IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No. 4 January 28, 2004 Media Relations ARRL Officer and several staff bios are now available on the PR pages at www.arrl.org/pio. The bios will be updated, as necessary. Jennifer has been working with new PRC Chair Sherri Brower, W4STB, on the group's work plan for 2004. Jen developed a timeline for several committee activities, including directives put forth by the Programs and Services Committee. The first PRC conference call has been scheduled for February 10. The November clip reports have been mailed to Board members. Production/Editorial A new printing of The FCC Rule Book has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports that The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 03 (Jan 16) distributed to 67,390 members. While not a new record, it comes close. Rick prepared stories on the ARRL Board of Directors' proposals to restructure the licensing system, changes to the ISS Expedition 9 increment, FCC Chairman Powell's remarks on BPL, ISS air leak canceling ARISS QSO, Pres Haynie wins third term, ham-congressman (WB7OCE) asks FCC to await NTIA studies before acting on BPL, an AMSAT-NA auction to help fund AO-ECHO project, an early change in the Pacific Section leadership, FCC enforcement news, obit for former Southeastern Div Director Ben Adams, K4EZ, and a few small announcements. Rick also edited, voiced and produced ARRL Audio News with voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy, N1TDY. Rick worked with Dave Patton to put together the four-page Board meeting article for March QST. He also wrapped up the "Happenings" column for the same issue. Dave Hassler wrote several news stories and edited several feature articles for the ARRLWeb. Joel Hallas has turned in (for editorial review) an item for the April Product Review column. All material for the March/April issue of NCJ has been submitted for typesetting and layout. Stu Cohen continues to prepare technical manuscripts for the April issue of QST. Sales & Marketing As part of the Prepare Initiative project, Dennis Motschenbacher briefed staff members on the ARRL license restructuring proposal approved by at the recent Board of Directors meeting. These meetings served as the kickoff of staff preparations for introducing our proposal to the public. Understandably, numerous actions were triggered by the Board's approval and the week saw nearly every staff member involved in our organization-wide effort to discuss and promote the proposal. Fulfillment staff is fielding inquiries on ARRL's licensing proposal. As of the end of the day on Friday, 15 members requested membership cancellation. However, we have had positive comments. Cathy Stepina reports she took a brand new membership due to the proposal. The ARRL Technician Class Video Course on DVD was featured in an emailing to ARRL members, resulting in course sales of just over $4,000. The solicitation also influenced sales of all ARRL license materials. Over half of the weekend's online ordering was for license manuals, videos, and code products. Ad copy was produced for the upcoming publication, ARRL's Vintage Radio Classics. Sue Fagan has the cover design work underway. The book is somewhat ahead of schedule (originally planned for May). A mailing to ARRL publication dealers was completed on January 20. ARRL senior and multiple year dues rates increased after last weeks board meeting effective right away. Membership applications, renewal notices, cards, and brochures are all in the works to reflect the new rates. Special thanks go to John Proctor and Cathy Scharr in ISD who printed us 1,000 member applications with the new rates for a mailing that needed to go as soon as possible. Thanks to Tom Hogerty, the web applications were updated immediately. It is a major undertaking to make sure that nothing is overlooked. Please let us know if you run across old rates in any newly published materials. All auto renewal members have been mailed a letter notifying them that we are discontinuing the program. March member expirees will be the last batch processed through the program. April expirees, who have already missed their first renewal notice, have been mailed an application for renewal. These individuals will now fall into the regular renewal cycle. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 300 WAS Certs. (300 QSLs F/C) 6 WAS Certs. (150 QSLs ES/C) 3 WAS Ends. (300 QSLs F/C) 6 WAS End. (50 QSLs ES/C) 1 5BWAS Cert. (250 QSLs F/C) 1 5BWAS Cert. (250 QSLs ES/C) 1 WAC QSL Cards Checked 66 LTMA Inquiries 4 A-1 Op. Noms. 6 OTCs 19 Extra Class Certs. 9 RCCs 4 Friendship Awards 3 Awards Mailed 26 HF Awards Mgr. Appt.: Bob Willey, KD7OWN, Centralia, WA VHF Awards Mgr. Appt.: Steve Pack, WB7VAS, Chehalis, WA HF/VHF Awards Mgr. Appt.: Dan Reul, KK5CP, Mineral Wells, TX. Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the coming week-U.S. WAC and VUCC awards, mail out all awards processed this week, and complete filing chores from the most recently issued LTMAs and enter the information into their Siebel records. Contest Branch There were some scoring problems with IARU HQ stations in the 2003 IARU HF Championship. These logs were re-scored and the online article and database have been corrected. The corrections for the PDF version of the results were done and sent to Production. The web articles for the 2003 September VHF Contest and 10 GHz and Up Contest were sent to Web Services, prepared and opened to the public. The computer consultant was in to begin handling problems with the IARU contest certificates and get a feel for migrating all database work to a newer version of Access. Data entry for the 2003 EME contest was completed and the logs received list posted to the web. Data entry for Straight Key Night began. DXCC Branch For the week of: January 25, 2004 Beginning Cards 105,216 Cards Received 4,751 Cards Processed 13,312 Ending Cards 96,655 Applications Pending 751 Processing Time 11.2 Weeks Year-to-date (2003) Cards Received 18,404 Cards Returned 46,495 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on November 6, 2003. DXCC is currently entering cards received on November 21, 2003. QSL Bureau QSL Service Status: There is a delay of 2 weeks. Approximately 315 pounds of cards are waiting to be opened and slotted. Cards mailed as of 01/25/2004: 71,750. Cards mailed on 01/22/2004: 71,750. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files. He is in the process of tracking down a problem with the Command Technologies 40-meter amplifier, as well as repairing another Harris amplifier. Joe spent some time dealing with updates to the DXAC, CAC and DXCC Field Checker List Servers, and also worked the Friday night shift for a vacationing Scott Gee. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month of January and early February. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. Field & Educational Services Tom Hogerty pointed us to a high schooler who volunteered 10 hours for F&ES, working on the stack of Roy Neal ARISS Commemorative QSLs, with club and Foundation items. Rosalie reviewed with Steve the plans and timeline for meeting the recommendations for the Field Organization for 2004 that were adopted at the January Board meeting. Field & Education Support Team Mary Lau reports that we continue to receive new Power Point submissions as a result of our last call for multimedia programs. Some submitters have sent multiple programs, and we have also heard from a few professionals offering volunteer talents at producing multimedia programs. Gail Iannone sent 19 hamfest and 7 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of the events to be "ARRL-sanctioned", processed 2 label requests, 1 door prize order, and sent 1 handout package for an upcoming event. She also co-coordinated travel for Wayne Mills, N7NG, to be the HQ rep at the Atlantic Division Convention being held June 4-6 in Rochester, NY and for Dan Miller, K3UFG, to be the HQ rep at the Northwestern Division Convention being held June 19-20 in Seaside, OR. Linda Mullally updated 79 club records and did 3 club reactivations. She registered 13 Instructors. She entered new ham information into the database, along with email changes for the new ham labels. She checked club rosters for 4 clubs wanting to become affiliated. She entered OO Reports into database. Jean Wolfgang sent information to Rick pertaining to winners of the International Humanitarian Award, ordered their plaques and contacted Director Frank Butler about presentation. She is preparing the QST article on the winners (KF4TUG and KM9D). Jean reviewed, acknowledged and sent 2 ARISS applications to the ARISS team, and answered a few ARISS questions by email. Jean is learning different facets of the CCE program from Jerry Ellis and other staff. Regulatory Information John Hennessee heard from many amateurs this week about our restructuring petition. He copied Directors on all correspondence with members as well as non-members. John worked with Rick and Bart on the restructuring FAQ to be posted on the Web. He assisted amateurs with local government zoning restrictions in Lower Mount Bethel, PA (W2GQ) and Hamilton Township, OH (KA8LQS). He assisted an amateur with a covenant problem in Ocala, FL (N3LRH). CCE Jerry Ellis handled getting reimbursement checks cut for new graduates of emcomm courses, followed by taking care of printing certificates and ID cards to accompany the checks. He trained Jean in some of the CCE procedures. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project Mark Spencer took part in a two-day teacher in-service training on technology and robotics. He was a student, but also presented a talk on technology and our teacher program. Two New York universities' reps were there, and plan in-service training for their feeder-school faculty; they invited Mark to speak there. The bidding process for equipment purchases for grant schools will begin soon with delivery planned for the end of February. Two Newtown (CT) blind youths participating in ham-related school activities will get FBI-donated handhelds when they pass their exams. EmComm Grants Survey results from Dan Miller's seminar at the ARRL NLI Section on Jan. 18, generated these statistics: 72% were ARRL members, and average hours each ham spent on emcomm-related activities were 8.5. In response to VRC recommendations approved by the Board, Steve Ewald generated a list of SECs and DECs, and Dan will check to determine who isn't ARECC certified in order to determine the number of student seats that may soon be needed. Field Organization/Public Service Team Steve Ewald and Emergency Manager Lloyd Colston, KC5FM (Mayes County, OK) were co-presenters at an EIIP (Emergency Information Infrastructure Project) Virtual Forum. EIIP is a non-profit group dedicated to enhancing professional emergency management via virtual forums. The talk, "Interoperability with Amateur Radio Emergency Communications," ended with a Q&A with the on-line audience. About 90 people took part, thanks to announcements on the ARRL Web and among emergency management circles. Jennifer Hagy helped make this opportunity possible. Oklahoma SM John Thomason, WB5SYT, visited Hq, hosted by Steve and fellow staff. Leona Adams reports that San Diego members are returning their SM ballots -- deadline is February 20. Vermont SM Paul Gayet, AA1SU, was nominated for another term beginning July 1 -- nominations for this SM election are due March 5. Leona handled nearly 30 new Field appointments and initial supplies this week. Chuck Skolaut received a tape in response to the recent FCC monitoring request that he had passed along to OOCs about activity surrounding 14360 KHz. Several reports of unlicensed operations on 10 meters were forwarded to the FCC. Chuck prepared and sent ARRL's monthly intruder report to Martin Potter, VE3OAT, who coordinates monitoring reports for IARU Region 2. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Dave Sumner 1/29-2/5 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 2/2 Ft. Holiday Joel Kleinman 2/6-2/10 Vacation Jennifer Hagy 2/6-2/8 Mississippi State Convention Danny Sayad 2/12-2/13 Vacation Eileen Sapko 1/28 Vacation Bill Moore 2/6-2/8 Hamboree, Miami, FL Dan Miller 2/5-2/8 Hamboree, Miami, FL Dennis Motschenbacher 2/12-2/14 SE Division Convention, Orlando 2/19-2/26 Vacation Rose-Anne Lawrence 2/9-2/20 Vacation