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IN-Newsletter
Vol. 30, No. 46
November 14, 2007 -- Covers the period November 4-10.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Programs & Services Committee
December 8 in Newington, CT
Administration &Finance Committee
January 17 in Houston, TX
Programs & Services Committee
January 17 in Houston, TX
Annual Board Meeting
January 18-19, 2008 in Houston, TX
CEO
Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
The ARRL HQ will be closed on Thursday the 22nd and Friday the 23rd in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Sending good wishes your way for a safe and happy holiday weekend!
Lisa and the Ethics & Elections Committee would like to thank Greg Kwasowski, Trevor Morris, Lisa Riendeau, Karen Isakson, Gail Iannone, Rose-Anne Lawrence, Khrystyne Keane, Amanda Grimaldi, Maty Weinberg, Mark Dzamba, Maryann Macdonald, Margie Bourgoin, Shelly Bloom, Carol Michaud and Kim Rochette for making ballot counting go so smoothly this year. Thanks also to the managers who also contributed to the effort by supplying the staff.
Media & Public Relations
Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP
The Seattle, OR band called “Amateur Radio Operator” may not have really had a ham in the bunch before now, but once they came to the attention of the PR department, they will very soon. Contact with John Kanzius has been matintained and information received for a QST article in February about the possible cancer treatment he invented. A rapidly spreading rumor of Riley’s being forced to retire after his decision NOT to do so was silenced. New information was secured from the NWS and a press release for Skywarn Recognition Day has been released. The four Board people newly elected (or at least new to the position in Brian’s case) have been emailed and individual press releases for hometown uses are available if desired. Subscription numbers to the PR email reflector continues to slowly grow even as old addresses are being cleared out. 451 PIOs, reporters and other media related people are now receiving information via the reflector. Richard Lubash has contacted Allen with the news that there is the possibility that the hour video “Katrina – The Untold Story” (the full length project highlighting the role of hams in Katrina) may yet be made – there is interest and a formal proposal at The Weather Channel for its creation. – Keep your fingers crossed! Meanwhile, Allen is continuing to gather clips, text and materials that can be interwoven into the planned 2008 campaign.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Joel Hallas gave a talk to the Candlewood ARA in Danbury, Connecticut on how to select an HF transceiver.
The January 2008 issue of QST, the annual vintage-themed issue, was released to the printer November 20.
Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 46, for Friday, November 16. It went out to 65,399 subscribers. Khrystyne also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for November 16.
Steve Sant Andrea prepared several feature articles for posting to the ARRLWeb.
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
A handful of direct marketing activities are underway to help support our sales and membership goals throughout the holiday buying season:
- Membership solicitation emailed to 40,000 lapsed members on Nov 16 (2 versions)
- Publication solicitation emailed to 52,000 members on Nov 16
- Membership direct mail solicitation being prepared for late-Nov mailing to 60,000 hams; mailing lists include new members, lapsed members, and recent upgrades
- Membership list pulled for ARRL Visa card mailing in early 2008 (approx. 85,000)
- Publications Catalog mailed to 17,000 previous customers and Diamond Club members
- Publications Catalog mailed to dealers
- Publication solicitation included as ride-along with December QST delivery to all international members (includes Canada)
- TravelPlus CD-ROM product mailing being finalized
The Warehouse crew fulfilled 768 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 160 free book membership premiums, and four QST mailing supplements for November and December issues. The team also completed ARRL auction shipments to the winning bidders.
Final results have been assembled and distributed from an online survey of Extra Class License Manual buyers. The information supports a handful of in-house planning objectives: educational/instructional, publication and marketing.
Sample products for the new Club Awards Program were shared with members of the Future Revenues Committee. The selection of products, pricing and online ordering setup are being finalized.
We are pursuing some major overstock re-sellers to support sales of leftover or unsold publications. This work is largely investigative.
Early this month, we received a handful of inquiries from Collins Radio collectors, seeking background about our decision to retire the current version of our QST View product line. These CD-ROM sets include black-and-white images from scans of QST back issues. Many of the scans are sub-quality by today's image standards; the software is outdated and is increasingly incompatible with some computer configurations; and there's little demand for the product. The sets will not be remanufactured as they stock-out. We have responded to members and customers--explaining that our consideration of alternatives is ongoing. We will continue to offer the more popular annually-produced ARRL Periodicals on CD-ROM. These single-year CDs are available for 1995 through present.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
Contest Branch
We’ve received 688 Sweepstakes phone logs since the contest ended just two days ago!
Ward Silver, NŲAX, met with Sean Kutzko, KX9X, to discuss long-range development of the Contest Branch and new ways of reporting contest information. These discussions are ongoing, but there will be new approaches to how the contest content in QST is displayed. They also discussed potential new operating events and how to breathe life into some floundering events.
IARU logs have been processed (thanks N1ND) and have been sent to the author. 10GHz logs and September VHF QSO Party log data will be processed soon.
QSL Branch
There is no delay in opening mail and a 1day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 112 pounds of cards were received from members.
W1AW
The 2007 Frequency Measuring Test went relatively well. There was a small computer glitch that occurred during the FMT. However, it didn’t affect the general measurements that participants should have made during the Test. So far, there are approximately 100 participants, given the numbers of entries on the FMT Data Entry page (http://www.b4h.net/fmt/fmtentry.php). The results of the Test will be available on Wednesday, November 28. Thanks to Bruce Horn, WA7BNM for creating the FMT data entry page and to Ward Silver, NŲAX for his input in the creating of the page. Thanks also to Mike Fahmie, WA6ZTY for his providing a “West Coast” FMT. His FMT ran ½ hour before W1AW’s.
Thanks to Dwayne Allen, WY7FD, Katie Breen, W1KRB, Mary Hobart, K1MMH, Sean Kutzko, KX9X and Ward Silver, NŲAX for operating W1AW in the November ARRL SSB Sweepstakes. They worked a “Clean Sweep” (80 sections) with 1,189 contacts on 160 to 15 meters, for an initial claimed score of 190,080.
Joe processed regular QSL card requests. He prepared the equipment for the 2007 Frequency Measuring Test. Joe built a soundcard interface for the Kenwood TS-480SAT HF transceiver that is part of the “Digital” station. He also assembled a CI-V PC interface for use with the new Icom IC-2820H 2m/70cm mobile transceiver. This particular radio will be used primarily for D-Star communications on these two bands. He also readied the station for the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes contest. Joe also worked the early afternoon/night shifts on Monday and Tuesday for the vacationing Scott Gee.
Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month November. He also edited 163 cards (from DXCC applications) for DXCC.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Radio amateurs from Rhode Island and Arizona successfully completed their exam to become Official Observers. After continuing to receive reports of an Alaskan call sign that is being bootlegged, Chuck Skolaut sent a request to all OOs to collect information. The IARU Region 1 monthly Intruder Report was received, and we note that a jammer thought to be originating from China is back on 18160 MHz. With hunting season underway, reports were received that unlicensed hunters in West Virginia are using 2 meters.
The Field Organization Team hosted a Section Manager teleconference with the SMs from the Rocky Mountain and West Gulf Divisions. Steve Ewald, Chuck Skolaut and Katie Breen represented HQ on the call. Work continued on the Public Service column for January QST. Leona Adams added two dozen new field appointees to our main Field Organization data base. Three new Official Observers have been recommended by their respective section leaders and will receive the necessary training material and open-book exam.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
All Staff 11/22-11/23 Holiday
Leona Adams 11/30
Joe Carcia 11/21pm Vacation
Steve Ewald 11/21-11/30 Vacation
Scott Gee 11/29-11/30 Vacation
`` 12/10-12/12 Vacation
`` 12/26 Vacation
Dan Henderson 12/20-1/4 Vacation
Gail Iannone 12/19-1/4 Vacation
Debra Johnson 12/7-12/10 Vacation
Joel Kleinman 12/4-12/7 Vacation
Lisa Kustosik 11/30-12/4 Vacation
Sean Kutzko 11/26-11/27 Vacation
Bill Moore 11/26-11/30 Vacation
Allen Pitts 12/16-12/22 FEMA PR Training, Emmitsburg, MD
Dave Sumner 11/30-12/1 SE MI DX Assoc./Motor City RC, Detroit MI
`` 12/3-12/6 Vacation
`` 12/12 Vacation