<<100511.doc>>
IN-Newsletter
Vol. 34, No. 40
October 5, 2011 -- Covers the period September 25-October 1.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI)
October 3-7 – ARRL HQ
Section Managers’ Workshop
October 21-23 – ARRL HQ
Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections
November 18 – ARRL HQ
Administration & Finance Committee
November 19 @ 8:30am – ARRL HQ
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
September was again a busy travel month, with the RIB Manager covering both the W9DXCC Convention in Chicago and the W4DXCC/SEDCO convention in Pigeon Forge, TN. As always after travel, a significant number of emails and phone queries were handled. The 2011 ARRL Field Day report for QST was finished and submitted to Production on September 29. The expanded version for the ARRL Web is being edited and will be sent to the Contest Branch soon.
Replies to the ARRL VC update mailing continue to come in. The replies will be handled during the next two weeks and updated to the web as necessary. Member queries on reciprocal operating in Brazil, Argentina, Belize, and Aruba were addressed. With the annual Jamboree on the Air coming up, several queries regarding third-party traffic and participation were answered. We provided information on CC&Rs to an amateur in Cheyenne, WY. We advised an amateur in Hawaii to seek legal counsel in his dispute with two neighbors regarding a threatened suit over his antenna placement (which had been properly permitted by the local jurisdiction).
Thanks to Katie Glass, KB1ULQ, for verifying that almost all of the links on the various Regulatory and Legislative pages on the ARRL Web were “hot”. Those links which were broken were repaired. After discussions with President Craigie, N3KN, and CEO Sumner, K1ZZ, we have started work on the next Legislative Update Newsletter. We have spoken to John Chwat, who has agreed to send several paragraphs on the mechanics of the process we use.
Media & Public Relations
Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP
Editing of “the DIY Magic of Amateur Radio” continues in California this week. S.E.T. related materials and releases were provided, but there seems to be little media coverage from the past weekend.
Development
Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH
The ARRL Diamond Club continues to do well in producing results. Currently that program has produced more than $216,000 or 77% of its 2011 goal. Results through September show growth over the same period of 2010, especially in net revenue (up 16%), the number of installment pledges (up 98%) and in Diamond Club renewal income (up 8%).
The second issue of Spectrum Defense Matters was mailed to donors on September 22 and emailed to nearly 100,000 ARRL members on September 27. Initial returns total nearly $11,000, bringing the total of Spectrum Defense Fund income to $178,714 or 51% of the 2011 goal.
An email follow up solicitation to prior donors to the Education & Technology Fund will go out the week of 10/3 in an effort to boost income. The fund needed more than $31,000 by December 31 to reach its goal.
The Second Century Campaign continues to move forward. Preliminary contacts are planned with two leadership prospects. The SCC Committee members decided on an October 31 deadline for their individual leadership commitments. Graphics and printed materials will be completed before December 31.
The budget for Development activity in 2012 has been completed.
Individual Giving Manager Lauren Clarke has been well received at ARRL is getting up to speed on all aspects of the Development Program. She provided valuable input during the budget preparation process. She has contributed her skills to the Spectrum Defense Fund, Diamond Club and Education Fund solicitations since her arrival at the end of August.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed the ARRL Letter and produced and voiced ARRL Audio News for September 29, 2011.
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Diane Petrilli, KB1RNF (for Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R)
The warehouse crew shipped 902 fulfillment & dealer packages this week. 408 Free Books were processed and 4 QST supplements were dispatched.
Membership
We ended the month at 156,349 – 386 members short of goal but up 128 members from August. Acquisition through direct mail is high this month as three mailings are currently on the street. The recent 40,000 piece mailing has returned at .45% two weeks out; the postcard sent to 20,000 is returning at .625% two weeks out. 21.50% of new hams licensed in June joined ARRL within 4 months (June - September). 72% of September 2011 expirees paid on time (vs. 74% last September).
Publications
The ARRL Handbook and The ARRL Antenna Book are expected in-stock later this week. We have accumulated a large amount of backorders over the last couple of weeks.
Now Shipping
2012 ARRL Amateur Radio Calendar.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
DXCC Branch Credits Applications
2010 Carryover 161,447 1,187
2011 Received 814,101 7,036
Cumulative Total 975,548 8,223
2011 Processed 929,624 7,854
Remaining 45,924 369
Processing Time 3 Weeks
Logbook of the World
Category
Sept 2011 % Change
Jan – Sept 2011
QSO Records Entered Into System 367,971,789 13%
QSL Record Matches 44,863,403 21%
Logs Processed 2,447,986 30%
Active Certificates 66,429 15%
Registered Users in System 44,106 15 %
Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries Sept 2011
Maintenance 778
Initial Setup Inquiries 792
Award Related Concerns 296
Customer Usage Issues 444
Phone Calls 625
Total 2,935
W1AW
Scott Hartlage, KF4PWI and Ken Bailey, K1FUG, were on hand Saturday to operate W1AW in the Simulated Emergency Test (SET). They were active on HF and EchoLink.
Joe worked the early afternoon/nights shifts on Monday through Friday for the vacationing Scott Gee. He also processed regular QSL card requests and one Qualifying Run endorsement. Joe repaired the Alpha 9500 amplifier located in Studio Three. He also made a quick repair to the Icom IC-PW1 amplifier used for the 160-meter broadcasts. In anticipation of changing the digital broadcast software over from MixW to fldigi, Joe began working with the author of the program – David Freese, W1HKJ – to create broadcast macros for all the various digital modes. He also attended the D-RATS presentation given by Scott Hartlage, KF4PWI.
Education Services
Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ
Licensing Instruction
Instructor registrations have picked up recently as they do at this time of year. We’ve received over 75 instructor or teacher registrations during August and September. Since the beginning of 2011 there have been 329 postings of license classes in our website database, including 30 Technician, 74 General, 25 Extra and 2 Morse code classes. The San Francisco section tops the list with the most class offerings listed at 23, closely followed by Western Washington with 22.
Continuing Education Program
We continue to offer and fill 30 seats in the Introduction to Emergency Communication (EC-001) course each month. There have been 185 enrollments since the course was launched in April 2011 and 63 students have successfully completed the course to date. Since its launch in April 2010, 107 volunteers have completed the final assessment and received certificates for the managers’ course, Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs (EC-016).
Education & Technology Program
Nathan McCray K9CPO has resumed sending composite weather maps to ETP students on the mailing list with some help from Matt Severin N8MS and Mark Spencer WA8SME, since his antennas are down due to some roof repairs.
At his elementary school in Kenosha, WI, Nathan is starting up an electronics and amateur radio club. This is in addition to the robotics club started last year. His plans for students include building the ARRL clock kit and then a twenty meter receiver kit. He decided to do kit building after a discussion with a local high school electronics instructor shared his frustration that he does not get many students with basic electricity instruction let alone electronics instruction prior to their junior year of high school. Nathan also reports that he has been working with a ton of our ETP graduates on the weather satellite set up, the equipment needed to work amateur radio satellites and fox hunting. These activities were a big hit during the TI’s and the interest continues.
We negotiated a contract with Mark Spencer WA8SME for his return to consulting with us as ETP Program Coordinator, effective October 1.
ARISS
Recent ARISS contacts in the U.S. include:
An ARISS contact on August 30 was the highlight of the science curriculum for students at Merritt Island High School, Merritt Island, FL. Participating in “Project Lead the Way” the entire year’s science curriculum was devoted to space, technology and integrating Amateur Radio where possible. In its Da Vinci Academy of Aerospace Technology students study engineering principles in weekly labs and take advantage of the following courses: “Introduction to Engineering”, “Principles of Engineering”, and “Digital Electronics.” In preparation for the ARISS contact students studied force and motion, circuit boards, ISS construction, ISS orbits, ham radio engineering, sound waves, and layers of the atmosphere. Florida Today posted an article and video of the contact.
Students at Pine Tree Middle School, Longview, Texas, participated in a successful ARISS contact with astronaut Mike Fossam on September 9 led by ETP Instructor Tommy Gober, N5DUX. Gober used equipment received at the TI-2 he attended to implement the direct contact. A video of the event is posted on YouTube.
Students at Kiroli Elementary School in West Monroe, LA, celebrated a successful ARISS contact with Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa KE5DAW on September 22 as the highlight of their recent technology studies. A licensed 5th grader, Connor Wiedemeier, KF5MTQ, initiated the contact for the 500 other watching students. The school faculty led 5th grade science class students through three weeks of space studies; first graders began their space lessons last week, and students in other grade levels were to participate in several technology-related classes. A professor of physics at University of Louisiana in Monroe (ULM) is scheduling 4 visits this fall for Kiroli students to the ULM observatory to learn about planets, stars, and electromagnetics. Dr. Paul Wiedemeier, KE5LKY, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at (ULM), and Dr. Mark Hammon, N8MH, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Campbell University in North Carolina assisted educators in setting up ham radio skeds between Kiroli students and students at the Coats Elementary School in Coats, NC. The hams taught students about Amateur Radio satellites, ISS and ARISSat.
Rosalie White K1STO and I participated in the review process to select five US schools/education groups that will be primary /top picks for ARISS QSOs scheduled between January and June 2012, and ten more US schools/groups selected as alternates.
ARRL ETP instructor Matt Severin N8MS brought instruction full circle with a group of his students who learned about downloading weather satellite data via amateur radio in their 5th grade class and who were recently able to experience downloading telemetry from ARISSat-1, including a SSTV image of themselves flown on the satellite. For the full story, click here.
The ARISSat team had expected Amateur Radio operators to show an initial surge of interest in ARISSat that would die out after about two weeks. Instead, the number of telemetry submissions from hams has increased, as are the number of unique ground stations submitting telemetry.
ARISSat is getting national-level PR in non-aerospace media. EE Times has run seven articles strictly covering ARISSat in its blog pages. The articles are titled “Chips in Space.” The Phoenix Business Journal highlighted engineers who are hams from the Microchip company who spent months working on ARISSat.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations
All Staff 11/24-11/25 Holiday
Cathy Allison 10/10-10/14 Vacation
Joe Carcia 10/7pm-10/10 Vacation
Steve Ewald 10/4-10/12 Vacation
Jackie Ferreira 10/20-10/24 Vacation
Steve Ford 10/13 Vacation
Scott Gee 12/23-12/27 Vacation
Joel Hallas 10/19am Vacation
Dan Henderson 11/22-12/2 ARI HQ Milan, Pescara Hamfair
`` 12/16-1/4 Vacation
Mary Hobart 10/21 Vacation
`` 11/10-11/11 Vacation
Amy Hurtado 10/7-10/10 Vacation
Gail Iannone 10/14-10/17 Vacation
Bob Inderbitzen 9/29-10/10 UK Hamfest & RSGB Convention
`` 10/13-10/17 Pacificon , Santa Clara, CA
`` 10/24-10/26 Vacation
Debra Johnson 10/27-10/30 ARISS Int’l Meeting
Joel Kleinman 10/6 Vacation
`` 10/25 Vacation
Zack Lau 11/5-11/6 Iowa Section Convention, Davenport, IA
Bill Moore 10/20 Vacation
Diane Petrilli 10/25 Jury Duty
Allen Pitts 10/7 Vacation
`` 10/14 Vacation
Steve Sant Andrea 10/14 Vacation