<<090909.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 32, No. 36 September 9, 2009 -- Covers the period August 30-September 5. Upcoming Meetings and Events Section Manager Workshop September 25-27 - ARRL HQ United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 12-16 - ARRL HQ Executive Committee Meeting October 24 @ 9:00am in Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX COO Update All of the content for the new Web Site has been created and/or edited. Thanks to all of our Fathom Team Leaders and Katie Glass, our Web Content Coordinator, for accomplishing this by our September 10 deadline. The next step will be to place the content into the new Web Site templates that Fathom will be creating. These templates should be ready within a few weeks. Technical Relations Reported by Brennan Price, N4QX Jon Siverling is beginning three weeks of travel, attending the CITEL Conference Preparatory Working Group in Colombia before heading to Geneva for a WRC-12 preparatory meeting with the ATU and meetings of ITU-R Study Group 1. Brennan Price reports that the WRC-12 Advisory Committee has approved a proposal authored by him on AI 1.23. The proposal differs significantly from NTIA's view, and reconciliation may be difficult. Brennan has also advocated for the tempering of language relating to unlicensed devices in some proposed United States contributions to ITU. Brennan also attended an FCC broadband workshop addressing ways in which state and municipal governments have fostered broadband delivery. The panel included a Virginia state official who had been one of the biggest cheerleaders of the Manassas BPL installation. Despite this, BPL continued to be a non-presence in the panel discussions. No intervention was necessary. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP It's been a busy and productive week. Contact was made with Philip Graitcer of NPR who is planning on doing a piece or possibly series on Katrina events. To assure he includes Amateur Radio's activities, he was given several audio clips from the 2005 storm season. A few days later I was contacted by a major producer regarding a 2010 television special remembering Katrina. She was provided with both audio and video, plus introductions were made to several other sources of recordings. Our discussions are continuing. In our agreement, there is a non-disclosure section, so I am avoiding saying much more, but if it works out it will be a major hit indeed. An article was written for QST regarding the changes and expansion of the Bill Leonard Award and an initial press release for PIOs to use with the 2009 S.E.T. in October has been posted. Ed Hare's discovery of a reel-to-reel tape of several 1970's vintage audio PSAs has led to the possibility of using them with others we have here in creating a series celebrating the 75 years of ARES service in 2010. Don Carlson of the PRC is re-mastering the tape into mp3 format. Unfortunately some of it is already badly damaged. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The details of the Spectrum Defense campaign are complete. Once the theme/letter are final, production will begin. The carryover total of more than $50,000 will be applied to the 2009 overall Spectrum Defense Goal of $310,000, leaving $ 260,000 to come from the fall campaign. Diamond Club revenues have topped $130,000. The Education & Technology Fund has reached its goal of $50,000 for the year. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Joel Hallas has finished the first writing and illustrating pass at his new book, Basic Antenna Tuners. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 28, No. 35, for September 4, 2009. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for September 4. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI RFI Mike Martin reports the Lakeland RFI investigation went well. It doesn't appear that the involved utility was aware of the investigation and therefore did not have a crew ready to fix the problems he located. Mike therefore compiled a list of 4 definite sources contributing to the problem and two possible sources. The utility is supposedly going to fix them. Bob Allison and Ron Hranac are now authoring new TV and CATV chapters in the 2nd printing of the RFI Book, respectively. Mike Gruber is very happy to have them on-board for this exciting new project. The transition to DTV has forced a rewrite of both chapters, although it's fortunate that we have run out of the 1st printing at about the same time as the transition. Mike Gruber traveled to Coffeyville, KS from August 18 to 21st. During this time, Mike assisted the Kansas City FCC Field Office concerning a difficult power line noise case in Coffeyville. Although the visit to Coffeyville was plagued by rain, Mike was able to show the FCC Filed Agents signature matching techniques and procedures. Mike also learned a lot about the FCC, especially with regard to a Field Office investigation. Essentially, Mike had become a Field Agent for a few days. At this point, all equipment has been shipped back to the Lab. QST Bob Allison spent some time re-testing a radio transceiver-our measurements were correct as published. Auction Bob Allison moved several pieces of product review equipment and their paperwork to the advertising department for the upcoming on line auction. Bob would like to report that no items were misplaced since the tracking procedure was put into place last year. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R The Member Services team-Mark Dzamba, Penny Harts N1NAG, Mindy Lajoie, Kim Piatek, and Cathy Stepina-have started an online training program to help develop even more effective phone skills. The training will continue for 8 to 10 weeks. Special emphasis is being made by the team to relate the training to our member-centric environment. There have been 567 returns from a large membership campaign that dropped on July 30. Over one third of the returns are applications for multi-year memberships. The 2010 Handbook rollout is in full-gear. A "teaser" ad was included in September QST. A more substantial ad with ordering information is included in October QST-which will reach mailboxes during the next 10 days. That same issue also includes an editorial contribution from the Handbook editors. A Handbook mailing campaign will reach the mailboxes of 70,000 ARRL members in late September. An ARRL Letter feature is planned for the first week of October. Help spread the word! The Warehouse crew fulfilled 519 packages for publication and product orders, and shipped 471 free book membership premiums and QST mailing supplements. ARRL Conventions Date Name Division City State ARRL HQ Rep. Sep 11-12 Delta Division DL Mena AR Sep 12 GL Division Symposium GL Findlay OH Sep 12-13 Virginia Section RK Virginia Beach VA Dan Henderson Sep 18-19 W9DXCC CL Elk Grove Village IL Sean Kutzko Sep 19 Ohio Section GL Reynoldsburg OH Sep 26 SEDCO V Conference DL Pigeon Forge TN Ward Silver Sep 26 Mid-AT States VHF Conf. AT Plymouth Meeting PA Sep 26 Washington State NW Spokane Valley WA Dan Henderson Oct 3 EMCOMM East AT Rochester NY Harold Kramer Oct 4 W. New York Section AT West Seneca NY Harold Kramer Oct 9-11 Pacific Northwest VHF NW Seaside OR Gene Zimmerman Oct 11 Connecticut State NE Wallingford CT Joel Hallas Nov 7-8 Georgia Section SE Lawrenceville GA Nov 14 Alabama State SE Montgomery AL Nov 14-15 Indiana State CL Fort Wayne IN Ward Silver Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch 2009 June VHF QSO Party data has been given to the results author. We have received 245 logs for the 2009 August UHF Contest. This is over 25% more logs than 2008. The introduction of Club Competition seems to have generated more interest in this event, at least short-term. Data will go to the new adjudicator for this event, John Kalenowski, K9JK, this week. The 2009 November Sweepstakes is only 2 months away. Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, is making a concerted effort to remind the community that logs will now be due in fifteen days instead of 30, in order to achieve our goal of having tabulated online results in 60 days. A strong push to invite school club stations to participate will get underway shortly, especially through the new www.collegearc.com <http://www.collegearc.com/> website. Plaques and certificates for the 2008 November Sweepstakes and the 2008 September VHF QSO Party have all gone out the door. Next in line for distribution are the 2008 EME Contest certificates. DXCC Branch Credits Applications 2008 Carryover 107,420 954 2009 Received 465,053 4,236 Cumulative Total 572,473 5,190 2009 Processed 486,662 4,451 Remaining 85,811 739 Processing Time 8 weeks Category Aug. 2009 Year-to-Date Triple Play WAS 13 304 WAS Certificates (Manual) 31 215 WAS Certificates (LoTW) 26 226 A-1 Op Nominations 30 156 A-1 Op Certificates 22 181 Extra Class Certificates 6 62 WAC Certificates 17 224 VUCC New / Grids 11 / 1,650 82 / 8,510 VUCC Endorsement / Grids 13 / 767 74 / 4,300 Processing Time Current Logbook of the World Category Aug. 2009 % Change Jan-Aug 09 QSO Records Entered Into System 236,781,721 16% QSL Record Matches 22,857,927 27% Logs Processed 1,075,534 31% Active Certificates 43,568 17% Registered Users in System 28,638 18% Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries August 2009 Maintenance 162 Initial Setup Inquiries 103 Award Related Concerns 61 Customer Usage Issues 51 Total 377 W1AW It took nearly 9 months, but W1AW finally got its "Triple Play Award", number 306. The delay was not for lack of trying. The few remaining states needed were worked in previous operating events. But those particular contacts apparently were never uploaded to LoTW by their operators. (W1AW uploads its logs to LoTW each week.) The Hiram Percy Maxim 140th Birthday Celebration is in full swing. As part of the celebration, a number of ARRL staff worked W1AW/140 via 10.250 GHz using h/b transceivers built a few years ago by ARRL Lab Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM. In fact, it was Bob who made the very first W1AW 10 GHz contact! Joe began construction of a DTMF decoder that will eventually be used to remotely-control the W1AW IRLP node. He created an Access database template that will be used for the HPM 140th Birthday certificates. Joe also processed regular QSL card requests and made a few updates to the W1AW web page. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of the month of September. Field Organization/Public Service Team September 4 was the deadline to receive Section Manager petitions for terms of office that will start on January 1, 2010. Leona Adams reports the following incumbent Section Managers have been nominated to continue in their current positions: Frank Filipkowski, AD3M - Delaware; Dale Williams, WA8EFK - Michigan; and Ed Emco, W1KT - Western Massachusetts. In addition, Les Rayburn, N1LF, of Maylene, Alabama, and David Stevens, KL7EB, of Anchorage, Alaska, have been nominated to run for Section Manager in their respective sections. There will now be three Section Manager elections this fall. In Alaska, the candidates are Jim Larsen, AL7FS, and David Stevens, KL7EB. In Alabama, the candidates are Jay Isbell, KA4KUN, and Les Rayburn, N1LF. In Kansas, the candidates are Ron Cowan, KBØDTI, Lawrence Macionski, W8LM, and Joseph Plankinton, WDØDMW. Steve Ewald prepared The Public Service column for November QST and turned it over to our Production Department for further work and page layout. One new Official Observer from Kentucky came on board within the past week. The FCC requested monitoring assistance to listen for a particular California station, and the request was forwarded to OOCs in the region. Chuck Skolaut compiled the monthly ARRL Monitoring System report, and sent to the IARU Region 2 coordinator. IARU Region 1 has initiated an Intruder Alert List reflector, and they have included ARRL HQ as a member of the list. The FCC has also responded to a request for assistance with an on-going repeater interference problem in the Northeast. Meanwhile, Chuck forwarded some pertinent information to the FCC about a long -standing problem on HF in the Northwest. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Kathy Allison 9/25-9/28 Vacation Bob Allison 9/25-9/29 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 9/25 Vacation `` 10/2-10-6 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 9/8-9/14 Vacation Joe Carcia 10/12-10/20 Vacation Dennis Dura 9/14 Vacation Scott Gee 9/17-9/18 Vacation `` 10/5-10/6 Vacation Mike Gruber 9/28-10/2 Vacation Dan Henderson 9/11-9/13 Virginia Section Convention, Virginia Beach, VA `` 9/25-9/29 E. Washington Section Convention, Spokane, WA Mary Hobart 9/25 Vacation `` 10/2 Vacation Debra Johnson 9/3-9/11 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 9/25 Vacation `` 10/23 Vacation Joel Kleinman 9/28-9/29 Vacation `` 10/5-10/6 Vacation Sean Kutzko 9/18-9/20 W9DXCC Convention, Elk Grove Village, IL Maryann Macdonald 9/21-9/25 Vacation Diane Petrilli 9/8-9/11 Vacation AnnMarie Pinto 9/18 Vacation Allen Pitts 9/14-9/18 Vacation Brennan Price 9/7-9/10 HQ `` 9/25-9/27 ARRL/TAPR Digital Com. Conference, Elk Grove IL Jon Siverling 9/8-9/11 CITEL CPWG, Santa Maria, Colombia `` 9/14-9/16 ATU Preparatory Meeting, Geneva `` 9/17-9/25 ITU-R Study Group 1 and Working Groups, Geneva Dave Sumner 10/9-10/19 IARU R3 Conference/AC Meeting, Christchurch, NZ
