In-Newsletter Vol. 25, No. 5 February 4, 2002 Development Department The 2002 Defense of Frequencies Fund has reached $420,902 from more than 9,700 contributions. We have received three unrestricted contributions from the Microsoft 2002 Giving Campaign. Each year Microsoft designates non-profit organizations to which employees may contribute and whose gifts will be matched by Microsoft. For 2002 ARRL has been designated one of the recipients. The Development Associate position is posted and the office is accepting resumes. If any staff have questions over and above the position description, please contact Mary in the Development Office or Bob Boucher. A presentation of Development 101 will be made for the Circulation Department and F & ES Department on Wednesday Feb 6 to share some fundamentals and principles of fund raising. The Development Office is preparing a proposal for UTC to fund the expansion of our ARES training program in CT and, hopefully, nationwide. Development has been invited to make a presentation of our plans at UTC in March. Additional proposals will be submitted to seek government funding under the Volunteers in Homeland Security initiative. The Fundraising Forum in Boston yielded some good information, especially on database techniques to identify current and lapsed members who are currently giving to other non-profit organizations. If successful, this information will be a good test for future donor mailings. Media Relations As soon as we learned that President Bush had addressed an ARES net in Florida during a recent stop in Daytona Beach, Jennifer began preparing a press release for national distribution. The angle for editors in other parts of the country would focus on their local emergency groups and how they are prepared to handle local disasters or assist with homeland security. The release went out via PR Newswire late Thursday afternoon. Jennifer assisted a writer in Pennsylvania who is preparing a story on short wave listening for the Philadelphia Inquirer. While the article will focus on short wave listening, he was interested in adding some information about ham radio and pointing readers to ARRL's publication selection. "Hometowner" news releases were prepared and distributed for President Haynie and Vice President Heyn. The Professional Media Award Plaque is being engraved and Jennifer is working with Director Fallon and the winner's nominator on setting up an appropriate time for an in-person presentation. Publications The March/April issue of QEX was released to the printer February 4. Also available for sale are new printings of The Radio Amateur's Satellite Handbook and APRS Tracks, Maps and Mobiles. Field & Educational Services Brennan Price corresponded with more coordination bodies as the deadline for the Repeater Directory approaches. Coordinator comments about the next-generation National Repeater Database designed by Jon Bloom, have been quite positive. Brennan is updating a list of releases received from coordinators and posting it to their Reflector, reminding them that payment, if desired, is contingent upon returning a release by April 1. He reviewed submitted data, plus entered data submitted in non-electronic or non-conforming formats, and alerted coordinators to check their proofs. Leona Adams sent first signer letters to those SMs who sent in nomination petitions for the term beginning July 1, 2002. Thanks goes to the Mailroom for helping Leona sort ballots for the upcoming SM ballot count. She saw a large number of Field appointments made this week, with a higher number of PIOs and ECs than normal, and did data entry and sent supplies for these. The Expedition 4 crew did a second ARISS school QSO, this one with Butte (MT) High School. The Expedition 1 crew did 7 school QSOs and a few random ones. Expedition 2 did 14 plus Field Day and random Qs. Expedition 3 did 17 plus JOTA and random Qs. AMSAT sent Lou McFadin, W5DID, to Johnson Space Center to monitor the Expedition 5 crew training. The crew takes over the ISS in early summer; initial training was on how to install antennas, radio operation, general guidelines. Lou reports the crew, particularly Valeri Korzun, who actively used the Mir radios, is very enthusiastic about ham radio. US Marine Corps Maj.Gen. Charles Bolden was nominated as deputy to the new NASA Administrator. Bolden, an astronaut, was a crew member on SAREX missions. Rosalie updated our listing in the Guide to Free Materials - Educators Progress Service. F&ES provided ham recruitment materials to the New York City Science and Engineering Fair and also the City College Family Science Day. Rosalie prepared an agenda for, and moderated, the international ARISS school teleconference meeting, and participated in a NASA teleconference. Gail Iannone sent the Marriott Hotel room reservation forms to ARRL Officers, Directors, Vice Directors, HQ Staff and others, for the 2002 Dayton Hamvention. She sent 15 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention letter to sponsoring committees. She processed 9 door prize orders, 7 label requests, and sent 3 packages of handouts for upcoming events. Mary Lau and Steve Ewald worked on formatting for the new Red Cross SOU. The document is now with Chris Imlay's office for final formatting. John Hennessee drafted a questionnaire that will be used for follow-up with amateurs he's heard from who are faced with covenants. He assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Danville, VA; Southbury, CT; Reynoldsburg, OH and Bayfield County, WI. Margie Bourgoin reports increased interest in ARRL affiliation for clubs in the past two weeks. She submitted an article to our Interactive Teacher Newsletter on the Web, seeking out Homeschoolers who use Amateur Radio in conjunction with their curriculum. She and Jean worked on a database for JOTA participant demographics. Thanks go to Sue and Tom for the new graphic on the Club Web page at: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/ reminding clubs to update their data. Steve Ewald prepared his talk for presentation at the Amateur Radio Conference at the National Hurricane Center. He'll assist at the Tropical Hamboree booth and deliver the 2001 ARRL International Humanitarian Award to be presented at the ARRL Forum. Steve assisted an editor of the Dutch radio magazine "Electron," who will write about why an emergency ham network is needed in the Netherlands. Steve and Rosalie compiled a number of items related to Homeland Security for various ARRL people working on this issue. Jean Wolfgang learned that the 2001 edition of Ham Radio...Planning for the Future was favorably reviewed by VK1CPK. The review was published in the Australian magazine, Amateur Radio. Jean has been working on articles for the next edition of this book. She has also received a total of 11 nominees for ARRL Instructor of the Year awards and 4 nominees for ARRL's annual Technical Awards. Ted, WA1NXC, will guest-operate W1AW during the February School Club Roundup. Jerry Hill reports that the ARRL Executive Committee approved six Pilot Schools for this year, and they are: JE Richards MS, Lawrenceville GA; Halifax Co HS, Halifax VA; Iowa St School, Fallbrook CA; Richwood HS, Monroe LA; University HS, Spokane WA; and C-4 Columbus Area Career Connection, Columbus IN. The Executive Committee also approved six Progress Grants: St. Piux X HS, Albuquerque; Wade Hampton HS, Hampton SC; Mt. Garfield MS, Clifton CO; Bluford Elem School, Greensboro NC; Eagle Ridge MS, Rio Rancho NM; and Iowa St School, Fallbrook CA. Linda Mullally received a compliment on our instructor information as follows: "I opened your packet of information. I was genuinely impressed with the information and back-up support. It was here the next morning, too! Many thanks and I will be in touch. 73. Carter Mac Donald, WA1TVS" She also received another compliment from a member for information sent on the ARRL Video Library Series with his tape order: "Linda, thank you for sending the tape, and the information by e-mail. I will use the information at the next meeting of our club. I was especially interested in the programs involving recruitment into Amateur Radio. It seems that the average age of members in general has been rising and as a result the numbers diminishing. The programs may help us to reverse that trend. 73, Bill Connelly, W3MJ" Steven Blair has prepared transparency overlays for the C-CE Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course exams being sent to Certified Examiners (CE). He also updated records for activities of each CE and Certified Instructor. Dan Miller worked with CTDLC, the Web host of our on-line courses, to iron out final fixes to the Antenna Modeling Course that will soon be announced. Dan developed a plan to learn if there is adequate interest in a Morse code proficiency C-CE course. He queried CTDLC about capability for handling larger enrollment numbers. Announcements were made this week for registration opening next Monday for another Level 1 on-line emergency communications course. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 200 WAS Certificates 17 WAC QSL Cards Checked 90 A-1 Operator Nominations 4 Long Term Member Inquiries 2 VUCC Initial Awards 15 VUCC Endorsements 22 For the coming week-(Foreign) WAC awards, Extra Class certificates, Code Proficiency awards, WAS QSL card checking, and VUCC awards. DXCC Branch Week Ending February 3, 2002 Beginning Cards 56,578 Cards Received 22,797 Cards Processed 15,645 Ending Cards 63.730 Applications Pending 450 Backlog Time 4 weeks Year-to-date Cards Received 41,632 Cards Returned 719 Outgoing Mail - We are mailing the remaining applications received in December 2001. Card Processing: we are entering cards received on January 28, 2002. Millennium applications are still coming in slowly and we have currently issued 2,975. We processed 125 of the new QRP DXCC Awards in January. There are currently 146 card checkers in the program: 58 Section Manager nominations, 51 DX Club nominations, 32 Foreign Society nominations & 5 Director Nominations. W1AW Thanks to Dave Mello, W1DGM, for his participation in the Ten-Ten International Winter Phone QSO Party. He made 28 contacts, with 24 of the stations holding 10-10 numbers, for a claimed score of 52. [W1AW holds 10-10# 57575. This is a Commemorative 10-10 number, given to the station in honor of the ARRL's 75th Anniversary celebrated in 1989]. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice runs for the month of February. He handled evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. Joe updated the web code practice files. He also found (and is in the process of) correcting the problem with the Alpha 87A amplifier. W1AW telephone sales year to date (2002): $1,373. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Name Date(s) Reason Dave Sumner 2/8-2-10 Hamcation, FL Dan Miller 2/9-2/10 VA State Convention John Bee 2/1-2/11 Miami and Orlando conventions, and advertiser visits