October 2012 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:21109] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 18 Oct '12

18 Oct '12

IN-Newsletter Vol. 35, No. 42 October 17, 2012 -- Covers the period October 7-13. Upcoming Meetings and Events Director/Vice Director Elections November 16 Administration and Finance Committee: November 17 @ 8:30am - Newington CT Development Reported by Lauren Clarke, KB1YDD With a one-time gift to the Second Century Campaign, James Treybig, W6JKV has qualified for membership in the Maxim Society member. We are pleased to welcome Mr. Treybig as the 111th member of this special giving club. Second Century Committee member Steve West, W7SMW reports a cash commitment to the campaign valued at $400,000 - $500,000. To date: The second issue of Spectrum Defense Matters was recently sent to more than 145,000 members through a USPS mailing and an e-blast. To date, the Spectrum Defense Fund has received $155,263 from a total of 1,478 donors. The 10th Anniversary of the Diamond Club promotion is successfully producing increased and new Diamond Club giving. To date, the Diamond Club has received $171,825 in contributions from 921 donors. The W1AW Endowment Campaign has received $53,268 in contributions from 825 donors. The Education & Technology Program has received $58,153 in contributions from 611 donors. An additional $109,194 from six donors has been received in support of the Teachers Institute Program. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R We have returned from the very successful 2012 ARRL National Convention, hosted by Pacificon in Santa Clara, California. The annually-held Pacificon is sponsored by the Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club. We appreciate the hospitality extended to the large team of ARRL officials, staff and volunteers by Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, Vice Director Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT and the entire Field Organization in the Pacific Division. All 7 Pacific Division Section Managers were in attendance! The Pacificon co-chair, Jim Siemons, AF6PU, reported that there were nearly 2,500 attendees including paid ticket holders, Scouts, 4H, youth participants, college students, vendors, non-profit exhibitors, and volunteers. Convention goers descended upon ARRL EXPO, the centerpiece of our convention activities, throughout the 3-day event. ARRL staff and officials supported 12 forums. Certificates were issued to operators of the W1AW/6 Special Event Station, organized in a tent on the Marriott property. There were even satellite contacts made from the parking lot. Dave Sumner K1ZZ and NASA Astronaut Lee M.E. Morin KF5DDB both addressed a packed banquet of over 300 attendees on Saturday night. The (lively) Wouff Hong Ceremony was attended by 140 members at midnight on Saturday. The busy sales team returned with over $37,000 in publication and product sales and membership dues. There were over 200 memberships taken, including 4 Life Membership applications (2 paid-in-full). We'll report official figures once the skids of remaining inventory have returned from California. A photo album from the event is posted on the ARRL Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151093787602408.445733.2006 9212407&type=1&l=9adc8c9404> . Finally, a word of thanks to the members of my department for their help organizing registrations, badges, shirts, signs, hotel and site logistics, shipping and more: Steve Capodicasa, Jackie Ferreira, KB1PWB, Amy Hurtado, KB1NXO, and Diane Petrilli, KB1RNF. November QST was mailed to members October 2-9. The email notification for the digital edition was circulated to 114,990 members on Monday, October 15. We were informed of a mailing insertion error made by RR Donnelly, QST's printer and mailer. Some members who receive First Class delivery of QST were mailed the wrong journal (Digital Photopro) this month instead of QST! In order to correct this error, we have mailed replacements to all 790+ members of the First Class November QSTs at Donnelly's expense. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity (reported by Steve Capodicasa): Week of Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 10/7/12 1,167 257 Now shipping: The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications - new 2013 edition (hard and soft covers); The ARRL Operating Manual for Radio Amateurs - new 10th edition; The Amateur Radio Public Service Handbook - new first edition; and the 2013 ARRL Calendar featuring historic highlights from the pages of QST (13-month wall calendar). For more information about new titles, please visit www.arrl.org/shop <http://www.arrl.org/shop> . Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams received a petition from North Texas Section Manager Walt Mayfield, KE5SOO, to run for a new term of office that will begin on April 1, 2013. Petitions are due for this Section Manager election cycle on December 7, 2012. Steve Ewald continued to compile Field Organization Reports for the December issue of QST, and worked on updating information on Field Organization-relevant Web pages. Chuck Skolaut compiled and sent the monthly ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch report to the IARU Region 2 Coordinator. He also prepared and sent the monthly Official Observer summary to all OOs, OOCs and Section Managers. The source of the unidentified signal reported last week on 160 meters was located and the problem was taken care of. It was a spurious signal coming from an AM station in Southern New Jersey. Also an unidentified signal was reported on 29.000 MHz and the investigation continues. Chuck conducted a tour of headquarters for a member and his wife from Wisconsin and prepared for the Florida State Convention. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations Holiday 11/22-11/23 Holiday Holiday 12/24-12/25 Holiday Leona Adams 10/26 Vacation `` 11/2 Vacation Scott Gee 11/9-11/15 Vacation `` 12/21-12/26 Vacation Joel Hallas 10/22 Vacation `` 10/24 Vacation `` 10/31 Vacation Dan Henderson 11/16-11/21 Indiana Section Convention, Ft. Wayne, IN / Vacation Khrystyne Keane 10/26 Vacation Barry Shelley 11/20-11/21 Vacation `` 12/17-12/19 Vacation

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[arrl-odv:21108] EC Minutes
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 18 Oct '12

18 Oct '12

Here are the minutes of the September 29 Executive Committee meeting. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary

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[arrl-odv:21107] ARRL Conventions in 2014
by Kay Craigie 17 Oct '12

17 Oct '12

In July the Board decided to hold the Centennial National Convention in Hartford. Since then, several Directors have spoken to me about offering something special related to the centennial at conventions in your Divisions in 2014. While we hope as many members as possible will make the trip to Hartford for the National, realistically that won't be possible for a lot of members. We want the centennial to be an inclusive membership experience, not just something for the east coast or the northeast. It doesn't make sense to pass up this opportunity to educate members at other ARRL conventions about what the ARRL has done for ham radio in its first century and encourage them to envision what the ARRL can do in the years to come. There will be costs for taking some form of the centennial experience on the road, but they are one-off costs for 2014 and we are not going to go nuts with this. Planning and budgeting for centennial activities at other conventions will have to be done in 2013, of course. The Centennial Celebration Committee needs Directors' help in gathering input from your likely 2014 convention host organizations about what they would like to have from the ARRL to make their 2014 conventions unique as a celebration of the centennial for their attendees. Would they like forums, speakers, displays, the right to use the centennial logo in their advertisements and signs, or what? If they are not interested in doing something special, we need that input also for a reality check. Along with asking for specific input about what the ARRL could do for the convention, please find out what the convention might be willing to do for the ARRL in return. ARRL conventions are not all alike. Some do more with ARRL-related forums than others. Some clearly feel it's a privilege and a big deal to be an ARRL convention, while others seem to take the free door prize books, plunk the literature on a table, and pretty much let it go at that. If you have ARRL conventions in your Division that are closer to the latter end of the scale, can you explore with them some options for increasing the ARRL's visibility, especially in 2014? We have not made any pre-judgments about whether the special centennial perks would be limited to Division Conventions or would also be available, perhaps to a lesser extent, to State and Section Conventions. Your thoughts on that would be very helpful. You know your convention hosts and are the best judge of what members in your Division will like and respond to. I would appreciate it very much if you could think these things over, confer with your likely convention host organizations, and send me your input by the time of the January Board meeting. Thanks for your help. 73 - Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:21106] Re: Pacificon National Convention - Points ofPossible Interest
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 17 Oct '12

17 Oct '12

While Greg, K0GW handled the digital QST table most of the time (and did a great job - thanks, Greg!) I spent much of the convention standing within earshot of it. The comments about digital QST were overwhelmingly positive and glowing. Several people asked about the iOS version and were glad to hear it would be available within a month. A few wanted PDFs and weren't going to be dissuaded by the intellectual property argument. Greg fielded one vociferous complaint from a blind amateur but I don't know the details. I helped one member opt out of the print edition of QST as he said he longer needed it. Digital voice is legal. It's a phone mode. See the sidebar to this May/June 2000 QEX article: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/0056x003.pdf Bruce Perens, K6BP is a frequent and vocal critic. Sometimes he's even right. I'm glad to hear he's working constructively on digital voice. So far HF digital voice has lived up to the motto "It's the mode of the future - and always will be." Dave K1ZZ From: arrl-odv-bounces(a)reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Kramer, Harold, WJ1B Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:40 PM To: Stratton, John (WG Vice Dir); arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:21105] Re: Pacificon National Convention - Points ofPossible Interest Hi, Just to clarify a few things: Digital QST can be read on the iPad through the Safari browser, however, it cannot be saved. The dedicated iOS app will be out in less than a month. In fact, some of us, including Board members, are in the final test stages now. It has required a great deal of coordination between the ARRL, Nxtbook and Apple to get this right. The iOS app will permit members to download QST to their iOS (iPhone, iPad , etc. ) device. However, as is standard practice, rich media, such as audio and video clips will only be available if there is internet connectivity. You will also need connectivity to initially to access individual issue for downloads. Once the issue is downloaded, internet connectivity is not required. Regards/73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B ARRL Chief Operating Officer 860 594 0220 From: arrl-odv-bounces(a)reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of JRS Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:31 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:21104] Re: Pacificon National Convention - Points of Possible Interest Dick QST The inability to read QST on an iPad - the tablet that OWNS the market - is not the fault of Apple. It is the fault of the ARRL. When the initial presentation regarding digital QST was made at the Board meeting, the question was asked "when will the Apps for the iPad and other tablets be available?" As I remember, the timeline was this October. The inroads of tablets into the pre-existing PC market is enormous. Many people prefer to access online material through their Apple, Android, etc tablets. They want to be able to download the material and not be tethered to the Internet. The League has to address that market and those members or we are going to be increasingly seen as an out-dated relic of the past. We will lose existing members and run off the younger generation - a generation (actually about 3 generations as compared to those of us over 50) that is increasing mobile. Perrins is just one of many who see the League as behind the times/out-dated/clueless/waste of time - whatever. You did an excellent and admirable job in trying to defuse Perrins and mitigate the damage. Thanks for the effort. FCC As long as this Administration controls the levers of the FCC we are at extreme risk. Elections matter - votes count. 73 ----------------------------------------------------- John Robert Stratton N5AUS Office telephone: 512-445-6262 Cell: 512-426-2028 PO Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 ----------------------------------------------------- On 10/17/12 11:16 AM, Richard J Norton wrote: 1) Inability to Store Digital QST on iPad, and Read It on Airplane This was a complaint that appeared to be the cause behind item 2) below. K6BP. Bruce Perrins, a perennial and popular Pacificon presenter, with a packed room, had 2 or so slides at the end of his presentation that badmouthed the ARRL, and included a statement that the presenter was not going to renew ARRL membership, and contained a request for others to join him. I engaged the speaker and a few others in a conversation at the end. It was shown to me, that you could not read digital QST on the iPad, unless you were connected to the Internet. I mentioned this to several ARRL directors, and was given two different explanations. One said that this was an Apple flaw that would be fixed with the next release of the Apple operating system. Since people showed me that CQ and Astronomy Magazine could be read on the same iPad, this explanation did not seem reasonable. Another director said that this was being worked on and would be fixed in a few months. Whatever the cause, this seems to be a serious problem, and I would hope it would be fixed in hours or days, rather than months. 2) Perceived ARRL Intellectual Property Issue K6BP, the presenter mentioned above, had deduced that the ARRL was protecting QST content, and the necessity to be connected to the Internet was an outgrowth of that. Perrins is an open source proponent. He had a slide essentially saying that he had published 25 or so books, and after a period of time, they all were available on the Internet. He is still getting royalties and has made enough money from them. He therefore is a good guy with his open source philosophy, and the ARRL is bad for over-protecting intellectual property. I was asked things like, "How much time do you need to protect QST content?" I did not answer, as I'm not sure the ARRL, board or staff, has a clear policy on this. The League might consider discussing this. 3) 1.25 kHz Bandwidth Digital Voice Codec Perrins first talk was on a codec which allegedly would give decent audio quality in a 1.25 kHz bandwidth. It sounded real to me. I'm not sure where in our HF allocations such a mode is permitted, either FCC-wise or ARRL Contest-wise. If people use this mode in the digital bands, do the contacts count in our phone contests? It is something we might consider. 4) Bruce Perrins I believe I may have diffused Perrins anger at the ARRL. I suggested the possibility of him speaking at a Southwestern Division Convention, and he responded positively. 5) Laura Smith's Presentation FCC Amateur Enforcement Attorney :Laura Smith's presentation confirmed what we have been told by ARRL people who interface with her and other FCC staffers. She does not appear to understand Amateur Radio, doesn't do much, and doesn't appear to be planning to do much in the future. A friend sent this out to some of his friends, and included me - ---------------------- Laura Smith, FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Enforcement "FCC Update" The joke at the FCC is that hams are just a bunch of old guys sitting in their basements in their underwear. Don't call me and tell me you know me. I do not know you. I only know two hams, Riley Hollingsworth (K4ZDH) and Bill [should be Bill Cross, W3TN]. I meet with Riley regularly for lunch. We do not talk about ham radio. If you're not having fun on the radio due to malicious interference to your regular net, go outside, do something else. I love the OOs, because they have procedures. Reports from other hams don't mean much to me. You tell me you know it's Pete that's causing the interference. I call the monitoring station. After they cuss me out [for making them listen to hams?] they tell me no, it's not Pete, it's Bob. Or they tell me it's coming from a whole bunch of different people at once. What am I supposed to do? I only have a few field agents, and they have to serve a wide area. Unless health and safety are affected [e.g. interference to aircraft or police], we never act immediately. We have to bundle up 5 or 6 cases in the same area before we can justify sending an agent into the field I can't do anything about interference from China [e.g. BY dragon] We can work with the Mexican authorities if interference is coming from there. Part 15 devices made here, causing interference? I can act. Devices made overseas and imported here, I can't do anything about it. Laura Smith ain't no Riley Hollingsworth, that's for sure. Think other end of the scale: "The worst friend we ever had"? ------------------ 6) Pacificon I thought the convention was well put together and decently attended. My guess was that over 10% of the attendees were from the Southwestern Division. Santa Clara is actually closer to the northern SWD members than are some of our Southwestern Division Conventions. 73, Dick Norton, N6AA _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org http://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv

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[arrl-odv:21103] Pacificon National Convention - Points of Possible Interest
by Richard J Norton 17 Oct '12

17 Oct '12

1) Inability to Store Digital QST on iPad, and Read It on Airplane This was a complaint that appeared to be the cause behind item 2) below. K6BP. Bruce Perrins, a perennial and popular Pacificon presenter, with a packed room, had 2 or so slides at the end of his presentation that badmouthed the ARRL, and included a statement that the presenter was not going to renew ARRL membership, and contained a request for others to join him. I engaged the speaker and a few others in a conversation at the end. It was shown to me, that you could not read digital QST on the iPad, unless you were connected to the Internet. I mentioned this to several ARRL directors, and was given two different explanations. One said that this was an Apple flaw that would be fixed with the next release of the Apple operating system. Since people showed me that CQ and Astronomy Magazine could be read on the same iPad, this explanation did not seem reasonable. Another director said that this was being worked on and would be fixed in a few months. Whatever the cause, this seems to be a serious problem, and I would hope it would be fixed in hours or days, rather than months. 2) Perceived ARRL Intellectual Property Issue K6BP, the presenter mentioned above, had deduced that the ARRL was protecting QST content, and the necessity to be connected to the Internet was an outgrowth of that. Perrins is an open source proponent. He had a slide essentially saying that he had published 25 or so books, and after a period of time, they all were available on the Internet. He is still getting royalties and has made enough money from them. He therefore is a good guy with his open source philosophy, and the ARRL is bad for over-protecting intellectual property. I was asked things like, "How much time do you need to protect QST content?" I did not answer, as I'm not sure the ARRL, board or staff, has a clear policy on this. The League might consider discussing this. 3) 1.25 kHz Bandwidth Digital Voice Codec Perrins first talk was on a codec which allegedly would give decent audio quality in a 1.25 kHz bandwidth. It sounded real to me. I'm not sure where in our HF allocations such a mode is permitted, either FCC-wise or ARRL Contest-wise. If people use this mode in the digital bands, do the contacts count in our phone contests? It is something we might consider. 4) Bruce Perrins I believe I may have diffused Perrins anger at the ARRL. I suggested the possibility of him speaking at a Southwestern Division Convention, and he responded positively. 5) Laura Smith's Presentation FCC Amateur Enforcement Attorney :Laura Smith's presentation confirmed what we have been told by ARRL people who interface with her and other FCC staffers. She does not appear to understand Amateur Radio, doesn't do much, and doesn't appear to be planning to do much in the future. A friend sent this out to some of his friends, and included me - ---------------------- Laura Smith, FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Enforcement "FCC Update" The joke at the FCC is that hams are just a bunch of old guys sitting in their basements in their underwear. Don't call me and tell me you know me. I do not know you. I only know two hams, Riley Hollingsworth (K4ZDH) and Bill [should be Bill Cross, W3TN]. I meet with Riley regularly for lunch. We do not talk about ham radio. If you're not having fun on the radio due to malicious interference to your regular net, go outside, do something else. I love the OOs, because they have procedures. Reports from other hams don't mean much to me. You tell me you know it's Pete that's causing the interference. I call the monitoring station. After they cuss me out [for making them listen to hams?] they tell me no, it's not Pete, it's Bob. Or they tell me it's coming from a whole bunch of different people at once. What am I supposed to do? I only have a few field agents, and they have to serve a wide area. Unless health and safety are affected [e.g. interference to aircraft or police], we never act immediately. We have to bundle up 5 or 6 cases in the same area before we can justify sending an agent into the field I can't do anything about interference from China [e.g. BY dragon] We can work with the Mexican authorities if interference is coming from there. Part 15 devices made here, causing interference? I can act. Devices made overseas and imported here, I can't do anything about it. Laura Smith ain't no Riley Hollingsworth, that's for sure. Think other end of the scale: "The worst friend we ever had"? ------------------ 6) Pacificon I thought the convention was well put together and decently attended. My guess was that over 10% of the attendees were from the Southwestern Division. Santa Clara is actually closer to the northern SWD members than are some of our Southwestern Division Conventions. 73, Dick Norton, N6AA

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[arrl-odv:21085] Digital PhotoPro magazine
by Greg Sarratt 11 Oct '12

11 Oct '12

I received a nice copy of Digital PhotoPro magazine in a first class ARRL envelope today?? Was this supposed to be QST? 73, Greg Sarratt, W4OZK

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[arrl-odv:21101] ARRL January Board Meeting
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 09 Oct '12

09 Oct '12

Good Afternoon. I was told that some of you might be coming in as early as Monday and will be departing as late as Monday (well I know not on ARRL budget) the hotel is selling out quickly and if you want to be locked in on the rate that ARRL received I need to know by Wednesday pm. Otherwise you will not be able to check in early or check out later. Sincerely, Lisa Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO / Meeting Planner ARRL--The National Association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Tel: 860-594-0245 --- Fax: 860-594-0259 email: lkustosik(a)arrl.org

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[arrl-odv:21100] Trip Report KØQB IARU Region 2 Executive Committee Meeting Curacao
by John Bellows 09 Oct '12

09 Oct '12

I attended the IARU Region 2 Executive Committee meeting September 29 and 30, 2012 as the Area B (ARRL) Director. My report in both pdf and MSWord is attached. If you have any questions regarding the report or the meeting please let me know. 73, Jay, KØQB

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[arrl-odv:21098] QST
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 09 Oct '12

09 Oct '12

Hi, Some of you received Digital Photopro this month instead of QST! RR Donnelly, QST's printer and mailer were obviously confused about who gets what. In order to correct this error, we will be re-mailing all of the first class November QSTs at Donnelly's expense. If anyone on the Board, does not need a new copy, please let Amy Hurtado know by tomorrow. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 (860) 594 -0220

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[arrl-odv:21097] Wrong Magazine Inserted
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 08 Oct '12

08 Oct '12

GM, We are looking into the problem concerning the wrong magazines inserted into our first-class QST mailings. Amy Hurtado is discussing the issue with RR Donnelly who does the insertions for us. We'll get back to you when we have more information. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 (860) 594 -0220

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