IN-Newsletter Vol. 37, No. 4 January 29, 2014 -- Covers the period January 19-25. Upcoming Meetings and Events Centennial Convention Committee Meeting February 11 @ 3:30pm in Newington, CT Media & Public Relations Reported by Sean Kutzko, KX9X The ARRL Centennial video was uploaded to YouTube and has received overwhelming positive feedback from the membership. A packet was recently sent to all SM's which included three new PowerPoint presentations to help promote the ARRL Centennial Convention and related activities to the membership. On a side note, ARRL Contest Branch Manager Mike DeChristopher, N1TA, resigned on January 23. Sean, along with other ARRL staffers, formed a committee and delegated Contest Branch tasks among the group to begin work on the backlog of tasks. As Sean was the Contest Manager immediately before DeChristopher, he has taken on Contest awards fulfillment and customer service for the Branch. A significant amount of Sean's time in the immediate future will be spent on helping the Contest Branch get caught up, which will also help from a PR perspective. Production/Editorial Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY QST Assistant Editor Steve Sant Andrea, AG1YK, has received several positive, grateful e-mails from readers of his February 2014 QST article, "Solar Banners - A Propagation Resource." Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Bob Allison completed testing a legal limit, HF automatic antenna tuner. A data table was created and passed along to the Product Review Editor and the reviewer. Bob resumed testing of an economy class HF transceiver after obtaining the proper alignment tools needed to make an internal adjustment to the output power level. The adjustment was a success and the RF power output is now what it should be on all bands. An SDR HF transceiver had also measured low on power. Bob obtained a second SDR HF transceiver of the same model. The second unit makes its specified RF power output. Further tests will be performed on this transceiver before it will be passed along to the reviewer. RFI Mike Gruber completed a report on lab testing of the conducted emissions from a grow light. The device measured 53 dB above the legal limits, meaning that this single device made as much noise as 200,000 legal devices. ARRL Antenna Book Some of our staff members noticed open wire transmission line hanging from the ceiling in the main hallway last week. Bob Allison was measuring the loss of open wire transmission line for Dean Straw, who needed the data for his TLW software, which is part of the ARRL's Antenna Book. Zack Lau custom built two 1:1 BALUNs for this measurement and was on hand to supervise the process. Electronic Publications A number of students are having difficulty with the Extra Class Exam-review software failing after several weeks of use. Zack Lau is looking into the problem. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Diane Petrilli has conducted many emails promoting membership this month, targeting lapsed members and prospects. A New Year's themed emailing returned over 50 membership applications. Diane and Yvette Vinci worked with IT staff to help implement changes to reduce the volume and expense of QST supplements mailed to members. Supplements are those copies of QST that are mailed to members outside of the monthly, bulk shipment managed by the printer. Specifically, we have reduced the volume of "catch-up" issues mailed to late-renewing members-since all members, upon joining or renewing, have instant access to the digital edition of QST. Members renewing on-time will see no change to QST delivery. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity (reported by Steve Capodicasa): Week of Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 1/20/2014 1,068 773 1/13/2014 1,410 317 1/6/2014 1,028 1,144 12/30/2013 (2 days due to inventory) 388 Bob worked with Vibroplex to design a custom ARRL Centennial Key, limited edition in 2014. The Iambic paddle includes a longer chrome-plated base with a metal riveted ARRL 100 YEARS tag and your call sign etched into the base with a sequentially issued serial number. Available direct from ARRL, only. Orders received through March 31 will be shipped by May 31. http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Centennial-Key Now Shipping: Amateur Radio Transceiver Performance Testing<http://www.arrl.org/shop/Amateur-Radio-Transceiver-Performance-Testing/>, ARRL Centennial Merchandise<http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Centennial-Merchandise/>, and ARRL at 100: A Century of Ham Radio DVD<http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-at-100-A-Century-of-Ham-Radio/>. Bob Inderbitzen continues to navigate a handful of ARRL Centennial projects, working with many staff throughout the building: * On Monday, January 20, we launched convention registration: http://arrl2014.org * Bob and Debra Johnson had a teleconference with Tommy Gober, N5DUX, who has agreed to help organize some youth programming for the convention. * Exhibit materials, supplies and publications have shipped to the first of the regional Centennial events, Orlando HamCation. The event is Feb 7-9. Bob, Yvette, and Mary Hobart will help staff the booth. * Bob has been leading presentations to staff, covering information about the convention and other centennial year activities. These meetings have included a viewing of the new "ARRL at 100" centennial video. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck, Logbook Processing Time 5 Weeks W1AW In less than one month, W100AW was able to apply for both Basic and Phone WAS awards. The CW and Triple Play awards are close at hand. Joe processed three Qualifying Run certificates. He updated the web code practice files and continued with the rebuild of the web CW practice archive files (for 2013). He updated the various W1AW schedule web pages and created the February W1AW Qualifying Run texts. He also continued with updating Logbook of the World with the various W1AW/xx Centennial operations as well as sorting/storing the QSL card requests being received for each operation. Field Organization/Public Service Team Everett Curry, W6ABM, of Hillsboro, Oregon, was appointed to the position of Oregon Section Manager by Membership and Volunteer Programs Manager Dave Patton, NN1N. Dave consulted with Northwestern Division Director Jim Pace, K7CEX, in making this appointment after Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ, became the Vice Director of the Northwestern Division. Everett will serve until the current term expires on June 30, 2014. Nominations are now being solicited for the next term of office for the Oregon Section Manager's position that starts on July 1. Nominations are due at Headquarters by March 7. Leona Adams contacted all Section Managers individually with their 2014 Section budget amounts as provided by the ARRL Controller. She has also been updating the Field Organization data base and providing the Field Organization members with requested information and supplies. Steve Ewald has been sharing information with Section Managers about the ARRL National Centennial Convention and related activities surrounding the centennial year celebration. Chuck Skolaut received a report that the Intruder Watch that Coast Guard Station, NMN in Virginia, was being heard on the 20 meter band. This station was alerted to the situation and promptly replied that the problem was resolved. A report of five letter groups being heard on 7.001 MHz was received. Also, transmissions from W1AW on 20 and 40 meters were being interfered with and regional Official Observers were alerted to check it out. An Amateur Radio operator in Nevada continues to use repeaters there after being banned and receiving an FCC letter. Questions this past week dealt with operation overseas, antenna restrictions, a station operating on the air after license expiration, and talking on the air to an unlicensed operator. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 2/17 Holiday Bob Allison 1/31-2/2 South Carolina State Convention, N. Charleston, SC `` 2/3 PTO `` 2/14 PTO `` 3/21-3/23 South Texas Section Convention, Rosenberg, TX Mike Corey 3/14-3/16 Delta Division Convention, Rayne, LA Steve Ford 2/22 Vermont State Convention, South Burlington, VT Norm Fusaro 3/7-3/9 West Gulf Division Convention, Claremore, OK `` 4/18-4/20 Roanoke Division Convention, Raleigh, NC Mike Gruber 5/2 PTO Ed Hare 2/15-3/1 IEEE meeting in Los Angeles/PTO Dan Henderson 1/31-2/2 Southern Florida Section Convention, Miami, FL Mary Hobart 2/7-2/9 Northern Florida Section Convention, Orlando, FL Bob Inderbitzen 2/7-2/9 Northern Florida Section Convention, Orlando, FL Harold Kramer 2/14-2/16 Arizona Section Convention, Yuma, AZ `` 3/21-3/23 Communications Academy, Seattle, WA Dave Patton 3/14-3/16 Nebraska State Convention, Lincoln, NE Diane Petrilli 2/10-2/14 PTO Becky Schoenfeld 1/30-2/3 PTO Dave Sumner 1/23-1/31 Puerto Rico State Convention, Hatillo, PR/PTO Yvette Vinci 2/7-2/9 Northern Florida Section Convention, Orlando, FL
