IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No.11 March 17, 2004 Upcoming Meeting April 24th in Newington, CT at 8:30am A & F Committee Meeting Development A grant proposal has been submitted to CNCS for a Learn and Serve America grant totaling $634,000. The proposal is to create radio stations in 24 schools over two year period that will use a hybrid curriculum of radio basics and emergency communications and has a strong volunteer component in conjunction with Citizen Corps and other youth organizations. The W1AW Endowment has reached $87,263 from 1238 donors. The average contribution is $70.49. The follow up letters were mailed to targeted segments the week of March 8. The 2004 Spectrum Defense Fund carryover had raised $55,460 from 852 donors since January 1, 2004 with an average contribution of $65.09. This carryover in 2003 raised $40,317 from 657 donors between January and April 2003. The draft letter for the first full file Defense campaign of this year is under review. Invitations to 600 major donors and Board members for the Donor Reception in Dayton on May 13 were mailed March 12. Development is completing the recognition listing of donors for the Annual Report, QST (June issues) and the web. Media Relations Jennifer submitted "Media Hits" for the May issue of QST. Among them, of great significance, is mention of Dave Sumner's letter to the editor, which was printed in The Wall Street Journal on March 12. As reported last week, Dave responded to an article on the rollout of BPL in the Cincinnati area. In his letter, Dave explained how the technology would negatively impact the radio spectrum. The Public Relations Committee held its monthly conference call. Joining the committee as Board Liaison is Southwestern Division Vice Director Tuck Miller. Tuck joined us on the call and is getting familiarized with who is on the committee and what the group is working on this year. Progress on the Speakers Bureau Project was the major topic of discussion, and committee members are working on their individual assignments. Sherri Brower and Jennifer will be going over all finished materials at the end of March, and shortly after the information will be made available for PICs who want to get started building their own section-wide speakers bureaus. The group is also working on the annual ARRL PR Forum to be held in Dayton. The next conference call has been scheduled for April 13. Jennifer has been working with a Christian Science Monitor reporter who is gathering information for a pro-ham radio story on BPL. He has interviewed President Haynie, and is in the process of talking with representatives from other radio services that would be negatively affected by BPL technology. At this point, he has no firm deadline in place. A writer with Energy Intelligence interviewed Dave for a story on BPL. Energy Intelligence publishes a variety of weekly and daily newsletters covering stories of interest to the energy industry here in the US and worldwide. The story ran on March 8, but may only be viewed online by paying subscribers. The feature on Director Isely's reelection, which ran in The Courier News (Elgin, Illinois), led to another feature in the same paper highlighting his club, the Fox River Radio League (FRRL). Jennifer is working to complete the "Year in Review" section of the Annual Report. Sue Fagan did a fantastic job on the cover, and that portion of the project is ready to go. The February clip reports have been mailed to the Board and members of the PR Committee. Production/Editorial The ARRL RFI Book and the 2004 Eastern States VHF Conference Proceedings have been released to the printer. We checked printer's proofs for The HF Digital Handbook. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 23, No. 11, went out to 66,904 League members Mar 12. In addition to reviewing a dozen or so article submissions as part of the general interest articles committee, Rick prepared stories on NC hams' encounter with FCC Chairman Powell on BPL, a SC ARISS QSO, Hawaii ham antenna bills (update), Best Buy Te@ch grants to three ETP schools, Scott Redd, K0DQ, assigned to Iraq, AO-40 (update) and ARRL's new on-line Tech course, as well as KG4IUM's youth column, K7RA's "Solar Update" for Web and "In Brief" (18 items). With voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy and Brennan Price, Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Mar 12. Sales and Marketing Members who have notified us of their position on ARRL's license proposal through their membership status stand at: Outright cancellations - 30 Definitely not renewing upon expiration - 9 Reluctantly renewed - 2 Notified us absolutely in favor of: - 2 Two new titles arrived into stock: Vintage Radio and APRS, Moving Hams on Radio and the Internet. Zoe Belliveau and the Warehouse crew processed all outstanding backorders, Our March planning includes a large membership campaign targeting Technician and Tech Plus licensees. The mailing was pulled together this week. It consists of 82,000 membership prospects. The mailing should be dropped to the post office on March 24. ARRL's newest online course, the Technician Class Course for Ham Radio Licensing, is being introduced in all the appropriate outlets. Complete details are available at www.arrl.org/cce/tech Dennis Motschenbacher and Debra Jahnke met with ICOM National Sales Manager, Ray Novak, to discuss 2004 advertising and membership recruitment activities. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS Cert. Replacement) 1 WAS End. (50 QSLs F/C) 1 A-1 Op. Noms. 31 LTMA Inquiries 3 25-Year Member Awards 37 40-Year Member Awards 21 Extra Class Certs. 13 OTC Awards 9 RCCs 8 Friendship Award 1 VUCC Initial Apps. 2 Grids 292 VUCC End. Apps. 12 Grids 299 Awards Mailed 54 Also, compiled the latest list of 50, 60, and 70-year members for May QST. Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the coming week-WAS and WAC QSL card checking, VUCC and A-1 Operator awards processing, and package and mail out all awards processed this week. DXCC Branch For the week of: March 8, 2004 Beginning Cards 73,206 Cards Received 11,733 Cards Processed 14,292 Ending Cards 70,647 Applications Pending 547 Processing Time 4.5 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 79,296 Cards Returned 134,639 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on February 10, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on February 11, 2004. Contest Branch Backordered DX Contest plaques arrived and were shipped. Mailing of June 2003 VHF certificates began. August 2003 UHF Contest and 2003 10 GHz and Up Certificates were printed and will be mailed in the next two weeks. Data entry for 2004 January VHF SS was completed and the complete Logs Received page was posted to the web. Data entry for the 2004 ARRL International DX CW Contest began. Contest announcements for Field Day and the 2004 June VHF QSO Party were prepared and sent to Production. The paper Summary Sheet for the IARU HF World Championships was redesigned to include the new categories. Full rules for the 2004 June VHF QSO party were prepared and sent for posting to the web. QSL Bureau QSL Service Status: There is a delay of approximately 2 weeks. This week 125 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 180 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 03/14/04: 217,875. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Joe mailed the certificates for the 2003 FMT. He also handled some various ListServer duties. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the month of March. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. Field & Educational Services Rosalie finished drafts of 2 reports for the ARISS-international meeting to be hosted by the European Space Agency. She set up an e-mail meeting of the ARISS education committee in place of a telecon. She nudged ARISS mentors whose schools haven't submitted NASA evaluations. Dubose School in S.C. had a good ARISS QSO. Rosalie sent club affiliation paperwork to Directors and SMs. She assisted an SM in inviting an astronaut to a ham convention. She and Jean drafted updates for the Web page for prospective hams. Gail Iannone wrote 33 hamfest and 3 convention announcements for May QST. She sent 14 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval letter to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 2 label requests, and sent 10 handout packages for upcoming events. She corresponded with Dayton Hamvention officials to remind them to turn in their paperwork to be ARRL-sanctioned, which earns them QST publicity -- her reminder worked! Linda Mullally re-worked the SSC renewal certificates; she and Rosalie revised the paper format club benefits sheet. Linda updated 50 club records with 2 reactivations. She registered 8 Instructors, and sent 3 Exhibit Kits and 1 JOTA Kit. She checked membership rosters for 3 clubs, handled 9 SSC renewals and 3 Club Vanity email requests. She compiled the Statistic reports for QST (PHSR-BPL-SEC-STM). Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer prepared and submitted 6 Project and 2 Progress grant applications to the EC, and informed SMs and Directors about their area applicants. If the grants are approved, the funds for this year will be exhausted. Mark attended the Connecticut State Science Fair, and granted awards ($50 and Now You're Talking) to a middle schooler who studied magnetism, and 2 high schoolers researching cell phone wave propagation. Mark is waiting for official school-letter requests for the TV remote decoder kits that are ready to ship. CCE Jean Wolfgang has prepared the mentor stipend check list for February and the reimbursement list for students under both of our grants. The new Technician License online course (EC-010) will offer registration for the first time on Monday, March 15, and the class will start on April 6! Jean worked with staff to accomplish this debut along with planning some of the publicity for it. Field Organization/Public Service Team Memphis-based Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC http://www.cusec.org/) --sponsored by FEMA -- has talked with Tennessee ARES leaders, inviting them and other ARES groups to take part in a test net, March 21 on 3.980 and/or 7.238. Tennessee SEC Sheila Dziubak, KB4G, contacted SECs, and Steve contacted SMs in appropriate states (TN, MS, AR, IL, IN, KY, MO, AL, VA, NC, SC, GA, LA, OK, OH, IA, NE and KS). Some sections are already preparing to participate. CUSEC hopes to learn communications strengths/weaknesses in those states. Steve also prepared the Public Service column for May QST. Leona Adams worked with Oregon SM candidates Randy Stimson, KZ7T, and Kevin Hunt, WA7VTD, preparing paperwork for the upcoming election. Incumbent SMs in IL, IN, ME, NFL, SCV, VT and WI were unopposed, and they will begin new terms on July 1. Leona sent new Amateur Radio operator labels to SMs. Regulatory Information John Hennessee assisted with a local government zoning matter in Manatee County, Florida (W4TB), and covenant restrictions in Caledonia, IL (KT9P) and Georgetown, SC (W4GTN). He has also been in contact with section leaders in Hawaii concerning two bills which seek to give state amateurs some antenna relief from covenants and subdivisions. EmComm Grants Dan Miller will present his EmComm Seminar plus a forum on Echolink and Emergency Communications at the Communications Academy event in Shoreline, WA next weekend. He reports interest in the annual EmComm Banquet at Dayton this year is greater than before. Already 47 people have registered for this informal social gathering. The "Mentor of the Year" Award will be presented again as part of the festivities. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Dave Sumner 4/12-4/21 IARU Reg.1 EC Meeting, & Vacation `` 4/27-5/6 Geneva, ITU working party 6E Meeting `` 5/12-5/16 Vacation Mark Wilson 3/24-3/29 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 3/19 Vacation Fatima Lorusso 3/19 Vacation Mark Spencer 3/17-3/20 ITEA Conference `` 3/30-4/5 NSTA Conference Rick Lindquist 3/26 Vacation Joe Carcia 3/19 Vacation ``` 4/5 Vacation Dan Miller 3/19-3/21 Comm. Academy CCE seminar, Shoreline, WA Jean Wolfgang 3/22-3/23 Classes Rosalie White 3/23-3/26 ARISS-International meeting, Amsterdam Robert Inderbitzen 4/1-4/2 AES Superfest Dennis Motschenbacher 4/22 Sales meeting GA `` 4/23-4/24 SVHFC Technical & Banquet Speaker `` 5/13-5/17 Vacation Deb Jahnke 4/15 Sales call-Baker & Taylor - NJ Kathy Capodicasa 4/15 Sales call-Baker & Taylor - NJ Stu Cohen 3/19 Vacation Rick Lindquist 3/26 Vacation Scott Gee 4/8 Vacation Danny Sayad 4/15-4/19 Vacation