IN-Newsletter

Vol. 41, No. 22

June 22, 2016 — Covers the period June 12-18.

Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events

Director/Vice Director Orientation

July 13 @ 8:15am in Newington, CT

LoTW Study Committee

July 13 @ 10:00am in Newington, CT

Administration & Finance Committee

July 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT

Programs & Services Committee

July 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT

Second Board Meeting

July 15-16 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT

CEO Office

Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND

A successful meeting with FCC Special Counsel Laura Smith, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, ARRL Lab Manager Ed Hare, Assistant Lab Manager Bob Allison, WB1GCM, lab staffer Mike Gruber, W1MG, Amateur Auxiliary Program Coordinator Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, and myself, was held on Friday June 17^th. A wide range of items were discussed relating to how the ARRL can improve its interfacing with the FCC on amateur-to-amateur and non-amateur-to-amateur interference.

As Assistant Secretary, the formal announcement and materials for the July ARRL Second Board Meeting were distributed. We also have begun receiving requests for petition packets for the upcoming Director and Vice-Director election cycle. Many thanks to Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ, for her great work on tracking and distributing the packets. In addition the minutes for the June 16^th meeting of the Programs and Services Committee were prepared and sent to Chairman Jim Boehner, N2ZZ.

Lab

Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI

Product Review Testing

Bob Allison is retesting a software defined transceiver with revised software. Several flaws in the software were found during initial testing. The test data, along with documentation, were sent to the manufacturer, with the results being a new software revision.

ARRL Web

Zack Lau uploaded the propagation forecasts for July. The predicted solar flux is 90.

RFI

Mike Gruber received a demo model of the new Radar Engineers Model 243 for evaluation. He plans on doing an RFI investigation with it later this week.

Mike Gruber is planning a follow-up visit to a funeral home in Rocky Hill. As previously mentioned in a weekly report, he was able to confirm that the source of an RFI complaint appears to originate from inside the funeral home. The noise is also consistent with an arcing source. The director of the funeral home has now agreed to let Mike locate the source.

Mike Gruber attended a meeting with Laura Smith and Chris Imlay. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the process that we use to help in RFI complaints.

National Parks on the Air

The Lab’s van completed its “shakedown” trip to the Springfield Armory (and back). Equipped with HF and VHF transceivers, the van deployed its 60 foot pneumatic mast, which hoisted a multiband dipole antenna. Despite poor band conditions and strong power line noise, Radio Amateur Jim Schilling, KG4JSZ, and Lab volunteer, Pete Turbide, W1PT, made the majority of the 41 QSOs, mostly on 20 meters, under the call sign of W1A. The purpose of the exercise was to make sure the van is ready for emergencies, plotting local noise floors and hunting noise sources. Improvements do need to be made, but the van is functional. Special thanks to Joe Carcia for installing the electronics and to Mike Gruber, who arranged our visit with the National Parks Service.

Sales and Marketing

Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R

Upgrade postcards featuring the General and Extra Class license materials are being mailed to Technician and General Class members.

Emails featuring ARRL antenna publications are being prepared for the month of July.

Some planning was completed to help promote upcoming Division-level conventions and ARRL Contests via the website and social media.

Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci:

Week Ending	Calls Answered	Calls Per Hour	Total Talking Duration	Average Speed of Answer
6/17/2016	830	18.4	26:19:40	11 seconds
6/10/2016	803	17.8	24:36:36	9 seconds
6/3/2016 (4 days)	705	19.6	21:23:53	10 seconds
5/27/2016	848	18.8	26:47:40	9 seconds

Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa:

Week Ending	Packages fulfilled	Member Premiums
6/17/2016	985	625
6/10/2016	1,451	510
6/3/2016 (4 days)	1,456	420
5/27/2016	1,013	554

Field Services & Radiosport

Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N

DXCC

Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time	3 Weeks
Logbook Processing Time	1-2 Days

W1AW

Scott Gee worked on fast and slow code practice files for the week. He also processed some VUCC endorsements and certificates.

Joe Carcia updated the W1AW QST code practice source and July Qualifying Run schedule web pages. He also prepared the ENG van with equipment and antennas for a Lab NPOTA activation from the Springfield, Massachusetts Armory.

Field Organization/Public Service Team

Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly Official Observer Summary to all OOs, OOCs and Section Managers. Supplies were sent out to several Official Observers. A complaint was received regarding interference to the Yankee SSB Net on Sundays on 6 meters, and this was referred to the OOC. A report was received from a Georgia station regarding unlicensed truck drivers talking in the CW portion of 10 meters. The Oregon OOC is following up on a continuing problem originating from a WSPR user.

IARU Regions 1 & 3 reported an unidentified carrier on the 14.100 MHz beacon frequency, and reports were being gathered for follow up. Chuck took part in a meeting at Headquarters with Laura Smith, of the FCC, and other ARRL Headquarters staff regarding enforcement procedures and issues.

Leona Adams has been preparing Section Manager candidate statements and ballots before they are sent to the printer. Two Section Manager elections are being conducted this summer in Ohio and Minnesota.

A number of expense reports for Section Leaders have arrived this past week. This represents a lot of travel to conventions, hamfests and club meetings.

Many Section Managers across the country are making plans to travel around their respective sections during this weekend to visit Field Day sites.

Sincerely Compiled by,

Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ

Assistant to the CEO

Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations

All Staff 7/4 Holiday

Leona Adams 7/1-7/8 PTO

Bob Allison 6/22-6/24 PTO

`` 7/22-7/23 Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, OK

Steve Capodicasa 6/27 PTO

`` 7/11 PTO

`` 8/22-8/26 PTO

`` 9/19-9/23 PTO

Jackie Ferreira 6/23-6/24 PTO

`` 7/18-7/22 PTO

Steve Ford 7/5-7/15 PTO

Norm Fusaro 6/22-6/27 International Exhibition, Friedrichshafen, Germany

`` 8/5-8/7 Texas State Convention, Austin, TX

`` 8/19-8/21 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV

Tom Gallagher 6/22-6/27 International Exhibition, Friedrichshafen, Germany

`` 6/20 Meeting with Fugate, Washington, DC

`` 7/14-7/16 Committee Meetings/Board Meeting

`` 8/12-8/14 New Mexico State Convention, Albuquerque, NM

Scott Gee 6/30-7/8 PTO

Mike Gruber 8/22-8/26 PTO

`` 9/26-9/30 PTO

Dan Henderson 6/29-7/1 PTO

`` 7/14-7/16 Committee Meetings/Board Meeting

Bob Inderbitzen 6/21-6/27 International Exhibition, Friedrichshafen, Germany

`` 6/28-6/29 PTO

`` 7/5-7/8 PTO

Debra Johnson 6/16-6/23 PTO

Lisa Kustosik 7/14-7/16 Board Meeting, Windsor, CT

Seab Kutzko 6/27-7/1 PTO

Diane Middleton 7/19 PTO

`` 7/25-7/29 PTO

Diane Petrilli 8/5-8/12 PTO

Kim Rochette 6/30-7/5 PTO

`` 7/25-8/1 PTO

Becky Schoenfeld 6/27-6/29 AMP Conference, Washington, DC

Barry Shelley 6/17-7/1 PTO

`` 7/14-7/16 Committee Meetings/Board Meeting

`` 7/18-7/26 PTO

Chuck Skolaut 8/20-8/21 Kansas State Convention, Salina, KS

Maria Somma 7/8 PTO

`` 7/14-7/18 PTO