<<061307.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 30, No. 24 June 13, 2007 -- Covers the period June 3-9. Upcoming Meetings and Events Programs & Services Committee July 19 in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee July 19 in Newington, CT Second Board Meeting July 20-21, 2007 in Windsor, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND Monday and Tuesday of a very busy week were spent preparing the certified letters going to the 105 repeater owners/trustees involved with the PAVE PAWS radar situation. The DoD has requested an exchange of data between the DoD and ARRL regarding the Longley-Rice studies and DoD identified mitigation levels by June 15. The first installment involving the New England repeaters was sent to the DoD on Friday June 8, with the information for the California repeaters scheduled to be delivered on the due date. The DoD has agreed to a September 1 date for final implementation of individual plans. Thanks to the ARRL Mailroom for expediting the certified mailing and to the Lab for its continued hard work in processing the Longley-Rice calculations. The mitigation letters to the individual repeater owners was shared as a courtesy with the two repeater coordinating groups. One group circulated it broadly which has generated numerous emails and phone calls not only from affected users but those curious about what is going on and wanting to offer their insights. Needless to say a significant amount of time is being spent on the telephone as well as a large increase in the volume of email. Thanks to Paul Rinaldo for his concise document regarding further mitigation techniques. And many thanks to Chris Imlay for helping make sure I am funneling out the right information to the right channels, as well as advising the best approach for dealing with those who have decided to be less than cooperative. With Field Day rapidly approaching there is a large gear-up of email and phone calls requesting information and clarification. As part of FD2007, we are continuing to work with the in-house group of Harold Kramer, Allen Pitts, Mary Hobart, Joe Carcia, Katie Breen and Lisa Kustosik to plan the "Field Day Friday" activity for HQ staff, as well as the plans for W1AW for the weekend. Also, the 2007 Field Day message for transmission by W1AW and K6KPH was written and sent to W1AW to be processed. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP 60,000 new Emcomm have arrived and are already being distributed. Annual Report has arrived and is being distributed. Plans are being made for Field Day. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The July/August issue of QEX has been released to the printer. The ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 23, distributed to members on June 8. Thanks to Jon Bloom and Allen Pitts for their assistance with the distribution process. Allen voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for June 8. Jon Bloom repaired a glitch in the audio files Monday morning. Khrystyne Keane gave a presentation at this past weekend's West Gulf Division Convention/HamCom 2007 in Plano, Texas. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R A large membership solicitation was completed and mailed this week. The mailing includes 100,000 membership prospects, half of which have never been ARRL members. This mailing crosses the spectrum of license classes, and includes thousands of new hams and upgrades earned during these past six months. The team collaborated on work that will support the revised membership solicitation package sent to newly license hams. Among this planning is a goal to develop an online "Ham Radio Profile" to help collect demographic and interest data from new hams. A membership mailing is being readied to send to participants of the Dayton Passport activity. We'll soon begin testing (internally) the new online membership application form, scheduled for June 15. The warehouse crew processed 854 packages of fulfillment orders during the week. In addition, there were 410 free book membership premiums fulfilled, and mailing supplements for May and June QST. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch As noted in last week's In-News, Dan Henderson continues to play a vital role in the branch (whether he wants to or not!). After working out a few database glitches, Dan also stepped in to author this year's ARRL DX CW Contest Results column. The scheduled column author Stott Robbins, W4PA, is in the process of moving and unable to complete the column by the QST deadline. Scott says he will be back next year. Ken Wolff, K1EA delivered the data for the International DX SSB portion of the DX contest. Copies of the database and the results reports were sent to column author, Ward Silver, N0AX, on Saturday. Contest announcements for the 2007 September VHF, 10 GHz and EME contests were sent to Production for inclusion in August QST. The rules are in the process of being posted to the web. QSL Branch There is no delay in opening mail and a 1 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 92 pounds of cards were received from members. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He processed one W1AW Qualifying Run certificate request. Joe created the texts for the June W1AW Qualifying Runs. He also processed regular QSL card requests. He and Katie Breen, W1KRB also filmed a "Field Day" video clip to place on YouTube (in preparation for Field Day). Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the middle part of the month of June. He also assisted the DXCC department with checking 187 database-inputted cards against DXCC applications. Field Organization/Public Service Team West Virginia Section Manager Ann Rinehart, KA8ZGY, has been nominated for a new term of office beginning October 1. Warren "TR" Reese, WB6TMY, has been nominated in San Francisco. As mentioned last week, Incumbent SM Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV, has been nominated, too, so there will be an election there this summer. In preparation for Field Day and other upcoming activities, Leona Adams received, coordinated, and shipped orders for 31 exhibit kits, 4 ARES kits and 2 scouting kits. Steve Ewald worked on the Public Service column for August QST and prepared for the National Citizen Corps Conference in Alexandria, Virginia. Section Managers are helping to promote Field Day activities throughout their respective sections by way of announcements and news. Chuck Skolaut received and handled two more applications from radio amateurs wanting to become members of the ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch. This was a result of the article in June QST. A long-standing power line noise problem was resolved in California with the aid of Mike Gruber of the ARRL Laboratory staff. Official Observers in Florida continue to work on the problem where the National Weather Service weather information has been heard on a repeater intermittently. An investigation is underway on an unidentified beacon-type operation that has been heard on 10106.4 kHz. The signal repeats a message every five minutes. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ We were able to identify a content writer for our new Technician video project and held a productive discussion with CT Distance Learning, our on-line course provider, about future developments of on-line courses and platform needs. Some statistics on YTD on-line course participation Course Title Enrollments YTD Passed Incomplete or in process Failed, Inactive or Withdrawn Level 1 EmComm 500 223 217 60 Level 2 EmComm 223 158 43 22 Level 3 EmComm 20 18 2 Level 3 EmComm-Rev 2 74 42 27 5 Technician License course 322 68 241 13 All other enrichment courses 125 20 68 23 Education & Technology Program The Executive Committee approved 7 new ETP grants, and notification letters to the recipients have been mailed. Mark is continuing to coordinate logistics for the up-coming Teachers Institutes. He was approved as a presenter at the Washington Association of Educators of Talented and Gifted Conference to be held in Washington state in October. Mark and Doris spent a good part of the week in EmComm support for a local wild fire emergency in Coleville, CA, including offering their home as shelter. Thank you Mark and Doris! ARISS Toyon Elementary School's 470 students (San Jose, CA) took part in an ARISS QSO; 87% of the students are minorities, and their teachers reported that the students have expressed a greater interest in the sciences and technology. Rosalie reports that this fall ARISS won't be supporting as many school QSOs or general QSOs as in the past year. The crews are going to have long work days what with two new ISS modules being launched, 3 Russian rockets making deliveries, 2 shuttles bringing things, and all of these require a lot of space walks. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Micah Murray is on track for putting the new Membership Application system into operation for internal use and testing on Monday, June 18. He also handled a number of site updates, including several contest-results Web articles. Hugh Brower set up a testbed system to examine how best to massage addresses input by members on the Web through the "Mailers+4" application we use to correct and maintain postal addresses. This activity is needed in order to allow us to push member-entered addresses directly into the Siebel system rather than re-keying them in-house. Hugh is also working on getting the new ExamWin software release ready for VEC. I finished testing the new Logbook server and updated some of the utility scripts for the new environment. Server switch-over is now scheduled for 6/12. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 7/4 Holiday Jon Bloom 6/15 Vacation `` 7/9-7/27 Vacation Katie Breen 6/14-6/26 Vacation `` 6/29-7/1 Iowa State Convention `` 7/30-8/3 Vacation Hugh Brower 9/7-9/14 Vacation Joe Carcia 6/28-7/6 Vacation `` 7/13 Vacation `` 7/20 Vacation `` 7/27 Vacation `` 8/3-8/10 Vacation Jackie Cornell 7/2-6 Vacation `` 7/30-8/3 Vacation Jennie Davis 6/18-6/22 Vacation Steve Ewald 6/21 Vacation Steve Ford 6/13-6/15 SNAP Publishing Conference, Washington, DC Perry Green 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA Joel Hallas 6/22 Vacation Ed Hare 7/8-7/13 EMC Society Symposium Committee Meeting, Honolulu, HI Dan Henderson 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA `` 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation Mary Hobart 6/15 Vacation `` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS `` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL `` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN Amy Hurtado 6/20 Vacation `` 7/2-7/4 Vacation `` 8/13-8/15 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 6/21-6/26 Vacation `` 7/16-7/20 Vacation Debra Johnson 6/21 Vacation Joel Kleinman 6/13-6/15 SNAP Publishing Conference, Washington, DC Zak Lau 6/21-6/22 Vacation Dave Patton 6/19-6/25 Friedrichshafen Germany Convention Barry Shelley 7/5-7/9 Vacation `` 8/10-8/24 Vacation Allen Pitts 6/13-6/15 Vacation Maria Somma 6/19-6/27 Friedrichshafen Germany Convention `` 7/13-7/22 Vacation `` 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA `` 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Sumner 6/10-6/25 ITU-R WP8A Geneva, and Friedrichshafen Germany `` 6/29-7/3 Vacation `` 8/1-8/6 Vacation `` 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/8-9/15 IARU Reg. 2 Conference, Brasilia Larry Wolfgang 6/21-6/22 Vacation