<<080107.doc>>
IN-Newsletter
Vol. 30, No. 31
August 1, 2007 -- Covers the period July 22-28.
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
During the week, I had the opportunity to sit with Bill Cross and Riley Hollingsworth of the FCC to give them an update on the Pave Paws radar situation. The are aware that during the week of July 30th Ed Hare and I will be working on individual mitigation letters to repeater owners and that we expect the DoD to be in contact with them after August 30 regarding the first of any required repeater shutdowns that may be necessary. Also during the meeting Hollingsworth shared that he had received his first complaint regarding interference between an analog repeater and a D-Star repeater (involving Georgia and Alabama). During the next couple of weeks I will be working with Chris Imlay and Paul Rinaldo to draft a statement on D-Star, that when it is being operated as a repeater, meets the criteria for being a repeater.
The Field Day Online Soapbox continues to grow, with many interesting photos and stories being shared by 183 groups. As of Friday July 27, a total of 1782 FD entries had been submitted via the web applet. We will begin working on non-web applet electronic logs in the next week.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Khrystyne Keane and Joel Kleinman wrote and prepared the ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 30, for Friday, July 27. It was distributed to 65,793 members. Thanks to Allen Pitts, who voiced and produced the July 27 edition of ARRL Audio News.
Technical material for the October issue of QST has been turned in for composition and layout.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
Contest Branch
Here is a breakdown of the Field Day submissions received to date:
Type of Submission # of Submissions
Web Applet 1,771
Robot 940
Paper Submissions to be Entered 200
Paper Submissions Entered 229
Total 3,140
The 2006 ARRL Field Day totaled 2,168 entries. While there are duplicate submissions contained in the “Robot” category, it looks like a sure bet that this year’s Field Day will surpass 2006.
QSL Branch
There is no delay in opening mail and a 3 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 101 pounds of cards were received from members.
W1AW
Thanks to Kathy Allison, KA1RWY for her assistance in processing multiple LoTW certificates for the various 2007 W1AW/x operations and for resolving some issues with expired duplicate certificates for older W1AW/x operations.
Joe processed eight Qualifying Run certificates and two endorsements. Two of the certificates were for the 7/10/2007 Runs performed at a VE Session in Michigan. He also processed regular W1AW QSL card requests and uploaded logs to LoTW for contacts made the previous week.
Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of the month of August. He also assisted the DXCC department with checking database-inputted cards against DXCC applications.
Field Organization/Public Service Team
Leona reports that she has been updating our database with new appointments, cancellations and changes. She also generated the expired membership list and took care of updating that list as well as silent keys, for which their appointments have been cancelled until membership is renewed. Leona will also be sending a new “Field Organization Appointment Listing” to SM’s next week via email. She also entered a dozen new appointments and sent out a dozen supply packages to appointees as well. A Section Manager nomination petition was received from James Larsen, AL7FS of Alaska for the term beginning January 1, 2008. Ballots are continuing to arrive here at ARRL HQ from San Francisco. Ballots are to be returned by Friday, August 17th here at ARRL HQ and counted on Tuesday, August 21st.
Chuck reports that two new Official Observers were added to the roster this week. Documentation was forwarded to the FCC regarding two stations that continue to operate outside of their license class privileges. A monthly Intruder Watch report was received from the IARU Region 3 coordinator. Word was received from Arizona concerning interference to a local two meter repeater thought to be coming from a nearby military base, investigation continues. Continuous carriers reported on 40 and 75 meters are being checked out by our monitors. Chuck filled in as standby operator at W1AW for the code qualifying run this week.
Education Services
Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ
In recent weeks Rose-Anne and I have been working on revisions to Scouts, JOTA and Instructors areas of the website. Rose-Anne has also been busy registering new instructors. Script development for the Technician video course is progressing. I worked with Katie and Allen to develop survey questions for a new on-line survey to which we hope to drive new licensees receiving the New Ham mailing. Jennie registered students and completed mentor assignments for 100 students in the three levels of emergency communications courses, 17 students in technical enrichment courses and 42 students in the Technician licensing course for sessions starting in August.
Howard Robins has agreed to take on the responsibility of working with involved parties to resolve and track content questions that arise with on-line courses and their related print publications. After questions are resolved corrections need to be made to the on-line course, mentors notified, corrections or updates posted on the publications notes page on our website, and changes documented for the next printing of related manuals.
Education & Technology Program
The bids for the ETP grant equipment purchases for the June grant awards have been evaluated. The purchase will be executed at the conclusion of the Teachers Institutes in mid-August. Preparations for the two Institutes in Newington are complete. They will run sequentially beginning July 30. Board design for the next activity board that will tie the four components of the TI curriculum together is complete. Following the TIs, the requisite parts will be procured to build a functional prototype to prove the design before the boards are mass produced for next year’s TIs.
ARISS
On July 12 and 13, Rosalie attended ARISS meetings at Johnson Space Center which included Susan White, Director of Johnson Space Center (JSC) Education Office, and Cindy McArthur, head of Education Flight Projects, and her boss, Ed Pritchard. The agenda covered many topics such as NASA funding, a new NASA-sponsored Web site, ARISS lesson plans, and NASA educational goals. One outcome is that JSC is considering having some of its staff trained to become hams so that they can share more information about ARISS in their teacher presentations given around the US. In a separate meeting between the JSC Education Office and the ARISS SuitSat-2 team, Rosalie shared ideas on educational and public relations opportunities for the SuitSat project.
Rosalie reports that future equipment for ARISS must be small and must require little crew time to operate because there is little space in the Russian segment of the ISS. The problem of crowded space shouldn’t apply to the European’s Columbus module and its future ham radios, but ARISS hopes to get the European radios on the ISS manifest early, because the modules fill up with each delivery from space shuttles and the Soyuz.
Recently William Robertson, AI4QT, of Marshall Space Flight Center gave a presentation and ham radio demo at the Discovery Place Science Center in Charlotte, NC, to 40 fifth through twelfth graders. Their 5 teachers learned how ham radio can be used in science, technology, math and geography lessons.
A recent QSO involved the Arnold Palmer Hospital (Orlando). This hospital provides care for kids with long-term illnesses.
Web/Software Development
Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z
We are now into the second week after launching the new online membership screens. The application is handling between 70 - 80 transactions per day, with a range of different member/subscriber options, from basic membership through to Diamond Club and even Life Members now paying online.
There have been some minor glitches with processing transactions from other countries, or in cases where the credit card address was different from the member's mailing address. But at this point we believe the major functionality is solid and Micah is continuing to enhance the program. In between bug fixes Micah worked on uploading various new website articles.
Hugh handled a number of different support issues this week related to the website, including problems getting mail through the ARRL.NET system. He also coordinated the quarterly network security scan with the outside vendor, and made some page fixes for the Lab and VEC.
Jon has returned from his vacation and after looking into the problem with DXCC totals not being correct coming out of Logbook, we've restored access to the online DXCC listings.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
All Staff 9/3 Holiday
Jon Bloom 9/26-10/5 Vacation
Katie Breen 7/30-8/3 Vacation
Hugh Brower 9/7-9/14 Vacation
Steve Capodicasa 9/4-9/10 Vacation
Joe Carcia 8/3-8/10 Vacation
`` 8/17 Vacation
`` 8/24 Vacation
Jackie Cornell 7/30-8/3 Vacation
Steve Ford 7/30-8/3 Vacation
Norm Fusaro 8/3-8/6 Vacation
`` 8/20-8/27 Japan Ham Fair, Tokyo, Japan
Scott Gee 8/20 Vacation
`` 9/4 Vacation
`` 9/21 Vacation
Joel Hallas 8/3-8/4 Texas State Convention, Austin, TX
Dan Henderson 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation
`` 9/21-10/1 Wash. State Conv., Spokane, WA/PC NW VHF Conf., OR
Mary Hobart 8/3 Vacation
`` 8/10 Vacation
`` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 8/20 Vacation
`` 8/24 Vacation
`` 8/31 Vacation
`` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS
`` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL
`` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN
Amy Hurtado 8/13-8/15 Vacation
Gail Iannone 8/17-8/31 Vacation
Karen Isakson 8/6-8/13 Vacation
Khrystyne Keane 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
Joel Kleinman 8/2 Vacation
`` 9/6 Vacation
`` 9/11-9/15 Vacation
Greg Kwasowski 8/6-8/13 Vacation
Monique Levesque 8/6-8/10 Vacation
`` 8/30-9/4 Vacation
Frank Perez 8/2-8/3 Vacation
AnnMarie Pinto 8/13-8/24 Vacation
John Proctor 9/27-10/9 Vacation
Eileen Sapko 8/1 Vacation
Barry Shelley 8/10-8/24 Vacation
Maria Somma 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
Dave Sumner 8/1-8/6 Vacation
`` 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL
`` 9/8-9/15 IARU Reg. 2 Conference, Brasilia
Sharon Taratula 8/1 Vacation
Perry Williams 7/19-9/4 Vacation
Larry Wolfgang 8/13-8/21 Vacation