IN-Newsletter Vol 26, No. 11 March 18, 2003 Upcoming Meetings April 12th in St. Louis, MO at 8:30am Volunteer Resources Committee April 26th in Kansas City, MO at 8:30am A&F Committee Development The 2003 campaign for Education & Technology has raised nearly $23,000 from 540 donors in its first week of returns. Follow-up letters to about 200 major donors have been mailed. Follow up postcards to 3237 donors to the 2002 campaign and to 24,445 donors to other campaigns will be mailed the week of 3/24. The first 2000 Diamond Club solicitation letters as part of the regular ARRL member renewal process were mailed the week of 3/17. The same solicitation process will take place each month for the balance of 2003. A special Defense Fund campaign to support WRC-03 will be mailed in early April to more than 8000 donors who contributed in 2001 or 2002 but not in 2003. Twelve Charter members to the new ARRL Maxim Society have been identified and will be welcomed this spring. Letters have been mailed to Maxim Society donors and donors whose contributions for 2002 total $1000 or more to secure permission to recognition in the ARRL Annual Report, in QST and on the ARRL Web site. New brochures for the Maxim Society and Legacy Circle have been completed and are at the printer. The first issue of the planned giving newsletter, The Legacy Circle Letter, is complete and at the printer. It will be mailed to donors who have notified Development that they have included ARRL in their estate plans, to prospects who are considering a bequest to ARRL and to 4500 ARRL members born between 1936 and 1950 as an education and cultivation piece. Media Relations The first issue of a new monthly PR newsletter called "Contact!" has been posted to the PR page, and promoted on the PR reflector. Readers have commented favorably. Thanks go to Sue Fagan for creating the eye-catching masthead, which also has received several compliments. Jennifer again talked with a reporter from The Dallas Morning News who had some final questions before handing in a story about emergency communications. Interviewees included President Haynie and New York's District Emergency Coordinator Charles Hargrove, N2NOV. Hargrove offered information on the ham response after 9/11, which is still of interest to the media. The article ran on March 19, and was also picked up by the Associated Press. Jennifer worked with a reporter from the FOX television affiliate in York, Pennsylvania. She was very interested in Amateur Radio's emergency response capabilities, and we were able to provide several good local contacts for her to talk to. With tension growing in the Middle East, the media has expressed interest in what ham radio operators might do, or what they might hear on the air during the war. This topic brings up some important points that the media needs to be aware of. So far, John Hennessee talked with a reporter from the Charlotte (Port Charlotte, FL) Sun, and Jennifer fielded questions from WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, and Toledo Ohio's WTOL-TV. Sales & Marketing The "Advertiser Roundup" is proceeding on schedule for the May 2003 issue of QST. Several advertisers will be returning to the pages of QST after a period of absence. Cushcraft has signed on for insertions through the end of the year. We also welcome back RF Tech and International Radio. A new advertiser, Black Feather Electronics, will debut with a small display ad. The Advertising Matters newsletter is in advertisers' hands. We included a clarification of how New Product Announcements, Short Takes and QST Product Reviews are handled. The piece answered many repeat questions regarding these topics and cleared up some confusion. We have received positive feedback about our effort to bring clarity to the matter. Deb Jahnke, Bob Inderbitzen and Kathy Capodicasa put together the specifics for the March membership mailing which targets Technician licensees (lapsed and never members). Bob is drafting a test piece which will be mailed to a segment of the leads, hoping to beat our control piece. Howard Robins met with Bob to explore approaches to direct marketing the online Certification and Continuing Education Program courses. Some tests are being planned which will be conducted via email. Bob worked with Sue Fagan to complete a cover design for the first edition of ARRL's Extra Q & A. They have also started planning the 2004 ARRL Handbook cover, prompted by a bunch of good ideas offered by editor Dana Reed. Diane Szlachetka is immersed in a handful of design and production projects. Thanks go to Shelly Bloom, Dan Wolfgang and the other members of the Production and Graphics Departments as they continue to assist Diane while she transitions into these new responsibilities. Most current projects include advertising composition for new book editions and May QST advertising. Lisa Tardette is working with Bob on the next issue of our Dealer Newsline newsletter. The piece has been turned over to Sue Fagan for layout. Our new Spring publications will be heavily promoted: Now You're Talking!, ARRL's Tech Q&A and Extra Q&A, Repeater Directory, UHF/Microwave Projects CD, and Hints & Kinks. They also made some updates to dealer listings available via the ARRLWeb. Danny Sayad reports that a large number of orders have been received in response to our recent publication mailings featuring the new ARRL book, Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur. The book is also generating positive feedback among ARRL publication dealers, and some are already placing second and third orders for copies of the book. Production/Editorial We checked printer's proofs for The Extra Class Q&A Manual. The 2003-2004 ARRL Repeater Directory has been released to the printer. Field & Educational Services In their ISS weekly news report, NASA highlighted an ARISS QSO successfully held this week. Rosalie took part in a VRC teleconference meeting and completed action items afterwards. She participated in an ARISS telecon concerning FCC regs for a proposed hardware project, prepared the agenda for and moderated a telecon of the ARISS international education team, and looked into feasibility of a special request for an ARISS QSO. Regulatory Information John Hennessee assisted hams with local zoning antenna restrictions in Milpitas, CA (WB6W) and Hendersonville, TN (WB6WZK). He assisted amateurs with covenant restrictions in Edgewood, MD (N3VS) and Raeford, NC (AG4QE). He processed applications for a new Volunteer Counsel, Richard Heller, WA6IZH, of Ojai, CA and a new Volunteer Consulting Engineer, Gerald Garcia, W5GWG. Eligible amateurs and ARRL members can apply at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/local/vc-vce.html. Emcomm Grants Dan Miller's two 2-hour seminars seminar in Charlotte, NC, attracted 15 people, one a Georgia emergency management rep. On his way home, in the adjacent seat on the plane was a TV reporter who said she'd been to HQ and had done stories on ARRL twice! To date, there are 943 graduates of 1799 students enrolled in UTC-sponsored classes. For CNCS-sponsored classes, 21 have graduated thus far from February's Level I enrollment of 81; March enrollment is 77 in Level II, and Level III opens next week. Field Organization/Public Service Leona Adams began working with SM candidate statements/eligibility forms for elections coming up in Maryland-DC, New Hampshire and San Joaquin Valley. Ballots are scheduled to be mailed from HQ by April 1. Chuck Skolaut and Steve Ewald contacted all SMs by phone to update them on information for OOCs and OOs. Chuck has been handling and processing reports of possible intruders on 40 meters and 10 meters. Steve Ewald worked on QST's "Public Service" column. He worked with SMs on their Monthly News Summaries; this week, 15 e-mail relays were sent by 10 different SMs. Steve worked with VRC Chair Walstrom to distribute an SM survey. Steve prepared for the upcoming Nebraska convention. His phone calls to SMs this week were very beneficial; allowing SMs to discuss issues or ask questions. Field & Education Support Team Linda Mullally registered 10 Volunteer Instructors and 1 schoolteacher. She updated 60 club records and 3 reactivations and 1 de-activation. She mailed 42 initial appointment supply packages, and compiled the statistics for the Field Organization Reports for May QST. Jean Wolfgang processed 15 instructor award nominations. Letters were sent to the Directors, SMs, nominees and nominators. She received 4 nominees for the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award and 2 nominees for the technical awards. Jean is also considering possible ways to experiment with the Kid's Day event. Margie Bourgoin processed 5 new club applications and forwarded them to the appropriate Directors for approvals. She also processed two SSC renewals, and has been assisting Jean with Educational Award nominations. Gail Iannone sent 18 convention applications to the Executive Committee for their approval at the March 15th meeting. She mailed room reservation forms for the Dayton Hamvention and ARRL National Convention; processed 21 door prize orders and sent 29 handout packages for upcoming events. Mary Lau is watching for what the mail brings in after Saturday, March 15th, the Goldfarb scholarship deadline. She worked with Alan Cohen to try some Web-to-Siebel club functions under construction. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Jerry Hill set up and staffed a booth highlighting ARISS and Amateur Radio in school at the International Technology Education Association's national conference. Attendance by schoolteachers was about 5,000, and Jerry handed out information to 600. NASA paid for the booth space, furniture, electricity and registration fees. CCE Jerry Ellis processed results from several field exam sessions. His set up Level 3 and HF Digital classes for registration, and assigned mentors to Antenna Modeling and Level 2 classes that will start during the next two weeks. CNCS grads were mailed printed certificates, ID cards and refund checks. Field exam certificates were processed. Howard Robins sent an update of the Satellite Communications course to our Web host who will review same. He is working with Bob Inderbitzen on the logistics for a test of direct email marketing of the CCE program. He prepared and sent registration reminders to 20 people for an upcoming Level 3 class. He extracted data for reporting all class registrations and grads and for Level 1 reimbursement checks. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW: lk Staff Absentee List Name Date(s) Reason Steve Ewald 3/21 NE State Convention Mark Wilson 3/25-3/31 Vacation Dan Miller 3/29-3/30 Atlantic Div. Conv., Timonium, MD Leona Adams 3/21pm Vacation Rick Lindquist 3/28 Vacation Joel Kleinman 4/1 Vacation