Agree! Dan Henderson, Ed James KA8JMW (New Mexico SM), and I used the generator at my Division's Convention last weekend in Utah and created about a half a ream's worth of letters. Ed and I will do the same at the New Mexico State Convention this weekend. We will also have a 20x30" poster made at Costco using the round Parity Act logo that staff created to draw attention to the booth and letter signing opportunity. This tool is incredibly helpful. One other tip...if a member lives in a zip code that is split by two Congressional districts, the generator will automatically print a letter addressed to both Representatives. Keep an eye out for that and, if it happens, be sure to ask the signer which representative is his or hers. Have him or her sign the correct letter, and trash the other. If the signer has any doubts as to who their representative is, just have him or her sign both and put them in a separate pile (maybe with a note of their zip code's +4, if the know it) to be later reconciled against http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ or other online tools. 73, Brian N5ZGT
On Aug 6, 2015, at 12:18, N2COP <n2cop@ec.rr.com> wrote:
Dear Fellow Directors and Vice Directors:
I just wanted to drop a note on the ODV reflector to let you all know how easy the new HR1301/S1685 letter generating software is to use. This past weekend I staffed the ARRL table at two hamfests: one small (Roanoke, VA – about 300 attendees) and one medium sized (Berryville, VA – about 1,400 attendees). From those hamfests I was able to generate 133 letters. About 15% of my production came from the P.A. announcer at both hamfests encouraging members to go to the ARRL table where you can send a letter to your U.S. Representative and Senators for free. I’ve been generating these letters since March, and the biggest change with the new version is the number of U.S. Senate letters now being produced. Where you might get only a handful of letters for a congressional district per section or state, you now get one for each senator in the state. Out of the 133 I generated, 78 are for the two Virginia senators, giving our efforts on Capitol Hill more clout.
Two tips: 1) you must have a laptop with Access, Microsoft’s database program, for the software to work. Access is available in most versions of Microsoft Office 2007, 2010 and is inside Office 2013. 2) the first set of letters to appear will be to the two U.S. senators in support of S1685. Once you print those, hit the “X” in the upper right corner, and next will appear the letter to the appropriate U.S. Representative for HR1301, giving you a total of three letters per ARRL member. Be sure to have lots of paper and a spare black ink cartridge for the printer you bring. Good luck – the process is easy, our legislative efforts are spreading good will among members, and above all, the campaign is effective.
73 de Bill, N2COP
Bill Morine - N2COP Vice Director – Roanoke Division Serving ARRL members in the Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina sections ARRL – The National Association for Amateur Radio™
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