August 2011 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:20170] Board Meeting Expense Components
by Richard J Norton 23 Aug '11

23 Aug '11

For any of you interested in ARRL operating costs, here are some actual board meeting costs from the January 2011 meeting in Hartford. This note contains no specific proposals for change. *Top Level Cost Breakdown * The major cost components of a board meeting and associated committee meetings consist of: Board meeting travel expenses $34,500 Associated committee meeting travel $1,900 Supplies (notebooks, etc.) $739 Copier Rental $450 Van Rental $294 Board picture $700 Hotel meeting set-up $4,041 Hotel meals $15,507 Total $58,000 *Travel Expense Notes* Travel expenses were approximately $900 per person for those flying to the meeting. There is no apparent cost correlation with distance traveled. The west coast attendee's costs were comparable to others. Those driving from nearby states averaged $460 each. One local board member who appears to have commuted to the meeting spent a total of $67. Staff members charged an average of $210 each in travel expenses above identified group meals. Travel expenses attributed to the committee meetings averaged $166 per attendee. This assumes the airplane and auto travel costs are all captured under board meeting costs. Board travel expenses also included additional hotel and meal charges for those attending new board-member briefings. This appears to have amounted to around $800. *Travel Expense Meal Costs and Reporting* Picking up the tab for others and including it on expense reports without details makes cost allocation tedious. Several board members submitted reports with no details regarding group meals, and interestingly enough, these were approved and paid even without the details. Some of us are into fine dining. Notable meals included 1) one for eleven unnamed attendees at $90.50 each, and 2) another for four identified attendees attendees at $80.50 each. *Contribution Offset* Note the fact that some of the higher-end diners are actually significant donors to the League, some giving substantially more than the cost of their meals. *Hotel Meal Costs* The hotel bills the League for the individual meals. Including the 21% tip and 6% tax, costs were between that of the filet-of-beef at $60.21 each and the chicken at $46.11. The lunches, together with morning and afternoon snacks cost $64.06 per person per day. *Spouse Meal Costs* In addition to the Thursday and Friday night dinners and the lunches, some spouse meal costs were picked up by those paying for group meals. Identified spouse meals cost $64.17 for each dinner per spouse. If spouses partook of all meals and also dinners the nights before and after, food costs to the League could be as much as $373 for each spouse. *Hotel Meeting Room Costs* The hotel charges a daily rental fee for all the equipment used in the meeting room. the League paid a total of (including a 21% service charge and 6% tax) for: Thursday $1385 Friday $1449 Saturday $1449 We use the room for about one hour on Thursday. The rental fees include: $12.83 per day each for 14 25-foot extension cords. $19.24 per day each for 14 power-strips Therefore, each cord and power-strip combination that powers lap-top computers costs the League $96.20 for the meeting. Comparable extension cords are sold outright at Home Depot for less than $10 each and power strips are available for less than that. Note that the upcoming ARRL Southwestern Division Convention will be held in the Torrance, California, Marriott Hotel. Convention organizers and participants will be bringing their own projectors, screens, extension cords, and power-strips to eliminate similar charges. *Other Board Meeting Expenses* The League pays its General Counsel a fixed fee for board meeting attendance. I assume that lobbyist John Chwat also charges for his attendance. There are committee meeting lunch charges not shown as well. I suspect these are less than a total of $200. *Actual Cost Data* Should any director desire to see the source data used to prepare this summary, please request it from CFO Shelley. *Conclusions* Viewing the meeting cost components does not only quantify where the money is going, but should also give some idea of the extent of oversight presently given to certain League expenses. There are many possibilities for deployment of the League's financial assets. I hope that we put the assets to the best use of our members. 73, Dick Norton, N6AA

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[arrl-odv:20171] Hurricane Irene
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 23 Aug '11

23 Aug '11

GM, Just to keep everyone in the loop, here is a communication just sent from Mike Corey to the Section Manager, Directors and Vice Directors who are in the possible path for Hurricane Irene. As Mike has noted in his email, all of us involved in EmComm here at HQ are watching this situation closely. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B ARRL Chief Operating Officer 860 594 0220 From: Corey, Michael, W5MPC Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 10:30 AM To: Morine, Bill (SM,NC); Clark, Gene (SM,GA); Eakin, Paul (SM,NFL); Fowler, David, (SM S. FL); Turner, Dee (SM WCF); Tarplee, Marc (SM,SC); Clements, Carl (SM,VA) Cc: Sarratt, Greg (Dir,SE); Hartlage, Andrea; Bodson, Dennis (Dir, Roanoke); Boehner, James, N2ZZ (Vice Dir, Roanoke); Ewald, Steve, WV1X Subject: Hurricane Irene To: Section Managers - SFL, WCF, GA, SC, NC, VA Re: Hurricane Irene ARRL HQ is in monitoring mode for hurricane Irene. The ARRL HQ Emergency Response Team is keeping up with the latest news from NOAA and NHC as well as other national partners. Although initial landfall is still a few days away we are starting to take action to get ready. Here are a few updates to pass along, please disseminate as you deem appropriate. Initial Briefing Session - Thursday August 25 at 7pm Eastern time HQ will be hosting a briefing session for SM's, SEC's, PIC's, HQ ERT staff, and Division officials. This will be an informal session to discuss what is being done ahead of the storm. The webinar briefing is by invitation only which will be sent out later today. Emergency Net Frequencies - As your emergency nets gear up for activation please provide this information to HQ. We can share this information through the website and ARRL EmComm Twitter feed. Section Updates - Please forward any news on Amateur Radio activity to ARRL HQ. Volunteers - We are already anticipating that Amateurs will contact ARRL HQ to volunteer (unsolicited) to assist areas impacted by the hurricane. We will keep a list of those that do in case assistance is requested from the Sections. If for any reason you think that outside volunteers may be needed in your Section please forward to us your process for outside volunteers, necessary qualifications, and a point of contact. We will continue to send updates out as needed. If there is anything HQ can do to assist please don't hesitate to contact us. Thanks and 73, Mike Mike Corey, W5MPC Emergency Preparedness Manager ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio(tm) 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Telephone: 860 594 0222 email: w5mpc(a)arrl.org web: www.arrl.org/

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[arrl-odv:20169] PSC - Failed motion - Release of Time Sensitive Info from Division
by Joyce Birmingham 22 Aug '11

22 Aug '11

Good Afternoon, Remember this? From the July ARRL Board Meeting minutes - 26. Recommendations of the Programs & Services Committee were considered next. Mr. Cox moved the following resolution with Mr. Edgar seconding: WHEREAS the review and release by Headquarters Staff of emails sent by Section Managers and Directors via the ARRL forwarding service delays transmission of time sensitive information to their members; and WHEREAS the reviewing and releasing of these emails significantly increases the workload of Headquarters Staff; and WHEREAS the "Email Guidelines for Directors and Section Managers" developed by the Programs & Services Field Organization Subcommittee in consultation with Headquarters Staff.... Yes, I know this motion failed....but I wished it would not have. Someone, please release my "time-sensitive" newsletter to the Division. (Dave, I know you are in South Africa). But... BTW - We have a Hurricane coming up the coast. Hope everyone at HQ is standing by! 73, Joyce KA2ANF ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio Joyce A. Birmingham, KA2ANF ARRL Director - Hudson Division 235 Van Emburgh Avenue Ridgewood, NJ 07450-2918 201-445-5924 ka2anf(a)arrl.net

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[arrl-odv:20168] Nominees for ARRL Director and Vice Director
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 22 Aug '11

22 Aug '11

Petitions were received prior to the deadline nominating the following candidates for ARRL Director and Vice Director for the 2012-2014 term. Please note that the eligibility of some candidates has not yet been verified. Where there is but one eligible nominee, the candidate will be declared elected once his eligibility has been certified by the Ethics & Elections Committee. This list has been sent to the candidates. Atlantic Director-John Mueller, K2BT, Philip Theis, K3TUF, and Bill Edgar, N3LLR Vice Director-Russell Trippy, W2RDT and Tom Abernethy, W3TOM Delta Director-David Norris, K5UZ and Mickey Cox, K5MC Vice Director-Glen Clayton, W4BDB Dakota Director-Greg Widin, K0GW Vice Director-Kent Olson, KA0LDG Great Lakes Director-Jim Weaver, K8JE Vice Director-Dale Williams, WA8EFK Midwest Director-Keith Kaiser, WA0TJT and Cliff Ahrens, K0CA Vice Director-Rod Blocksome, K0DAS 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary, ARRL

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[arrl-odv:20167] July Financial Reports
by Shelley, Barry, N1VXY 22 Aug '11

22 Aug '11

The July financial reports have been posted to the ODV section of the ARRL web page. The URL is http://www.arrl.org/financial-reports 73, Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY Chief Financial Officer ARRL, Inc-The National Association for Amateur Radio(tm) 225 Main St. Newington, CT 06111 Phone: (860) 594-0212

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[arrl-odv:20166] Outta here for a while
by Kay Craigie 20 Aug '11

20 Aug '11

>From tomorrow evening through August 29, I will be off e-mail. I'm going to the JARL Ham Fair in Tokyo and adding some personal tourist days. For that period of time, Rick Roderick will be your go-to guy, as he is always mine. I have a half-hour operating slot on Sunday, August 28, at the 8J1A special event station on either 20 meters or a WARC band, but it's likely to be in the middle of the night, USA time. 73 - Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:20165] More Bad News From Our Friends At The FCC
by Bob Vallio 19 Aug '11

19 Aug '11

EXPERIMENTAL GRANTS OF INTEREST o 1480-1542 MHz for antenna testing. Fixed: El Segundo. o 1915-1920 MHz to develop, test and validate Homeland Security application concepts. Fixed: Camarillo. o 2400-2483.50 MHz to test a wireless system that will send data from geophones used to record acoustic reflections off underground layers to determine the presence of energy resources. Mobile within the continental US, AK & HI. o 2900-3500 MHz for testing surveillance equipment. Mobile, Santa Barbara. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-309081A1.doc ______ o 144-146 MHz and 437-439 MHz for testing an image processing algorithm that will be used on a future space flight. Mobile: Low earth orbit. o 401.7455 and 401.8855 MHz for weather data collection. Fixed: Castaic. o 5250-5250 MHz for testing Part 15 equipment. Fixed & Mobile: Continental United States, AK & HI. o 9320-9370 MHz for testing system operation and validation of X-Band portable Doppler weather. Fixed & Mobile: Continental United States. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-309083A1.doc

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[arrl-odv:20164] Ham Aid Program Guidelines and Request Form
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 18 Aug '11

18 Aug '11

Just FYI. The email that was just sent to SMs regarding Ham-Aid. 73, Harold From: smlist-bounces(a)reflector.arrl.org [mailto:smlist-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Ewald, Steve, WV1X Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 10:53 AM To: smlist Subject: [smlist:6643] Ham Aid Program Guidelines and Request Form Hello, Section Managers. Just below, you'll find an announcement from Ken Bailey, K1FUG, ARRL Emergency Preparedness Assistant, about the Ham Aid Program Guidelines and Request Form. 73, Steve Ewald, WV1X Supervisor, Field Organization Team ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio(tm) 860-594-0265 sewald(a)arrl.org ============================================= Ham Aid Program Guidelines and the Ham Aid Equipment Request Form are now located in the Section Managers Only Web Page ( http://www.arrl.org/section-managers-only) These are found at the end of the list of "Resources for SMs" in the middle portion of the page. The ARRL Ham Aid Program provides Amateur Radio equipment for loan to hams during times of disaster or emergency, either underway, or anticipated, selected and approved training and educational missions and selected and approved expositions and demonstrations. Requests for Ham Aid assistance must be made by the ARRL Section Manager or his/her designee. Section Managers should read and be familiar with the Ham Aid Program Guidelines and use the Ham Aid Request Form for all Ham Aid assistance requests. ARRL HQ will coordinate requests for loans of the equipment through its Field Organization and after approval by an officer of the ARRL. Any questions regarding the use of the form or the guidelines should be forwarded to Ken Bailey, K1FUG, Emergency Preparedness Assistant, at k1fug(a)arrl.org. Ken Bailey, K1FUG / AAR1IU/T Emergency Preparedness Assistant ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio(tm) 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Telephone: 860 594 0227 email: k1fug(a)arrl.org <mailto:k1fug@arrl.org> web: www.arrl.org/ <http://www.arrl.org/> _______________________________________________ smlist mailing list smlist(a)reflector.arrl.org http://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/smlist

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[arrl-odv:20163] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 17 Aug '11

17 Aug '11

<<081711.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 34, No. 33 August 17, 2011 -- Covers the period August7-13. Upcoming Meetings and Events Executive Committee: October 1 @ 8:30am - Dulles, VA United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 3-7 - ARRL HQ Section Managers' Workshop October 21-23 - ARRL HQ Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 18 - ARRL HQ Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP PR-101 now has 99 graduates and is gaining about 2 a week. Its updated materials and topics, now freely available on the ARRL website, allows us to retire the outdated "PIO Handbook". Polishing and copyright permissions for the four 30 sec PSAs continues. Unfortunately due to the schedules of the people and volunteers involved, plans formed for the rollout of the main DIY video have had to be delayed. We are now looking at October-November for the release. With only 3 weeks advance notice, FEMA released the sign-up info for National Preparedness Month on August 11 for their September event. This was immediately flashed onto the PR email reflector. In past years the Amateur Radio ARES groups have dominated their listings and activities, but that was with better advance notice. We will see what happens this year. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Second Century Campaign Committee met at HQ last week for a very busy and productive meeting. After reviewing campaign policies and documents, the committee began discussions about how to reach an ambitious goal to launch ARRL's second century. Meanwhile, the annual campaigns continue. The Diamond Club has reached 67% of its 2011 goal , the Defense Fund stands at 46% of its goal and the Education & Technology Fund is at 46% of its goal. The meeting with Robert Clark to discuss plans for a National Science Foundation proposal has been rescheduled for August 26. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The September/October issue of NCJ has been released to the printer. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed the ARRL Letter and produced and voiced ARRL Audio News for August 11, 2011. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R During the past 2 weeks, the warehouse crew fulfilled 1,487 packages for publication and product orders, 860 membership premiums, and QST mailing supplements. A new database tool has been introduced to assist our team serving members and customers by phone. Amy Hurtado populated an Access database with the content from the ARRL Yellow Pages, an internal directory of staff, extensions and services. The database version is quickly searchable and sort-able. This database will soon be expanded to include the staff phone list, web links and email addresses. Thanks goes to Deb Jahnke for her help with designing the database and related queries and forms. Following models used by other businesses and organizations, we will begin mailing a "Birthday Postcard" to domestic members who have shared their birth date with ARRL (some of this information is legacy data from FCC records; members also share their birth date through some membership forms and online membership profiles). The postcard mailing will be tested for 4 months, and includes an offer for a $10 publication discount (redeemable online, and valid for the entire month). There are also plans to introduce an email reminder for redeeming the discount. The birthday discount will be touted as a membership benefit, and is intended to introduce more members to the online store. A summary of outstanding web issues has been prepared, covering the e-store, online membership applications, online profiles and other issues involving circulation administration. The document also includes (longer-term) suggestions for enhancing some of these functions. Survey responses supporting the digital QST project were closed on August 9. Readex is finalizing results (data-entry and -analysis). Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Field Organization/Public Service Team Section Manager election ballots from Georgia and Western Washington Sections need to arrive at ARRL Headquarters by Friday, August 19. Field Organization Team members Leona Adams and Steve Ewald are planning to lead the effort in counting ballots and reporting results on Tuesday, August 23. One radio amateur from Sacramento Valley successfully completed the requirements to become an Official Observer this past week. Chuck Skolaut compiled and sent out the monthly OO summary to all OOs, OOCs, and Section Managers. Complaints were received regarding operations on 14313 kHz and 7213 kHz, and a report regarding an unusual CW beacon on 7040 kHz was relayed to regional Official Observers to check. Western Pennsylvania OOs were alerted to a report of interference on a local repeater, and a report of Over the Horizon Radar on 10140 kHz was received from Region 1. Input was provided for the ARRL Web's news page news article regarding the 12 meter CODAR investigation in California and the resulting resolution. Chuck also conducted the 9 AM code practice run for several days this past week at W1AW. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 9/5 Holiday Kathy Allison 9/2-9/9 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 8/18-8/23 Vacation Hugh Brower 8/15-8/19 Vacation Joe Carcia 8/19 Vacation `` 8/26 Vacation Steve Ford 8/18-8/25 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV/Vacation Scott Gee 9/7-9/9 Vacation `` 9/26-9/30 Vacation Mike Gruber 8/20-8/27 Vacation `` 9/26-9/30 Vacation Ed Hare 8/14-8/18 IEEE EMC Symposium/Meeting, Long Beach, CA `` 8/19-8/26 IEEE Regional Meeting/Vacation, San Francisco, CA Dan Henderson 8/29-9/2 Vacation `` 9/15-9/26 Ten Tec Hamfest, Sevierville, TN/SEDCO/Vacation Gail Iannone 8/26-9/7 Vacation Joel Kleinman 8/25 Vacation Harold Kramer 8/19-8/22 Alabama State Convention, Huntsville, AL Zack Lau 11/5-11/6 Iowa Section Convention, Davenport, IA Bill Moore 8/20-8/21 Alabama State Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Patton 8/25-8/28 JARL Ham Fair, Tokyo, Japan Diane Petrilli 8/19-8/22 Alabama State Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/26-9/2 Vacation Becky Schoenfeld 8/15-8/20 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 8/15-8/19 Vacation `` 8/21-8/22 Kansas State Convention, Salina, KS/Vacation `` 8/23 Vacation `` 8/28 W. Pennsylvania Section Convention, New Kensington, PA Dave Sumner 8/11pm-8/22 IARU Reg.1 Conference/AC Meeting, South Africa

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[arrl-odv:20162] DRM Questions
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 17 Aug '11

17 Aug '11

Hi, There have been a number of questions about the potential to downloadable the digital version of QST to a member's desktop. I asked Eric Gervase, our Nxtbook rep, to answer some of these questions. Rather than paraphrase his answers, here they are: Here are the answers to your questions. 1. The digital edition can be downloaded as an Adobe Air app. 2. The rights for the offline version are set by you. So, it is entirely up to you how many people it can get sent to... or if it can get sent to others at all. a. The digital edition can be passed by email (through the link) and then the person it is passed to would download the book through the link. b. This is completely controllable through our DRM system. So, the number of guests is entirely up to you. 3. You can set an expiration on the login credentials. That would mean that they still have the digital edition downloaded, but wouldn't be able to access it. -Eric I hope that this answers some of your questions. The DRM (Digital Rights Management) issues are very complex and every publisher is grappling with them. Staff's recommendation has been to start with the digital edition with no content sharing. We can expand the rights once we see how things go after we launch. It is not easy to put the Genie back in the bottle once it is out. Just FYI, I'm heading to the Huntsville Hamfest and will be out of the office on Friday and most of Monday. 73, Harold

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