<<050411.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 34, No. 18 May 4, 2011 -- Covers the period April 24-30. Upcoming Meetings and Events Programs & Services Committee: June 18 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ Technical Relations Reported by Brennan Price, N4QX The Fairfax office welcomed Virginia Macfarlan, KD4VSK, as its new administrative assistant. Virginia will be working Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In addition to upcoming meeting preparation, Brennan Price and Jon Siverling attended a post-CPM debriefing presented by the United States ITU Association. At the debriefing, it was announced that the United States will propose a WRC-15 agenda item seeking allocations to the mobile service for "broadband applications, including IMT," without bounds on frequencies to be considered, except the bands allocated to the radionavigation satellite service. While this latter condition is a bit of good news for Amateur Radio (the 1240-1300 MHz allocation is secondary to RNSS worldwide), this development presents a significant defensive issue for WRC-15. Brennan has advised the Ad-Hoc National Broadband Plan committee accordingly. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Updated PR-101 graduate list and posted to web along with a new "Now Hear This." The survey for "Now Hear This" was overwhelmingly in favor of video clips and these will be done whenever time allows. Completed a radio interview with Raleigh Adams for his "On The Record" program which should air throughout the country on the weekend of May 7. The May issue of CONTACT! was published May 2nd. Further work was done preparing for Dayton, updating the "Getting the message through" EmComm brochure and with an initial planning meeting for a video tour of W1AW. After an initial period of no information, we began getting good info on events in Alabama from PIC Ed Tyler. This info was used in a last minute scramble to get NPR reporter Joel Rose to link their report on Alabama with the hams' activities and use of the 440 band in an already completed story on HR-607. This was accomplished late Friday night and the results that aired Saturday on NPR's "All Things Considered" were most pleasing. Major THANK YOU's go to President Craigie and to Joe Taylor for their help in this. In addition, Don Carlson responded to a request for a very fast 60 sec audio PSA which was sent on the PR reflector for radio uses. Don created it (also Friday night) in under 2 hours for us. A second one of 30 seconds is reportedly being made in NY by Johnny Donovan. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Spectrum Defense Fund is growing on the heels of the first issue of Spectrum Defense Matters. Year to date receipts have climbed to $99,266 or 28% of the 2011 revenue target. The Diamond Club continues to grow, albeit more slowly than in March. Through the end of April net revenues for this unrestricted program total $120,160 or 43% of the 2011 revenue target. Modest growth came from the Brass ($250), Gold ($1000) and Platinum ($2500) levels. The campaign for the Education & Technology Fund is in development. Copy has been prepared and mail files have been requested. The plan is to mail by the end of May. Development is working with the news team on a piece to generate contributions for the Ham Aid Fund to assist with equipment and shipping costs to meet the needs in Alabama in the wake of the tornado outbreak there. The annual Donor Reception on Thursday evening May 19 has been arranged. Responses from donors now total 90+. Bus transport is being arranged for those who need it from the Baymont/Fairfield hotels, the Crowne Plaza and the Dayton Marriott. Second Century Campaign (SCC) Chairman David Brandenburg, K5RQ continues his contact with nominees to serve on the SCC committee. He reports two acceptances of positions on the committee with interest from several others. Arrangements are being made for an informal meeting of committee members during the Hamvention weekend. A contract for prospect research for the SCC has been reviewed, accepted and signed with Wealth Engine of Bethesda MD. Files specs have been provided to IT for the entire membership file. Interviews have begun for the new Individual Giving Manager position in the Development Office. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed the ARRL Letter and produced and voiced ARRL Audio News for April 28, 2011. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R April ended with 156,367 members-a loss of 362 members over March. The forecasted loss for the month was 216 members. 72% of April 2011 expirees paid on time (vs. 72% last April). We recorded the highest acquisition rate from among new hams in at least the last 3 years. 22.70% of new hams licensed in January joined ARRL within 4 months (January-April). April product sales were $258,892. The month's forecast was $268,968. Direct sales were $134,652; dealer sales were $124,240. The warehouse crew fulfilled 1,377 packages for publication and product orders, 350 membership premiums, and QST mailing supplements. It was a busy week, but the team still managed to clear the decks of all orders before closing the month. The response to the new spiral bound, desktop Repeater Directory is very good so far. Sales of the desktop edition reached $21,000 this month, compared to $15,500 last year. A publication-themed mailing will drop on Friday. The campaign mails to previous publication buyers and segments of current ARRL members. The self-mailer spotlights a couple of new ARRL titles including the 7th edition ARRL General Class License Manual, 2011-2012 editions of The ARRL Repeater Directory and TravelPlus, ARRL's Small Antennas for Small Spaces, and some others. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Branch Credits Applications 2010 Carryover 154,371 1,140 2011 Received 304,708 2,754 Cumulative Total 459,079 3,894 2011 Processed 351,678 2,881 Remaining 107,401 1,013 Processing Time 8 Weeks Logbook of the World Category April 2011 % Change Jan - April 2011 QSO Records Entered Into System 342,524,999 6% QSL Record Matches 40,446,639 9% Logs Processed 2,109,897 12% Active Certificates 61,277 4% Registered Users in System 40,758 6% Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries April 2011 Maintenance 941 Initial Setup Inquiries 1,124 Award Related Concerns 368 Customer Usage Issues 545 Phone Calls 205 Total 3,183 W1AW W1AW received as a donation a reconditioned Kenwood TS-590S HF+6m transceiver. It replaces the Kenwood TS-480SAT that was in Studio Three. Joe created the W1AW Qualifying Run texts for the month of May. He processed three Qualifying Run certificates and one endorsement. He updated the May Qualifying Run web schedules for W1AW and West Coast stations, as well as the weekly QST text source web page. Joe also began reassembly of the OSCAR 1 satellite. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of the month of May. He also assisted the DXCC department. Field Organization/Public Service Team Steve Ewald assisted Ken Bailey, of the ARRL Emergency Preparedness Team, and Allen Pitts in getting in touch with ARRL Section Managers and Section Emergency Coordinators of the southern and southeastern states that were directly affected by the very large outbreak of tornadoes and storms on April 25. Received reports were shared with other pertinent HQ staff members as well as with the ARRL News Desk. Leona Adams reports that Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, has submitted his petition of nomination to run for the next term of office as Colorado Section Manager. Jack is presently an Assistant SM. Colorado Section Manager Jeff Ryan, K0RM, has decided not to run for another new term of office. After completing this current term, Jeff will have been the Colorado Section Manager for ten years. South Texas Section Manager Lee Cooper, W5LHC, has also submitted a petition to run for a new term of office as SM that starts October 1, 2011. Two amateurs from South Texas and one from Louisiana successfully completed certification to become Official Observers this past week. Laura Smith at the FCC praised the value of Official Observers in a recent e-mail exchange by saying, "the work that you do as an OO is invaluable to the FCC and the FCC does listen to you and appreciates all that you do." Chuck Skolaut handled questions that dealt with operating overseas, a protected frequency on 40 meters, Positive Train Control systems operating in the 220 MHz band, and how to submit a petition to the FCC. Chuck also checked in and monitored the Antenna Ordinance Webinar. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ Continuing Education Program Jennifer and I and Dennis Budd in IT have been very focused on the launch and implementation of the new Introduction to Emcomm course on the Moodle platform over the past few weeks, determined to meet our April launch commitment. This intense effort involved running a series of additional beta tests to work out identified problems with data exchange and to determine final settings for the Moodle platform that would be suitable for our needs. Jennifer and I also received several hours of training with Lectora, the new course editing software used to build our new courses, so we could make final edits to the course content. As promised, we started taking registrations for the first Introduction to EmComm course session on April 9. We re-wrote the online mentor guide, finished revising web pages including the online course catalog, and FAQs, refined instructions for students in the Moodle platform, recruited mentors, wrote instructions on Moodle navigation for mentors and launched the first session with a full roster of 25 students on April 29. Five days into the launch we are happy to report that all is well! Education & Technology Program We reviewed applications for first the two sessions and issued our first admissions. We ordered the radio equipment for TI-2 from HRO since Yaesu was not able to commit to timely delivery due to shortages in Japan. Nathan McCray, K9CPO has received the TI-2 equipment and is configuring it to deliver to Matt Severin, N8MS who will instruct. Matt has also been working closely with Mark Spencer WA8SME to make sure he has everything he needs. Mark has continued as a huge behind the scenes resource. As promised, he also completed the build-out of the entire inventory of instructional resources for this year's TI sessions and delivered it to us a couple of weeks ago. New ETP instructor Tommy Gober, N5DUX wrote an article about his classroom amateur radio licensing program at Pine Tree High School and a corporate gift of radios for his students http://www.arrl.org/bp-pumps-up-high-school-hams. Also a story written by teacher Steve Lalonde, WA7WKX about ham radio at University High School, an early ETP school, was recently published: http://www.arrl.org/etp-grant-helps-create-high-school-ham-course. Miguel Enriquez KD7RPP reports that students in his program in Tucson have now graduated from the Sumo-Bot and the Boe-Bot to Parallax's SmartWorks, a continuation of programming that is leading to the ARRL's PIC Programming course. The electronics classes have been designated by the Tucson school district to receive grant funding for next year in the amount of $80,000. He also reports that his students have begun working with the design and production of holograms in the electronics class. They are only doing red light holograms presently but have ordered the equipment for full color. Next year they will collaborate with the science department to begin the integration of imaging, robotics, electronics and holography with an award-winning DNA research project the science department has been developing over the last five years. The University of Arizona and a new Biotechnical Park that is being built near Pueblo serves as the impetus and support for this project. ARISS Part of the plan for the new ARISS proposal process being developed by the ARISS US education team is a new rubric for evaluating ARISS proposals. As a result of the closer working relationship that has developed over the past 2 years, we were given an opportunity to make some suggestions that would more clearly define the educational expectations of applicants. Lehman High School students in Kyle, Texas, had an ARISS contact on March 29 which was the culmination of students' studies in astronomy, geography, space travel, and physics, as well as study for Amateur Radio Technician license exams. Lehman High School has a radio club on campus with its own ham radio station for making satellite contacts. On April 11 ARISSat-1 was activated aboard the ISS in honor of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first space flight. A short discussion about ARISSat was on National Public Radio's Friday night show, "Science Friday." The hour-long program highlighted Yuri's Night activities around the world. You can listen to the podcast at http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201104083. Unfortunately due to the fact that the satellite was not deployed and the solar panels were covered, the satellite was powered only by the onboard battery, which had been depleted in prior testing, so no signals were heard. A wonderful article written by NASA writers about students at the all-girls school, Sacred Heart Academy, in Honolulu, HI, who assist with an ARISS telebridge station, was posted on NASA web pages: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/a-heart-to-heart-talk.html <http://mymail.arrl.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://webmail.sacred hearts.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foredu cators/a-heart-to-heart-talk.html> . Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 5/30 Holiday All Staff 7/4 Holiday Jon Bloom 4/26-5/18 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/27 Vacation Steve Ford 8/8-8/12 Vacation Scott Gee 5/19-5/20 Vacation Mike Gruber 5/31-6/3 Vacation `` 7/11-7/15/ Vacation Joel Hallas 5/17-5/27 Vacation Mary Hobart 5/5-5/6 Vacation Sabrina Jackson 5/26-6/6 Vacation Joel Kleinman 5/5 Vacation `` 5/12 Vacation Zack Lau 5/6 Vacation `` 5/13 Vacation `` 6/16-6/17 Vacation Allen Pitts 5/6 Vacation `` 5/13 Vacation `` 5/26-5/27 Vacation `` 6/15-6/17 Vacation `` 7/1 Vacation `` 7/20-7/22 Vacation `` 7/28-7/29 Vacation John Proctor 6/22-7/8 Vacation Barry Shelley 5/10-5/11 Vacation Dave Sumner 5/2-5/6 Vacation Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings Bob Allison 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Margie Bourgoin 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH/Vacation Jackie Ferreira 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Steve Ford 5/19-5/24 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH/Vacation Mike Gruber 5/19-5/20 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dan Henderson 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Mary Hobart 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Sabrina Hughes 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Amy Hurtado 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Harold Kramer 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Diane Petrilli 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Allen Pitts 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Brennan Price 5/18-5/21 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Sumner 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Steve Ford 6/1-6/3 Assoc. Media Publishing Conference Dan Henderson 6/2-6/8 Wyoming State Convention, Cheyenne, WY Bob Allison 6/8-6/11 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Jackie Ferreira 6/8-6/12 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Mike Gruber 6/9-6/10 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Dan Henderson 6/9-6/12 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Mary Hobart 6/9-6/11 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Amy Hurtado 6/8-6/12 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Bob Inderbitzen 6/8-6/12 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Harold Kramer 6/9-6/12 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Diane Petrilli 6/8-6/12 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Allen Pitts 6/9-6/12 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Dave Sumner 6/9-6/13 ARRL National Convention, Plano, TX Brennan Price 6/13-6/22 ITU-R Working Party 5A, Geneva Dave Patton 6/23-6/26 Friedrichshafen, Germany Brennan Price 6/23-6/26 Friedrichshafen, Germany Brennan Price 7/13-7/16 BOD Meeting/Committee Meeting, Windsor, CT Brennan Price 8/5-8/6 Texas State Convention, Austin, TX
