<<050510.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 33, No. 18 May 5, 2010 -- Covers the period April 25-May 1. Upcoming Meetings and Events Administration &Finance Committee: May 5, 2010 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ Second Board Meeting: July 16-17, 2010 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT COO: Working with Fathom and our IT Department, we continue to make progress in fixing Web site problems and bugs. This week we switched to the Google search engine that has allowed faster and more accurate search capabilities to the Web site. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva of the European Union recently posted on her blog at http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/georgieva/the-wave-heroes/ the role of Amateur Radio in providing information during the first hours and days of a disaster remains critical to the efficient deployment of other response assets. The text of her statement will be most helpful in July when I present Amateur Radio in the Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF) in D.C. Thankfully, the media surrounding the arrest of Joseph S McVey of Coshocton, OH has settled out and, except for the continuing comments from his home Amateur Radio club, the media connections of his being a ham and the arrest were brief. Unfortunately another arrest, this time KJ6CEY in CA, happened shortly afterward. At this writing, the media is just starting to pick up the story. Charged with transmitting threats over the police frequencies, if the story makes it to national outlets then the potentially bad image from this second arrest may be more difficult to deflect from the amateur community. May CONTACT! is published and more materials were added to the /field-day-pr page for promotions. By allowing better listings and ease of use and download, there have been several broadcast radio stations that are now seeing how many and the variety of audio PSA's we have available and using many of them, not just the Field Day one. Most recent is the use of the PSA's by Omni, a broadcast radio reading service mainly for the visually impaired and the disabled that also has "specific" web casts (including Golden Hours Radio). They claim to have an average of 1500 or more per hour listeners and also do work for Handi-Hams. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH Revenues for the Diamond Club net of membership dues have reached $101,422 year-to-date through the end of April. The total number of Diamond club participants has increased by 121 participants including new donors at the Director ($5000), Platinum ($2500) and Brass ($250) and Basic levels. 75 new bricks have been installed in the Diamond Terrace which has been leveled, weeded and re-sanded. The W1AW Endowment campaign has reached $56,432 from 872 donors toward the goal of $65,000. With the help of Amy Hurtado the expenses for this campaign were under plan by $5000. The next campaign will be for the Spectrum Defense Fund. Plans for Dayton are nearly complete. Response to the annual Donor Reception has been strong with 100 attendees so far. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter for April 29, 2010. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R April ended with 156,461 members - a loss of 314 members over March. 72% of April expirees paid on time, the same percentage as April 2009. April product sales were $262,764, short of the sales forecast of $302,785. Direct sales were $130,809; dealer sales were $131,955. During the last week, the warehouse crew fulfilled 1,008 packages for publication and product orders, 476 membership premiums, and QST mailing supplements. Amy Hurtado participated in an online webinar on State of the Art Digital Magazines. The presentation was made by 3 corporate representatives who had each launched a digital publication within the last 5 years. They shared their ideas on success and failure and their outlook for the future. A Q&A session followed, focusing on advertising's roll in digital editions. The information will contribute to our growing understanding of digital publishing and multimedia marketing. The US Postal Service has taken the steps to enact a 5 day delivery week. This change, if approved, could take effect as soon as March 2011. Postal increases as high as 10% are proposed for January 2011. We enjoyed a status update and demonstration for a new software product in development with a third-party (a licensing training product). ARRL has completed an agreement with Garmin to license a derivative product of TravelPlus for Repeaters supporting Garmin mobile GPS devices. The product will be demonstrated in the ARRL exhibit area at Dayton. We hope to introduce the product for sale during this 2nd quarter. Dayton Hamvention Update: Posters and banners have all been received. Our big shipment to Dayton left by truck on May 5th-10 pallets. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI TIS Bob Allison has noticed a considerable increase of technical questions coming into the Lab via TIS and directly to me. Members sure get a bang for their buck. RFI Mike Gruber went with EMC Committee member Jerry Ramie to investigate an alleged U-Verse complaint. They met up with WTIC Chief Engineer Jeff Huggabone, who also had concerns about interference to broadcast reception. The site of the complaint was the Spoonville Road area of East Granby / Tarriffville. We found several sources of power line noise as the source of the interference. During the course of the investigation, we demonstrated the disruptive effects the noise had on WTIC. We also demonstrated to Mr. Huggabone our power line noise locating equipment and located a source for him. Mr. Huggabone would now like to be a part of the Working Group we are forming to develop a recommended practice for the resolution of power line noise. Mike Gruber continued work on EMC Chapter for 2011 Handbook *Received TV section from Ron Hranac *Received new sidebar from Bob Allison *Discussed Automotive Section with Mark Steffka & Jeremy Campbell *Met with editor Ward Silver to discuss chapter Product Review Testing Bob Allison installed a very narrow roofing filter in a high performance transceiver which will be reviewed for an upcoming product review. Key measurements were made. Data tables for two high performance transceivers were finalized. All Product Review pages were updated for June on our web site. Travel Bob Allison packed up the kits, tools and instruction materials for the kit building exhibition at the ARRL Expo at Dayton. I have been in communication with staff and volunteers who are helping out and they are all very excited about being mentors. Bob Allison has signed up to represent the ARRL at the Knoxville Tennessee Hamfest. Zack Lau attended a 4-hour professional development workshop run by Carl Selinger, "Stuff you don't learn in engineering school", sponsored by ASME New Haven and IEEE Connecticut. It was well worth attending-lots of ideas on how to work more efficiently in the workplace. D Star Repeater We will be getting a D-Star repeater at HQ. A meeting was held last Wednesday with Bill Unghire, N1CNV, who will be assisting us to get the repeater up and running. We have all the equipment except for the antennas and transmission line. The repeater will be an active display that will show visitors and staff members how this relatively new technology works. The antennas a transmission line will be ordered soon. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Branch Credits Applications 2009 Carryover 167,346 1,259 2010 Received 249,948 2,051 Cumulative Total 417,294 3,310 2010 Processed 373,352 2,998 Remaining 43,942 312 Processing Time 3 Weeks Logbook of the World Category April 2010 % Change Jan - Apr 2010 QSO Records Entered In System 280,799,850 7% QSL Record Matches 29,823,169 11% Logs Processed 1,455,793 13% Active Certificates 50,761 6% Registered Users in System 33,550 7% Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries April 2010 Maintenance 864 Initial Setup Inquiries 822 Award Related Concerns 344 Customer Usage Issues 798 Phone Calls 134 Total 2,962 W1AW Thanks to members of the Candlewood ARA (CARA) for operating W1AW in the 2010 New England QSO Party. Despite an issue or two with the contest logging program, they made 278 SSB QSOs on 20 meters for an initial claimed score of 10,008. A meeting was held at W1AW on Thursday, April 29 to discuss the future home of the W1AW D-Star equipment. The plan is to have the D-Star repeater in operation at ARRL HQ with the callsign W1HQ, and initially be active on 2 meters. In attendance were Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, Bob Allison, WB1GCM, Jon Bloom, KE3Z, Mike Corey, W5MPC and Bill Unghire, N1CNV. Bill is a member of the Newington ARL (NARL) and has offered to assist with the software side of the installation. Joe created the texts for the May W1AW Qualifying Runs. He updated the W1AW FMT web page with result data links and audio files that were recorded of the various FMT-participating stations. Joe also updated all the PCs with the latest versions of N1MMLogger in anticipation of both the US Power Squadron and Field Day operations that will take place next month. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the early part of the month of May. Field Organization/Public Service Team Steve Ewald represented ARRL Headquarters on the National Citizen Corps' quarterly teleconference for its affiliated organizations and for its regional offices. Plans are underway to sponsor the annual National Preparedness Month once again in September and to hold a national partner's meeting sometime during the fall season. Leona Adams received a petition from Ed Stuckey, AI7H, the incumbent Section Manager of Idaho, to run for a new term of office that is scheduled to begin in October. Leona and Steve have been assisting some Section Managers and other Field Organization Section Leaders with regard to details on where to find various resources and information on the new ARRL Web site. Chuck Skolaut returned from a successful convention in Monroe, Louisiana. Radio amateurs from Western Washington and West Virginia completed certification to become Official Observers this past week. Official Observer reports continue to come in regarding boot-legging of the NL7R call sign. Questions handled this week dealt with operating overseas, proper identification by beacons, and how to become an Official Observer. Carla Ackley KD7JGJ, the Arizona OOC, held a dinner meeting for her section Official Observers to discuss various OO matters and to update them. Chuck also conducted a tour for an Amateur Radio operator couple from Italy who were visiting relatives in the state. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ Continuing Education Program /Other Activities Jennifer Knapp and I have been handling a heavy volume of calls and emails during recent weeks because of the simultaneous launch of the new website and the launch of the new emcomm course, Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs. Most of the volume has been concerned with functionality of the CCE database through the new website, problems with license class listings and access to the new online course and questions about requirements for enrollment. Also as a result of the website launch we are revising all routine communications we issue to support education programs to include new website references. The release of the new edition of the Ham Radio License Manual is generating additional questions about the new Technician question pool and the last session of the online Ham Radio License course. With release of the new management emcomm course we also are receiving questions and feedback about course content that we will be addressing with edits where necessary. We are receiving applications and the extensive documentation for enrollment requirements from candidates for the final assessment. No one has yet been released to take the final assessment pending execution of approved edits. Jenny Hawran has been focusing on developing the resource support page to support the 2nd edition of the Ham Radio License Manual while improving and updating content throughout the Instructor Resource and Amateur Radio in the Classroom sections of the website. I attended the Arkansas Hamfest on April 24 and learned the concerns of members and leadership about positioning of ARRL's ARES organization with government-led emergency response agencies and philosophical questions about the role of our emcomm training, fielded questions about the new emcomm management course as well as questions about approaching schools to do educational outreach. Miguel Enriquez KD7RPP and I will attend Hamvention this year to support the Kit Building booth organized by Bob Allison WB1GCM, which will offer two kits developed and supplied by Mark Spencer WA8SME. We will also support the Amateur Radio in Education booth with Allen Pitts W1AGP. Miguel will showcase the CubeSat Simulator and other ETP resources, talking about the classroom activities he has pioneered with these resources in the Tucson Unified School District. Allen Pitts and I will provide information on conducting effective outreach to local schools, featuring the new resources recently developed to support clubs that want to undertake this effort. ARISS During the past few weeks, ARISS contacts have been conducted with two schools in Texas along with several international contacts. Students at Walnut Creek Elementary School in Azle, Texas, made an ARISS QSO on March 29. Prior to the contact they researched and created models of space objects, giving classroom presentations on their work. The school recently formed an Amateur Radio club, and students have been learning what ham radios can do. Retired Lockheed employees and members of local radio clubs have given ham radio demonstrations to the students, showing them all about QSOs and satellite communications. Tri-County Radio Club led the yearlong preparations for this contact. Jessup Elementary School in Houston, Texas, had an ARISS contact on April 19 as the finale after incorporating ARISS activities into the school curriculum. Teachers specifically focused on science, math, and language arts instruction across kindergarten to fourth grade levels. One teacher wrote: "The contact was an exciting, immediately-relevant, hands-on educational experience." This was Astronaut Tracy Caldwell's first ARISS event. Rosalie White K1STO reports that the April 5th launch of space shuttle mission 131 (STS-131), resulted in two "firsts." For the first time in history, four women astronauts are in space all at the same time. Topping that - all four women are Amateur Radio operators!! The women are: ISS Expedition 23 crew member Tracy Caldwell, KF5DBF, and STS-131 crewmembers Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, KE5DAT; Stephanie Wilson, KD5DZE; and Naoko Yamazaki, KE5DAS. The ARISS Team is also preparing for the Dayton Hamvention. Gould Smith, WA4SXM, AMSAT Project Manager for ARISSat-1, will give a presentation at the AMSAT Forum titled, "Getting ARISSat-1 Ready to Fly." The AMSAT ARISSat Team will have a prototype of the satellite at the AMSAT Booth, and will do some demos out in the flea market area. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 5/31 Holiday Bob Allison 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/11-6/13 Tennessee State Convention, Knoxville, TN Jon Bloom 5/10-5/17 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 5/31-6/8 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 5/10-5/14 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/28 Vacation `` 6/18 Vacation `` 7/2-7/9 Vacation `` 7/16 Vacation `` 7/23 Vacation `` 7/30 Vacation `` 8/9 Vacation Mike Corey 6/5-6/6 Georgia Section Convention, Marietta, GA Jackie Cornell 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Steve Ewald 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Norm Fusaro 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Scott Gee 5/13-5/14 Vacation `` 8/30-8/31 Vacation Katie Glass 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Mike Gruber 5/25-5/28 Vacation `` 6/1-6/4 Vacation `` 8/23-8/27 Vacation Joel Hallas 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Ed Hare 6/4-6/6 Northwestern Division Convention, Seaside, OR Dan Henderson 4/30-5/5 SC Section Convention, Spartanburg, SC/Vacation `` 6/22-7/5 Friedrichshafen/Vacation Mary Hobart 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton OH `` 5/21 Vacation `` 6/10-6/13 HamCom, Dallas, TX Amy Hurtado 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Bob Inderbitzen 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/9-6/12 West Gulf Division Convention, Plano TX Debra Johnson 5/12-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Khrystyne Keane 5/13-5/16 Contest University/Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Harold Kramer 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Lisa Kustosik 5/17 Vacation Sean Kutzko 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/28-5/30 Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Casper, WY Rose-Ann Lawrence 5/12 Vacation Zac Lau 5/19 Vacation Amy Leary 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/17 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Bill Moore 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Patton 8/6-8/7 Texas State Convention, Austin, TX Diane Petrilli 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Kim Piatek 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Allen Pitts 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/24-5/28 Vacation Brennan Price 5/8-5/21 ITU-R Working Party 5A&5B, Geneva Chuck Skolaut 5/12-5/18 Vacation Dave Sumner 5/13-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/23-6/28 Friedrichshafen, Germany `` 6/29-7/13 Vacation