IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No. 43 October 27, 2004 Upcoming Meetings Ballot Counting, Director/Vice Director Elections November 19th in Newington, CT A & F Committee November 20th in Newington, CT at 8:30am Board Meeting January 20-22, 2005 in Windsor, CT CEO Lisa Kustosik continued work to prepare for the upcoming election and meetings. Dave Patton returned from Queretaro, Mexico after attending FMRE's annual convention along with President Haynie and Jon Siverling. FMRE has made giant strides over the last year under new President Dr. Carlos Levy. Dr. Levy has led the work to increase membership in FMRE of the individual state clubs-from 8 member states to 28. Discussions were held between ARRL and FMRE with regard to reciprocal licensing issues and more than 2100 QSLs were checked for various awards. Development The 2005 Spectrum Defense campaign has reached $82,460 from 1794 donors -- 28% of the campaign goal. Returns remain sluggish, though the follow up campaign is just now reaching homes. The average contribution is nearly $46, up from its earlier low of $44. Development continues to work on funding for the Education & Technology Program and the Teachers Institute and on the planning for implementation of CNCS funded Community Education Project. ARRL's top donors received a complimentary copy of the 2005 ARRL Handbook and reproduction of the first QST. Initial responses from donors indicates that they were pleased to receive the extra gift. Development continues to work on the 2005 budget. Final touches are being put on the data file to recognize ARRL's members of 50 year or more. Media & Public Relations BPL concerns continue to play a major role in media as we await the documents of the recent FCC decision. While interference mitigation protocols are yet to be detailed, there are a rising number of major business writers questioning the economics of BPL implementation. We have no comment on this of our own, but refer people to these articles if asked about it. In the meantime, the Toy Drive is beginning its second week and has received very favorable comments from several sections. Press releases are continuing to be sent out to larger TV, radio and newspaper organizations while PIC's and PIO's are being encouraged to use this opportunity locally. Production/Editorial The December 2004 issue of QST has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 42, went out to 67,214 members Oct 22. That's up by 144 from the previous week. Rick prepared/edited stories on the ARRL Executive Committee meeting, the League's repeat call to shut down the BPL system in Cottonwood AZ, the end to the AT&T/PG&E BPL pilot in Menlo Park, CA, "SuitSat" and the ARISS International Delegates meeting, the ISS crew changeover and several news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Oct 22. The list of known users--mostly repeaters--has grown to 174. Joel Hallas reports that the January Product Review column is well underway. Joel prepared and delivered a well-received presentation on ARRL with emphasis on publications for about 25 members of the Fairfield Amateur Radio Association. Sales and Marketing Many clubs have expressed a desire to see the Club Commission Membership Recruitment Program return to the way it was in "the good old days". Way back then, in addition to clubs receiving a commission for every new membership submission, a commission was also granted to clubs submitting renewals for existing members. Under the terms of the revamped program, clubs still retain a $15 commission for each new or lapsed (over 2 years) membership they submit. In addition, they now can also retain a $2 commission for every renewal they process. This is a great opportunity for clubs seeking new ways to increase the size of their treasuries. We are also hopeful that clubs will initiate more new ARRL memberships because they are administering an increasing number of renewals. The program applies to regular and senior membership dues. We have prepared new program details, forms, and recruitment tips. Details can be found on the web, www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/forms/club-commission-program.html Advertising Staff aggressively pursued current clients in an effort to get them to increase their normal ad space in the December issue of QST. R & L Electronics, Kenwood, Yaesu, and Ham Radio Outlet each added a full page of advertising. In addition, several other advertisers increased their existing ad size including West Mountain Radio, W5YI, DX Engineering, LDG, and Alpha Power Crosslink. October Product Sales are well above forecast, reaching $400,000 with an entire week remaining in the month. Based on her good suggestion, our team is working with Jean Wolfgang to include descriptions for each of the online courses within the e-store. While the courses have their own presentation on the ARRL web site, cross-pollinating them with our traditional publication products may help bolster the attention they receive. A couple of web announcements have been prepared for November/December issues of QEX and NCJ, and to introduce the Club Commission Membership Recruitment Program. 2005 ARRL Handbook sales continue to flow in with over $300,000 already booked. Congratulations to Handbook editor Dana Reed, W1LC and everyone that contributed to the 2005 ARRL Handbook. We are delighted with the testimonials that have been pouring in, praising this new edition. We are happy to share some here: "Hi HQ Staffers. Just wanted you to know how much I am enjoying the new 2005 Handbook and the replica debut QST. Congratulations on a really super Handbook revision. I'm sure I'll have all the content absorbed and mastered shortly! ... 73"--Larry Kozal, K8PUJ, Grand Rapids, MI. "The 2005 Handbook was waiting on my doorstep when I got home from the library this morning. WOW! You all and everyone associated with the Handbook did a fantastic job. The photographs are soooo clean and the whole book really looks great. ... Congratulations to all and 73"--John Nelson, K0IO, Newton, IA (former ARRL staffer) " ... I just received my new Handbook, which must be some sort of record in mail handling for the USPS! It was mailed out on the 12th, and in my mailbox on the 14th. Many thanks, and congratulations to all those who put it together. What a monumental job it must have been. To those amateurs specifically, I wish to say your efforts are greatly appreciated. The section on HSMM, VoIP, and some other cryptic new terms were finally made a whole lot more digestible. Again, many thanks for the new Handbook, and all the hard work that you put into it."-- Gaylord G. Ambrose, ex-K1ITO, W2LTT, KH6EKM, TF2WCD "Thank you for shipping my new 2005 Hard Cover Handbook with CD. It is just great and I have loaded the CD in my Windows 98 computer & my Windows XP Notebook. The Adobe Reader set up works very well and I like the index on the left side very much. What a beautiful job you did in getting this out. 73"--Bob Hess, W8VIF, Wheeling, WV Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSLs Checked 350 WAS Certs. (200 QSLs ES/C) 4 WAS Certs. (150 QSLs F/C) 3 WAS Ends. (250 QSLs F/C) 5 WAC Certs. (36 QSLs ES/C) 6 5BWAC Cert. (30 QSLs ES/C) 1 Replacement Awards 3 A-1 Op. Noms. 4 A-1 Op. Certs. 3 LTMA Records to Siebel 28 Awards Mailed 78 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week - WAC QSL card checking, foreign WAC, VUCC, and WAS/90th awards, Extra Class certificates, mail out the most recently processed foreign WAC awards, plus filing chores associated with the latest LTMAs issued. DXCC Branch For the week of: October 24, 2004 Beginning Cards 59,007 Cards Received 10,993 Cards Processed 11,566 Ending Cards 58,434 Applications Pending 447 Processing Time 5 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 465,958 Cards Returned 469,102 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on September 20, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on September 20, 2004. One new card checker was appointed for Norway. This brings the off shore card checkers to 43, representing 21 foreign societies. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 52,911,664 QSL records have resulted 1,900,561 Logs Processed 74,321 Active Certificates 11,558 Users registered in the system 8,460 Current Applications 184 Ready Applications 79 Applications Awaiting Mail 105 QSL Bureau Processing time is current. This week 75 pounds of cards were received from members. All cards received have now been processed. Cards mailed as of 10/24/04: 882,310. Cards mailed on 10/22/04: 80,850. W1AW Matt Strelow, KC1XX and Andrew Toth (both of XX Towers Inc.) were on hand Friday (22nd) to install new Azimuth and Elevation rotators on the Satellite tower. They also performed inspections on the other three towers. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the first part of the month of November. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Joe uploaded W1AW/90 logs to LoTW. He continued with the input of HPM/135 entries (currently 447) and, prior to their installation, performed some simple maintenance work on the new Azimuth and Elevation rotators. Field & Educational Services Field & Education Support Gail Iannone sent 6 hamfest and 3 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 6 hamfest/convention material orders and 1 label request for upcoming events. She thanks Jon Bloom for finalizing improvements to the database that feeds the Web hamfest/convention calender. She sent 6 convention approval letters and 6 new affiliated club approval letters to the committees and clubs confirming the EC's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned and their clubs as ARRL-affiliated. She also sent affiliation paperwork for 4 new clubs and 2 new SSC applications to the Division Directors, SMs, and ACCs for their approval. Rosalie hired Bill Barrett, W1WJB, as our new staffer who will coordinate the one-year grant pilot project, Community Education Program. She spent the majority of two days guiding him and in meetings with staff. We welcome him on board. Rosalie prepared notes for the PSC Meeting, and afterwards, completed action items. She networked with a ham who is an acquaintance of one of the potential ISS "tourists." ARISS sported two successful QSOs done by taxi flight cosmonaut Yuri Shargin this week, for students at the Science Exhibition in Hasselt, Belgium, and in Pori, Finland. Certification & Continuing Education Program Jean Wolfgang processed the weekly emcomm graduate records, and printed their certificates and ID cards. As a result of a large email mailing to emcomm students Jean and Linda removed about 175 old email addresses from the CCE database. Jean is preparing information for Bob Inderbitzen to use so that all of the online courses (technical and emcomm) will be listed in ARRL's online catalog. Jean re-assigned 10 students to new mentors due to the illness of the original mentor. Club/Mentor/Volunteer Instructor Program Norm Fusaro interviewed a club and wrote a Web story about their recent hamfest. In addition to the Web story will be a short reader's survey on hamfests, which he already distributed to clubs. In 24 hours, he received over 225 club responses and has been entering data into a spreadsheet. That data will be used in conjunction with data from readers, and it should aid clubs in making decisions on how to hold more successful events. Norm solicited clubs about their JOTA activity in order to write a Web story. He corresponded with two clubs who are starting a mentor program. He took part in an F&ES team meeting with Bill Barrett, and Norm is reviewing clubs in areas Bill may target. Field Organization/Public Service Team Steve Ewald participated in group meetings with Community Education Coordinator Bill Barrett. Steve helped identify ARRL Emergency Coordinators and Section Leaders that are close to the list of proposed pilot communities, and shared this data with Bill. After seeing the announcement for the ARESCOM-sponsored digital communications study last week, SECs have been discussing (on their reflector) Winlink 2000, related topics and how it fits into their sections' needs or future plans. With one month to go before SM election ballots are counted, Leona Adams notes that ballots for Nebraska, West Central Florida and New York City-Long Island are coming in heavily. She is preparing the schedule and calendar for HQ staff members, for the 2005 SM election cycle. This week, over 30 new Field Appointments were received and appointment supply packages were sent. Chuck Skolaut received reports of suspected CODAR interference on 12 meters; Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar is a specific type of HF radar used to map ocean surface currents in coastal zones. OOs are tracking malicious interference to a weekly 20-meter net, and an unlicensed operation on 80 USB in the southeastern part of the US. Local hams in the Albuquerque area located the source of some 70-cm interference. It came from a nearby military base; mutual agreement was established to minimize interference. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program A fruitful meeting was held with a local school district to explore an opportunity to get a district, as opposed to a single school, involved in our program. It is hoped this initiative will result in a model that can be used to stimulate interest in other school districts. The revamp of the Project-associated Web pages has begun in cooperation with Tom and Jon. The changes are in response to teacher feedback with the goal of making education-related information more accessible and more visible to Web viewers. Tom did an excellent job setting up the first installment of changes, which can be viewed at: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/tbp/kits-projects.html. JOTA reports are trickling in; anecdotal evidence indicates improved quality and quantity of member activity. EmComm Grants Dan Miller thanks Bob Inderbitzen and Dianne for help in developing Web banner ads per the marketing plan for year 3 of the CNCS grant; these will run consecutively with Level I online registration announcements beginning in November. Also, thanks goes to the same people for the 1/4 page QST ads that have been developed and will run beginning in December. Thanks to NTX SM Roy Rabey, assistance for Dan from a Dallas ham is set up for the International Association of Emergency Managers annual convention. Regulatory Information John Hennessee spent much of the week reviewing the revised page layouts for the third printing of the ARRL FCC Rule Book. He also reviewed the constitutions of clubs that have applied for ARRL affiliation. He also assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Salt Lake City, UT (AE7NN) and Cumberland, MD (KC3W). Community Education Program Bill Barrett spent most of the week as a "new hire getting started and getting organized" and meeting with staff. He is reviewing an old, but related, Power Point presentation that he, as a DEC, designed some time ago for his local officials, and he will develop it further for ARRL's new CEP program. He will keep his DEC position and continue to Elmer some emcomm courses, because he feels these duties will assist him in his new CEP position. Bill combed through the grant wording in order to understand its goals and to develop a list of his new "publics" and "customers." He is fleshing out a calendar of goals, milestones and deadlines. 73, Sincerely, Dave Patton, NN1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer DCP: lk Staff Absentee List Robert Inderbitzen 12/2-12/3 Vacation Dan Miller 11/4-11/6 SSCA Melbourne, FL Kathy Capodicasa 11/11-11/15 Vacation Martin Cook 10/29-11/1 Vacation Scott Gee 11/8-11/10 Vacation Joel Kleinman 10/29 Vacation