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IN-Newsletter

Vol. 41, No. 43

December 9, 2016

Covers the period November 26 – December 2, 2016

 

 

Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events

 

West Central Florida Section Convention

December 09 – 10, 2016 @ Tampa, FL

 

n1BCG Special Event

December 11, 2016 @ Greenwich, CT

 

Logbook Study Committee

January 18, 2017 @ Newington, CT

 

Administration & Finance Committee Meeting

January 19, 2017 @ Newington, CT

 

New Director and Vice Director Orientation

January 19, 2017 @ Newington, CT

 

Annual Board Meeting

January 20 – 21, 2017 @ Windsor, CT

 

 

Chief Executive Office

Reported by Tom Gallagher, NY2RF

 

Tom Gallagher, along with Andy Shefrin, traveled to the Talcott Mountain Science Center to meet with the center’s Director, Jonathan Craig. They reviewed how the center is using the computers ARRL donated to them earlier this year, and also discussed in detail the ham radio classes being taught at the center, and their work in encouraging amateur radio involvement. We look forward to ongoing interaction with them, and also view this as a means to extending ARRL’s visibility in the local community.

 

Planning and preparation continues for the Annual Board Meeting, January 2017.

 

 


Education

Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ

 

Teacher Registration

Instructor Registration

Graduation Kit Requests

License Class Listings

5

18

0

16

 

Instructor Recognition Program

Debra worked with IT to resolve some bugs in the instructor feedback system in the live environment that were not identifiable in the beta test environment.

 

ETP

Debra and instructors Tommy Gober, Larry Kendall and Bill Richardson reviewed the five grant applications received for the 2016-2017 school year and developed recommendations sent to the Board’s Executive Committee to fund four of the applications.

 

ARISS Contacts

A telebridge contact with students at Michel LOTTE Junior High School in Belle Isle, France was successful Mon 2016-11-28This was the first contact for French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, KF5FYG.

 

 

Media & Public Relations

Reported by Sean Kutzko, KX9X

 

On Wednesday, November 30, to celebrate Mark Twain’s 181st birthday, Sean activated a special event station from the Mark Twain House and Museum, while also live on Facebook. The event was very well received. He made 357 contacts from the Mark Twain House that day, and 600 during the week of the event. QSL cards have been pouring in all week. Sean was accompanied by a videographer during throughout the day, and a brief video of the event will be available on-line soon. The staff of the Mark Twain House and Museum have already indicated they are eager to work with ARRL on future events.

 

ARRL’s Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative Facebook group has reached 330 members (an increase of 50%) and “1,000 people talking about” stats since October 2016. Scott Westerman, W9WSW has been stirring the pot vigorously.

 

 

Production/Editorial

Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY

 

Alli has been working with PageSuite to demo and launch digital QST next week with ARRL member log-in credentials, which will be authenticated by a single sign-on created by Dennis Budd. New application builds with log-in credentials will follow from PageSuite pending Apple’s approval of the iOS app. Digital archives 2012-present, digital QST FAQs, and the sample QST issue, have all been updated on the website to reflect the new digital provider and will be published when the January 2017 PageSuite issue goes live.

 

Using feedback from Bob Inderbitzen, Alli is finalizing the PageSuite instructional manual; it will be linked to the QST webpage and the digital QST announcement e-mail to assist members with the transition. A news story announcing this platform change has been published in this Thursday’s ARRL newsletter by Rick Lundquist.

 

 


Radiosport

Reported by Norm Fusaro, W3IZ

 

DXCC

Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time

2-3 Weeks

Logbook Processing Time

1-2 Days

 

 

Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R

 

November publication and product sales were $318,067, exceeding the sales forecast of $262,957. Royalties earned on sales of our Kindle e-books were $6,219 ($81,209 year-to-date). Year to date sales are $2,893,937, $60,319 ahead of forecast. Direct sales were $183,663; dealer sales were $134,404.

 

Spurred-on by a handful of promotions conducted by mail and email -- we enjoyed high levels of ordering activity throughout the Thanksgiving holiday. Additionally, we extended our Cyber Monday campaign into Tuesday, responding to feedback from members who were unable to place online orders on Monday due to high website traffic. All of these orders made for a busy week at the warehouse, where Supervisor Steve Capodicasa reported 2,163 parcels shipped by the end of the week (2,093 in 2015).

 

Jackie Ferreira implemented a holiday-themed e-store campaign beginning December 1, featuring a variety of products and specials. The campaign requires participants to subscribe to a daily email. Already, 3,700 people have subscribed.

 

Yvette Vinci reports that her team of Member Services Representatives handled over 1,000 phone calls during the week following the Thanksgiving holiday – a busy week! Yvette continues to participate with an interdepartmental team to define the criteria for programming a new membership system. She has been preparing ‘use cases’ for a variety of membership administration tasks.

 

Bob Inderbitzen is traveling to Dayton on December 8 to meet with Hamvention Chairman Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, and other key members of the Hamvention Committee. He is planning ARRL’s participation at 2017 Hamvention. Bob will also receive a personal tour of the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio – the new home for Hamvention.

 

Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci:

Week Ending

Calls Answered

Calls Per Hour

Total Talking Duration

Average Speed of Answer

12/2/2016

1,129

25.0

43:55:31

16 seconds

11/23/2016 (3 days)

542

20.0

19:05:24

12 seconds

11/18/2016

823

18.2

27:08:25

12 seconds

11/11/2016

742

16.4

24:11:12

8 seconds

11/4/2016

812

18.0

28:23:40

11 seconds

 


Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa:

 

Week Ending

Packages fulfilled

Member Premiums

12/2/2016

2,163

535

11/23/2016 (3 days)

878

288

11/18/2016

773

619

11/11/2016

856

481

11/4/2016

1,326

421

 

 

W1AW

Reported by Joe Carcia, NJ1Q

 

Thanks to Ken Bailey, Joe Carcia, Sean Kutzko, Chuck Skolaut, and Dan Wall for operating W1AW in Skywarn Recognition Day on Saturday, December 3. A number of contacts were made on HF and EchoLink, both with other WX stations as well as regular hams.

 

Joe created the texts for the December W1AW Qualifying Runs. He readied the station for Skywarn Recognition Day. He also got the GPS functional with the WSPR project.

 

Scott worked on slow and fast code practice texts for the upcoming week.  He also processed VUCC certificates and endorsements. 

 

 

Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations

Bob Allison                  12/26 – 12/30                PTO

            “                     

Joe Carcia                     12/09                            PTO

Jackie Ferreira              12/27 – 12/30                PTO

Steve Ford                    12/22 – 01/02                PTO

Norm Fusaro                 12/22 – 12/27                PTO

Tom Gallagher              12/09                            Fairlawn ARC 60th Anniversary Celebration, Fairlawn, NJ

            “                      12/14 – 01/03                PTO

Scott Gee                      12/23 – 12/27                PTO

            “                      02/20 – 02/24                PTO

Perry Green                                                      Medical Leave

Dan Henderson             12/05 – 01/09                Medical Leave

Gail Iannone                 10/07 – 01/09                Sick Leave

Bob Inderbitzen            12/28 – 12/30                PTO

Debra Johnson              12/19                            PTO

            “                      12/23                            PTO

Sean Kutzko                 12/22 – 12/30                PTO

Lisa Kustosik                12/15 – 12/16                PTO

            “                      12/22 – 12/23                PTO

Monique Leveque         12/21 – 01/02                PTO

Carla Pereira                 12/23                            PTO

Diane Petrilli                12/16                            PTO

 

 

Sincerely Compiled by,

Carla Pereira, Assistant to CEO