- arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

In-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 30 Jan '02

30 Jan '02

In-Newsletter Vol. 25, No. 4 January 28, 2002 Development Department The job posting for the open Development Associate position is complete and resumes are being accepted. ARRL's application to participate in the Combined Federal Campaign will be complete and on it's way to Washington by the January 31st deadline. Thanks to all who helped collect the required information for this application. Development convened a meeting to discuss ARRL's application to receive a portion of the Federal government's $5,000,000 allocation to fund Volunteers in Homeland Security. Consensus is to build on our successful history of training volunteers in emergency services by expanding our on-line certification and training more of our field appointments to conduct classes across the country. After Jim Haynie, Steve Mansifeld and Mary Hobart visit Washington for a meeting of government agencies and non-profits, a working group will prepare a budget and proposal outline well before the 9/30/2002 deadline. Items which may require funding include a review and revision of the curriculum, evaluation of computer capabilities, student materials and heavy promotion. Our target grant will be in the $150,000 - $250,000 range. The 2002 Defense of Frequencies Fund will conclude its formal 90-day campaign period on January 31. While we will always accept contributions, final reports will be prepared at the end of the week. All gifts and certificates for contributions received have been mailed. Media Relations The Professional Media Award winner has been notified and his plaque is in production. Jennifer is working out the details on a possible in-person presentation. The winner's newspaper, The Jersey Journal, ran a nice piece on the award and the local club featured in the winning article. You can view it at http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/news/jjournal/mike25.html. Jennifer submitted a write-up about the award for the Web and the March QST Board article. Jennifer was interviewed for a piece on Field Day for the Environmental News Network, which produces Earth News Radio, an Internet radio program with a focus on science and technology. The interviewer, Michael Ham, WA6LCN, indicated that he may be interested in future stories about ham radio and the ISS, along with another piece on Field Day closer to the event. The URL for the Environmental News Network is www.enn.com. Circulation and Publication Sales Bob Inderbitzen conducted an email solicitation on Monday morning, January 21, to 39,000 ARRL members who have voluntarily subscribed to receive publication announcements and offers. The email included an offer for a free keychain lanyard for any order placed on the ARRL Web site. A free Repeater Directory was also offered for any order that included an ARRL Handbook or Handbook CD. The special offers expired on Wednesday at 2400 UTC. A followup email was sent Wednesday morning -- helping to keep volume high during the entire promotion. This email campaign marked the first time we have sent an HTML solicitation with photos, rather than plain text. We conduct these email promotions about once a month, but this one worked particularly well. Results for the 3-day period: Number of orders: 550 Average order amount: $42.77 Handbooks sold: 151 Handbook CDs sold: 60 Gross sales (less shipping): $23,500 Pub sales, Circulation and warehouse staff have been busy handling the large volume of orders received in only 3 days. In late November, we sent a promotion to the 336 US and Canadian subscribers to the now-defunct CQ Contest magazine who don't already subscribe to NCJ. That promotion ended with 51 NCJ subscriptions (51% response). Field & Educational Services Hearty congratulations to F&ES's Linda Mullally, who is now KB1HSV. She's already made her first QSOs, handling a pile up of HQ hams! She passed her exam after taking Dan's HQ Tech class. Also licensed through Dan Miller's latest HQ Tech class are members of Mark Simcik's family -- wife Loris, KB1HTB; daughters Linnea, 7, KB1HTA; Kerstin, 9, KB1HSW; Brita, 12, KB1HTF; plus Bob Lucas, KB1HTD, husband of Diana in DXCC. CNN.com and NASA-TV covered the installation of our second ARISS antenna during a spacewalk by Dan Bursh, KD5PNU, and Yuri Onufrienko, RK3DUO. The crew installed the antenna, routed the cable and mated connectors. MSNBC has set up an audio archive of the educational events of previous ARISS QSOs on the Web at www.msnbc.com/news/505064.asp. The MSNBC rep said, "I'm hoping this will be an enduring resource for folks who want to get a taste of what these are about. Thanks much to ARISS for all your good work." Steve Ewald and Rosalie released news to Section Leaders and NTS leaders from the Board Meeting about the new Public Service Honor Roll criteria. The new criteria will take effect May 1; Steve has already fielded many questions on interpretations. Jay Ferron, N4GAA, a volunteer associate for American Red Cross Disaster Services, stopped by. He proposes that ARRL might join the national Red Cross in sending a thank you letter to all Amateur Radio operators that assisted Red Cross in the aftermath of the September 11th tragedies. Rosalie and Steve are looking at assisting with an ARES/RACES anniversary operating event for 2002. Rosalie and Steve provided quantities of text to Mary Hobart for possible funding on emergency communications; they and Mary Lau met on other possible funding avenues. Rosalie developed a list of ARISS officers and volunteers to invite to the next meeting, at the Canadian Space Agency in April. The Reflector for School Club Roundup participants has been busy with activity as the SCR nears; N2WG reports his group is putting 5 middle schools on the air for SCR. Jean Wolfgang prepared information on the ARRL International Humanitarian Award winner for our editors, arranged for the engraved plaque, and wrote the congratulations letter. Deadline for receipt of nominations for ARRL's annual educator awards is January 31. Jean continues to receive and acknowledge Kid's Day information and logs. Mary Lau took part in the ARRL Foundation Annual Meeting teleconference Tuesday night; all officers from the previous year were re-elected to new terms, and will hold the same offices as in 2001. Highlights from the meeting will appear in the "At the Foundation" QST column. Mary is also at work on updates to the Officers and Directors List in both print and Web versions. Dan Miller says 31 students registered for the January Level II Emergency Communications on-line class; 34 students enrolled in this month's Level III Emergency Communications on-line class, with registration remaining open through the weekend. Margie Bourgoin reports an increase in the number of affiliated clubs signing up for vanity e-mail service; this is because of a reminder she recently posted on the Web and sent to clubs. She also reports receiving more responses to the 2002 survey on our ARRL Club Web page, asking clubs how we might help them. John Hennessee learned that Wisconsin AB-368 was passed by the Senate, and now goes to the Governor. The bill codifies PRB-1; a great deal of work on it was done by SM Michalski and others. John assisted hams with zoning problems in San Clemente, CA; Orange County, VA; Upton, MA; East Aurora, NY; Amenia, NY and Pequanock, NJ. He assisted hams with covenant problems in Georgia, VT and Los Angeles. He keeps records on hams who've called with CC&R problems. Leona Adams sent all Section Managers their 2002 reimbursable fund information. She sent confirmation letters to first signers of nomination petitions for the July 2002 term for: Glenn Thomas, Santa Clara Valley; James Sellers, Indiana; and Donald Michalski, Wisconsin. Leona saw an increase in the number of Technical Specialist appointments being made recently. Jerry Hill prepared a plaque to be presented by Director Isely to Chris Cieslak, KC9L at the Chicago Hamfest, as winner of The Big Project Logo Contest. Staff is putting the finishing touches on the logo, which will be unveiled soon. Jerry is developing a sample lesson unit and corresponding lesson plans for curriculum development. As an example, the sample unit on propagation will consist of three individual lesson plans, aligned with National Science Standards. Volunteer schoolteachers will design other lessons based on this model. Gail Iannone sent 9 convention applications to the Executive Committee for approval. She also sent 10 hamfest approval letters and 5 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees. She sent 21 handout packages to upcoming events, processed 8 door prize orders and 4 label requests. Linda Mullally updated 82 affiliated clubs records, and 5 reactivations and 1 deactivation. She entered 110 OO reports into the Amateur Auxiliary database, and assisted with 18 graduating students from C-CE courses. Linda reports that Exhibit Kit orders have picked up again this week with 14 kits requested. Steven Blair completed the formatting for the HF Digital Course and sent this to CTDLC. He has also been keeping up with editing the lessons received on Satellite Operating. Brennan Price reports that materials in two enforcement cases were forwarded to the FCC. The January Monitoring System report was filed with IARU and the FCC. Intrusions included a military transmission at 148.000 MHz near Buffalo, NY, and at 144.100 MHz and 436.075 MHz apparently originating from the Moroccan MAROC-TUBSAT, launched last month. Brennan is contacting frequency coordinating bodies to verify they have what's needed to submit data for the Repeater Directory for the February 15 deadline. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 550 WAS Certificates 32 WAS Endorsements 21 5 Band WAS Certificates 2 WAC QSL Cards Checked 12 WAC Certificates 2 WAC Endorsements 1 RCC Awards 14 OTC Awards 6 Extra Class Certificates 38 A-1 Operator Nominations 8 A-1 Operator Certificates 1 Long Term Member Inquiries 3 QRP DXCC Certificates 73 HF Awards Manager Appt.: Paul K. Smith, Paducah, KY. HF/VHF Awards Manager Appt.: Joe Barry, K7SQ, Bend, OR. For the coming week-WAS Specialty awards, WAS and WAC QSL card checking, and VUCC training and awards processing. DXCC Branch Week Ending January 27, 2002 Beginning Cards 81,385 Cards Received 61 Cards Processed 24,414 Ending Cards 57,012 Applications Pending 412 Backlog Time 4 weeks Year-to-date Cards Received 20,093* Cards Returned 305* * - Numbers only represent YTD 2002. Since we are still mailing applications received in 2001, the "returned" numbers will be low and only represent in person applications and some received at the 2002 Board meeting. This will increase once we start the mailing of 2002 applications. Outgoing Mail - We are mailing applications received on December 26, 2001. Card Processing: We are entering cards received on January 8, 2002. QSL Branch QSL service status: Current. Cards mailed year to date as of 01/25/2002 - 183,450. Cards mailed on 01/25/2002 - 94,500. Janet Rocco spent 2 hours conducting tours around HQ. Contest Branch The final drafts of the September VHF QSO party article were completed. The first shipment of 2001 International DX Contest plaques was verified and shipped. Data entry of logs for the 2001 10 Meter Contest continued. Again, significant time has been spent handling member queries in regards to log format problems. The first logs for the January VHF Sweepstakes began arriving. A problem with the robot for VHF contests has been discovered, and will be corrected as soon as possible. It is not causing entries to be rejected if they have complete and correct information in the file headers. W1AW Joe continues to process W1AW/80 card requests. He also generated the February W1AW Qualifying Run text files. He has also isolated the problem in the Alpha 87A amplifier to a short in the high voltage board, and is taking steps to correct it. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice runs for the latter part of the month of January and early February. He handled evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. W1AW telephone sales year to date (2002): $1,145. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Name Date(s) Reason Steve Mansfield 1/29-1/31 Washington Mary Hobart 1/31-2/1 Seminar, Boston Steve Ewald 2/1-2/3 Hurricane Conference, Tropical Hamboree Dan Miller 2/9-2/10 VA State Convention, Richmond Martin Cook 2/1-2/3 MS State Convention, Jackson Dan Henderson 2/1-2/3 FL State Convention, Miami `` 2/4 Vacation John Bee 2/1-2/11 Miami and Orlando conventions, and advertiser visits

1 0

Additional 5 GHz spectrum sought for U-NII
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 29 Jan '02

29 Jan '02

The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), an industry group, has filed a petition for rule making seeking expansion of the 5-GHz Part 15 U-NII band to include 5.470-5.725 GHz. If adopted, this proposal would further reduce the utility of the 5.65-5.925 GHz amateur allocation which has already been hit by the existing U-NII band of 5.725-5.825 GHz and the allocation of 5.85-5.925 GHz for dedicated short-range communications systems in the Intelligent Transportation System. The petition may be viewed at http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_documen t=6512980202. It is worth noting that one of the proponents of the WECA proposal is Carl Stevenson, WA6VSE, on behalf of his employer, Agere Systems. You may recognize Carl in his alternate guise as Executive Director of No-Code International. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ

1 0

RE: [ARRL-ODV:6906] Re: QST changes for 2002
by Wilson, Mark K1RO 29 Jan '02

29 Jan '02

> Is this information going to be made public at all? I would much rather > advise Members of the upcoming changes, rather than have to answer their > questions when they miss their favorite article. George, with the exception of dropping "Moved and Seconded" (already announced), the QST index (to be dealt with in December), and one recently added column (Radios to Go) that never really developed a constituency, the individual changes are minor and are typical of the editorial decisions we make on a regular basis -- adding or subtracting a page here or there. Dave and I think it's best not to call special attention to them. In the case of Radios to Go, it will run for the last time in May and the author will have a chance to say goodbye. Although a lot of people operate mobile, this column never really hit critical mass. It's kind of like the old FM/RPT column -- lots of people operate FM, but we never found the right formula for a compelling column about it. The authors of YL News and Digital Dimension may choose to say something about the change in frequency in their next columns. For the past few years, Washington Mailbox has run on an ad-hoc basis when there is something to say. That hasn't been too often, and it hasn't been missed. We will still cover important news on the regulatory front in Happenings or feature articles as appropriate. Whatever happens to Section News, we wouldn't plan to reverse any of these decisions. Any additional space we're able to free up would go toward technical and feature articles and toward expanding popular columns such as Old Radio. 73, Mark K1RO

2 1

FW: ARRL Tax returns
by Dennis Bodson 29 Jan '02

29 Jan '02

Gentlemen and Ladies: Please review the content as this is from the former VA SEC Mr Amato. This was sent as I understand from Lynn Gahagen to Les Shattuck. As you are aware, Lynn is a candidate for the VA SM position. If this is considere to be in the best interest of the league, I wonder what wouldn't be. Dennis -----Original Message----- From: Af4cd(a)aol.com [mailto:Af4cd@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 2:14 AM To: k4nk(a)arrl.org Subject: ARRL Tax returns Les. FYI Take a look for yourself. Make sure you download the 5.05 Adobe first to view. The 5.05 program is on the same site for downloading. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=arrl+tax+&btnG=Google+Search

1 0

How many callsigns are in QST?
by Tom Frenaye 29 Jan '02

29 Jan '02

Quite a few of the e-mail messages I've received about Section News and detailed contest score listings have mentioned the importance of seeing your callsign in QST. While everyone seems to want it to happen, I wondered just how many callsigns we print each month. I obviously have too much time on my hands, so I took out the February issue and started counting. After I finished I did some adjusting because there was only one small contest reported (UHF) and no DXCC Honor Roll listing (5 pages in August). While this may not be exact, it should give you a pretty good idea of how many callsigns there are and where they are concentrated. Perhaps useful at your next visit to a local club, or next July. Admin (masthead, Dir/VDir, SMs, Table of Contents) 174 Editorial content (articles) 1278 Feature articles 541 VHF column 250 PSHR 272 BPL 24 VUCC 55 SKs 75 Life Members 61 (runs twice a year) Section News 1655 Advertisements 208 Display ads 169 Ham ads 39 DXCC Honor Roll 460 (actually all 5520 are in August) Contest results 1500 (estimate based on 16000 logs, another 2000 in write ups) ===== Total number of callsigns printed in an average QST -> 5275 (my estimate is that about 10-15% are printed more than one time) So, it looks to me like the Field Organization (Section News) with about 5% of ARRL members, and contesters (detailed contest score listings) with 4% of members, are represented in QST by 60% (3155/5275) of the callsigns printed. A bit out of proportion. Notes: Some calls appear on multiple pages. A few are club, special event or DX callsigns. There is virtually no crossover between Section News callsigns and calls in contest results. -- Tom PS: Oh yes, while busily counting callsigns in 6 point type, I realized that the real workers we ought to be giving more PR to are seldom listed anywhere in QST - those who teach classes, give exams and Elmer new hams... ===== 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

1 0

Re: [ARRL-ODV:6909] How many callsigns are in QST?
by Greenheck, n0jph 28 Jan '02

28 Jan '02

Amen Brother! Giving licensing class Instructors, VEs,and Elmers more visability in QST would certainly give the impression that their activities are valued. Teaching and mentoring are the most effective ways we have to answer the often heard cry for new well informed amateurs. Those working toward that end should be encouraged. Twila Greenheck n0jph ---------- >From: Tom Frenaye <frenaye(a)pcnet.com>> > PS: Oh yes, while busily counting callsigns in 6 point type, I > realized that the real workers we ought to be giving more PR to are > seldom listed anywhere in QST - those who teach classes, give exams > and Elmer new hams... >

1 0

QST changes for 2002
by Wilson, Mark K1RO 28 Jan '02

28 Jan '02

In Dallas, Dave Sumner mentioned that continuing to run Section News would necessitate finding 6 other pages per month to cut for the rest of the year. Here are the details of what we have decided to do. We're planning to make these changes without a lot of fanfare, but you may see a little mail about it. We will revisit this after the July Board meeting and during the normal planning cycle for 2003. We expect to stick with this plan through the end of this year. 73, Mark K1RO ______________ Details: Discontinue Radios to Go and Washington Mailbox. Run feature articles as needed to cover these areas. Run Digital Dimension quarterly instead of bimonthly (runs Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec). Run YL News quarterly instead of bimonthly (runs Apr, Jul, Oct, Jan). Publish EC and Board minutes on the Web. Publish EC highlights in the Happenings column, along with the list of new affiliated clubs and Life Members. Continue to publish the Board meeting summary article as we always have. Run the QRP Power and Old Radio columns at 1 page per month. (The current schedule calls for each column to run 1 page for 6 issues per year and 2 pages for the other 6 issues, for a total of 18 pages per year for each column. The new schedule is 1 page per column every issue, for a total of 12 pages per year for each column.) Run World Above 50 MHz at 2 pages instead of 3 in July, October and December. Run Up Front in QST at 2 pages per month instead of 3 (we now have color photos throughout QST). Run Test Your Knowledge bimonthly instead of monthly (runs May, Jul, Sep, Nov, Jan). Adjust the space for feature articles and QST Workbench as needed (by 1-3 pages/month).

3 2

Good to be back...
by Fried Heyn(3rd VP) 28 Jan '02

28 Jan '02

On CNN Headlines today I heard, "The space walkers also put up another ham radio antenna..." I checked the CNN Web site (http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/01/25/alpha.walk/index.html) and found, "Two crewmembers of the international space station stepped outside their orbiting home on Friday to install a ham radio antenna, ... We can use all the good PR we can get. On a personal note, it is good to be back. Since I have not received ODV traffic since the beginning of the year, I have a lot of catching up to do. I also did not receive the book of material for the Board meeting nor the proposed budget plan but will borrow a copy to review. Looks like my ARRL retirement was short-lived. Thanks for your confidence in me. Hopefully, I will prove to be deserving of the new position. Any suggestions or advice will be most appreciated. 73/Fried(ô¿ô)ONE=difference

6 6

RE: [ARRL-ODV:6891] Re: Open Letter to the BoD Subject ARLB007
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 28 Jan '02

28 Jan '02

I addressed this specious argument in the March 2000 QST editorial. The fact is, the difficulty of the current exams compares very favorably with that of the exams of the early '60s. Dave K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: Rod Stafford W6ROD [mailto:w6rod@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 1:14 AM To: arrl-odv(a)listserv.arrl.org; arrl-odv(a)arrl.org Subject: [ARRL-ODV:6891] Re: Open Letter to the BoD Subject ARLB007 It would appear this is an example of someone reading into a proposal what they want to read into it. Obviously, this person doesn't understand that under our proposal, the Novices and Tech Plus licensees simply have some additional spectrum to continue using the same CW privileges they have right now. Oh well. 73, Rod At 3:00 PM -0600 1/23/02, Coy Day wrote: >From: Alva Anderson W5VCJ [mailto:aanderso.cw@verizon.net] >Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 1:32 PM >To: hq(a)arrl.org >Subject: ARLB007 > > >An open letter to the Board: > > Although I have been around amateur radio almost 50 years, I am relatively >new, being first licensed as KD5LZQ in October 2000. Restructuring had taken >effect, and I was disappointed with the low requirements of licensing. My >uncle, T.W. Stevens, the former W5VCJ -- whose call I took in honor of >him -- had tried to get me involved in ham radio in the early 1960s. Back >then, one had to really learn something to be a ham. > > For years, we have seen a gradual but accelerating decline in personal >achievement and responsibility in all aspects of American life, from schools >and universities, and to the awarding of privileges from amateur radio to >aircraft piloting. Rather than cover the philosophical underpinnings leading >to this unnecessary and unwarranted decline in traditional American values, >I would like to urge the Board to reverse its decision on this item. As an >ARRL member, I should, at the very least, like to go on record as vehemently >opposing this decision for the following reasons. > > First, it is unnecessary. All of the privileges that the Novice and >Technician Plus Class licensees desire are available to them via a license >upgrade. And since many of us of all age groups have gone from no license to >Extra Class in a year or so, it simply cannot be a matter of difficulty to >upgrade. Rather, I believe this is simply a matter of convenience to the >Novice and Tech Plus licensees. > > Sadly, I think it is also a matter of laziness. It does take effort, >though certainly not very much, to upgrade to General Class, where all these >privileges are available. In addition, I think the ARRL is trying to get the >bands more active across the spectrum so that we don't lose them, and the >Board sees this as the only viable alternative. > > Finally, at least some of the old Novice Class licensees probably would >like to hold their Novice ticket as some sort of status symbol, since it is >no longer issued to new applicants, yet gain the benefits of upgrading. This >reversal of values is becoming pandemic in American society. > > No matter what the reason for the Board's action, the real effect is an >assault on the concept of class licensing as such. For example, consider >that the Extra Class has only 25 kHz of a few bands, plus the ability to >apply for VE certification to test others for their Extra Class ticket. Not >much for all the extra work, and I am sure that there would be a lot fewer >of us had the licensing requirements been what they were only a decade ago. >In other words, privilege should be earned. > > In essence, the Board's decision is yet another assault on individual >achievement, and the reward and joy that is the providence of those who make >an intense effort in life. As a consequence, I believe that the real effect >will be a decline in both amateur radio participation as such, and >membership in organizations such as the ARRL. First, it will bring a LOT >more people into the bands and effectively fill up spectrum -- spectrum that >is now has a lot of bandwidth for those of us who have earned it. Next, it >will drive away those of us who have made the effort to upgrade because the >bands will be filled effectively with advanced CB'ers -- and the result will >be a dramatic, and irreversible, increase in phone traffic. After all, what >need do the CB'ers have of the ARRL? Finally, those of us who are driven by >the desire to be the best we can be, and to instill this sense of life in >others, will once again be sabotaged by the organizations we support, just >as we are being sold out by those whom we elect to office, both public and >private. > > While you often hear opposition to changes in the rules and licensing, I >can give you the deeper philosophical -- metaphysical, epistemological, >ethical and political -- reasons in another context if you are both open to >reason and have the interest. Please do not help destroy the best within us >for a short term "fix" -- a fix that in the final analysis will not work! > >Sincerely, > >Alva Anderson, Jr. W5VCJ >219 Martin Drive >Wylie, TX 75098-4847 >aanderso.cw(a)verizon.net > > >------ >Coy Day, N5OK, ARRL West Gulf Division Director, >RR 1 Box 254, Union City, OK 73090-9726 (405) 483-5632 >mailto:n5ok@arrl.org Web: http://home.att.net/~n5ok.ok/

1 0

RE: [ARRL-ODV:6901] Re: In-News
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 28 Jan '02

28 Jan '02

Tom, thanks for noticing. Four weeks is still more than we would like -- two weeks was our service standard at one time although we've seldom met it in recent years -- but the DXCC staff is doing a remarkable job right now and I know we will see further improvement over the next several weeks. 73, Dave K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: Tom Frenaye [mailto:frenaye@pcnet.com] Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 10:45 PM To: arrl-odv(a)p1k.arrl.org Subject: [ARRL-ODV:6901] Re: In-News At 01:37 PM 1/23/2002 -0500, HQ wrote: >In-Newsletter > >Vol. 25, No. 3 >January 22, 2002 > >Membership Services > >DXCC Branch > >Week Ending January 21, 2002 >Beginning Cards 89,708 >Cards Received 17,928 >Cards Processed 27,024 >Ending Cards 80,612 > >Applications Pending 592 >Backlog Time 4 weeks Just in case no one noticed, 4 weeks is the smallest backlog we've had since September 1998. Congrats to Bill Moore and Wayne Mills for the effort! I guess the "hump" is over from the initial year of applications for the "DXCC Challange". -- 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

1 0