IN-Newsletter Vol. 40, No. 41 November 18, 2015 - Covers the period November 8-14. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events Director/Vice Director Elections November 20 @ 9:00am - ARRL HQ LoTW Study Committee January 13 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee January 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee January 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Annual Board Meeting January 15-16 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Bob Allison tested a three band Arduino based transceiver board that operates on 2 meters, 1 ¼ meters and 70 cm. The board receives commands from a Linux based operating system and is quite sophisticated. Bob also looked into testing the transverter output of a late model transceiver to see if any transients are present. A member had a transverter failure before modification from the factory with regards to ALC overshoot. Our unmodified transceiver, borrowed from W1AW showed the presence of a strong transient. Our transceiver will now be sent to the factory for modification. QST Zack Lau took some photos of an antenna he wrote up for QST to help out the handling editor. He also checked his H&K article page layout for errors. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Yvette Vinci prepared the email notification for the December 2015 digital edition of QST, distributed to ARRL members on Tuesday, November 10. The distribution list included 122,014 members. In conjunction with this special anniversary edition of QST, members can enjoy browsing the first issue of QST as a new digital edition. In October, we processed 56 paid-in-full Life Memberships and 44 Life Membership pledges. Jackie Ferreira reports that an email offering members the 2016 ARRL Handbook and/or ARRL Antenna Book with BONUS commemorative reissue of the first issue of QST contributed 145 orders over the weekend. A similar offering has been extended to our ARRL Facebook page audience. Three more ARRL titles are being published as e-books to the Kindle marketplace: The Radio Amateur's Workshop (new), Antenna Towers for Radio Amateurs, and Amateur Radio Transceiver Performance Testing. The digital editions will be available for purchase later this week. Diane Petrilli reports that responses to the November membership campaign have just started to come in. December's campaign will mail on December 11. Additionally, she has prepared a handful of membership appeals for emailing throughout the Thanksgiving holiday and Cyber Monday. Most of the printed membership-related collateral with updated dues amounts (effective January 1) have returned from printers. Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci: Week Ending Calls Answered Calls Per Hour Total Talking Duration Average Speed of Answer 11/13/2015 975 21.6 30:15:18 9 seconds 11/06/2015 825 18.3 27:01:52 9 seconds 10/30/2015 986 21.9 33:59:35 10 seconds 10/23/2015 969 22.1 34:20:35 14 seconds Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week Ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 11/13/2015 802 591 11/6/2015 1,086 685 10/30/2015 1,191 520 10/23/2015 1,042 750 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 1 Week Logbook Processing Time 2-4 Business Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 2761 W1AW/WAS 1966 W1AW On Saturday, W1AW hosted scouts who were involved with the Connecticut Rivers Council, BSA, STEM Merit Badge Day. They made a number of contacts on 20, 17 and 15 meters. This activity has inspired a few of these scouts to work towards their Amateur Radio licenses. Joe Carcia updated the web code practice files and their archives. He processed one Qualifying Run certificate. Joe also processed regular QSL card requests. He readied a replacement rotator in anticipation of the autumn visit by the station's antenna contractors. Joe also installed a refurbished Icom IC-M700TY HF transceiver (for use with SHARES and MARS communications) in the IRLP station area and ran new antenna cables to the patch panel for same. Scott Gee processed some VUCC applications and certificates. He also worked on slow and fast code practice runs texts for the week. Field Organization/Public Service Team Last week, at the encouragement of ARRL officials, many Section Managers in key states sent e-mail messages to ARRL members in their respective sections to ask them to contact their U.S. Senators to ask them to support the Amateur Radio Parity Act. Besides dealing with Official Observer issues, sending supplies, and preparing for the ARRL Indiana State Convention at the Ft Wayne Hamfest, Chuck Skolaut handled questions dealing with third party traffic, overseas operation, a foreign station operating in the United States, and operating privileges on 60 meters. Headquarters also received several complaints about the operation on 7200 kHz involving bad language and jamming. On the Intruder Watch side, a signal identifying as 4XZ was reported on 7050 kHz first by European stations and then by stations in the United States including Connecticut, Texas, and New Jersey. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 11/26-11/27 Holiday All Staff 12/25 Holiday Leona Adams 11/25-11/30 PTO Lauren Clarke 11/25 PTO `` 12/24 PTO Steve Ewald 11/30-12/8 PTO Jackie Ferreira 11/20 PTO `` 12/24 PTO Steve Ford 11/20-11/25 PTO `` 12/4 PTO `` 12/11 PTO `` 12/21-12/31 PTO Dan Henderson 11/23-11/25 PTO Bob Inderbitzen 11/25 PTO `` 12/24-12/31 PTO Debra Johnson 11/25 PTO Diane Petrilli 12/21-12/24 pto