<<081507.doc>>
IN-Newsletter
Vol. 30, No. 33
August 15, 2007 -- Covers the period August 5-11.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI)
October 8-12 – ARRL HQ
Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections
November 16 in Newington, CT
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
The specific PAVE PAWS mitigation information letter has been edited and approved. We will also include information on directional antennas put together by Zack Lau in the Lab (thanks Zack). Dean Straw, N6BV, was scheduled to visit Sacrament from San Francisco at the end of the week to work on confirming the identification of some repeaters in question. These letters will begin being sent August 13. We also confirmed with the DoD that the lack of any corrections to the PAVE PAWS list is the result of the staffer who will work on those currently working on another project. The current plan, proposed by Fred Moorefield of the DoD, is that after the individual mitigation letters go out, there will be another conference call early after Labor Day to discuss the next steps.
Electronic submissions for Field Day from the Web applet now total 1797. During the week the non-applet electronic submission emails were opened and summaries printed. The data entry for those entries and the remaining paper entries should be done during the week of August 13. I also sent out approximately 75 emails to electronic submissions that were incomplete and required additional information in order to be reported and included with the results.
We continue to watch PRB-1 cases in Palmdale and Poway, California. There were a routine number of phone calls and emails requesting information on reciprocal operating, general PRB-1 queries, and a couple of grandfathering questions related to licensing.
Media & Public Relations
Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP
Draft concepts for technical aid work with a major retailer have been collected and passed on to Mary Hobart, with whom we will work to create a formal letter. Leonard Award announcement and Media Hits were sent on to QST for their October issue. A draft of the concepts for 2008 campaign and a prototype website featuring technological contributions of hams is being circulated among the PR committee and meeting set with key HQ staff. The final preparations are done for presentations at GAREC and the convention. Inquiries from or regarding the Red Cross should first be coordinated with Dennis Dura as well as Allen Pitts.
Development
Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH
The Development Team is preparing for the important 2008 Spectrum Defense campaign that is expected to mail the first week in September to all members, with some testing of special member segments of the file.
The Diamond Club continues to grow with strong fall renewals starting to come in.
Development is working with Allen Pitts and Dennis Dura on a possible emcomm funding project and with Education on the future growth of the Teachers Institute and the funding requirements dictated by that growth. One radio club has expressed interest in a full Teachers Institute in their area and are willing to fully fund it. Interest in a second off-site Teachers Institute has been expressed by a Florida science museum.
The new membership web pages have produced a small influx of contributions – a good sign for the effectiveness of presenting the additional giving option at the point where hams join or renew their membership support.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
The September/October issues of NCJ and QEX have been released to the printer.
Khrystyne Keane wrote and prepared the ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 32, for Friday, August 10. It was distributed to 65,293 members, an increase of 164 over last week. Khrystyne also voiced and produced the August 10 edition of ARRL Audio News. There will be no ARRL Audio News on Friday, August 17.
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
July membership ended at 151,695, the highest membership total since December 2004. The month saw brisk returns to the 100,000 piece membership mailing (mailed in June), which included licensees that have upgraded throughout the last 6 months—many new General and Extra class licensees. The mailing has returned 1,882 new members to date.
July product sales were $228,901; exceeding the reforecast by $21,067. It was the best July, by a sizeable margin, when compared to recent years. Most of the product categories outperformed our planning. The direct and dealer split is nearly the same as 2006—meaning the gains were enjoyed across both customer groups.
Our planning is complete for the ARRL National Convention in Huntsville, August 18-19. Both local hotels have sold out. Our convention team of Officers, Directors, Vice Directors, Section Managers and staff has topped 80 people. We’re looking forward to a great event.
An email solicitation sent to members on Friday generated web orders totaling $16,777 (excluding shipping and tax). Over 360 orders were received throughout the weekend—150 directly attributed to the solicitation. The fulfillment and warehouse teams are busy keeping up with this surge.
On Friday, August 3, a major enhancement to our shipping options was integrated into the online web store. The on-line catalog check-out will now allow customers to select one of the FedEx shipping options that we support, which are: US/Canada - standard overnight, 2-day; and International - international priority, international mail service. Rates for these services are acquired directly from the FedEx Internet gateway in real time, enhancing our service to customers. In addition, staff will no longer have to manually find the shipping charges when Web customers choose FedEx options. Special thanks to Jon Bloom and the Web/Siebel Integration Team for their contributions to this new enhancement.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
QSL Branch
There is no delay in opening mail and a 1 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 87 pounds of cards were received from members.
W1AW
Thanks to Bill Moore, NC1L and Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG for their running of the morning code transmissions for the vacationing Joe Carcia.
On Sunday, 8/12, Mike Tracy, KC1SX hosted at W1AW the meeting of the NE QRP Association. Although NE QRP members were present, no one operated W1AW/qrp.
Prior to vacation, Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also created the texts for the August W1AW Qualifying Runs. He processed one Qualifying Run endorsement. Joe also processed and uploaded logs to LoTW for contacts made the previous week. He also temporarily installed the Hamtronics R139 NOAA satellite receiver in the main area for use during the “Teacher’s Institute” classes.
Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month of August. He also assisted the DXCC department with checking 119 database-inputted cards against DXCC applications. Scott also worked the early afternoon shifts.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Leona Adams is in the process of updating the Field Organization data base per instructions from Section Leaders. Fifteen new Field appointments were added and over 30 appointment supply packages were sent out. The deadline for receipt of San Francisco Section Manger election ballots is getting closer (Friday, August 17), and Team members will count the ballots on August 21.
Steve Ewald is working on the Public Service column for October QST while Field Organization reports continue to arrive during the first half of the month. The 2007 SET guidelines and reporting forms for this fall’s exercises have been updated and are posted on the ARRL Web page to coincide with September QST’s announcement. Preparations are underway for the next SM teleconference to be held later this month, and it will be with the SMs from the Northwestern Division.
Chuck Skolaut notes that an Official Observer from Nebraska sent documentation this week regarding a station that was the subject of an earlier long-standing FCC monitoring request. The information was forwarded to the FCC. Several reports on unlicensed truckers using the low end of 10 meters were received from a radio operator in Texas. We received the monthly IARU monitoring report Regions 1 and 3. Additional data has been documented by OOs on previously reported cases of boot-legged calls signs, and an unidentified time-tone type signal on 17 and 15 meters has been heard.
Education Services
Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ
I’ve been continuing my investigation of new on-line course platforms, talking to WebEx, Learn.com, Angel Learning while Rose-Anne and I have been finishing the reorganization and updating of the Web pages for Scouts, JOTA and School Club Roundup. Through her research on the Scouting Web pages, Rose-Anne has now become the ARRL contact person for scouting information. We’ve hosted two Teachers Institutes during the past two weeks here at HQ and I’ve enjoyed many conversations with teachers who have told me about the school environment they come from and how they are thinking using ham radio in their classrooms. Our guest TI participant, Wally Banzhaf, WB1ANE sat in to learn about teachers’ classroom contexts and their instructional needs as background for his development of a new edition of our publication, Understanding Basic Electronics, which he will be revising for publication next year. Jennie has completed the task of preparing and distributing new Emergency Communications Level 2 tests for offsite test sessions.
Education & Technology Program
Mark reports that changes to the curriculum for the Teachers Institutes were well received this summer. Forty-eight teachers representing 45 schools participated in the four Teachers Institutes offered this summer. Though the TI is not focused on licensing, during the last two sessions at HQ, 4 teachers have made an effort to take the exam and have received their license, and two others have upgraded to General. It’s clear that the teachers are seeing the benefits that amateur radio can bring to their classroom instruction.
ARISS
Two Malaysian doctors who are new hams will be traveling to the Space Station under the Malaysian National Angkasawan Programme with Russia. ARISS Team member Samburov trained both on radio operation and QSO procedures. As of Aug 7, Astronaut Clay had handled 6 successful ARISS QSOs. A successful ARISS QSO took place at the 21st World Scout Jamboree (40,000 scouts) in Chelmsford, England, via special event station GB100J. The Jamboree station handled hundreds of QSOs from July 27 to August 8 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of scouting, which originated in England.
Volunteer Examiner Coordinator
Reported by Maria Somma, AB1FM
The VE Honor Roll will debut in September QST on page 40. It will run quarterly in September, December, March and June. The honor roll recognizes the top 25 VEs according to the total number of exam sessions they have participated in since their accreditation. We also express our appreciation to all our Volunteers for their generous contributions to the ARRL VEC program.
The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) conference was held on July 27th in Gettysburg, PA. Representatives of 11 of the nation’s 14 Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) gathered for the 22nd annual conference. This yearly gathering offers an opportunity for VECs to discuss issues facing the volunteer examination program and to meet face-to-face with FCC staff members. The ARRL’s delegation to the conference included ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM; Assistant Manager Perry Green, WY1O, and Regulatory Information Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. Also on hand were five FCC staff members: Donna Scott, Sandy Eckenrode, Terry Fishel, Bill Cross, W3TN, and Riley Hollingsworth. Cross and Hollingsworth addressed the conference. Cross reviewed recent Commission rule decisions that have affected VECs. Hollingsworth spoke about enforcement activity in Amateur Radio and mentioned that the enforcement bureau now has its own webpage at the FCC which lists all the enforcement activities. The NCVEC re-elected all the current representatives to new terms for 2007/2008. For the full story see the ARRL web http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/08/13/100/?nc=1.
We have processed over 2,100 vanity renewals for members since we began offering this vanity license renewal service in May of 2006. We have also processed over 300 Club vanity license renewals.
VE Patch sales are up 69% over same period last year ($1,108 YTD 2007 / $656 YTD 2006).
The below stats show our accomplishments so far this year. I included information from the same period last year for a comparison. In most sections of our program, we have seen a considerable increase in activity.
ARRL VEC ACTIVITY Jan 1 to July 31, 2006 Jan 1 to July 31, 2007
Test Sessions Held 3,258 4,145
Candidates Served 16,954 32,373
Exam Elements Taken 20,572 38,127
New VEs Accredited 782 1,364
New and Upgrade License application forms transmitted to FCC 11,431 25,354
License Renewals and Changes transmitted to FCC 2958
(341 were Vanity
license renewals) 4637
(516 were Vanity
license renewals)
Club License applications
transmitted to FCC 587
(29 were Club Vanity
license renewals)
(238 new clubs) 812
(121 were Club Vanity
license renewals)
(323 new clubs)
VE Newsletter Subscribers 4,875 5,640
Donations collected by VEC n/a 23
Web/Software Development
Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z
Micah Murray and Hugh Brower continue to refine the membership screens and credit-card processing as they tackle problems that are of decreasing impact but that ultimately need to be fixed. Micah also spent substantial time on routine Web page maintenance. Hugh is discussing with Mary Hobart and LouAnn Campanello ways of implementing recurring billing such as Diamond Club monthly/quarterly pledges that will be trackable by Comptroller's.
Hugh continues to work on the AT&T/BellSouth problem with bulletin/newsletter delivery. At this point, it looks like we may need to make some changes in the way we send messages to those ISPs in order to work around the issues.
My principal focus has continued to be on putting together the information and components needed for pushing membership data into Siebel. (I could probably copy/paste that sentence into my weekly reports for a while to come!) I also fixed a few Logbook gotchas.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
All Staff 9/3 Holiday
Leona Adams 8/17 Vacation
Jon Bloom 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 8/23-8/24q Vacation
`` 9/26-10/5 Vacation
Hugh Brower 9/7-9/14 Vacation
Steve Capodicasa 9/4-9/10 Vacation
Joe Carcia 8/17 Vacation
`` 8/24 Vacation
Dennis Dura 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
Norm Fusaro 8/20-8/27 Japan Ham Fair, Tokyo, Japan
Scott Gee 8/20 Vacation
`` 9/4 Vacation
`` 9/21 Vacation
Mike Gruber 10/1-10/5 Vacation
Joel Hallas 8/20-8/24 Vacation
Ed Hare 8/17-8/20 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 8/22 Ambient Corp, Boston, MA
`` 8/24-8/26 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV
`` 8/27-8/28 Vacation
Dan Henderson 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation
`` 9/21-10/1 Wash. State Conv., Spokane, WA/PC NW VHF Conf., OR
Mary Hobart 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 8/20 Vacation
`` 8/24 Vacation
`` 8/31 Vacation
`` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS
`` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL
`` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN
Gail Iannone 8/17-8/31 Vacation
Khrystyne Keane 8/16 Vacation
`` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 8/20 Vacation
Joel Kleinman 9/6-9/15 Vacation
Zak Lau 8/16-8/24 Vacation
Monique Levesque 8/30-9/4 Vacation
Bill Moore 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
Dave Patton 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
AnnMarie Pinto 8/13-8/24 Vacation
Allen Pitts 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 8/20 Vacation
`` 8/30-8/31 Vacation
John Proctor 9/27-10/9 Vacation
Barry Shelley 8/10-8/24 Vacation
Chuck Skolaut 8/18-8/22 Kansas State Convention, Salina, KS/Vacation
Maria Somma 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
Dave Sumner 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 9/8-9/15 IARU Reg. 2 Conference, Brasilia
Mike Tracy 9/7-9/14 Vacation
`` 10/26 Vacation
Perry Williams 7/19-9/4 Vacation
Larry Wolfgang 8/13-8/21 Vacation