week or two before an official announcement is made of its existence. The new W1AW "digital run schedule" went into play on Monday, March 15. The new schedule allows for the various digital modes used in the regular digital transmissions (Baudot, BPSK31 and MFSK16) to be alternated each day. This gives each mode more exposure. On Friday, March 19, Joe spent some time with Andy Shefrin working on recreating the VUAC-I reflector. Joe also updated the W1AW web page (on the current web system) with updated Qualifying Run schedules and new wording on the transmission schedule. He also ran new audio cable for the EchoLink client PC (that is used to connect to the conference server). Joe also built a PTT box that interfaces the two PCs -- used for CW/digital transmissions - to the EchoLink client PC. This box allows the two PCs to "PTT Key"; the client PC. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month of March. He also assisted the DXCC department with the editing of applications. Field Organization/Public Service Team Preparations continue for the ARRL Illinois Section Manager election. Production of the election ballots and statements of the two candidates was completed, and by the end of the week (March 19), the material was at the printer. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly Official Observer summary to all OOs, Official Observer Coordinators, and Section Managers. The monthly ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch report was compiled and forwarded to the IARU Region 2 monitoring coordinator. ARRL HQ received word from Germany and a U.S. station that a Florida shortwave broadcaster was heard inside the 15 meter Amateur Radio band. A message was sent to the station asking them to check on their operation. Further investigation of an unidentified digital signal that has been interfering with a net on 75 meters reveals that the signal originates from outside of the United States. To close on a positive note, HQ has learned that the Arizona Official Observer Coordinator received a nice thank you message from an Amateur Radio operator who she had sent an OO Advisory notice to because he mistakenly was operating outside of his license privileges. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 4/2 Holiday Joe Carcia 5/28 Vacation Jackie Cornell 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dauton, OH Steve Ford 4/22-4/23 Vacation Norm Fusaro 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Scott Gee 4/14-4/16 Vacation `` 5/13-5/14 Vacation Mike Gruber 4/30 Vacation `` 6/1-6/4 Vacation Ed Hare 4/19-4/22 ANSI asc C63 EMC Comm. meeting, Piscataway, NJ Dan Henderson 4/5-4/9 Vacation `` 4/30-5/5 SC Section Convention, Spartanburg, SC/Vacation Mary Hobart 4/2-4/7 Vacation `` 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton OH `` 6/11-6/13 HamCom, Dallas, TX Amy Hurtado 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Bob Inderbitzen 4/8-4/9 AES Superfest, Milwaukee, WI `` 4/19-4/23 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joel Kleinman 3/25 Vacation `` 4/6-4/8 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 5/14-5/18 Vacation Zack Lau 3/25-3/26 Vacation RoseAnne Lawrence 3/25 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Bill Moore 4/15-4/19 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA `` 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Diane Petrilli 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Kim Piatek 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Barry Shelley 3/25-3/26 Vacation Dave Sumner 3/25-3/26 Washington `` 3/27-3/28 Maryland State Convention, Timonium, MD

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Group communications with Division cabinets/advisory councils
by James F. Boehner MD 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

Cliff, A very easy way to do this is set up a private group in www.yahoogroups.com that would not be listed in the yahoogroups directory. It gives you and the group the flexibility to send one e-mail that will be distributed to everyone in the group. You can also post files and links that can be easily accessed by the group members. There will be a member list that will be easily viewed by you, and you can add/remove individuals from the group at any time. I did this for my SM cabinet in the past. My only suggestion is to use each individual's actual e-mail address rather than the ARRL .NET or ARRL.ORG aliases. If I can help, I'll be happy to do so. I have accumulated about 25-30 yahoogroup lists as the primary Listowner, and started many! '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioT From: Cliff Ahrens [mailto:cliff.ahrens@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 11:09 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: Group communications with Division cabinets/advisory councils I'm looking at possible ways to communicate by email as a group with my cabinet: Vice Director, Section Managers, and Assistant Directors in the Midwest Division. I may just set up an Outlook Distribution List, to send all of them a group email, and then get individual feedback by direct replies to me. But I'm also considering an email reflector or group. One question I have is whether HQ has set up such reflectors in other Divisions. I'd be interested in feedback from those of you who regularly communicate with your advisory councils/cabinets as to how you handle it. Thanks. Cliff K0CA

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[arrl-odv:18749] WEB SITE STATUS
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

Staff and Board: The full-scale load testing of the new Website is now complete and we have a much better picture of the problems that crashed the site earlier this week and how to fix them. Thank you for your patience. It has been very helpful in assuring that when we do formally launch the new Web site that things will go as they should. In the meantime we will continue to use the still fully functional current Web site because we don't want to be down for the weekend. We will run another test early next week and make sure that we get it right when we do formally launch. 73, Harold

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[arrl-odv:18748] Re: WEB SITE STATUS
by Bob Vallio 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

How many hours from 5 PM Thursday, to 8 AM today (Friday), was this project worked on by Fathom staff, and by ARRL staff? If it is not yet finished by 5 PM today, what work schedule has been formulated to assure that it is fully functional as soon as possible? I see that the "new" site has just been removed from service, yet again. It was running so slowly, that it was hard to tell that it was indeed operational, beyond the front page. The banner on the top article, which now reads "*Attention All Amateurs...*" should really be changed to something which addresses the item to which it refers. I believe that something like this: WEBSITE PROBLEMS would really be more appropriate, as that is what is happening. Bob Vallio -- W6RGG On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 8:29 AM, Kramer, Harold, WJ1B <wj1b(a)arrl.org> wrote: > We are doing a full scale test of the new Website at this time. We are > working to resolve any remaining issues and problems. Please be patient as > we continue to work on it. > > > > > > 73, > > > > Harold > > > > Harold Kramer, WJ1B > > Chief Operating Officer > > > > ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio*™* > > 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:18747] Website Status
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

We have turned off outside access to the Website temporarily while we continue to make adjustments. Harold

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[arrl-odv:18746] WEB SITE STATUS
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

We are doing a full scale test of the new Website at this time. We are working to resolve any remaining issues and problems. Please be patient as we continue to work on it. 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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Group communications with Division cabinets/advisory councils
by Cliff Ahrens 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

I'm looking at possible ways to communicate by email as a group with my cabinet: Vice Director, Section Managers, and Assistant Directors in the Midwest Division. I may just set up an Outlook Distribution List, to send all of them a group email, and then get individual feedback by direct replies to me. But I'm also considering an email reflector or group. One question I have is whether HQ has set up such reflectors in other Divisions. I'd be interested in feedback from those of you who regularly communicate with your advisory councils/cabinets as to how you handle it. Thanks. Cliff K0CA

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FW: [arrl-odv:18738] RE: [arrl-odv:18735] North American Center For Emergency Communications, (NACEC)
by John Bellows 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

There is a typo in the last paragraph of my last posting. It should read: For what it is worth. If past experience is an indication Addy is UNLIKELY to draw volunteers from those who are currently affiliated with another emcom organization. Aurora, MN is a 4 to 5 hour drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul so you can do the math as to how many folks would be interested in traveling to operate at the NACEC location. 73, Jay, KØQB -----Original Message----- From: John Bellows [mailto:jbellows@skypoint.com] Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 9:24 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:18738] RE: [arrl-odv:18735] North American Center For Emergency Communications, (NACEC) I little background on Ed Addy and NACEC from Minnesota. Ed Addy popped up at the time of Gulf War I and formed an organization called Desert Voices. The group built a station, including several very nice rhombic antennas with the sole purpose of providing health and welfare traffic and phones patches for the benefit of military personnel stationed in the Middle East and their families. The station was located in Rosemount, MN. For the most part Desert Voices use amateur frequencies and relied upon local amateurs as volunteer operators. Addy was quite successful in obtaining donations of equipment for the venture. The operation was well received and successful. To the best of my knowledge when the Desert voices operation closed the equipment was all returned or donated as directed by the original donors. Ed Addy is a Type A person and not shy about asking for help, equipment or volunteers. At least at that point in time his aggressive approach in recruiting volunteers wasnt universally applauded in the local amateur community though I am not aware of any problems with the operation. There was a brief resurrection of the Desert Voices activity for Gulf II but by that time Addy had moved to Aurora, MN where he had purchased a large tract of land for the purpose of establishing the North American Center for Emergency Communications (NACEC). Since that time I havent heard much of or from Ed Addy until yesterday. There was a minor flurry of local email s from Addy about his interest in rising once again. Just as I was leaving the office yesterday I received a call from Mr. Addy. He said he had sent out a mass emailing looking for volunteers. It wasnt clear what he planned, but it didnt seem likely that there would be a lot of interest on the part of volunteers to trek to Northern Minnesota so I just listened. Addy said he was concerned because in response to his emails he had received some replies that the recipient had checked with ARRL (I dont know who) and was told they never heard of Ed Addy and NACEC. Addy wanted to know who to speak with at ARRL. I did tell him that the multi-section and regional Emergency Communications activities of ARRL had expended considerably since Katrina and ARRL has an Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager and associated structure so that the resurrection of NACEC could likely be duplication. I did give him Alan Pitts name as the current contact point at ARRL. Addy said he already had that information. For what it is worth. If past experience is an indication Addy is likely to draw volunteers from those who are currently affiliated with another emcom organization. Aurora, MN is a 4 to 5 hour drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul so you can do the math as to how many folks would be interested in traveling to operate at the NACEC location. If there is some further concern I would be happy to try and get more information from Mr. Addy. 73, Jay, KØQB -----Original Message----- From: Grant Hopper [mailto:ghopper@eskimo.com] Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 12:12 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18738] RE: [arrl-odv:18735] North American Center For Emergency Communications, (NACEC) Funny thing. Jim Fenstermaker and I were JUST talking about this group. They have been aggressively contacting groups in my area and one local ham, knowing I'm a volunteer council as well as a radio officer forwarded the email to me. I did some digging and am a bit concerned by what I found, especially given that they seem to be targeting hams. If there is interest, either on or off this forum, I'll be glad to share what found, but I do think some more investigation (at a more local level) is certainly called for before any action is taken. 73, Grant Grant Hopper, KB7WSD ARRL Northwest Division, Vice Director -----Original Message----- From: Bob Vallio [mailto:rbvallio@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 9:56 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18735] North American Center For Emergency Communications, (NACEC) I don't know if anyone has any knowledge of this organization, but this fellow is soliciting members of my Division to sign up to work for his group to provide emergency radio communications all over the world. Is there some action we should take to disabuse this fellow of continuing this tactic? In addition to reinventing the wheel, he appears to want to do it with our members. 73, Bob -- W6RGG Edward Addy KEØEG, Executive Director North American Center For Emergency Communications, (NACEC) P.O. Box 174 Aurora, MN 55705 Ph: 218-305-4100 Web: www.nacec.org <http://www.nacec.org/>

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