<<031908.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 12 March 19, 2008 -- Covers the period March 9-15. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH Plans for the Donor Reception on Thursday evening, May 15 are underway. Maryann Macdonald will be managing the details of this annual event. Save the date postcards were mailed last month, and formal invitations with directions and other details will be mailed in the next week or so. The event will be held at the Meadowbrook Country Club west of Dayton. A final report on the 2008 Defense campaign shows the performance of various segments of the membership file. Notably and predictably, the major donor segment and the major prospect segment were top performers with 22.5% and 17.2% response rates respectively and average contributions of $207. Of the membership segments mailed, the first year segment produced a surprising 1.1% response rate, with the 2-year member segment next in line with a .7% response rate. The trend away from recognition gifts continues to climb with more than 77% of respondents requesting no gift. The February 2008 results for the Diamond Club were ahead of February 2007 in gross revenue by more than $7000. The biggest growth by giving level is in the Brass ($250 - $499) group and the Gold level ($1000 - 2499) group. Development was notified of a $25,000 renewal to the Education & Technology Program's Teachers Institute. This financial commitment expected by June 1, will bring the funding total for the Teachers Institutes for 2008 to $100,000. A number of requests for plaques for members of 50 years or more have been received. Work continues on the recognition list for the Annual Report, QST and the ARRL website. Foundation scholarship processing is complete and ready to be sent to the Foundation Scholarship Committee. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE We checked printer's proofs for The Ham Radio License Manual. The VE Manual has been released to the printer, as has a second printing of The Antenna Book. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 10, for March 14, 2008. It went out to 67,957 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for March 14. The ARRL Letter will be distributed this week on Thursday, and there will be no ARRL Audio News. Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ Advertising efforts for the May 2008 issue of QST are wrapping up. This issue will exceed our goal by a healthy margin. Every advertising space inch was also filled for the May Hamvention theme tear-out. Usually the various ad sizes warrant some type of filler material as they do not always interlock perfectly on every page. This time, even the last filler space 1 inch wide and 5 inches high was sold. The size is now affectionately referred to as the "Slim Jim" ad size. We are still working on advertising procurement for the new edition of the ARRL Extra Class License Manual and are half-way to our goal. We plan to have this wrapped up by March 28. In addition to their QST advertising, Jun's Electronics has reserved an additional $17,000 worth of advertising in various vehicles throughout the year. They will be advertising in the Ham Express 411, ARRL Handbook, Extra Class License Manual and will be running banner ads for the next 24 months. Our three day Publications Dealer special gleaned $17,460.50 in book purchases. In addition to working on QST and other projects for staff, Diane Szlachetka is also working on a number of Hamvention related projects. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch The window for ARRL DX CW Logs closed today. We received 2,586 electronic submissions. We've received 1,734 electronic logs for the ARRL DX SSB contest. Logs will be accepted for another two weeks. Sweepstakes mugs and pins should go out this week. June VHF Certificates will be printed soon; that means we'll have more envelopes to stuff! The 2007 Sweepstakes CW results article has been submitted and will be out in the May issue. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also processed regular W1AW QSL card requests. Joe also constructed an interface (for a Yaesu transceiver) that will allow for automatic control of the new ICE band pass filters. These filters will eventually be connected to the various visitor transceivers. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the middle part of the month of March. He also resolved a small audio issue with the 20-meter broadcast transmitter. Field Organization/Public Service Team In-house preparations are now underway for the upcoming Northern Florida Section Manager election this spring. Leona Adams has been gathering candidate statements and photos from the three candidates. She and Steve Ewald have also been in close contact with the newly-elected Section Managers that will be starting their terms of office soon. Editorial work continued on the May QST Public Service column as Field Organization reports from around the country arrived at Headquarters. With the spring season just around the corner, Section Leaders have been announcing plans and opportunities for radio amateurs to provide service at out-door events and/or to promote Amateur Radio at community or volunteer fairs. Official Observers have provided pertinent documentation regarding an interference case by Citizen Band operators interfering with radio amateurs on 10 meters in Tennessee. Chuck Skolaut reviewed and forwarded the data to the FCC. More information on a 75 meter case was also handled. We also learned that continuous dashes were heard on 30 meters recently, but that signal ceased before it could be pinpointed. Nebraska and South Texas Section Managers named new Official Observer Coordinators in their respective sections during this past week. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ A newsletter to Instructors and Teachers went out to 5,972 recipients. New instructor registrations are coming in steadily. We've registered over 30 instructors in the past two weeks. We're hearing from hams who have never instructed previously. Many are working with local groups of emergency responders who want to get licensed. A dealer purchased our entire inventory of Basic Electronics kits. Looks like we're going to keep our volunteers busy building more to replenish inventory! Nancy Hallas and I continue to give attention to process and procedural improvements in management of the Continuing Education Program. Micah Murray has very patiently supported our development of a new front end to the Continuing Education Program web pages. He has supported our transition to a new architecture and built new pages. We launched the new site this past week and it looks great! We're continuing to work out some redirect issues and are still revising outdated copy, but the site is functioning well. Please visit at www.arrl.org/cep. Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer reports that total enrollment for the Teachers Institute now stands at 44. Nine teachers are enrolled for the first session in Tampa in April. Mark has completed construction of 95% of the last activity board needed for the TIs this year. He also spent an inordinate amount of time this past week providing tech support. The requests for support came from hams around the globe. They are using various projects that are posted on the ETP web pages. He was approached by a Texas ham radio club that wants to use the Solder 101 Clock Kit as a club project. This level of interest from ham clubs and instructors is only reinforcing what we know to be a definite need for these kinds of boards and projects. Mark also did a telephone interview with the Arizona Daily Star about the TI to be held in Tucson. ARISS Rosalie and the most active ARISS Team volunteers received NASA Group Achievement Awards from Johnson Space Center. Astronaut Bill McArthur had a hand in making the awards happen. One volunteer wrote: "I am about to frame and hang it for the wall of my shack. It's rewarding to see the kids' faces when I mentor a school or to receive mail from them after a contact, but this award is icing on the cake! I love being involved." ARISS worldwide delegates are planning an annual meeting in July 2008 in Moscow. Thus far the following official delegates have confirmed they will attend: 2 from Europe (RSBB is sending 1), 2 from Russia, 2 from the US (includes Rosalie), 1 from Canada. NASA is sending the head of the Johnson Space Center Education Office, along with one of the lead members of the ISS Program Office and one of his top staff members. This certainly shows how important the program is to NASA. French schools have been enjoying QSOs with Astronaut Leopold Eyharts, FX0STD. After STS-123 docks with the ISS, Astronaut Garrett Reisman, KE5HAE, is scheduled on March 26 for his first ARISS QSO with a youth group in Kyoto, Japan. ARRL members have been making ARISS packet QSOs this past week before being turned off for a few days. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Hugh Brower has provided the Development office with credit-card entry screens they can use to process credit-card charges. Micah Murray added a new "continuing education" section to the ARRL Web site (http://www.arrl.org/cep/), replacing the old CCE section. After the Siebel/MS Analytics upgrade performed by ISD, we discovered that the Web/Siebel membership integration process runs much more quickly due to the upgraded database system. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 3/21 Holiday Leona Adams 4/4 Vacation Kathy Allison 6/30 Vacation `` 7/3-7/7 Vacation Shelly Bloom 4/14-4/18 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 4/3-4/9 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/23 Vacation `` 7/7-7/11 Vacation `` 7/18 Vacation `` 7/21 Vacation Steve Ewald 3/28-4/4 Vacation Steve Ford 4/14-4/15 Vacation `` 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation Norm Fusaro 4/9-4/30 International DX, Paestum, Italy `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Scott Gee 5/15-5/16 Vacation `` 6/30 Vacation `` 7/1-7/3 Vacation Mary Hobart 4/23-4/29 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Bob Inderbitzen 3/27-3/28 AES Superfest / Milwaukee, WI Lisa Kustosik 3/20 Jury Duty Sean Kutzko 5/12-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Rose-Ann Lawrence 5/14-5/21 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Carol Michaud 4/3 Vacation Bill Moore 4/7 Jury Duty Dave Patton 4/24-4/27 International DX Convention Visalia, Visalia CA `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Frankie Perez 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Sumner 3/24 Vacation `` 4/4-4/8 IARU Reg. 1 EC Meeting, London
