IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 51 December 21, 2005 -- Covers the period December 11-17. Upcoming Meetings and Events Annual Board Meeting January 20-21, 2006 in Windsor, CT CEO On Monday morning the staff was shocked by the news that Northwestern Division Director Greg Milnes, W7OZ had passed away over the weekend. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife Loretta and the Milnes family. The office will be closed on Monday, December 26 for the Christmas holiday and again on Monday, January for New Year's. In each case the Friday before is a normal workday and the office will open for the usual hours. Happy holidays and a healthy 2006 to everyone. Regulatory Information In addition to a wide range of regulatory questions, John Hennessee assisted an amateur in Montclaire, CA (KE6IE) with a local government zoning question. He also reviewed the rules and regulations section of the proposed Technician Question Pool and also worked on the regulatory aspects of a commercial broadcast station to an amateur in Ferndalem WA (W7EKM). Development A second round of Ham Aid reimbursement checks totaling more than $13,000 have been approved for volunteers who served along the Gulf Coast during the hurricanes this past fall. Eight requests for funds have been received and reviewed to replace damaged equipment for Amateur Radio organizations. Checks will be dispersed once approval from CNCS to reallocate grant funds has been received. The Diamond Club free calendar offer extended to ARRL members in November and December has produced 12 new Diamond Club donors each contributing $100. A new offer for Diamond Rewards is being produced to provide discounts on publications purchases. Thanks to Bob Inderbitzen and Kathy Capodicasa for their help in crafting this new offer to attract additional Diamond Club donors in 2006. Response to the 2006 Spectrum Defense campaign has slowed. To date the fall campaign has raised more than $127,000 from more than 2440 donors. Media & Public Relations "Mission Accomplished" was the summation of the Toy Drive on Dec 16th as 5000 toys were delivered to TSA along the Gulf coast. Over $8000 was donated, MFJ's truck and hundreds of volunteer hours. Media coverage included two TV stations in Memphis, one in Jackson, and print. A special event station, W1AW/4, also promoted the activities. Special thanks to Henry Leggette and Joe Lowenthal. Production/Editorial The February 2006 issue of QST has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 49, distributed to 66,014 ARRL members on Dec 19. The final edition of the Letter for 2006 will go out this week on Friday, Dec 23. Joel Kleinman will handle the news desk during my absence, Dec 27-Jan 6. Rick submitted the "Happenings" column and, with Steve Ewald, compiled and edited "The Katrina Chronicles 2" for the Feb 2006 QST. He prepared/edited news items on expanded eligibility for "Ham Aid" reimbursements, Holiday Toy Drive convoy hits the road, Astronaut seeking WAC/WAS/DXCC from space; ARRL experimenting with D-Star technology, ARES/SKYWARN activation for Massachusetts nor'easter, a new 134 GHz distance record, and several news briefs and announcements. With soundbite help from Mary Hobart, Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Dec 19. Sales & Marketing We have recorded over 500 returns from November's membership mailing to 20,000 lapsed members (General, Adv, and Extra). We are delighted with these strong results, and expect the number to continue climbing. We have taken delivery of the following new products: Two-Way Radios & Scanners for Dummies, QRP Quarterly DVD 1979-2004 (also available on CD-ROM), RSGB Prefix Guide--7th edition. ARRL has recorded the sale of the 1,000-nth copy of Basic Radio, less than two months into its debut. Congratulations to author Joel Hallas, and to everyone contributing to the success of this new ARRL title. A product sales solicitation was emailed on Friday night, helping maintain higher sales levels within the online catalog throughout the weekend. Publication dealers were contacted, encouraging them to place orders before the last week of the month. There have been quite a few responses for orders. U.S. Bank reported that there were 1,343 ARRL Visa cards issued through Dec 12. Work continued on advertising for February 2006 QST and the Repeater Directory. QST has proven challenging as ALINCO opted out and Kenwood and AES are running 2 pages instead of 3. Fortunately, a few of our occasional advertisers are scheduled for February. New ham information packages were mailed 24 prospects this week. Online Courses A total of 197 students in 15 sections began online courses in December. A survey to help investigate why some students do not complete the online Technician Licensing course is being prepared. ON-LINE COURSES Registrations During this week Graduations Antenna Modeling (EC-004) 0 1 HF Digital (EC-005) 1 0 RFI (EC-006) 0 1 VHF/UHF (EC-008) 0 0 Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009) 0 1 Technician Licensing (EC-010) 5 3 Propagation (EC-011) 1 0 Analog Electronics (EC-012) 4 0 Digital Electronics (EC-013) 1 0 Emergency Comm. Level 1 (EC-001) 12 34 Emergency Comm. Level 2 (EC-002) 3 8 Emergency Comm. Level 3 (EC-003) 3 5 Field & Educational Services Field Organization/Public Service Team The ARRL Section Manager's Web page is now sporting a new, downloadable Certificate of Merit that honors those who helped during the 2005 hurricane season. Thanks to Diane Szlachetka for designing the certificate and to Tom Hogerty for posting it on the SM's Area Web page. Section Managers are now able to specially recognize the radio amateurs from their sections who participated in disaster-relief communications. Steve Ewald kept the SMs informed of this new resource, and he prepared the Public Service column for February QST and worked with Rick Lindquist on an additional QST article that features Amateur Radio efforts during the 2005 hurricane season. Chuck Skolaut is handling and reviewing documentation that was received in response to an FCC monitoring request. He learned that the FCC has been in touch with their German counterpart to follow up on a 40-meter intruder case. Additional intruder reports have been received that concern 15 and 75 meters, and an investigation of unlicensed business use of 2 meters in the South continues. Volunteer monitors are also reporting a pirate station using foul language on the 80 meter CW band segment. With the end of the year approaching, Leona Adams continues to receive and process Section Manager travel and administrative expense reports. The January 6, 2006, deadline to receive 2005 expenses at HQ and the mileage-reimbursement for 2006 notice has been communicated to the SMs. Leona also received statements from the two Virginia SM candidates for election preparation. ARISS PR: Rosalie made suggestions to the final layout of an ARISS QST article she edited. MSNBC carried the Mt Carmel High School (SDgo) ARISS QSO. The Sanderson HS (TX) QSO was covered by The Terrell County News Leader, The Davis Mountain Times, The Big Bend Sentinel and The Alpine Avalanche newspapers. ARISS Updates: Bill McArthur, KC5ACR continues making random QSOs with hams. Rosalie studied a proposed NASA charter for the ARISS international team; she composed questions about possible additions to the draft. She sent email on upcoming QSOs to Directors, Vice Directors and SMs; some are ensuring PR will be done. She contacted 5 schools about updating late 2003/early 2004 applications. ARISS' Effect on Schools/Students: A teacher who submitted a 2004 application said the school "most assuredly remains interested." Since applying, the school sponsored ham radio demos including HF and satellite communications, and it offered communications classes with students practicing talking on ham radio. The school plans to do 2006 classes and demos, and has a web site specifically about the school's ARISS educational activities. International Aspects: Rosalie networked Chris Imlay to the ARISS Team about new questions on third party traffic. She assisted the French team in confirming the QSL print order the internationals are getting. She sent information to a New Zealand ham about how to find, and where to send, ARISS applications. Minutes of last week's Educational Outreach international meeting were shared with the NASA Education Office, and are now posted on the ARISS Web site. Rosalie relayed a message from Boris Stepanov about Radio magazine gearing up for working with QST. She helped international school mentors nudge their schools to submit NASA evaluation forms. Non-ARISS work: Rosalie sent input to colleagues on the Growth Team, sharing ideas on where we should go next. She forwarded National Hurricane Conference details to Steve E. Field Education team All club updates are complete and SSC clubs have been sent for approval. A recent article about resources for visually impaired people who would want to be hams netted some positive feedback including a ham that used the material to pass his technician exam. 12/16/2005 Hamfest Approval Letters 10 Convention Approval Letters 2 Label Requests 2 Handouts & Door Prize Orders 9 Clubs Entered into Siebel 7 Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program-Mark Spencer I made a presentation on the ETP at a local ham club Saturday breakfast meeting. I completed a contact with an ETP school that put their superintendent on the air. The superintendent wanted to see first hand what the teacher was doing (the teacher is seeking approval for an antenna installation). The education committee met this week, I joined in via teleconference. A preliminary summary of the recent ETP survey results was published. The first inquiry on the summer teacher's institutes was received this week. The Executive Committee votes on the most recent grant applications were due in this week, grant processing will proceed once the votes are received. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 12/26 Holiday `` 1/2 Holiday John Hennessee 12/16-12/26 Vacation Scott Gee 12/22-12/23 Vacation Steve Ford 12/24-1/3 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 12/27-12/30 Vacation Zoe Belliveau 12/27-12/30 Vacation Diane Szlachetka 12/27-12/30 Vacation Rick Lindquist 12/27-1/6 Vacation Joel Kleinman 12/29-12/30 Vacation Perry Williams 12/23-1/3 Vacation Mary Hobart 12/22-12/23 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 12/27 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 12/27-12/30 Vacation Allen Pitts 12/24-1/2 Vacation Dan Henderson 12/22-1/4 Vacation Gail Iannone 12/19-12/30 Vacation Norman Fusaro 12/23-1/2 Vacation Greg Kwasowski 12/19-12/31 Vacation MaryAnn Macdonald 12/27-12/30 Vacation AnnMarie Pinto 12/23pm Vacation `` 12/27 Vacation Mary Hobart 12/22-12/30 Vacation Lisa Tardette 12/27-12/30 Vacation Leona Adams 12/22-12/23 Vacation Dean Straw 12/20-1/3 Vacation Joel Hallas 12/23 Vacation Joe Bottiglieri 12/21-1/3 Vacation