<<052312.doc>>
IN-Newsletter
Vol. 35, No. 21
May 23, 2012 -- Covers the period May 13-19.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Second Board Meeting
July 20-21, 2012 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT
CEO Office
The office will be closed Monday, May 28 in observance of Memorial Day. Have a safe Holiday weekend!
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
The first part of the week of May 14-18 was spent working with General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, doing final edits for the ARRL Comments on FCC Docket 12-91. The ARRL comments were filed Wednesday May 16. The remainder of the week was spent catching up – email correspondence and phone messages. We also worked on certificates for the Contest Branch. By the end of the week, the Field Day site locator was showing at least one site entered in all 50-states, DC, Puerto Rico, 8 Canadian provinces / territories, and one DX-entry (Colombia). As of May 18, 851 sites are showing on the locator.
Media & Public Relations
Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP
Well, we knew that the DIY presentations would do well at Dayton, but were pleasantly surprised at just how well they did. The seats were filled (and not from people just looking to rest their feet) and often there were crowds 3 or 4 deep standing in the back to hear. Thanks to all the presenters and also to Bill Morine, Mark Kraham, Ed Tyler, Jim Boehner and most of all to Hope Smith for helping with the booth and stage. (In the middle of things, Hope learned her father had died.) We shot video of the presentations, but I have not seen any of it yet, so don’t know just what we have. I also did 3 radio and one newspaper interview while at Dayton.
The PR Committee is gathering many good ideas and theme options for the Centennial. They are also hosting an open webinar on how to do FD video on May 31st. The McGan Award nominations are due this Friday. The Annual Report is about to come out of graphics for final edits. We are experiencing a “pre-Field Day spurt” of PR-101 graduates.
Development
Reported by Lauren Clarke
More than 160 guests attended the Dayton Annual Donor Reception, with David Sumner, K1ZZ, as guest speaker. At the reception, Mary Hobart recognized the 24 new members inducted into the Maxim Society this past year. We also welcomed our 106th Maxim Society member just this past week.
We had many inquiries through the weekend of donors wanting to know how much more they needed to donate to become a Maxim member, as well as conversations about the Diamond Club and Legacy Circle. Development is following up on all these queries.
Mary Hobart used Dayton as an opportunity to meet with the Second Century Committee and to meet with prospects, resulting in some encouraging conversations.
DARA presented ARRL with $25,000 to support Teachers Institutes, and Paul Sergi, NO8D, gave $15,000 each to Teachers Institute and Spectrum Defense.
To Date:
The W1AW Endowment Campaign has received $48,404 in contributions from 810 donors.
The Spectrum Defense Fund has received $65,542 in contributions from 312 donors.
The Diamond Club has received $94,189 in contributions from 508 donors.
The Education & Technology Program has received $25,664 in contributions from 79 donors. An additional $109,194 from six donors has been received in support of the Teachers Institute Program.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Production work has been wrapped up on the June digital edition of QST. It will be available to ARRL members, along with January-May 2012 issues, on May 23.
The July print edition was released to the printer May 21.
Joel Hallas presented a Doctor is In forum at the Dayton Hamvention and was presented with the Hamvention Technical Excellence award. Khrystyne Keane gave a presentation at the RTTY Forum.
Joel Kleinman and Khrystyne wrote and Joel Kleinman distributed the ARRL Letter for May 17, 2012. Audio News resumes May 24.
Lab
Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI
Dayton
Bob Allison conducted activities at the ARRL Expo’s Kit Building booth, with assistance from Mike Gruber and dedicated volunteers. Bob’s booth gave people the opportunity to sit down and build something, especially those who have never touched a soldering iron before. Kits available to build were a 24 hour digital clock, a Morse code key and practice oscillator, a digital interface for a PC and transceiver (used for digital modes, such as PSK-31) and a four band shortwave regenerative receiver. Attendance was very good, with Saturday’s pace running at a fever pitch. All builders left with smiles plus a working kit, with knowledge of how to solder, use hand tools and follow instructions. It’s a wonderful sight to see mentoring in progress!
The most popular kit was the clock, followed by the digital interface. Mike Gruber is happy to report that it went well and think it was a positive experience for most of the builders, which ranged in age from under 10 to over 80.
While at Dayton, Bob got to visit with some of the major manufacturers and viewed products to be considered for Product Review.
Bob reports that the crowd this year was very polite. Several dozen members commented on the quality of the Product Reviews and were grateful by the all of the work done by ARRL staff.
Web
Mike Gruber and Zack Lau made additions to the web pages.
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
2012 Dayton Hamvention has come and gone! ARRL EXPO was a buzz of activity throughout the entire 3-day event. The big ARRL team included 120 individuals--staff, officials and volunteers—all supporting dozens of ARRL exhibits, presentations and activities. A photo blog from the event can be found on the ARRL Facebook page. The Member Services team is busy processing over 1,200 membership applications completed during the event. On Saturday night, Joel Hallas, W1ZR was presented the Technical Excellence Award at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention Award Ceremony. Congratulations, Joel!
The warehouse crew fulfilled 906 packages for publication and product orders, 587 membership signing premiums, plus QST mailing supplements.
Now Shipping: The ARRL Extra Class License Manual, 10th edition, for exams given on or after July 1, 2012.
At Hamvention, the developers of TravelPlus for Repeaters demonstrated a version of this product for use on Android-compatible smartphones and mobile devices. The app includes the entire ARRL Repeater Database and integrated Google maps and GPS--all to deliver users with a convenient list of frequencies for in-range repeaters in real-time. The app should be ready for release in the coming months.
We continue to collect input and ideas from members and radio clubs for the 2014 ARRL Centennial, via an online questionnaire: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22FPSDNZVC5. 78 completed questionnaires have been received over the last 2 weeks.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
W1AW
On Thursday and Friday, W1AW was connected to D-Star Reflector 38C. This reflector was being used during Dayton Hamvention. A number of stations were glad to both hear W1AW on the reflector as well as work the station.
Joe updated the web code practice files. He processed 4 Qualifying Run certificates. He also processed regular QSL card requests. Joe worked the early afternoon/nights shifts on Thursday and Friday for the vacationing Scott Gee. He also modified three telephone interference filters for use with the station’s telephones. He made a quick repair to the HP 8640B Signal Generator (it was in need of repair upon receipt). Joe also familiarized himself with the HP 8562A Spectrum Analyzer by conducting simple spectral tests of all the broadcast equipment.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Chuck prepared the monthly Official Observer Summary and forwarded it to all OOs, OOCs, and Section Managers. Several intruder type reports were received including a CW signal on 14108 sending FQXI as an ID and an OTHR on 20 meters. A report of truckers using 144.100 in North Dakota was reported by an OO there, no call signs were heard. Interference to the Ohio SSB net reportedly has ceased.
Minnesota Section Manager Skip Jackson, KSŲJ, has been nominated to run for another term of office. Leona Adams received his petition. Petitions for this Section Manager election cycle are due at Headquarters by June 8. Leona has also been in touch with each Section Manager with regard to his or her Section’s updated Field Organization appointment roster.
Steve Ewald has been in touch with the NTS Central Area Staff members. They recently had nominations for open positions and new terms of office. Richard Webb, NF5B, will continue as Chair of the NTS Central Area Staff. Gary Jones, KB0OFD, is the new NTS Central Area Digital Coordinator, and Bill Kuechler, N9ACQ, is a new Member at Large on the Central Area Staff.
Education Services
Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ
Instructor Support and Outreach
We reviewed resumes received for the position of Instruction and Resource Coordinator and extended an offer to Nathan McCray K9CPO. Nathan has accepted the position and will relocate to CT to begin work here July 1. Nathan is an experienced teacher and school administrator and has been a contract instructor, as well as interim program coordinator with ARRL’s ETP.
Early last month Mark Spencer WA8SME staffed a booth for a weeklong Titanic operating event at the Mystic Aquarium in southeastern Connecticut. He reports that there were a bazillion kids with parents in tow since the week was spring break in the area. The magnet in the pipe and the robots went through their paces while the focus was on using Morse code for communications.
Amy Strickland received 35 new license class listings and 23 instructor registrations during the month of April. She also received 6 new teacher registrations.
Continuing Education Program
The April session of Intro to Emcomm was fully subscribed with 30 students. Four Emcomm Field Classes and four emcomm Field Exam sessions were registered during the month. The requirement for a Section Manager to provide a recommendation for candidates who want to become registered emcomm Field Instructors seems to be working as expected, creating an opportunity for confirmation of those who are assuming leadership roles in the ARES organization. However, this requirement does also create the opportunity for confrontation. Amy finds herself in the middle of these discussions, some of which recently have required intervention from Mike Corey.
Education & Technology Program
We received 11 grant applications for the May ETP grant application cycle—8 for radio stations and 3 progress grant requests, including the first request for a CubeSat Simulator kit for classroom use. Two of the station grant applications are a direct result of recent participation in the ARISS program. As usual, we are receiving a flood of TI applications at the deadline. We are reviewing these applications, assigning seats and notifying participants with the aim of finalizing the TI rosters for the sessions this summer in the next week.
The CubeSat simulator went on a road trip to a hamfest demonstration in North Carolina with good reviews; the system was then passed on to Harold Kramer and Dave Sumner for demonstration at the Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC in late April, and then on to Space Day at the Smithsonian in early May.
Mark completed the electronic preparation work for the TI-2 Space in the Classroom, the materials will be carried over to Dayton for the Hamvention and stored in the Dayton club house facility for use during the TI-2. He completed the final version of the satellite antenna rotor simulator that can be used in the classroom to illustrate satellite tracking. This simulator will provide utility to teachers and hams involved with the ARISS program and will also be used during the TI-2. The documentation for this resource has been uploaded to the web page under ETP resources. Mark has begun the process of replenishing the stock of clock kits that are used in the basic TI solder 101 unit and that are used at the ARRL hamfest booth soldering activity.
Mark continues to receive inquiries about ETP projects and articles he’s authored for QST. They can result in quite lengthy email discussions. Questions on the radio telescope project continue to come in. He also has been receiving a number of requests for information on the touch paddle project that was used in the TI-2 BE and also during a previous ARRL booth soldering activity. The requests were specific to circuit board designs and software source codes, indicating that requesters want to translate the project onto a different microcontroller platform. Mark notes that what is encouraging about this interest is that it indicates an up tick in interest in microcontrollers which, is in his view, healthy for ham radio. Mark is greatly relieved that the number of service requests for assistance with basic PIC programming have declined. Those that are still are coming in are legacy issues that are the result of faulty programmers from CanaKit that have not been replace or fixed. When those faulty programmers are replaced, the problem is resolved.
Mark continues to work on the PocketQub super capacitor power supply and standardized data link initiative—a longer term project initiative aimed at developing a niche for amateur radio support for standardized communications for the CubeSat audience.
ARISS
With great design assistance from our Graphics team I completed the development of a flyer for use at Hamvention and other hamfests to assist with recruiting volunteers to support the ARISS program. We are looking to enlist more hams who can provide ground support team for direct contacts and school outreach, and a few additional volunteers to serve in the role of Technical Mentor. I’ve built out the web pages that will provide supporting information for this recruiting effort and developed a PowerPoint presentation to be delivered by AMSAT Education VP Mark Hammond N8MH at forums in Dayton.
Besides preparations for the ARISS recruiting effort, I have been participating in the orientation webinars that are part of the new process for engaging schools that have been accepted for an ARISS contact. Eighteen proposals were accepting in the proposal cycle that closed January 30. All of the schools have now been included in an orientation webinar and most of the schools/organizations have received their tentative scheduled slot for a contact between July and December 2012. These webinars, hosted by NASA, are proving to provide an excellent opportunity to pitch ETP resources to schools and to build relationships between schools, local hams and also with the ARRL ETP for further pursuit of amateur radio in the classroom.
A new proposal window opened for ARISS-US contacts was opened in late April. Proposals may be submitted through July 2, 2012 for contacts that will be scheduled in the November 1, 2012 - May 1, 2013 timeframe.
Astronauts on the ISS have been quite active during April and early May, supporting school contacts through the ARISS program.
International contacts included:
On April 13, Academia Cotopaxi, an international American School with students in grades pre-K-12, located in Quito, Ecuador on Friday, April 13 with astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT.
April 14, Troop 2nd & 3rd Iruma Group, Saitama Scout Council Scout Association of Japan, Iruma, Japan, with astronaut Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX. The Scouts have their own radio club, JQ1YWJ and many of the Scouts have been attending amateur radio classes to become licensed.
On April 24, students from Istituto Comprensivo di Calolziocorte – Scuola Media in Calolziocorte, Italy spoke with Don Pettit, KD5MDT. Via telebridge station LU8YY in Argentina. The contact highlighted a curriculum covering astronautics, astronomy, radio techniques and English.
The program also supported three contacts with US schools:
On April 19, astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT participated in a successful contact with students from Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy in Riverside, California via telebridge station IK1SLD in Italy. The contact complemented Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects that the students have been studying such as the history and purpose of the ISS, rocket fabrication, and radio technology among other topics. The ARISS contact was featured on the May 1 episode (#46) of the Bob Heil & Gordon West "Ham Nation" video podcast. The video is now available on TwiT TV at: http://twit.tv/hn
May 2, The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Virginia experienced a successful contact with Don Pettit, KD5MDT via telebridge station IK1SLD in Italy. Groups in Virginia, Louisiana, New York, and Michigan were video conferenced together for the event. The contact highlighted a comprehensive Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education plan.
On May 7 a contact was held between youth at Farnsworth Aerospace PK-8 Magnet School in St. Paul, Minnesota and astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT. Approximately 100 students as well as some school board members and local dignitaries attended the event. The contact was simulcast throughout the school for those classes not present. It was held to complement students’ studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Additionally, the local ham radio club, Polk County ARA, assisting with the contact increased their club membership from 30 to 50 members as a result of the interest aroused to support the contact. See http://www.n9xh.org/ for photos leading up to and including the contact. Local media covered the event, which even made the “Around the Nation” section of USA Today for Minnesota..
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations
All Staff 5/28 Holiday
Joe Carcia 5/25 Vacation
`` 6/29 Vacation
`` 7/2-7/6 Vacation
`` 7/13 Vacation
`` 7/20 Vacation
`` 7/27 Vacation
Lauren Clarke 6/1 Vacation
Steve Ewald 6/2-6/10 Tennessee State Convention, Knoxville, TN/Vacation
Jackie Ferreira 6/1 Vacation
Steve Ford 6/13-6/15 Vacation
`` 6/21-6/22 Vacation
Scott Gee 6/21-6/22 Vacation
Mike Gruber 6/4-6/8 Vacation
`` 8/27-8/31 Vacation
Joel Hallas 6/4-6/5 Vacation
Dan Henderson 5/25-6/4 Vacation
`` 7/2-7/6 Vacation
`` 7/26-7/30 Central States VHF Conference, Cedar Rapids, IA
`` 8/16- West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV
Bob Inderbitzen 6/20-6/25 Friedrichshafen Convention, Germany
`` 6/26-6/27 Vacation
Khrystyne Keane 6/8-6/10 Arkansas State Convention, Rogers, AR
Joel Kleinman 5/24-5/25
Zack Lau 6/14-6/15 Vacation
`` 6/22 Vacation
Diane Petrilli 6/11-6/15 Vacation
`` 7/23-7/25 Vacation
`` 8/6-8/10 Vacation
Dave Sumner 6/20-6/24 Friedrichshafen Convention, Germany