<<110508.doc>>
IN-Newsletter
Vol. 31, No. 45
November 5, 2008 -- Covers the period October 26-November 1.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections
November 21 in Newington, CT
Administration &Finance Committee
November 22 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT
Regulatory Information
Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND
The issue of misidentification of several repeaters in the third round of California PAVE PAWS mitigation has arisen. After discussion with General Counsel and Fred Moorefield, of the Air Force Spectrum Management office, Chris Imlay will be again raising the question of proper identification of repeaters with Air Force Space Command contact Dave Pooley. Our point is that while we don’t question that the Air Force monitored and tested specific signals, that their identification of the source of some signals is still incorrect. Since this process is, in essence, “spectrum law enforcement” the identification process by the Air Force has to be error-free. (In the current case in question, the Air Force matched the signal to a callsign which hasn’t had a repeater on that frequency in over 10-years. This understandably raises strong concerns over the Air Force’s identification process. Based on the process that they told us they were using (monitoring and recording IDs) this kind of error should not be occurring.)
In recent weeks we have been forwarded several pieces of legislation enacted by states – such as a privacy provision newly implemented in Massachusetts. When we receive items such as this, after a review of them here, we usually consult with ARRL Counsel to check their impact on the amateur community. Most of these do not appear to impact the amateur service or its licensees. When one does have the potential to impact us, we work closely with General Counsel on the best plan for following up on these items.
The most common member questions for the week dealt with reciprocal operating under CEPT in Europe, with a couple of queries related to operating in the US under CEPT. The FCC has still not issued the new public notice for CEPT operations, which were changed by the ERO in February 2008. Several questions also came in about “bootlegged” callsigns and QSLs. We explain that the vast majority of these are the result not of someone illegally using someone’s callsign, but the result of busted callsigns (many traceable back to bad packet spots). We advise the party contacting us that as far as the QSL request, simply to return the card to the sender with an explanation that they were not on the air, so it was probably a busted callsign. Also, the web-version of the 2008 Field Day results was proofed and opened to the membership.
Significant work on the white paper on amateur radio and the appropriate interfacing with public service and served agencies was done. The paper has been vetted by ARRL counsel, as well as officials at the FCC. It will be presented to the EVP this week for discussion, editing, and finalization. Once ready for release, the full text will be posted on the ARRL Web. In addition, we will be announcing it, with a brief summary, on the ARRL Web, a one-page article in QST (tentatively set for the February issue), the ARRL Letter, the club email letter as well as other sources as appropriate. We will also be sending the full text and announcement to other amateur radio publications and news resources.
Media & Public Relations
Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP
Allen was off watching punkin chunkin in Delaware for an extended vacation weekend but still ended up in the news as his picture made the papers – cowboy hat and all. The November issue of Contact! is up on the web and opportunities to piggyback onto coming news about the California ShakeOut drill has been sent out on the PR email reflector. The elections are over and quiet work behind the scenes to keep hams from using ARRL options in starting inappropriate political dialog has been successful – there was only one real challenge while most members “got it” quickly. An ad hoc contest for PIOs on the email reflector to guesstimate the dollar value of ARES equipment and training on a national scale per year is in play until Nov 15. Prize is a copy of “PR for Dummies.” More Leonard Award nominations have come (due Dec 5) and we are awaiting video taken from the Marine Corps Marathon last month which we hope will advance the creation of a new video PSA.
Development
Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH
First returns are in for the 2009 Spectrum Defense Fund mailing. A follow up letter will be mailed to Major Donors and Major Prospects in mid-November.
The Diamond Club revenues for September total more than $29,600, bringing the Year to Date total to $243,869. A mailing to capture lapsed diamond club members will be mailed in November.
Development has received a third distribution of $5405 from the Stoner Estate, bringing the ARRL Endowment contributions for 2008 to more than $701,000.
The renewal of the charitable contribution provision of the Pension Protection Act enables qualified donors (aged at least 70-1/2 years) to make contributions from their IRA or Roth IRA to qualified non-profit organizations. This information has been sent to more than 9600 ARRL members aged 70-1.2 or more.
Production/Editorial
Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE
Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 43, for October 31, 2008. It was distributed to more than 72,000 ARRL members, a new record. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for October 31.
Lab
Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI
ARRL Web
Zack Lau looked at Ward Silver’s web quiz and found a few issues before publication.
RFI
Interference cases at the FCC continue to remain on hold
MG visited the home of a ham that has been having powerline problems for almost nine years. He identified four noises sources in less than an hour—the utility workers lacked the necessary skills and equipment to do the job.
TIS Question Tracking
Question BA MG EFH ZL NA Totals
01 What rig is best? / Prod Rev 4 4
02 RFI/EMI/FCC issues 6 3 2 11
03 How to use equipment 2 2
04 Propagation 0 0
05 Antenna/Feedline/Tower questions 2 3 18 1 24
06 Locate companies/parts/services 5 5
07 Software problems 1 9 10
08 Regulatory questions 2 10 12
09 Operating / amateur exam questions 2 5 5
10 Article photocopies/archive corrections 1 33 5 21 60
11 Other 8 6 14
12 BPL 5 0 5
13 PAVE-PAWS 3 0 3
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
October results will be reported next week for membership and product sales. It was a busy month! Membership exceeded 154,100 members (September @ 153,596) on Halloween--our highest membership level since 2003. While its 2,000 members lower than we predicted by this part of the year, it's shaping up to be a good single month.
Bob met with affinity benefits representatives that organized our MetLife group insurance and ARRL Visa Card benefits. They discussed program achievements to date, 2009 marketing plans, membership feedback, and considerations for additional programs and products.
We are assembling the components for our first telemarketing venture, a trial effort, which will focus on making phone calls to a selection of lapsed members. We have met with, and selected, a telemarketing services company that operates call centers throughout the country, and is equipped with the latest communication technology and staffed with highly trained professionals with a proven track record in circulation marketing and retention. The company will help append phone numbers to our membership records, develop effective scripts and offers, and make the phone calls. The effort should be underway soon, with results reported before the end of the year.
A handful of email solicitations were sent to targeted groups, promoting the ARRL Auction, charitable giving, and membership.
We continue to improve and expand the way we promote ARRL publications and products. Most recently, we posted an excerpt from the new ARRL Satellite Handbook on the web. Customers can peruse the book's table of contents and a portion of the first chapter (http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9857).
Candidates for the position of Membership Manager were interviewed throughout the month. This effort is ongoing. The search committee includes Bob Inderbitzen, Harold Kramer, Mary Hobart and Dave Patton.
It has been a very busy week at the Warehouse facility with the receipt of 19 separate products totaling over 50,000 Lbs on 29 pallets. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,035 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 281 free book membership premiums, and sent October and November QST mailing supplements.
Business Services
Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ
The 2008 ARRL On-Line Auction concluded on October 31, with gross proceeds came to $43,053. During the time the auction was live, Business Services staff fielded a myriad of questions ranging from retrieval of lost passwords to providing details on specific items up for bid. Staff is now entering all orders into Seibel and coordinating with Shipping to ensure that all items are shipped in a timely manner. This year’s auction drew a smaller crowd than the 2007 auction, although gross revenue was slightly higher. However, we did not reach the goal of $60,000 in gross sales we had hoped for. Fortunately, we had accumulated a positive variance in QST display revenue that compensated for the shortfall. We are unsure if the current economic climate, combined with the public’s focus on the election contributed to a less active event, but we are presently working on our cost-benefit analysis and will be conducting a survey to determine the direction of future events.
The “New Year” 6-page edition of advertising matters has been sent to all advertisers. Since World Radio’s claim of sending a copy of their magazine to every new ham, we have been receiving increasing queries and comments about our “high” CPM (Cost per Thousand) QST advertising rates. This new 6-page edition contains a full page “chat” titled QST-CPM-AND YOU. Our key points were to continue to demonstrate that cheaper isn’t always better and the make-up and focus of the readership is key to a successful campaign.
Staff continues to work on the January issue of QST and negotiate 2009 advertising contracts with our clients.
A publication sales promotion featuring new titles is in the mail to our present and potential publication dealers. We have also reached a discounted agreement with Amazon.com to have access to more data about the customers who ultimately buy our titles after we sell them to Amazon. Their “Premiere Reports” will provide customer type and demographic information along with a host of other features.
Membership & Volunteer Programs
Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N
Awards Branch
Category Oct 2008 Year-to-Date
WAS Cert. (Manual) 8 283
WAS Cert. (LoTW) 11 145
A-1 Op Nominations 5 177
A-1 Op Certificates 9 156
Extra Class Certificates 11 98
WAC Certificates 10 256
VUCC New / Grids 15/1,644 109 / 11,882
VUCC Endorse / Grids 26/1,084 132 / 7,135
Processing Time Current Current
Contest Branch
The 75th running of CW Sweepstakes is history. Band conditions were good, and the multipliers were out in force. 60 hours after the event has ended, we have received 660 logs via email. Scuttlebutt on various reflectors indicates folks really enjoyed themselves this year. Promotion efforts seem to have paid off; several anecdotal reports from various Sections and Divisions indicate participation seemed higher than usual.
SSB Sweepstakes is the weekend of November 15.
We are now officially in the thick of the Contest Season. Major events will take place regularly until the ARRL SSB DX Contest on the weekend of March 7, 2009.
Plaque sponsorship letters for ARRL Sweepstakes went out the door last week. Letters for 2009 RTTY Roundup and DX Contest plaques sponsorships will go out late this week or early next week.
DXCC Branch
Credits Applications
2007 Carryover 220,630 1,829
YTD Received 616,058 5,762
Cumulative Total 836,688 7,591
YTD Processed 789,581 7,173
Remaining 47,107 418
Process Time=4 weeks
Logbook of the World
Category Oct 2008
QSO Records Entered In System 188,306,408
QSL Record Matches 15,588,670
Logs Processed 719,985
Active Certificates 34,580
Registered Users in System 22,615
Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries 2008 YTD
Lost Certificates 1,181
DXCC Status Inquiries 676
Directions Not Followed 532
Additional Certificates 494
Startup Inquiries 375
Total 3,258
QSL Branch
Oct 2008 Year-to-Date
Cards Recv’d 34,650 528,300
Cards Mailed 0 491,950
Field Organization/Public Service Team
One radio amateur from Western Washington completed certification to become an Official Observer this week. A very favorable reply to an out-of-band notice sent by a Northern Florida OO was received. Information was supplied for the “ditter” story for the Web that describing how Ohio Official Observers were successful with direction finding help from the FCC, in locating the source of continuous dits being sent on 7057 kHz. A report of an unidentified digital signal on 14173/14115 was investigated by the monitoring system, with the probably conclusion it is originating from a Region 1 Military station. Chuck Skolaut received several reports of a Chinese broadcast station heard on 20 meters during last weekend’s contest, ceased shortly afterward.
Leona Adams has been preparing Field Organization appointee report rosters for all of the sections so that Section Managers will be able to cross check their own records and to help keep the HQ data base up to date. North Texas Section Manager Tom Blackwell, N5GAR, has been nominated to run for another term as Section Manager starting in April 2009. SM nominations for this particular election cycle are due at HQ by December 5.
Steve Ewald represented ARRL on the Citizen Corps quarterly teleconference with other nationally affiliated organizations and national partners of Citizen Corps. Chuck and Steve also acted as tour guides for visitors to Headquarters when our volunteer tour guides were not available.
Sincerely Compiled by,
Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ
Assistant to the CEO
Staff Absentee List
All Staff 11/27-11/28 Holiday
`` 12/25 Holiday
Steve Capodicasa 11/24-11/26 Vacation
Steve Ford 11/11 Vacation
Scott Gee 12/8-12/9 Vacation
`` 12/24-12/26 Vacation
Mike Gruber 5/29-5/31 Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Estes Park, CO
Dan Henderson 11/14-11/16 Indiana State Convention, Ft. Wayne, IN
`` 11/21-12/3 ARI Headquarters Milan/Pescara Convention, Italy
`` 12/18-1/5 Vacation
Bill Moore 11/24-11/26 Vacation
`` 12/26-1/3 Vacation
Allen Pitts 10/31-11/4 Vacation
Brennan Price 11/7-11/25 Vacation
Steve Sant Andrea 11/7 Medical
Dave Sumner 11/10-11/21 IARU Reg.1 Conference, Cavtat, Croatia/Vacation