In-Newsletter Vol. 25, No. 35 September 4, 2002 Media Relations Favorable publicity about the federal grant continues. The Newington (CT) Life magazine piece was published, and the reporter did an excellent job covering the many aspects of the grant, the UTC grant, the online communications course and Amateur Radio in general. We received word from our EPA PIC Bob Josuweit, in Eastern Pennsylvania that a release he wrote on the topic led to an excellent article in the Daily Item (Sunbury, PA). Bob is now working with his PIOs to further the good PR. Jennifer has an interview scheduled with Connecticut's WSHU Radio on September 9th. Jennifer was also interviewed by a reporter with Disaster News Network (www.disasternews.net). The Web based news outlet covers stories about volunteers who respond during emergencies. The Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award has been announced and Jennifer has fulfilled several member requests for nomination forms. A mailing of almost 6,000 fliers is in the works. Those filers go to newsrooms throughout the country. Jennifer worked with a ham in Hawaii who has a lead on a possible Senate co-sponsor for HR 4720. She has turned over the details to Chwat & Company for their use. Jennifer has fulfilled several requests for PSAs and other PR materials. Production/Editorial We are pleased to welcome Stu Cohen, N1SC, formerly of Hillsboro, Oregon, to the Editorium as QST technical editor. The October 2002 issue of QST and the ARRL Digital Communications Conference Proceedings have been released to the printer. Sales & Marketing Deb Jahnke finished creating preliminary 2003 and 2004 budget forecasts for membership, QEX and NCJ subscriptions and QEX, NCJ and QST advertising revenue. With the assistance of Kathy Capodicasa, a preliminary forecast of existing ARRL publications is also nearing completion. All forecasts will be analyzed further this week with Bob Inderbitzen and Dennis Motschenbacher. Work continues on the new revenue programs that will be included in the 2003/2004 budgets. Lisa Tardette has been busy on the phone selling current titles and personally informing dealers of anticipated arrival dates for the new edition of The ARRL Handbook (and racking up quite a few orders for the upcoming title.) During the next week, she will begin work, with the assistance of Bob Inderbitzen, on a new Dealer Newsline piece to promote titles in our Fall line-up. Dennis make contact with the president of the Brazilian society LABRE, Gustavo de Faria Franco PT2ADM regarding ARRL publication distribution in South America. LABRE has expressed interest in exploring an arrangement wherein they would actively promote ARRL pubs in South American and maintain a stock that would allow them to service orders direct instead of from ARRL HQ. Hanan Rayyashi is nearing completion of drafting new electronic file requirements for QST advertisers. The piece will provide user-friendly information regarding mechanical requirements, electronic file formats, etc. The leaflet will take into consideration the most frequently asked questions and should clear up last minute confusion regarding what is needed to provide our advertisers with the best possible service. This piece will round out our new advertiser/dealer package that also includes ARRL Business Practices, a new insertion order and a new credit application. In addition, we will also have our Commercial Mailing List information reformatted to match the other pieces. Thanks go to Jodi Morin in Production for giving these sales documents the new crisp, professional look the Sales & Marketing teams is eagerly applying to everything we do. Hanan has also been doing double duty in Advertising sales as we close the month, with staffer Joe Bottiglieri on vacation. Bob Inderbitzen worked with our official sportswear vendor to finalize the introduction of our new ARES gear. Bob furnished product descriptions and images. The items can be viewed at http://www.barkerspecialty.com/arrl. A new product announcement was prepared, and Steve Ewald in FE&S is sharing the news with Field Organization volunteers. Bob also prepared an email solicitation with interest in stirring up some online ordering activity over the long Labor Day holiday weekend. The piece highlighted some combination book specials and a product rollout for the new ARES gear (vest, jacket, and equipment bag). Some computer technical problems were encountered when the solicitation was distributed on Thursday night. It was resent successfully on Friday afternoon. Bob modified and updated the online publications catalog to facilitate orders resulting from the solicitation. The site highlights the unique money-saving specials. Labor Day holiday order activity included $12,159.28 in publication sales with ARRL while Barker Specialties, our sportswear vendor, booked $8,993.30. The new ARES items make up the majority of their holiday sales with item breakdowns of 203 vests, 89 jackets, and 72 gear bags. An ARRL products ad was produced for Amateur Electronic Supply's Fall/Winter catalog. The insertion features the 2003 ARRL Handbook (softcover, hardcover, and CD-ROM). A special questionnaire to be mailed over President Haynie's signature was drafted. Once finalized, it will be used to survey a test sample of lapsed members to ask why they did not renew. Exchanges with members of the Book Team continue as we review results from the recent Antenna Book Survey to provide direction for revisions to the next edition. Deb and Bob have been working with John Proctor to finalize leads for a major upcoming membership mailing. The mailing will also serves as a test, comparing the effectiveness of two very different direct mail pieces. The new Antenna Modeling Course book has been added to the online catalog. The book is derived from a course offered through the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Program. ISBN: 0-87259-872-1, ARRL Order No. 8721, retail $39.95. For more information, visit http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=8721. Our staff has been devoting as much time as possible to continuing Siebel/Great Plains training. Kathy Capodicasa and Zoe Belliveau are continuing to test as much as possible. Lab The August 22-23 RFI Services workshop was a resounding success! Of the 18 scheduled students, 17 showed up. Among the students was Riley Hollingsworth. The course presenter, Mike Martin, K3RFI, noted that normally, about half of the scheduled students are "no shows," so the excellent attendance demonstrates that the importance of this topic to the industry is growing. The students spent a day in the classroom, followed by a day in the field. During the field exercises, the students located the two power-lien noises that have plagued W1AW for years. Three of the students were from Northeast Utilities, so it is expected that the noise will be repaired promptly. John Phillips provided the staff support for the course. Ed Hare attended the Thursday classroom session. On Thursday evening, Ed Hare and Jody Boucher, WA1ZBL, the "utility" representative on the ARRL EMC Committee, invited Riley out do dinner, for an RFI jawbone session. John Phillips reports that he has received 7 new power-line cases over the past two weeks. Spectrum: Ed Hare and Zack Lau reviewed a draft document on 70 cm synthetic-aperture radars. Zack noted some serious omissions and Ed ran a few of the scenarios manually and could not justify how they had calculated that the interference potential of some of the proposed SARs was "0.0%." Ed will continue to work with the DC team on this, who will remain in charge of the overall ARRL positions on this matter. Ed Hare represented ARRL HQ at the West Virginia state convention at Jackson's Mill. His technical presentation this was a technical quiz. The high score was 58% He and Jim Wilcox, W3WV, also helped raise over $400 for the West Virginia council at the WV equipment auction by once again serving as the auctioneers. Membership Services Awards Branch 5 Band WAS Plaques 6 Extra Class Certificates 16 Code Proficiency Certificates 7 Code Proficiency Endorsements 3 Code Proficiency Returns 3 Long Term Member Inquiries 2 A-1 Operator Nominations 3 VUCC Endorsement Applications 1 Grids (Data Entry) 24 VUCC Initial Applications 4 Grids (Data Entry) 419 VUCC Certificates Processed 11 VUCC Awards Mailed 11 Processing Status: Current or within three weeks. For the coming week - WAC QSL card checking, U.S. WAC awards, VUCC awards processing and mailing, and work on budget matters. DXCC Branch Weekly Report September 1, 2002 Beginning Cards 89,097 Cards Received 10,293 Cards Processed 5,871 Ending Cards 93,519 Applications Pending 1,058 Processing Time 4.5 Weeks Year-to-date Cards Received 417,469 Cards Returned 443,241 QRPs Issued This Week 6 QRPs YTD 231 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on July 30, 2002. DXCC is currently entering cards received on August 2, 2002. One new card checker was appointed this week. Contest Branch The data entry for Field Day 2002 was finished and the list of Logs Received page was posted to the web. About 18 submissions are missing information necessary to report the entry properly and these stations have been contacted. Data entry on paper logs for the IARU HF World Championships has finished, the Logs Received page created and handling of problems has begun. The certificates for the 2002 EME Competition were mailed. Data entry for the August UHF Contest has begun. QSL Branch QSL Service Status: Current. Cards mailed as of 09/01/2002: 1,402,175. Cards mailed on 08/30/2002: 100,450. Janet Rocco spent 4 hours conducting tours around HQ. Field & Educational Services Rosalie worked with the ARISS Team and Chris Imlay to develop an agreement for the lead of the pop singing group, 'N Sync, who may use the ARISS equipment on-orbit, and was trained by the team this week. Kursk School in Russia had a successful QSO with the ISS crew this week. Rosalie worked with President Haynie on scheduling a visit to Red Cross. She took part in a VRC teleconference and drafted notes. She met with visitors SM Phillips and AMSAT's Ken Chaffee. CCE Howard Robins, working with Jon Bloom and Tom Hogerty, in streamlining Web access to ARRL CCE registration. Howard worked with Dan Miller to develop 2003 budget projections for CCE. The RFI course is being proofread and reviewed. Field & Educational Support Team Jo-Ann Arel updated 28 clubs, 1 teacher, 8 instructors, and mailed 6 exhibit kits, 18 videos, 2.5 JOTA Kits, 30 brochures, and 12 graduation kits. She also assisted with a Contest mailing this week. Gail Iannone sent 2 initial hamfest application packets to the clubs requesting ARRL-sanction for their events, 4 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval, processed 8 door prize orders, 4 label requests, and sent 8 handout packages for upcoming events. She coordinated travel for Wayne Mills, N7NG, to be the HQ rep at the W0DXCC Convention on September 28 in Omaha, NE. Field & Educational Support Team Mary Lau turned over the tasks of F&ES's SOU/MOU preparations to Chuck Skolaut, as these tasks are being returned to the Field Services side that has frequent liaison with served agencies. Mary also relayed Sections e-messages for: 3 = AR; 2 = GA, SDG and; 1 = PAC, LA, MN, NE. Margie Bourgoin is still seeing additional SSC renewals coming in. Her registered teacher renewal mailing has gone out, thanks to Cathy Scharr and the Mailroom. Jean Wolfgang has noticed a significant increase in ARISS activity. She continues to handle incoming applications and inquiries. Jean discovered the K_BSA call sign has only been assigned in 3 call areas for use during JOTA. Ray Moyer, (from BSA headquarters), said it is unusual that they aren't all spoken for by now, but thinks all call areas will be soon. Jean posted contact information at a Scout/Ham site. Field Organization/ Public Service Team Steve Ewald and Dan contacted all SMs to encourage nominations for ARECC Level l mentors/ instructors for the first CNCS-funded class. Steve coordinated answers and clarifications with Dan for SMs about this program and the proposed mentor/ instructor seminars. While preparing for next week's SM Workshop, Steve received assistance from department and staff members; thanks to all! The press release about the new ARES garments was released to SMs and SECs. Leona Adams has been catching up after a brief vacation. She received SM nomination petitions from West Central Florida for Dave Armbrust, AE4ML, and from South Carolina for Pat Hensley, N4ROS. All petitions are due Friday, September 6. Chuck Skolaut visited the New England Convention with Steve where they had a good chance to meet with OOCs from Eastern Mass, Maine, and New Hampshire, and other ARRL officials and Section Leaders. Chuck says, "I was impressed with the dedication and caliber of these people." Chuck took calls and handled e-mail for John Hennessee who was on vacation this week. The Big Project Jerry Hill reviewed work done by Production Department on the first units of the Radio Lab Handbook. He worked on the bibliography and Station Layout section. He has received six more pilot school applications, and expects two more in the next few weeks. Grant-Sponsored Courses Dan Miller reports that 22 students have graduated from the UTC-sponsored Level l course. Sixty-two SMs have submitted nominees for taking the first CNCS-sponsored Level l classes. Graduates who have no prior mentoring experience, but want to be mentors, will receive additional mentor training. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Name Date(s) Reason Dave Sumner 9/1-9/24 Geneva & Vacation Dan Miller 9/3-9/6 Vacation `` 9/9 WPA Convention Steve Ford 9/12-9/15 Digital Communications Conference Joe Carcia 8/30-9/6 Vacation Judy Miller 9/3-9/9 Vacation Joe Bottiglieri 8/27-9/4 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 9/26-9/27 Ten-Tec Show / Sales Presentation Mary Lau 9/16 Holiday Rosalie White 9/16-9/19 Vacation `` 9/20-9/21 Arkansas State Convention Ed Hare 9/9 Medical