December 2014 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:23656] Document 23--AdHoc LoTW Committee report to ARRL Board, January 2015
by G Widin 28 Dec '14

28 Dec '14

Attached is the report of the Ad Hoc LoTW Committee on its 2014 activities and accomplishments. I would be pleased to answer questions concerning this report. There have been significant strides in 2014, due both to the ARRL IT Department and a few extremely dedicated volunteers. All of them have put in very substantial efforts, and deserve the thanks of the Board and ARRL Members in general. 73, Greg, K0GW

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[arrl-odv:23655] Season's Greetings to all
by Rod Blocksome 27 Dec '14

27 Dec '14

Thanks everyone for all the cards and emails. I came down with the flu (in the 60% category of ineffective vaccine) and didn't get much of anything done for past week. Doing fine now and looking forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Rod and Elizabeth Blocksome

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[arrl-odv:23654] HPM Profile
by Dr. David Woolweaver 26 Dec '14

26 Dec '14

Recently posted by the Hartford Courant. http://www.courant.com/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-250-hiram-percy-ma… Happy New Year! David, K5RAV

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[arrl-odv:23653] Merry Christmas and Thank You
by Jim Pace K7CEX NW Division Director 25 Dec '14

25 Dec '14

Good Morning Board Family: Many thanks for all the wonderful cards I have received, this season. I must admit that I had planned to send cards out, but with all the other things going on around here, they sat on my desk and will probably be used for next year. I wish you and your families the most blessed and happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Remember the less fortunate in our communities, and the seniors who are alone. See you on the air and in January 73 and Good Hamming Jim Pace, K7CEX

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[arrl-odv:23652] Graphs for dues increase modelling
by G Widin 22 Dec '14

22 Dec '14

Bob Vallio had some difficulties opening the files attached to my recent e-mail. I have printed them into PDF format to remove dependencies on which version and features of Excel a user has. And, since others may also be having similar problems, I'm again sending this information to the list. The original Excel files also had tables of the numbers used to generate the graphs, but this information isn't very useful outside Excel, so I haven't included it in the attached files. Best wishes, again, for holidays just finishing or just starting and HNY. Hear you on the air 12/31 for the last Red Badge Day! 73, Greg, K0GW

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[arrl-odv:23644] Proposed Revised Articles of Association and Bylaws
by Christopher Imlay 21 Dec '14

21 Dec '14

Per President Craigie's message earlier today, the Executive Committee undertook a re-examination of the Conflict of Interest Policy at its October meeting in Memphis. At that meeting a drafting committee was appointed to evaluate and prepare draft changes to the Articles and Bylaws, especially Bylaw 45, in an effort to clarify the concerns that arose earlier in the year when Bylaw 45 was applied. The result of the effort of that drafting committee, which consisted of Directors Ahrens, Lisenco and Isely, President Craigie, CEO Sumner and myself, was the attached draft. It was vetted to the full EC which unanimously approved its distribution to the Board for consideration at our January meeting. These revised Articles of Association and Bylaws are, in the collective opinion of the drafting committee, necessary and sufficient in order to efficiently implement a revised Bylaw 45 Conflict of Interest policy. The draft proposes modification of Articles 7 and 12 and Bylaws 41 and 45. I should note that this represents a consensus document, which does *not* mean that it is or was endorsed by each or even most of the members of the drafting committee in its entirety. Rather, it is a version that the committee members can accept. There are many ways to approach this, and this draft is but one. However, it does represent the investment of a good deal of time and effort by those involved as President Craigie noted. Because this draft is being circulated beyond the time that a 2/3rds vote of the Board would be required to modify the articles and bylaws as proposed, it will therefore require a 3/4ths vote of the Board to approve these amended articles and bylaws. There are so many changes to the present Articles 7 and 12 and Bylaws 41 and 45 that it would not be helpful to provide a redline version of the proposed changes. Newcomers to the Board can of course view the existing Articles and Bylaws on the ARRL web site. I will, at or before the Board meeting, be pleased to discuss the details of the changes proposed in the attached draft, either collectively with the Board or individually. However, the following is a brief summary of the major points that were incorporated in the new conflict policy: 1. In Article 7, the main clarification is that Vice Directors are not members of the Board (whichh is indisputable as a matter of law) but that the Vice Director acts for the Director in certain circumstances and during those times, the Vice Director has all of the same obligations, duties and responsibilities and authority as does a Director. 2. In Article 12, we deleted the separate conflict test that has been in this Article for many decades and moved that to the purposes statement of Bylaw 45. Also, we made it a condition of eligibility of candidates to be elected Director or Vice Director, President or Vice President or Treasurer, (or to serve or continue to serve), that they be in compliance with articles, bylaws and rules governing ethics and conflicts of interest. 3. Bylaw 41 was changed to address the proper roles of the Ethics and Elections Committee. The Committee will still have primary jurisdiction to evaluate candidates for election relative to the Conflicts Policy, but unless the E&E Committee finds that a candidate is disqualified using the substantive criteria of Bylaw 45, the Board will not routinely review those decisions. The Board may, however, review the decision in such a case. The Committee will, however, in cases of a finding of a conflict on the part of an incumbent officer, director or vice director, report those findings of fact to the Board and the Board will review those findings and determine the proper remedy. 4. It is Bylaw 45 that is largely new. It begins with a three-point statement of the purposes of the policy: to protect confidential business information of ARRL; to protect the integrity of the Board's processes; and to preclude a situation in which a Director, Vice Director, President or Vice President has interests which conflict with those of the ARRL. It also states unconditionally that a Board member or Vice Director cannot disclose confidential ARRL information to any third party or entity. 5. Bylaw 45 also puts primary emphasis on voluntary disclosure by candidates or incumbents of actual or potential conflicts. It clarifies that the failure of a Board Member or Vice Director to voluntarily disclose facts that may constitute a conflict is a violation of that Board Member or Vice Directors' fiduciary duty to ARRL, whether or not ARRL was damaged in fact by the non-disclosure. Circumstances of immediate family members are taken into account in determining whether or not a Board member or Vice Director has a conflict of interest. 6. Once the disclosure is made, the E&E Committee will ascertain whether or not a conflict exists and will report the findings of fact and any recommendations the Committee has to the full Board. The Board will then determine whether recusal is or is not an adequate remedy and if so, what level of recusal is appropriate. The theory is that all conflicts are fact-based and that in general, they can be adequately mitigated by some level of recusal. Seldom is disqualification required. 7. The three levels of recusal are: (1) leaving the room during discussions of issues that might trigger the conflict; (2) remaining in the room but not participating in the discussion or voting; or (3) staying in the room and participating in the discussion but not voting. The Board will determine, in each case, which of these three levels of recusal, if any, are necessary and sufficient to protect the interests that ARRL has declared in the introductory paragraph. If it is a Director who must leave, the disinterested Vice Director will take his or her place, either by taking the chair of the Director or by simply acting in his or her place and fulfilillng the functions that the Director can't do. 8. A very strict test is provided for disqualification. It is only where all of the following are present that a Director or Vice Director (or a candidate for either role) can be disqualified: The Board Member or Vice Director, (or candidate): (1) is engaged in an ongoing business or activity that directly, materially and consistently competes with an active program, business interest or activity of the League on a continuing basis, or which engages regularly or periodically in commercial business transactions with the League; *and* (2) that application of any of the three levels of recusal would be inadequate or insufficient to accomplish the purposes of this Conflict of Interest policy; *and* (3) that the nature of the conflict of interest is so pervasive and continuous as to render the Board Member or Vice Director ineligible to serve or continue to serve. 9. Finally, the Board Members would under this draft not be asked to affirm in their annual conflicts disclosure and policy acknowledgement that they "understand" the policy. They are asked only to certify that they have read it. The "understanding" provision was problematic for one Vice Director relative to the current Bylaw 45. ' That is about it. Thanks to the drafting committee members, each of whom contributed to the draft, and to the EC which quickly reviewed it. Thanks especially to Cliff Ahrens and Dave Sumner who took leadership roles in the drafting committee's work and to Jay Bellows who offered important edits that had not been caught earlier. None of those three individuals is to be labelled an advocate of this draft, however. As I say, it is merely a consensus draft. For my part, however, I do unconditionally recommend it to you for adoption at the January meeting. 73, Chris W3KD -- Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:23649] Dues increase
by G Widin 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

Apparently the topic of dues increase has taken some people by surprise. The "Dues Study" subcommittee made its first report to A&F at the July meeting in Hartford, as was briefly reported in the minutes. Even with the proposed increase, the budget doesn't get back in balance immediately, and that's not because of a lot of new expenses to be added in 2015. Since the Minutes of A&F's November meeting have been delayed, I thought I'd share a few of the documents that were developed by the subcommittee, and thank them for this helpful analysis. There is a good historical record of the results of past dues increases. This information was used to predict the effect of increases on lost memberships. The attached files show the historical data and one set of predictions of how this may affect both membership revenue and number of members. Of course, there are many different predictions that could be made based on the historical data, but these are sensible predictions without too many assumptions. As several people have pointed out, whatever and whenever we increase dues, we will need to explain the reasons to the membership. The long lapse since the last increase doesn't make this any easier. There are many new services, and attendant new expenses, that have been instituted since the last dues increase. One or more of these new features of membership touch just about any member, whether it's digital QST, Logbook of the World, increased content in QST, or any of the other many upgrades members have enjoyed. We will need to be persuasive, but I think there is a good story to tell. 73, Greg, K0GW The attached Excel files each have several tabs, with different information on each. Please look beyond the tab that shows up when you first open the file. - *DUESHIST1* includes views of the effect of dues increases 1956-1975, 1976-2005, and 2004-2011 on membership numbers. - *"Dues Increase Summary with Graphs"* provides a summary of the predicted effect of 0%, 5% and 10% dues increases on both revenue and membership. The Graphs tab shows both graphs, while other tabs give more details in numerical form.

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[arrl-odv:23646] politicized FCC
by Tom Frenaye 19 Dec '14

19 Dec '14

The tensions between FCC members and the chairman have now spilled into public view. https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-331140A1.pdf Hope their disagreements do not cause us undue grief... -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

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[arrl-odv:23643] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 19 Dec '14

19 Dec '14

IN-Newsletter Vol. 39, No. 36 December 17, 2014 - Covers the period December 7-13. Upcoming Meetings and Events Vice Director Orientation January 14 in Newington, CT LoTW Study Committee January 14 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee January 15 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee Janauary 15 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Annual Board Meeting January 16-17, 2015 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT CEO Office Just a quick note reminding all of you that the ARRL will be closed Thursday, December 25, Friday, December 26 and Thursday, January 1. Happy Holidays to all of you and a Healthy and Happy New Year! Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Yvette Vinci prepared the email notification for the January 2015 digital edition of QST, distributed to ARRL members on Wednesday, December 10. The distribution list included 114,266 members. The emailing was redesigned-inspired by the celebration of QST's centennial year. Diane Petrilli reports that the last membership campaign of 2014 was mailed on Friday, December 12. The next mailing is scheduled to be sent on January 19. Various email solicitations promoting membership this month (holiday-themed, Cyber Monday, etc.) have returned over 215 members by mid-month. Targeted e-mails were also sent to prospective hams, other licensees in members' households, lapsed international members, and non-member ARRL Volunteer Examiners. This week, we are introducing a new mailing to FIRST TIME members to (1) increase the number of e-mail addresses we have among this group and (2) improve our retention of new members. We know that retention is higher among members for whom we have an email address recorded. This most likely contributes to a more deeply engaged member. Having an email address means we can help provide a member with access to members-only features of the ARRL website, the digital edition of QST, free e-newsletters and other bulletins, membership and license renewal reminders, and solicitations for publications and contributions. The test mailings will be conducted for at least 6 months-and complete retention data will be available in late 2016. A final draft of the survey for the upcoming Amateur Radio market study was committed. The survey is being readied by Readex Research for distribution to a large sample of members, lapsed members, and "never" members in January. Members who have been selected to participate in the survey will receive an invitation by email to complete and submit their survey responses online. Questions from members and non-members about the survey can be directed to Bob Inderbitzen. Steve Capodicasa and Michael Scharr completed a comprehensive review of our compliance with the fulfillment requirements of one of our major publication resellers. We are pleased to report that our warehouse is in complete compliance. The IT Department is working with the warehouse to introduce an additional computer and label printer to the facility to further workflow efficiency and our continued compliance with the new fulfillment requirements. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 12/12/2014 856 716 12/5/2014 1,924 448 11/26/2014 (short week) 607 225 11/21/2014 906 514 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 3-5 Business Days Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams has been in touch with all candidates for the three Section Manager elections that will be taking place this winter. She is receiving statements from all the candidates and making preparations for the elections. In addition, Leona received and processed a number of Section Manager expense reports. In Arizona, incumbent Section Manager Robert Spencer, KE8DM, is running against Steven Wood, W1SR. In Iowa, incumbent Section Manager Bob McCaffrey, KØCY, is running against Scott Kirstein, NØOOD. In Wyoming, incumbent Section Manager Garth Crowe, WY7GC, is running against Jack Mitchell, N7MJ. Starting in April, 2015, Kentucky will have a new Section Manager. Alan Morgan, KY1O, of Paris, was the only nominee for the office. Current SM Jim Brooks, KY4Z, decided not run for a new term of office. Jim has been the Kentucky Section Manager since April, 2007. The following Section Managers were the only nominated candidates in their respective sections. Therefore, they will begin new terms of office starting in April, 2015. Malcolm Keown, W5XX (Mississippi); Dale Temple, W5RXU (Arkansas); Carl Gardenias, WU6D (Orange); George Forsyth, AA7GS (Montana); Chris Brewer, N5GMJ (North Texas). Radio amateurs from Ohio, Oregon and Eastern Pennsylvania successfully completed requirements to become Official Observers this week. Chuck Skolaut compiled and sent the monthly ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch report to the IARU Region 2 Monitoring Coordinator. Several reports along the East Coast were received regarding interference heard on 160 meters. One follow-up report indicates it is from a military surface radar installation in Nova Scotia. Chuck conducted one morning code practice run and hosted two visiting amateurs as they operated at W1AW. He also conducted one tour for three amateurs visiting headquarters. Steve Ewald received November activity reports from the ARRL Field Organization and compiled them for the column in February QST. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 12/25-12/26 Holiday All Staff 1/1 Holiday Bob Allison 12/17 Jury Duty `` 12/22-12/24 PTO Lauren Clarke 12/24 PTO Jackie Ferreira 12/19 PTO `` 12/29-12/31 PTO Steve Ford 12/22-1/2 PTO Scott Gee 12/24-12/29 PTO Dan Henderson 12/17-1/6 PTO Gail Iannone 12/19-1/2 PTO Bob Inderbitzen 12/29-1/2 PTO Deb Jahnke 12/22-12/24 PTO Debra Johnson 12/19 PTO `` 12/24 PTO `` 12/31-1/2 PTO Harold Kramer 12/18-12/29 PTO Sean Kutzko 12/12-12/19 PTO Maryann Macdonald 12/22-12/29 PTO Diane Petrilli 12/22-12/24 PTO `` 1/9 PTO `` 1/26-1/30 PTO Becky Schoenfeld 12/24-12/30 PTO Chuck Skolaut 12/22-12/24 PTO `` 12/30-12/31 PTO Dave Sumner 12/24-12/31 PTO Yvette Vinci 12/29-12/30 PTO

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[arrl-odv:23642] The Conflict of Interest policy
by Kay Craigie 19 Dec '14

19 Dec '14

Although they were not specifically instructed by the Board to review the existing Conflict of Interest policy in the Articles of Association and Bylaws, the EC agreed that the policy should be reviewed following the events earlier this year. A drafting committee was formed, and they worked very hard on both the concepts and the language. The resulting proposed revision has been unanimously endorsed by the EC. The document and an explanatory memo will be distributed to the ODV by Chris Imlay very soon. We are outside the 30-day window governing the number of votes required to adopt changes in the AA&BL, but that's okay. So please be on the lookout for a message from Chris. 73 - Kay N3KN

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