IN-Newsletter

Vol. 42, No. 3

January 27, 2017

Covers the period January 07, 2017 – January 20, 2017

Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events

Southeastern Division Convention,

February 9 – 13, 2017 @ Orlando, FL

Hamvention  2017

May 19 – 21, 2017 @ Xenia, OH

Chief Executive Office

Reported by Tom Gallagher, NY2RF

On January 10, Tom helped teach that evening’s “Grace Academy Class Room.” He and nine students from Grace Academy met in the school’s library, where they reviewed what they’ve learned to date about becoming licensed Ham operaters.

Members of the Board of Directors were at HQ last Wednesday and Thursday for meetings of the Logbook of the World Study Committee, Administrative and Finance Committee, Programs and Services Committee, as well as the New Directors Orientation. They all reported enjoying meeting and speaking with HQ staff.

The Annual Board of Directors meeting was held at the Windsor Marriott January 19 – 21. Twenty-six agenda items were reviewed and discussed, contributed from Directors, Vice Directors, Officers and ARRL managers alike.

Education Services

Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ

Teacher Registration	Instructor Registration	Graduation Kit Requests	License Class Listings
10	29	4	52

Instructor Activities

Feedback reports about license classes are now being received through the new instructor reporting system.

ARISS

The Kenwood ad promoting donations for the ARISS program hardware upgrade project in the February issue of QST is generating good feedback and donations from the ham radio community, as has recent publicity in Newsline and Ham Nation.

Debra reviewed proposed revisions to the ARISS Education Committee's Terms of Reference and provided comments.  She also hosted the first of two Orientation Sessions for the next group of ARISS host organizations.

ARISS Contacts

There were 3 contacts the past couple of weeks, including one in Arizona.

• January 11, a direct contact between students at the World Genesis Foundation (WGF), Goodyear, AZ. and Quartzsite in Motion, Quartzsite, AZ. and Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD.  The local ham radio community has been working with local students engaging them in ham radio activities and preparing them for the contact for more than a year. Watch a short video of the interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNJ4mEdA3Qw.
• January 12, a combined telebridge between students at Collège Saint-Guibert, Gembloux, Belgium and Euro Space Center, Transinne, Belgium and Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, KG5FY.
• January 16, a telebridge between students at the Léon Blum High School, Le Creusot, France and Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, KG5FY.

Education & Technology Program

A new video about the Teachers Institute produced by Vice Director Tom Delaney was published on ARRL's YouTube site at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo2ccNAKrb8

Debra met with Board members to discuss various projects in the Education Dept.

Field Services

Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N

Thanks to Bob Heil, K9EID, of Heil Sound, and Erwin Hübsch Neto, PY2QI/KK4CGD, of Radiohaus/America in Brazil, for their donations to W1AW. 

From Heil Sound, the station received a Gold Grill PR781G Studio Microphone, a PR40 Gold microphone, a couple of PRO7-DY headsets (pink and red), a PS Elite 6 PRO-SET Elite headset with HC6 element, three FS-3 single footswitches, two “Topless” mic booms, and replacement PRO-SET Plus cords and PS3 cables.

From Radiohaus/America, W1AW received a “Callsight” lighted call sign display.  This display is a LED-lit device that allows the user to change color, as well as flash rates, fade, etc.

Joe processed one Qualifying Run certificate and one endorsement. He also processed regular QSL card requests. Joe worked briefly with Scott St. Onge from IT to resolve an issue occurring with the updates to the web code practice files archives. Joe worked on the APRS/WX setup using a RaspberryPi and a TNC-Pi for possible use with sending a portable APRS/WX stations for EMCOMM use.

Field Organization

ARRL members in Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky and North Texas have been returning their Section Manager election ballots.  Ballots need to arrive at ARRL Headquarters no later than February 17, and the ballots will be counted on February 21.

December activity reports from the Field Organization flowed into the Field Services Department over the past couple of weeks, and these reports were compiled for March QST’s Field Organization Reports column.  With encouragement from department staff members, we noticed a sizable increase in the number of Section Emergency Coordinator monthly activity reports for December and for the entire year of 2016, as well.  

Lab

Reported by Bob AllisonWB1GCM

QST Product Review

Bob Allison, WB1GCM completed testing of a VHF/UHF digital/analog handheld transceiver. A data table was compiled and presented to QST Product Review Editor, Mark Wilson, K1RO. Bob is now testing another handheld, with TXCO testing lined up after that.

RFI

Mike Gruber, W1MG, responded to numerous telephone calls and emails related to RFI. Mike also chaired a meeting of p1897. Work continues on this important project, but it is slow, due to many factors outside of Mike’s control. What’s p1897? Stop by the Lab and ask Mike.

Mike wrote a report about the activities of the EMC Committee for Kermit Carlson, W9XA, ARRL Central Division Director, who chairs this committee. Mike also facilitated an FCC filing and subsequent news story concerning illegal drone TV transmitters and also met with General Counsel, Chris Imlay, regarding FCC enforcement matters.

TIS

Zack Lau, W1VT, reports a very steady stream of telephone calls and emails into the ARRL’s Technical Information Service. If you spend any time in the Lab, you will hear the Lab’s TIS phone ringing frequently.

Volunteers

The Lab continues to process donated equipment. Pete Turbide, W1PT, has done excellent work making small repairs and cleanup to this equipment in preparation for auction. Lori Kosior, N1SMK, has done outstanding work with preparing and sending letters of acknowledgement to each donor. Laboratory Volunteer Martin Ewing, AA6E continues to be of invaluable service to the Lab, especially anything regarding software defined radios and their control of.

Publications

Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY

The March 2017 issue of QST has been uploaded to the printer.

Alli is working with PageSuite to improve image quality for iOS apps on iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches. The process should be completed by the end of the week. Additional feature requests have been put in with their developers, including a “Remember Me” cookie so members do not have to log in to every edition and bookmarks on apps. PageSuite’s team turned off the page flipping sound that members found annoying.

Alli is also working with Scott St. Onge to find webpages that have moved and to correctly re-order them under Fathom’s Site Tree and Page Editor.

Radiosport

Reported by Norm Fusaro, W3IZ

DXCC

Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time	3 Weeks
Logbook Processing Time	1 – 2 Business Days

Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R

Our staff supported a handful of tasks, reports, and meetings for the January 2017 Annual Board Meeting and Director/Vice Director Orientation.

Some new graphics were produced for the image carousel on the website home page – including one to promote The ARRL Operating Manual.

Yvette Vinci prepared the bulk email notification for the February 2017 digital edition of QST, distributed to ARRL members on Friday, January 13. The distribution list included 119,782 members. There were 12,456 unique visitors to Feb QST through Jan 24 (shared by Allison McLellan).

Yvette reported that in January we processed 53 paid-in-full Life Memberships and 17 Life Membership pledges.

Jackie Ferreira completed analyses for publication and product sales campaigns conducted throughout the second half of 2016. She is using the information to further hone future campaigns and promotions.

Now Shipping: 2016 ARRL Periodicals on DVD. This annual compilation DVD is perfect for members seeking an offline, digital archive of QST. The DVD contains fully-searchable and indexed PDFs, and also includes an entire year of our other periodicals NCJ and QEX.

Bob Inderbitzen coordinated materials for ARRL’s booth at the Southeastern Division Convention, which will be hosted by Orlando HamCation, February 10-12. Bob also coordinated display materials promoting the College Amateur Radio Initiative, with contributions from Sean Kutzko and Lauren Clarke. Thanks to Sue Fagan for her graphic designs.

Hamvention is May 19-21. In December, Bob traveled to Dayton to meet with key members of the 2017 Hamvention Committee. During that visit, Hamvention proposed ARRL’s exhibit space at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio – the new home for Hamvention. Our exhibit space will be significantly less than in the past -- approximately one-third of the size we occupied at the Hara Complex since 2005 (when Hamvention approached ARRL for help filling unsold exhibit space). This will impact our overall presence and the number of staff and volunteers which we will need to support our operation at the convention. ARRL’s staff team and Board members will be housed at the Marriott on S. Patterson Blvd in Dayton. We will circulate registration and hotel reservation instructions to the Board in late January.

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
12/30/2016 (4 days)	668	18.5	30:18:48	10 seconds
12/23/2016	896	19.9	39:24:46	14 seconds
12/16/2016	955	21.2	38:05:58	11 seconds
12/9/2016	863	19.1	30:10:27	10 seconds
12/2/2016	1,129	25.0	43:55:31	16 seconds

Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa:

Week Ending	Packages fulfilled	Member Premiums
12/30/2016 (4 days)	1,184	508
12/23/2016	1,078	579
12/16/2016	1,663	705
12/9/2016	981	360
12/2/2016	2,163	535

Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations

Leona Adams               2/7                                 PTO

Steve Capodicasa         02/06                           PTO

Joe Carcia                    02/17 half day              PTO

            “                      02/20 – 02/24               PTO

            “                      03/03 half day              PTO

            “                      03/31 half day              PTO

“                      05/26                           PTO

“                        05/07                           PTO

“                        07/05                           PTO

            “                      07/21                           PTO

            “                      07/28                          PTO

            “                      08/04                           PTO

            “                      08/07 – 08/11               PTO

            “                      08/18                           PTO

            “                      08/25                           PTO

            “                      10/09                           PTO

Steve Ewald                 01/27 – 01/28               Mississippi State Convention, Jackson

Steve Ford                    01/27                           PTO

Norm Fusaro                01/23 – 01/27               PTO

Tom Gallagher             02/10 – 02/12               Southeastern Division Convention, Orlando, FL

Scott Gee                     02/20 – 02/24               PTO

Perry Green                                                      Medical Leave

Bart Jahnke                  02/09 – 02/12               Southeastern Division Convention, Orlando, FL

Gail Iannone                 10/07 – 02/05               Sick Leave

Bob Inderbitzen            02/09 – 02/13               Southeastern Division Convention, Orlando, FL

Debra Johnson             01/27                           PTO

            “                      01/30                           PTO

Sincerely Compiled by,

Carla Pereira, Assistant to CEO