June 2015 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:24349] Field Day PR
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

The runup to Field Day weekend, June 27-28, has begun. Our Field Day press release hit the PR wire this morning at 8am EDT. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amateur-radios-nationwide-field-day… Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:24347] Fall elections
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

As noted in the March 21 Executive Committee meeting minutes, last year's Ethics & Elections Committee recommended a return to paper balloting based primarily on the significantly reduced election participation during the three years that balloting was done primarily electronically. Planning for this year's election cycle was done on that basis. This year's E&E Committee formalized the decision and the announcement is included in the solicitation of nominations that appears in July QST (and will appear again in August). David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary

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[arrl-odv:24345] Section Managers-mailing privileges
by James F. Boehner MD 14 Jun '15

14 Jun '15

To all, I have a question regarding the SM/ODV privileges in regards to bulk mailings. Directors have the ability to send e-mail to their divisions, individual sections within their divisions and congressional districts within their division. My understanding is that SM's can only send e-mails to their section, as a whole. Now that the ARRL has become more politically active, is there any reason why SM's should not have the ability (privilege) to target individual congressional districts within their section via ARRL e-mailings? Yes, I know it would require IT time, and my apologies in advance to Barry! '73 de JIM N2ZZ Director - Roanoke Division Serving ARRL members in the Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina sections ARRL - The National Association for Amateur RadioT -----Original Message----- From: arrl-odv [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Kay Craigie Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 1:55 PM To: ODV Reflector Subject: [arrl-odv:24310] Post to Section Managers list To stimulate more member letters about H.R. 1301, the attached message was posted to the Section Managers reflector today by Staff at my request. 73, Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:24339] Two more
by Kay Craigie 12 Jun '15

12 Jun '15

Congressmen Young (AK at large) and Bishop (GA-2) have become co-sponsors, for a total now of 74. Jim and Doug, would you please encourage members in those Congressional districts to thank the Congressmen for their support? Having gone to Washington for other meetings, Dan Henderson was on the Hill this week and happens to have visited both those offices. 73, Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:24336] WA6ITF
by Kay Craigie 12 Jun '15

12 Jun '15

Family members have posted on Bill Pasternak's Facebook page that he is a Silent Key. He was one of the good guys, whose heart was always in the right place. 73, Kay N3KN Sent from my iPhone

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[arrl-odv:24335] Publication Sales
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 12 Jun '15

12 Jun '15

Doug, To answer your question: >From IN-News: "Jackie Ferriera reports that May product sales were $285,362, falling short of the sales forecast of $321,008." Do we know why the projection was off by $35+k? Where are we for the year to date (through the end of May)? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I asked Bob Inderbitzen who is in charge of retail sales to answer your question. We also consulted with Debra Jahnke who is in charge of wholesale distribution. Here is Bob's response: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year to date, through May, gross publication and product sales are $1,157,645, against a plan of $1,344,467. The shortfall is attributed to: * a softer than predicted sales climate-very uncharacteristic of the period when compared to previous years, * fewer new publications introduced during the first quarter-an incident of having redirected some of our publication development resources to one-time centennial activities throughout 2014, * over-forecasting the performance of our older titles to overcome sales from fewer new publications. * and specifically, in May, some of the shortfall was $15,000 worth of Field Day merchandise that was fulfilled the first week of June and a $14,000 sales assumption for the new Begali key that will begin fulfilling over the summer. We are responding to these results with a handful of additional marketing tactics for both direct and dealer sales which we are hopeful will improve results as early as these upcoming summer months. We are also using the data gleaned from this weaker-than-predicted sales period to help identify opportunities for overall improvement. 73 Bob NQ1R 73, Harold Harold Kramer WJ1B ARRL COO 860 594 0220 hkramer(a)arrl.org

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[arrl-odv:24334] DC news
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 11 Jun '15

11 Jun '15

On Monday afternoon Chris Imlay, Riley Hollingsworth and I met with Diane Cornell, Special Counsel in the Office of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, on the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s field restructuring that was discussed in the May QST editorial. On May 5 we had met with Jennifer Thompson in Commissioner Rosenworcel’s office because we had been advised that the Commissioner might be a swing vote on the issue. Ms. Thompson had asked if we been in to see the Chairman’s office, so Chris set up the meeting. Diane Cornell is a “retread” at the FCC, having served on the staff for 13 years before taking a turn in the private sector, and is familiar with the ARRL and Amateur Radio -- sufficiently, for example, to know that Barry Goldwater was a ham. Chris had prepared a memo similar to the one we used in the May 5 meeting (see arrl-odv:24256) that he submitted along with the request for the meeting. Our presentation went along the same lines with Riley emphasizing the increased compliance he had observed in other radio services as a result of Amateur Radio enforcement during his tenure as Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement, which he attributed to the large number of amateurs who are employed in other services. We cited a few cases where even the existing resources were not leading to timely resolution: the Woodinville, WA "grow light" case from last April where a Citation and Order was issued but with no followup, a Cincinnati jamming case where there was exemplary cooperation between amateurs and the Detroit office that led to identification of the perpetrator but without punitive action, and of course the WARFA Net and NYC cases. Diane acknowledged our concerns and said they also had been flagged by others, which had led the Commission to make some changes in the plan. She said they would "probably" not cut back as much as had been proposed. The objective was not just to cut but to modernize the Field, focus on the RF spectrum instead of issues such as tower inspections, reduce supervisory overhead, and maintain "critical mass" in the remaining offices (i.e. in offices with very small staffs there is little opportunity to get out of the office and into the field). She acknowledged that local visibility of enforcement activity is a powerful deterrent. Just before going into the meeting we already had heard that a deal was being worked out between the House Telecom Subcommittee and the Commission. A hearing had been scheduled for Thursday, June 11, with Chris asked to testify along with NAB and NPSTC. However, the hearing would be canceled if a satisfactory compromise could be reached. And sure enough, the following day the attached news release was issued by the subcommittee. While our meeting with Diane Cornell obviously did not affect the outcome we certainly can claim credit for having pressed the issue with the subcommittee early and strongly, as well as editorially and at the Commission. On Tuesday, Chris, Dan Henderson and I met with Scot Stone, Deputy Chief, Mobility Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, FCC. Scot was Bill Cross's supervisor until Bill's retirement. He holds an amateur license, KC3DCD, that was issued last year but I don't believe he would claim to be active. Our reason for asking for the meeting was to find out how Bill's responsibilities were being handled and whether there was anything we could do to help. Scot was joined in person by Stana Kimball, Attorney-Advisor, Mobility Division and via teleconference by Jim Swartz and Becky Williams. Becky works in Gettysburg; Jim is normally in the DC headquarters but was working at home that day. Scot led off by saying that the long term plan was to replace Bill, although he could not say when that would be possible; he was not expecting it until next year. In the meantime Stana is taking care of VEC issues, Becky is handling licensing questions, and Jim (who is in the Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division and handles siting issues such as NEPA) is covering PRB-1 questions. Everything else goes to Scot, including such contact as the ARRL Lab might need to have with WTB. The new "re-entry" rules for former licensees did not address former Conditional licensees who never converted their Conditional licenses to General. Waiver requests will be granted in such cases; ARRL/VEC can email the waiver requests to Becky. There shouldn't be many of them. Scot said that the cost of issuing refunds had been eating up all of the vanity call sign fee revenue, which is why the fee was eliminated. Like us, he regards this as a mixed blessing; there has been no suggestion of ending the program and doesn't expect it to be made as long as the workload remains relatively constant. We talked a bit about the service rules for the new LF and MF bands; I mentioned that as proposed only CW emission would be permitted, which would not meet experimenters' needs, so we anticipated filing comments proposing additional emission options. That led to RM-11708; Scot said an NPRM had been drafted by Bill prior to his retirement and that it was "in the Bureau" meaning that it has cleared the Division and presumably is with the Bureau Chief. Chris briefed the group on the status of HR-1301. Scot expressed some concern that the six-month time frame contained in the bill is very tight if a notice and comment proceeding is required, which it probably would be. It was a very friendly and constructive meeting. 73, Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:24326] 6 more co-sponsors
by Kay Craigie 10 Jun '15

10 Jun '15

For a total of 72, co-sponsors added as of yesterday are Flores - TX 17 McHenry - NC 10 Kuster - NH 2 Carney - DE At large Blackburn - TN 7 Salmon - AZ 5 Please encourage members to thank these Congressmen/women for their support of Amateur Radio. The Delaware sign-on is memorable and not just because I used to be the Atlantic Division Director. The Section Manager and other locals have been working on the Congressman's staff for a while, according to a conversation I had with the SM at Dayton. What finally got the attention and eventually the co-sponsorship was constituent letters. Chris Imlay and Mike Lisenco delivered a stack of about 50 letters to the Congressman's Washington office, I think it was last week, and whaddya know? He signed on. Fifty-ish letters is a lot to deliver in one bunch. It's even more impressive when you note that as of last month there were 467 ARRL members in Delaware. If we could get a similar percentage of ARRL members in a lot more districts to write their Congressmen, progress would accelerate. I know that many of you are working hard to encourage more letters. Delaware is an excellent example of how the letters actually make a difference. 73, Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:24331] May Product Shortfall
by Doug Rehman 10 Jun '15

10 Jun '15

>From IN-News: "Jackie Ferriera reports that May product sales were $285,362, falling short of the sales forecast of $321,008." Do we know why the projection was off by $35+k? Where are we for the year to date (through the end of May)? Doug K4AC

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[arrl-odv:24330] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 10 Jun '15

10 Jun '15

IN-Newsletter Vol. 40, No. 20 June 10, 2015 - Covers the period May 31-June 6. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events LoTW Study Committee July 15 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee July 16 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee July 16 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Second Board Meeting July 17-18 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Diane Petrilli reports that May ended with 166,939 members, putting us 77 members ahead of the year-to-date goal. This represents a loss from April of 159 members; a gain of 211 was forecasted. The on-time renewal rate for May is 71.06% vs. 71.91% last May. Our large exhibit at Dayton Hamvention contributed 143 new members this month. Jackie Ferriera reports that May product sales were $285,362, falling short of the sales forecast of $321,008. Direct sales were $180,970; dealer sales were $104,392. Sales at our exhibit in Dayton contributed $54.6k to direct sales this month ($59.1k in 2014, $60.2k in 2013, $66k in 2012). New book "Propagation and Radio Science" contributed sales of $16,896 (786 units). The 2015 Field Day product line contributed $33,168 in sales this month. Not included in the month's totals were 700 orders for backordered Field Day merchandise fulfilled during the first week of June, and $7,209 in royalties earned from sales of Kindle-edition ARRL digital publications. The "Training Aids" category exceeded the sales forecast by $5.6k due to the introduction of The ARRL General Class License Manual eighth edition (spiral and soft bound editions). Yvette Vinci reports that on Tuesday, May 19, a reminder emailing was sent to members with a summary of "What's trending" in June QST-taking advantage of some early analytics shared by Alli Barbieri. The notification was sent to 120,900 members. A Memorial Day themed membership promotion, sent by e-mail, returned 50 new members. On Thursday, May 21, we hosted visitors from the Clipperton DX Club, F6KOP Team, and the Union Française des Telegraphistes (UFT). Another large tour group from Fort Herkimer Amateur Radio Association visited HQ on Friday, May 29. Thanks go to all of our volunteer tour guides and staff who helped support these visits. We have a full time position opening for the Front Desk Receptionist. An experienced radio amateur is preferred. Employment inquiries can be directed to Monique Levesque. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 5/29/2015 1,018 376 5/22/2015 913 804 5/15/2015 1,131 377 5/8/2015 923 326 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 4 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 2-4 Business Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 1945 W1AW/WAS 1498 Logbook of the World Category June 2015 QSO Records Entered Into System 681,128,241 QSL Record Matches 111,344,209 Logs Processed 8,056,700 Active Certificates 115,080 Registered Users in System 77,509 Logbook Inquiries June 2015 Time on the Phone 18 hours Phone Calls 147 Emails 1993 Total 2,140 W1AW Representatives from Northeast Lightning Protection LLC - a company providing commercial lightning protection systems<http://www.northeastlightning.com/commercial-building-lightning-protection-…> and residential lightning protection systems<http://www.northeastlightning.com/house-lightning-protection-systems-lightn…> - was on hand Thursday to survey W1AW and its current lightning protection system. Overall, W1AW's lightning protection system is good; however, a recommendation will be forthcoming from this company with regard to possibly daisy-chaining the towers. Joe updated the code practice QST source web page. He also processed seven (7) Qualifying Run certificates and three (3) Qualifying Run endorsements. Joe created the June W1AW Qualifying Run texts and spent nearly two hours with the reps from Northeast Lightning reviewing the station. Field Organization/Public Service Team Now that the June 5th receipt deadline for Section Manager nominations has passed, here is a summary the Section Manager summer election season. There will be one election, and it will take place in the Los Angeles Section. Incumbent Section Manager David Greenhut, N6HD, will face Phil Minch, K6MUG. Carol Milazzo, KP4MD, was the only nominee in the Sacramento Valley Section. Carol, of Citrus Heights, California, is currently the Assistant Section Manager. She begins her term of office on October 1, 2015. Ron Murdock, W6KJ, of Yuba City, decided not to run for another term of office. He has been SM in Sacramento Valley since 2007. The following Section Managers did not face opposition, and they will begin their new two-year terms of office starting on October 1. Jack Ciaccia, WM0G (Colorado); Gene Clark, W4AYK (Georgia); Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV (San Francisco); Lee Cooper, W5LHC (South Texas); Mark Tharp, KB7HDX (Eastern Washington); Monte Simpson, AF7PQ (Western Washington); Charles Hardy, WV8CH (West Virginia). One radio amateur from Oregon completed requirements to become an Official Observer this past week. Currently the total number of Official Observers across the nation is 746. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch report to the IARU Region 2 Coordinator. Several complaints were received about language and racial slurs occurring on 7.185 MHz and interference on 14.313 MHz. Chuck also conducted one morning code practice run at W1AW and gave a tour of headquarters to a former radio amateur and his son. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ --Spring issue<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Radio%20Waves%20Newsletter/Spring%202015%20R…> of Radio Waves sent to 11,643 instructors, teachers and subscribers --Very successful interaction at Dayton Education booth and adjoining West Chester ARA outreach booth, presentation by Larry Kendall, K6NDL on Engaging Youth in Ham Radio through Informal Education Opportunities was well attended with good audience interaction, youth luncheon with astronaut Mike Fincke a big hit --Progress continues with IT's work on development of the Instructor Activity database. In May we received 27 instructor registrations, 9 teacher registrations and 23 class listings' License Instruction The new ARRL Technician-General Instructor's Manual was sent to publisher. Expected delivery is early June. The PowerPoint modules were completed and the supporting web page developed and published. Education & Technology Program A disappointing number of applications for the entry level Teachers Institute led to cancellation of the 3rd session planned for Dayton. Ten teachers have been accepted for the session at Parallax in Rocklin, CA and twelve for the session at headquarters. While the applicant pool for the TI-1 was smaller than usual, we turned away applicants for the TI-2 on Remote Sensing and Data Gathering, filling that session with 10 applicants. Resources have been ordered and are being shipped for the June Teachers Institute in Rocklin. A promotion to ask clubs to consider funding a seat at the Teachers Institute was initiated at Hamvention and is generating interest. ARISS The ARISS US management team accepted proposals from 14 schools/organizations to move on to the next stage of the process in which their equipment plan must be approved before being scheduled for a contact during the January-June 2016 period. The failure of the recent Progress resupply mission has impacted scheduling on the ISS resulting in a delayed crew change and realignment of scheduled crew tasks. The result is that licensed astronaut Lindgren will not be available for Field Day contacts or for scheduled contacts planned for July. We are working with the Russian ARISS representative to determine if Russian crew can pick up some of these scheduled summer contacts. The ARISS program is moving forward with a public fundraising campaign to raise needed funds for continuing operations and equipment upgrades for the Columbus station on the ISS. A face to face US management team meeting at Dayton was productive, providing time to address tasks we have been unable to get to during twice monthly telecons. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 7/3 Holiday Scott Gee 6/11-6/12 PTO `` 6/18-6/19 PTO Mike Gruber 6/1-6/5 PTO `` 7/20-7/24 PTO `` 8/24-8/28 PTO `` 9/28-10/2 PTO Dan Henderson 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting Harold Kramer 6/19-6/26 PTO `` 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting Dave Patton 7/24-7/26 Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, OK Barry Shelley 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting Dave Sumner 6/11-6/14 West Gulf Division Convention, Irving, TX `` 6/23-6/29 Friedrichshafen Convention, Germany `` 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting

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