<<010908.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 2 January 9, 2008 -- Covers the period December 30-January 5. Upcoming Meetings and Events Administration &Finance Committee January 17 @ 8:30am in Houston, TX Programs & Services Committee January 17 @ 8:30am in Houston, TX Annual Board Meeting January 18-19, 2008 @ 9:00am in Houston, TX Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Work is almost complete on the 2008 edition of the Swiss Army Knife for PIOs as the last files come in to be included. Hopefully, a pre-production copy will be available for the Board at the meeting next week. The following people and topic areas have committed to providing text, video or audio, background info and materials for the 2008 tech campaign: (1) Time changes due to gravitational flux, John Ackerman, N8UR (2) DStar, John Webb (3) Cancer research, John Kanzius, K3TUP (4) NBEMS, (Skip) Teller, KH6TY (5) Long distance WiFi, Mirco Paesante, IZ3HAD (6) hard programming chips without hassles or special software, Sean Sheedy, AI4ID (7) SDR, Bob McGwier, N4HY (8) "Green" Radio," Larry D. Barr, K5WLF (9) SETI - Argus, Paul Shuch, N6TX (10) Career from ham radio - US cellular engineer Will McCutcheon, KI5JJ. Additional topics and people willing to participate are still being sought. Please have candidates contact me at apitts@arrl.org The January issue of contact is up and available. An interview promoting Amateur Radio was posted at "Talkzone" for local broadcast stations to use http://www.talkzone.com/archive.asp?aid=11138. John Kanzius was on CNN and Mary Hobart on WDRC. The Outdoor Channel is running our video PSA nationally. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The report of Development for the 2008 ARRL Annual Meeting is complete and has been submitted. The final numbers indicate that overall Development revenues exceeded the mid-year increased forecast by nearly $18,000. The strongest performing area was the Diamond Club that produced strong gross revenues of more than $402,000 - the highest in five years - from the Diamond Terrace project. Foundation scholarship applications are beginning to arrive in earnest. The deadline for applications for the 2008 awards is Feb 1, 2008. Work on 2008 projects will begin after the January Board meeting. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The ARRL Letter and ARRL Audio News will return January 11. Carol Michaud has begun working part-time as a production assistant. She has a degree from Gibbs College in Visual Communications and is proficient in Photoshop and InDesign, and we are pleased to have her onboard. Maty Weinberg, Khrystyne Keane and Jodi Morin helped answer phones during the Connecticut Public Television fund-raiser during the UConn vs Army women's basketball game on New Year's Eve day. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Membership Update Membership by 2007 year-end reached 153,535-4,894 more members than year-end 2006; a 3% increase! This growth is attributed to a combination of events and activities. Among these, license restructuring dramatically increased new licensees, thereby increasing the pool of membership prospects. All areas of our membership prospecting have benefited from these increases. The major membership campaign that mailed in December has returned over 1,082 new membership applications. Sales Update Year end product sales reached $3,261,604-about 95.6% of the sales forecast, and representing a banner year. Comparison to Previous Years: 2007 $3,261,604 2006 $2,888,101 2005 $2,961,876 2004 $3,053,185 We reached an agreement with an author for a new ARRL book, slated for publication this fall. The winter 2008 catalog <http://www.arrl.org/catalog/winter_catalog.html> was completed in December and 5,000 copies were mailed the first week of January. For the first time, an Internet version has been posted to our web site. Everyone can browse the entire 20 page catalog using a web browser and the easy-to-use on-screen navigation controls. The eCatalog technology is commonly used to browse weekly store circulars and newspaper ads. Eventually, the ARRL eCatalog may be auto-linked to the ARRL eStore <http://www.arrl.org/catalog> , making it even easier to locate ARRL publications and products. The Warehouse crew resumed shipping after a 2-day end-of-year inventory and audit. Last week, they fulfilled 138 packages for publication and product orders. In the second half of 2007, the Warehouse processed 21,457 packages with a total weight of 161,205 lbs. They also shipped 4,000 membership premiums and mailing supplements for 30,000 issues of QST. Now Shipping! The Gil Cartoon Book <http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=0364> . This is a reprint of the first edition collection of 'Gil' cartoons. The collection was first published in 1986. Philip "Gil" Gildersleeve, W1CJD (SK 1966) contributed over 1,500 cartoons and drawings to QST and the ARRL over 40 years. This publication reprint has been produced using print-on-demand technology. The print-on-demand approach has already contributed to our re-introduction of a couple of classic ARRL publications and the first-time publication of some small-run titles such as conference proceedings. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch Log deadlines for the ARRL 160m contest just passed; ARRL 10 Meter Contest logs are due in just a few days. All paper logs for SS CW have been converted to Cabrillo files and sent through the contest robot, thanks to Larry, K5OT and Bob, N6TV. They will also be handling the SS Phone paper logs in similar fashion. This will allow all logs received for those contests to undergo the same scrutiny. Number of logs received via email for recent events: Contest Name # of Logs Received Sweepstakes Phone 1,469 160 Meter 1,120 10 Meter 1,442 ARRL 10 GHz results have been given to Editorial. IARU results and September VHF results should be turned in this week. 2007 DX Contest plaques and certificates will be handled this week. W1AW Thanks to Steve Ewald, WV1X, Chuck Skolaut, KØBOG and Ron Cady, K1RKD for operating W1AW in the 2008 ARRL RTTY Roundup. They made 237 contacts on 40 and 20 meters, with 32 states and 9 DX stations, for an initial claimed score of 10,428. Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also began processing regular QSL card requests. Joe also had to swap out (and replace) a bad UPS that was in use for the APRS and WL2K/Telpac stations. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the early part of the month of January. Field Organization/Public Service Team Thanks to the Mailroom Staff, the San Diego Section Manager Election ballots are on their way to members in the San Diego Section as of December 27, and ahead of the January 2 deadline. Those members will have until February 15 to return their filled-in ballots. Don Michalski, W9IXG, has been nominated to run for another term as Wisconsin Section Manager. Steve Ewald and Leona Adams have been working with Section Managers, and especially with the brand new group of SMs that just started their terms of office on January 1. This group includes Jay Isbell, KA4KUN (Alabama); Jim Larsen, AL7FS (Alaska); James Latham, AF6AQ (East Bay); Don Wood, W5FHA (New Mexico); Glen Clayton, W4BDB (Tennessee); and Christopher Pritchard, WY7UPR (Wyoming). As the deadline to receive 2007 expense reports draws near, Leona has been receiving and handling many Section-related expense reports and updating each section's budget report, too. During 2007, 62 radio amateurs became Official Observers. ARRL currently has 707 OOs nationwide. Within the last week, members from Western New York and Ohio completed their certification exams to become OOs. Chuck Skolaut received audio taped documentation about an operation on a 75 meters frequency and another on 20 meters in response to FCC monitoring requests. Other reports of note include complaints about operations on 14275 kHz, interference to the County Hunters Net on 14336 kHz, unidentified noise on 6 meters in Maine, and unidentified noise on 75 meters in Texas. All of these are under investigation. Chuck filled in at W1AW for one morning's code practice run and visitor operating during the Holiday week. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Kathy Allison 1/14 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 1/21-1/25 Vacation Norm Fusaro 1/14-1/15 Access Class, Windsor, CT Mary Hobart 1/10-1/11 Vacation `` 1/16-1/20 BOD Meeting Harold Kramer 1/16-1/20 BOD Meeting Lisa Kustosik 1/16-1/22 BOD Meeting/Vacation Sean Kutzko 1/14-1/15 Access Class, Windsor, CT Dave Patton 1/16-1/20 BOD Meeting Frankie Perez 1/14-1/15 Access Class, Windsor, CT Barry Shelley 1/16-1/20 BOD Meeting Dave Sumner 1/16-1/20 BOD Meeting