IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 48 November 30, 2005 -- Covers the period November 20-26. Upcoming Meetings and Events Annual Board Meeting January 20-21, 2006 in Windsor, CT CEO John Hennessee assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Grand Terrace, CA (W6RHM and AE6TV) and Montgomery County, MD (W3DEF). He made updates to the ARRL Regulatory Web pages and processed two additional Volunteer Counsel applications. He began preparatory work for the next edition of the ARRL FCC Rule Book. Development The 2006 Spectrum Defense Campaign has raised nearly $98,000 from 1900 members for an average contribution of $51. Responses from the follow up mailing and major donors are beginning to come in this week. Holiday greetings are being mailed this week to major donors, including a 2006 ARRL Calendar. Ham Aid requests for equipment replacement have been received from 6 organizations so far, with 5 more expected. The total budget for the applications in house is more than $12,000. Development will travel to Washington DC for the National Conference on the Disabled from December 8-10 in preparation for a grant submission. Media & Public Relations The Toy Drive goes well with over 2000 toys already in Memphis and many more on the way. I plan to go down on Dec 15 and we will try to have a media event at the warehouse at 2pm that day. While we have invited many politicians and celebrities, none have either committed or declined as yet, so we do not know what may happen that day. I am hoping that with the passing of Thanksgiving they will look again at their calendars. Over $2000 in cash has been collected thus far with the critical 2 weeks just starting. The Leonard Award nomination deadline is Friday. We have several good candidates already sent in. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 46 (for Nov 25, 2005) distributed early on November 23 to 65,687 members. Rick wrapped up work on the "Happenings" column for Jan QST. This included adding a story/photos on the outcome of the Director/Vice Director elections. Rick prepared/edited stories on ARRL's "Reply to Opposition" filing in the BPL proceeding, a Holiday Toy Drive update, ARISS school group QSOs with Missouri and Japan, SKYWARN Recognition Day, SM election results and numerous announcements and news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News, which also distributed November 23 because of the short work week. Sales & Marketing Our annual publication promotion throughout the Thanksgiving Holiday included a handful of discounted publication packages and additional attention for our newest titles. E-mail solicitations were sent on Friday, November 18 and Wednesday, November 23. Online ordering topped $51,000 for the week. Among the most popular publication picks in November were orders for Emergency Power for Radio Communications. This new title has sold over 650 copies in its debut month. We continue to work with U.S. Bank on marketing initiatives to help promote the ARRL Visa Card. Printed credit card applications are now being included with materials sent to hamfests and conventions. An attractive acrylic brochure holder has also been produced. We will be working with some of the major Amateur Radio storefronts to display these. A special note of thanks goes to Chuck Skolaut for his good work at hamfests. Each time he prepares to travel, Chuck drops us a note seeking materials for handling memberships at these events. He has produced some excellent results--always returning a handful of applications when he returns. On Friday, December 9, a growth advisor/consultant will help facilitate a planning and information session with key personnel that have areas of responsibility within our publication fulfillment effort (production, ordering, e-commerce, customer service, information services, warehousing, data-entry, etc.). NCJ and QEX advertising is complete for the January/February issues. Targets were exceeded by $100.00 for each publication. H. Ward Silver's Two-Way Radio Scanners for Dummies is on order. Wiley Publishing will afford us the same discount (60%) we enjoy with Ham Radio for Dummies. Our Wiley rep also gave us permission to allow dealers to sell these two titles. Nifty! Ham Accessories owner, Bernie Lafreniere, N6FN has donated quick reference set-up guides for most of the radios at W1AW. Membership Services Contest Branch The IARU results were finalized and sent to the author to begin work on his write-up. Data entry for Sweepstakes paper entries continued. Correspondence was handled on several contest issues including complaints about rude behavior in the November Sweepstakes and some EME participants wanting changes in that event. Several orders for Sweepstakes cups and pins from previous years were received and handled. DXCC Branch For the Week of: November 28, 2005 Beginning Credits 50,059 Credits Received 2,387 Credits Processed 6,331 Ending Credits 46,115 Applications Pending 374 Processing time 6.3 Weeks Year-to-date (2005) Credits Received 554,661 Credits Returned 586,918 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on October 14, 2005. DXCC is currently entering credits received on October 26, 2005. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 84,241,188 QSL records have resulted 4,181,126 Logs Processed 162,584 Active Certificates 16,561 Users registered in the system 10,975 Hybrids Pending Mail 106 QSL Branch There is a 6 day processing time delay. This week, 80 pounds of cards were received from members. 32,375 pounds of cards were mailed on Wednesday, November 23rd. W1AW W1AW received as a donation a new Kenwood TS-480SAT HF/6 transceiver. Although the "official" presentation from Kenwood will not take place until Monday, December 5, the radio is now located at W1AW nonetheless. In addition to it being used primarily by visiting hams, the radio will also soon be made available for use-on a limited and controlled basis!-to HQ staff ONLY via the Internet. Joe updated the web code practice files. He installed the new Kenwood TS-480SAT and its control software, in addition to performing a firmware upgrade to the radio. He and a few other staffers also experimented with accessing the radio via the LAN. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the month of December. He worked the early afternoon shift on Wednesday for a vacationing Joe Carcia and also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Field Organization/Public Service Team The Western Massachusetts section members elected Ed Emco, W1KT, as its new Section Manager. His term begins January 1st along with new Delaware SM Frank Filipkowski Jr, AD3M. Eight other incumbents were unopposed for their new terms beginning at the first of the year. Department staff members Leona Adams and Chuck Skolaut were joined by Gail Iannone and Steve Ewald to handle the ballot counting on November 22. SKYWARN Recognition Day is December 3. The National Weather Service and ARRL are co-sponsoring this operating event once again. At least 75 National Weather Service offices around the country are expected to host Amateur Radio operations on that Saturday. More information is on the ARRL Web page and in December's Public Service column in QST. Steve participated in a Citizen Corps's teleconference for its affiliate organizations. The national Citizen Corps office has been undergoing some reorganization recently at its Washington DC location. The FCC will be receiving some new documentation that Chuck Skolaut has forwarded about a 10-Meter interference case caused by a CB operator in New York. He also sent out a new monitoring request from the FCC to our Southeastern OOs to listen for questionable activity on 75 meters. A report of interference to 160 meters from a US shortwave station was also forwarded to the FCC. Field Education Team Norm Fusaro began a web story about a club in California. Norm also prepared materials to be used by mentors and sent several packages to affiliated clubs that are preparing to hold license classes. He also discussed club visits and soliciting feedback by ACCs with the new WI ACC. Norm will be out of the office on vacation December 27-30. Gail Iannone sent 6 convention approval letters confirming the Executive Committee's approval of the events as "ARRL-sanctioned" and sent 15 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval letter to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Directors' approval of their events as "ARRL-sanctioned." She also processed 3 label requests for upcoming events and coordinated travel for Norm Fusaro to be the Hq. Rep at the North Carolina State Convention being held on April 23, 2006 in Raleigh. Roseanne Lawrence completed all SSC updates and issued charter certificates for 12 clubs. She also updated 6 clubs and sent out graduation kits and brochures. Rosanne also is working with SC ACC to get the Columbia ARC SSC updated as well as 5 other clubs whose ACCs need to approve their SSC renewals. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 12/26 Holiday `` 1/2 Holiday John Hennessee 11/30 Vacation `` 12/16-12/26 Vacation Scott Gee 12/8 Vacation `` 12/12-12/13 Vacation `` 12/22-12/23 Vacation Steve Ford 12/24-1/3 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 12/2 Vacation `` 12/27-12/30 Vacation Joe Carcia 12/1-12/2 RFI Course `` 12/14pm Vacation Jean Wolfgang 12/1-12/2am Vacation Zoe Belliveau 12/27-12/30 Vacation Steve Ewald 11/28-12/2 Vacation Diane Szlachetka 12/27-12/30 Vacation Mike Gruber 12/2-12/9 Florida State Convention & RFI/EMC field work Rick Lindquist 12/27-12/30 Vacation Joel Kleinman 12/29-12/30 Vacation Perry Williams 12/23-1/3 Vacation Mary Hobart 12/8-12/10 National Conference on the Disabled `` 12/22-12/23 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 12/27 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 12/27-12/30 Vacation