IN-Newsletter

Vol 26, No. 12

April 1, 2003

Upcoming Meetings

April 12^th in St. Louis, MO at 8:30am

Volunteer Resources Committee

April 26^th in Kansas City, MO at 8:30am

A&F Committee

We were saddened to learn that TIS Coordinator Al Alvareztorres, AA1DO, died March 26 of a heart attack.  Al was originally hired in 1994 as a W1AW operator, and he transferred to the Lab in 1999.  Al was on our “front-line,” answering thousands of emails, phone calls and letters from members looking for technical information and advice.  During his tenure, he added an incredible amount and variety of information to the popular TIS Web pages, providing readily available answers for the most-often-asked technical topics.  We will miss his wit and humor.

Development

The 2003 Education & Technology campaign has raised more than $42,000 from 919 members in its first 20 days.

The special campaign for WRC-03 is in its finally preparation stages. Supported by an ad in the May QST and a web presence, the campaign will solicit contributions from 8595 past donors to ARRL Defense campaigns.

ARRL was contacted by CQIA to apply for a Connecticut Innovation Award for the successful Connecticut emergency communications training project with United Technologies.

Letters have been mailed to donors whose contributions of $1000 or more in 2002 entitle them to recognition in the ARRL Annual Report, in QST and on the ARRL website. The deadline for responses is 4/07/03.

ARRL was one of several non-profit organizations recognized last week by the fund raising periodical, Chronicle of Philanthropy, for its donor recognition program, The ARRL Diamond Club. The article is available online at http://philanthropy.com/jobs/2003/04/03/20030403-802616.htm

Production/Editorial

The May 2003 issue of QST was released to the printer March 26. We reordered course books for Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Levels 1, 2 and 3, and ordered the SETICon 03 and Southeastern VHF Society conference proceedings. We checked cover proofs for the new edition of Now You’re Talking!

Senior News Editor Rick Lindquist, N1RL, notes that distribution of The ARRL Letter continues to creep upward. The Letter went out to 65,861 members on March 28. More than 99,000 members are registered for Members Only Web services and more than 61,000 have arrl.net aliases.

Assistant News Editor Dave Hassler finished his QST article on the Official Observer program and wrapped up the March installment of “ARRL in Action” for ARRLWeb. In addition, he edited several Web features and wrote several news stories.

Sales & Marketing

Bob Inderbitzen is finalizing details for handling the marketing and distribution of an upcoming book, AC Power Interference Handbook, 2nd edition, authored by Marv Loftness, KB7KK. The author is agreeable to an arrangement that gives ARRL exclusive distribution of the title. Previous editions of the book sold well for us and it is recommended by the Lab staff.

New QST print ads were produced for The ARRL UHF/Microwave Projects CD, the 16th edition of Hints & Kinks for the Radio Amateur, and the 2003 Field Day products.

Bob tailored a special ARRL exhibit for Amateur Electronic Supply's "Superfest." Bob and Dennis are traveling to the event in Milwaukee, held April 4 & 5. An attractive tabletop display was put together, and related set of materials were produced and gathered (membership applications, free book premiums, QST copies, catalogs, and prizes). Bob is using the event as a platform to aggressively test membership promotion (new and renewals). The experience will provide ideas that can be shared with the Field Organization as we continue to look for new and better ways to support volunteer membership recruitment efforts. Central Div. Director Dick Isely, W9GIG, and Wisconsin SM Don Michalski, W9IXG will be on hand during the event.

An email solicitation supporting product sales was conducted on March 27. Bob revised information about the Instructor Discount Program to include the latest editions of ARRL license study materials (visit <http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/discount> for details).

Product Fulfillment and the Warehouse staff processed the approximately 300 back orders for the 2003 Field Day and GOTA t-shirts.

After a number of trials and errors since the software conversion took place, ARRL's Annual Automatic renewal program has officially run for May expirees using the automated process designed for Siebel. The system automatically charges their credit card and processes the member's renewal for members who have signed up for this service. Although we are not quite ready to stop keeping track of the "paper trail" for this service, this achievement is a definite step in the right direction for streamlining the service.

Closing the advertising portion of May 2003 QST went right to the wire. Since this was considered the "Dayton" issue, many advertisers had last minute tweaks to existing ads as well many new ads debuting new products. The issue closed with ad pages exceeding target, as well as the special 8-page Dayton advertising section.

Deb Jahnke conferred with several advertisers whose budgets begin on April 1. Facts, figures, and anything else of value were provided to assist the advertisers in making their budget preparations and presentations.

Deb also spent time at the Ingram Publishers web site adding new title information as well as adding other current titles that we believe will be good sellers for Ingram.

Lisa Tardette is racking up good quantities of back-orders for the Repeater Directory and Now You're Talking!. Her personal follow-ups are coming after customer receipt of the latest Dealer Newsline.

There will be a mini Advertising Matters sent this month, focusing on the benefits of advertising in the June issue of QST. Since the next two issues have insertion deadlines that fall around Dayton and the National, the newsletter will also ask advertisers to please have their insertions in early. The early receipt of files request will be followed up by telephone calls to obtain insertions.

Dennis continues to make personal contact with our business clients to deepen our understanding of the needs of the market. He also has several special projects underway resulting from the work of the Ad Hoc Committee for Recruitment and Retention.

Membership Services

Awards Branch

WAS QSL Cards Checked   400    
WAS Endorsements (100 QSLs ES/C)        2      
WAS Endorsements (50 QSLs F/C)  1      
WAC Certificates (102 QSLs ES/C)        17     
5 Band WACs (60 QSLs ES/C)      2      
L/T Member Inquiries    2      
VUCC Initial Apps.      5      
Grids   505    
VUCC Endorsement Apps.  7      
Grids   611    
VUCC Backfill Apps.     4      
Grids   369    

HF Awards Mgr. Appt.: David Ellis, Charleston, WV. VHF Awards Mgr. Appt.: Garie Halstead, K8KFJ, St. Albans, WV. Also ordered the 5BWAS engraved plates for plaques. Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week—Order the latest batch of 50 and 60-year member plaques, Basic WAS awards for March, enter long term member award recipients’ records into their Siebel member records, mail out awards processed this week, continued VUCC awards processing/mailing.

DXCC Branch

Weekly Report

March 30, 2003         
Beginning Cards 136,456
Cards Received  12,108 
Cards Processed 17,914 
Ending Cards    130,650

Applications Pending    1,248  
Processing Time 10.5 Weeks     

Year-to-date (2003)

Cards Received  125,040
Cards Returned  200,372

QRPs Issued this week   2      
QRP’s Issued total      289    

DXCC is currently mailing applications received on January 16, 2003. DXCC is currently entering cards received on January 31, 2003.

Contest Branch

Backordered DX contest plaques arrived and were shipped. Data entry for paper logs for DX CW contest continued. The June VHF QSO Party and Field Day announcements for Field Day 2003 were finalized for QST. The web rules for the June VHF QSO Party were prepared and sent to WSDD. N1ND thanks contest assistant Kathy Allison, KA1RWY for her yeoman work while he was recently out of the office on medical leave. Emails were answered to catch up with the backlog from N1ND’s absence. Work was done with W6RGG on an article for June QST on the new Class F Field Day category. Work was done with VE4XT on the web and QST versions of the 2002 November Sweepstakes Phone write-up. The 2002 160-Meter scores were merged into the database and work began on the various items for the web and QST.

QSL Bureau

QSL service status: There is a delay of one week due to staff absence. Cards mailed year to date as of 03/28/003 - 411,900. Cards mailed on 03/28/2003 - 76,650. Thanks to HQ Staffers who filled in as Tour Guide in Heather Dzamba's absence.

W1AW

We send our condolences to the family and friends of Al Alvareztorres, AA1DO. Al was the W1AW weekend shift operator for a few years prior to his taking on the job of Technical Information Service Coordinator in late 1998. Although no longer working at the station, Al’s Laboratory responsibilities kept him in (technical support) touch with W1AW. He was a great staffer and friend. He will be missed!

On a lighter note, thanks to Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV for operating W1AW in the 2003 CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest. He made 731 QSOs, with 409 multipliers, for a claimed score of 596,731.

Joe Carcia updated the web code practice files. He continued processing regular W1AW QSL card requests. He also worked the Wednesday night shift for a vacationing Scott Gee.

Scott Gee worked on fast and slow code practice files for the month of April. He has begun final assembly of the donated Elecraft K2 QRP transceiver. (Thanks to Mike Tracy, KC1SX for the initial assembly work he performed on the K2.) Scott also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. W1AW telephone sales year to date (2003): $3,976.

Field & Educational Services

NASA's weekly news digest reported, "Don Petit used the ISS' amateur radio to talk to students...at Higashi Kaneko Jr High School in Japan and Selnica-ob-Dravi primary school of Slovenia. Rosalie participated in an ARISS international telecon, and was tasked as international secretary to draft a letter favorably responding to a request from Brazil to officially take part in the group's activities. The Brazilians hopes to translate all ARISS materials into Portuguese.

Regulatory Information

John is updating the index for the new The FCC Rule Book using new software with help from Larry Wolfgang. John assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in San Bernadino, CA (KD6DYO) and Brookhaven, NY (W2BJL). He assisted a ham at McMurdo Station, Antarctica with questions on their regulatory authority. Under the leadership of SM Parkes, Utah became the 17th state to codify PRB-1; a decade ago only a couple of states had PRB-1 codification! John updated the PRB-1 Web pages to reflect the addition.

Field & Education Support Team

Margie Bourgoin sent paperwork for 12 clubs to the EC for a final affiliation vote. She reports two brand new club affiliation applications and 2 new SSCs. She is working with Mary Lau on revisions to the Club President's Workbook on the Web.

Linda Mullally registered 13 Volunteer Instructors and 3 schoolteachers. She updated 50 club records and 3 reactivations, and mailed out 32 initial appointment supply packages. She completed the F&ES Monthly Revenue and Inventory Reports, conducted the Video Inventory, ordered videos and requisitioned F&ES stock to be printed in-house.

Gail Iannone sent 15 hamfest and 2 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director’s approval for the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 12 door prize orders, 4 label requests and sent 19 hamfest handout packages for upcoming events. She coordinated travel by Hq reps Bill Moore to the Alabama State Convention on May 3-4 in Birmingham, and Brennan Price to the Iowa State Convention on June 13-14 in Sioux City.

Jean Wolfgang responded to hams' questions for the 3 Technical awards and the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award, and sorted through nominations and support information. She was successful in sending 2 students the URLs about the history of ham radio after some initial problems with the return email address.

Mary Lau wrapped up the Goldfarb scholarship application preps for final review and selection by the ARRL Foundation’s Scholarship Committee. The Foundation will announce all scholarship winners during the first full week of May.

Field Organization/Public Service

Our condolendces to Leona who will be out of the office for a few days because of the passing of her father.

Leona Adams and Steve are corresponding with five new SMs to help them start their terms of office beginning April 1. Thanks to the mailroom, SM election ballots and candidate statements will go to League members in Maryland/DC, New Hampshire and San Joaquin Valley.

Steve Ewald reports the Nebraska State Convention went very well; he networked with Midwest Field Officials and gave a forum on preparing an emergency operations plan. Over the last month or so, almost all Sections have shown activity on their Section Web page, electronic newsletter or monthly Section News summary; exceptions are AL, LAX, NTX, NFL, OK and UT. In the last 2 weeks, 18 different SMs sent 27 e-mail newsletters via the ARRL-relay service.

As a back-up to Steve when he was on travel, Chuck collected and relayed Field reports from Georgia to our News Editor Rick Lindquist about the recent outbreak of tornadoes. Chuck worked with editors on an upcoming article about the Official Observer program. He is also investigating interference reports on 75, 20 and 10 meters.

EmComm Grants

Dan Miller prepared for sponsoring and leading a forum at the ARRL Maryland State Convention in Timonium. The forum talks up all of the points on the grant-sponsored emergency communications courses and other CCE programs. He reports 22 hams graduated from CNCS-sponsored classes, bringing the total to 1,014. For UTC-sponsored classes, Level II has 21 graduates and Level III has 11 grads. Registration for Level II last week filled in 10.5 hours! Level III took just 40 hours to fill. More areas are offering Hybrid classes -- recently they were held in VT, OH, IL, PA, AZ and FL.

Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project

Jerry Hill ordered station equipment totaling $17,460 for 10 new Big Project Schools. Yaesu 847s were chosen by 6 schools (one is interested in satellites), 3 chose IC-706s, and 1 chose an IC-718. We awarded a $50 check and a Now You're Talkin!g at the Connecticut Science Fair for 2 middle school projects. One project showed how resistance in an electrical circuit affects current and voltage. One project showed the conductivity of everyday materials. Jerry and Rosalie will review the results of ARRL's participation; Jerry will get information on winners for hometowner media releases. Thanks go to Joe Bottiglieri and Al Alvareztorres for judging projects.

C-CE

Howard Robins lined up an author and proofreader for the future Antennas 101 course. With help from Jon Bloom, Howard learned how to query the database to find what mentors have no students assigned, and how many students other mentors have. He and Tom Hogerty updated the Web CCE course listings, including the syllabus and student activities for the VHF/UHF course. Dave Hassler and Rick Lindquist wrote a Web item about the course and the status of the beta tests.

Jerry Ellis processed results from field exam sessions, and assembled and sent field exam kits. He solicited for, and assigned, mentors to the Level III, RFI and Satellite Communications classes that start next week. CNCS and UTC grads were mailed printed certificates, ID cards and refund checks.

73,

        Sincerely,

        Mark Wilson, K1RO

        Chief Operating Officer

MW: lk

Staff Absentee List

Name                    Date(s)         Reason

All Staff                       4/18            Holiday

Dave Patton             4/4             Vacation

Dan Miller              4/4, 4/17, 4/21 Vacation

Howard Robbins          4/11-4/21       Vacation