IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 21 May 25, 2005 CEO The office will be closed Monday, May 30th in observance of Memorial Day. Have a safe Holiday weekend! Development The Development presence at the 2005 Dayton Hamvention produced wonderful results, including a major contribution from a new Maxim Society Member, recognition of a donor who reached the pinnacle Founder Level ($100,000) of the Maxim Society. Conversations at the Thursday evening donor reception and during the Hamvention resulted in eight estate commitments to ARRL, plus a gift of $20,000 from one donor to support the Defense and Education Programs. A very successful Hamvention for Development. Kudos to Debra Johnson for her orchestration of the Donor Reception at Wright State University hosting more than 100 key donors and their guests. The Education & Technology Program campaign has raised more than $84,500 from 1134 donors, including the aforementioned $10,000 gift. Absent that large contribution, the average donation is a healthy $65.71. During Hamvention weekend several key donors to the Education & Technology Program were able to spend time with Project Director Mark Spencer, WA8SME, which served to solidify their support and cultivate their interest in continued funding of the program. The spillover Defense receipts in 2005 now total more than $40,000, from 361 donors, including the $10,000 contribution mentioned above. This revenue exceeds the budget spillover from the fall campaign. The new spring campaign is in the creative stage and will be mailed in June. All scholarship winners of 2005 ARRL Foundation scholarships have been notified and the list of awardees has been posted on the web. Media & Public Relations The week started off with another interview contact with Tektime in Australia about BPL issues. Wired News also was given an interview on BPL. The final draft of the annual report was completed and sent off to the printer where it will be turned into the "blues" which is the last step before actual printing. 1000 copies are to be printed. The deadline for nominations for the McGan award was 5/20. This is the award for service by a member in a volunteer capacity doing PR work. Nominees are referred on to the PR committee for a final recommendation to the Board. Dayton was a very positive time and many contacts were made, concepts shared and agreements made which will bear fruit in the coming months. Over 200 copies of the highly successful "Swiss Army Knife 05" were given to people requesting help doing publicity, plus over 100 copies of PSA's and other materials. A great deal of thanks goes to the PIO volunteers and committee members who helped man the booth. Production/Editorial The July 2005 issue of QST will be released to the printer Wednesday. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 20, distributed to 65,068 members on May 18--two days early because of Dayton Hamvention. Rick prepared/edited stories on the ARRL, CAP cooperative agreement, ARISS school group contact with Japan junior high kids; League's affinity Visa card, Youth Web column, geomagnetic storm on May 13 plus several announcements and news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News. ARRL EXPO 2005/Dayton Hamvention: Rick, accompanied by spouse Jean Collier, N1MJC, attended the ARRL donors reception May 19, primarily to shoot photos and take names. During the convention, Rick captured some 300 digital images (perhaps a third or so actually usable for publication) of the various convention/Hamvention activities, visited several "newsworthy" forums all three days and filed a story Friday, May 20, on ARRL's push to get members involved in expressing their views to their elected representatives regarding legislation that might affect Amateur Radio, such as BPL ("grassroots lobbying"). Story included a mention and some photos from the reception and the new (and not yet available) "ARRL Goes to Washington" video. Went to dinner with the "yoots" (Andrea, KG4IUM, Rebecca, KB0VVT, Rebekah, WG4Y, and many others) on Saturday evening and took some more photos there. Jean put in all three days at the ARRL EXPO 2005 retail counter, which (she says) she enjoyed a lot--especially getting to meet people. Rick and Jean then went home where Rick quietly turned 60 and immediately began complaining about his back on 75 meters. Product Review editor Joel Hallas visited most manufacturers' booths and inquired about new products, obtained information and took photos for an upcoming "What's new at Hamvention" piece for QST; helped staff the ARRL EXPO booth; made an EXPO presentation on the Product Review process, and served as navigator and co-host to Guest of Honor Tony England and Kathi England for the donors reception and the AMSAT dinner. Sales & Marketing Thanks go to all who had a part in making the ARRL EXPO and the National Convention such a huge success. Memberships amounted to 942, which includes Diamond Club, paid in full Life memberships, quarterly payment Life memberships, and term memberships. Pub sales and membership revenue totaled approximately $96,000.00. A "Post-Dayton" meeting will be held on Friday, May 27, 2005 at 10:00 am. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 150 WAC QSL Cards Checked 114 Extra Class Certs. 2 Member Inquiries 2 25-Year Member Awards 6 Replacement Awards 2 A-1 Op. Nom. 5 A-1 Op. Cert. 1 VUCC End. Apps. 2 Grids 253 Awards Mailed 5 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-WAS QSL card checking, U.S. WAC awards, WAS Specialty awards, and VUCC awards processing/mailing. Contest Branch The 10-Meter article was received from Production and edited. The web version was edited and should be opened early in next week. The January VHF SS article is being edited and prepared for production for August QST. Sponsored and self-purchased plaques for the 2004 November Sweepstakes were ordered, as well as several special order plaques for other contests. There has been a noticeable increase in Field Day queries this week, both via phone and email. Requests for replacement / duplicate certificates were processed and mailed. DXCC Branch For the week of: May 22, 2005 Beginning Credits 38,945 Credits Received 3,470 Credits Processed 6,511 Ending Credits 35,904 Applications Pending 318 Processing Time (Conventional) 3.7 Weeks Processing Time (LoTW) 1 Working Day Year-to-date (2005) Credits Received 218,425 Credits Returned 253,923 DXCC is currently entering and mailing applications received on April 26, 2005. Bill Moore attended the Dayton hamvention this past weekend. Processing stats are as follows: DXCC 164 Applications 14,794 QSOs (2004 Comparison - we did 123 applications with 13,553 country credits) 2 VUCC applications 2 WAC applications 10 WAS Applications 1 5 Band WAS application Masa, JA1DM, from JARL was checking JARL award applications, but at this time we do not have any information on how many he checked. A special thanks to the many card checkers who helped out this weekend! Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 72,135,959 QSL records have resulted 3,265,086 Logs Processed 121,539 Active Certificates 14,632 Users registered in the system 9,725 Hybrids Pending Mail 63 QSL Bureau Processing time is 7 working days from receipt. This week, 115 pounds of cards were received from members. Cards mailed as of 05/20/05: 424,550. Cards mailed on 05/20/05: 87,500. Field & Educational Services Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program The Education and Technology Program and Youth Activities booths at the convention were busy and very successful. Mark Spencer acknowledges Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, and Rebekah Dorff, WG4Y, for their contribution to staffing the Youth booth and making that booth a success. It would not have been possible without their dedication, energy, and youth. They did an exceptional service to the League and youth. The youth booth was visited by approximately 150 young people. By visiting, I do not mean a quick stop and look-see. These young people participated in the activities and spent substantial time at the booth. Icom provided 6 substantial prizes for youth (top of the line HTs and Receivers) and a number of ARRL educational publications of the appropriate level were given out to youth for their participation in the activities. Approximately 40 youth participated in the scavenger-hunt-like activities, from which prize winners were chosen. All planned activities seemed to be on target. The robots and robot maze seemed to be the biggest draw and brought the most attention and people to the booth. The CW activity seemed to be a big hit with all ages (3 days of CQ CQ CQ is about all one person can handle at the booth). The Morse code wrist band seemed to be a hit with the younger females as predicated. The education display generated a lot of interest from the general ham population. There were approximately 50 inquiries from teachers about ETP offerings, and there were uncounted number of inquiries from interested parents, individual hams, and ham clubs about school program offerings. Field Organization/Public Service Team The ARRL National Convention at Dayton was a very positive experience for members of the ARRL Field Organization and their Section Leaders. Steve Ewald notes that 22 Section Managers were in attendance. The Section Manger/Section Leader forum on Sunday was an outstanding chance for the Leaders to interact and discuss common issues. Thanks to Ohio SM Joe Phillips, K8QOE, for arranging additional times for SMs to get together during the weekend. The ARES forum was attended by nearly 100 guests. Thanks to Kay Craigie, N3KN, Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, and Dan Miller, K3UFG, for joining Steve as speakers at the ARES forum. In addition to his other duties at the convention, Chuck Skolaut attended the FCC forum to hear Bill Cross and Riley Hollingsworth gave an update of the latest from the FCC. He also participated in the Section Leader forum that gave him the chance to meet more of our SMs and several Official Observer Coordinators. This enabled him to discuss a number of OO issues and concerns first hand. Field Education Team Chuck Skolaut and his wife, Mary, N0TIK, led the ARRL HQ support of Saturday night's Wouff Hong ceremony. It was a big success, and 137 members were inducted into the Royal Order. Chuck and Mary were stationed at EXPO's New Ham booth where they helped distribute the "Passport" and collected completed "Passports," along with promoting ARRL memberships. Thanks to the many Directors for helping to staff this booth. EmComm Grants Dan Miller registered about 60 students for the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Courses at his booth in ARRL EXPO. We congratulate Betsey Doane, K1EIC, who received an ARRL Mentor of the Year award at the EmComm Mentor banquet on Friday evening. Dan served as emcee of the gathering and about 120 attended. Sincerely, Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer HK: lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 5/30 Holiday Dave Patton 5/23-5/27 Vacation `` 6/21-6/27 Friedrichshafen Germany Convention Lisa Kustosik 5/31 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/27 Vacation Ed Hare 5/23-5/27 IEEE BPL Study Group, Long Beach, CA & Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 5/27-531 Vacation `` 6/2-6/3 USPS Meeting Zoe Belliveau 6/20-6/24 Vacation Fatima Lorusso 6/27-7/1 Vacation Lisa Tardette 6/27-7/8 Vacation `` 7/15 Vacation Zack Lau 6/16-6/17 Vacation Mark Dzamba 6/9-6/13 Vacation Pam Dzamba 6/9-6/13 Vacation Rosalie White 5/19-5/26 Dayton Hamvention & Vacation Joe Carcia 5/27 Vacation Eileen Sapko 5/27 Vacation Kathy Allison 5/27pm Vacation Judy Miller 5/27am Vacation Steve Ewald 6/3-6/6 San Francisco Section Convention