IN-Newsletter Vol. 40, No. 21 June 17, 2015 - Covers the period June 7-13. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events LoTW Study Committee July 15 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee July 16 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee July 16 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Second Board Meeting July 17-18 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Bob Allison completed testing of a software defined HF transceiver. Data was compiled into a form of a data table. The data table and all other test information were passed along to the Product Review Editor, Mark Wilson, K1RO and to the manufacturer. Additional Eaton AFCI breaker testing is still being planned at W1AW. Lab Testing for Advertising Acceptance Bob is currently reviewing the handheld emission test results taken at Dayton last month. A total of 265 handhelds were tested by Bob, Mike Gruber and a team of volunteer engineers. Troublesome brands and model numbers are being identified. The test data will also be presented in the form of a Technical Correspondence article for QST. Lab Volunteers Pete Turbide, W1PT, cleaned up and tested a Collins S-Line that was recently donated to the Lab. The S-Line will eventually be placed in the lobby for a month as part of the ARRL's "Evolution of Amateur Radio Equipment" exhibit. After its display, it will be place in our main exhibit and will be made available to operate by staff and visitors. The Collins S-Line was the "Cadillac" of all Amateur Radio equipment from 1959 to 1978 and was very expensive to purchase; most Radio Amateurs could only dream of owning a set. Radio Frequency Interference Mike Gruber's report on the April power line noise case has now been sent to PG&E's attorney Jonathon Pendleton, EMC Committee Chairman Kermit Carlson, and Ed Hare. So far, there hasn't been a response from PG&E. Mike Gruber helped investigate the noise from the new HVAC system that has been plaguing W1HQ. At this point, the noise has been determined to be associated with the fan motors. Representatives from the contractor and manufacturer have looked at the problem, and Mike has made some suggestions as to how the problem might be further investigated and corrected. They will continue to investigate. Mike Gruber has had several complaints of RFI from Enphase inverters used in solar generating systems. One is in nearby Farmington. He expects to make a personal visit in the near future. Electronic Publication Support Zack Lau has been helping folks download TravelPlus GPS. Many people have to change their security settings to allow the Garmin Communicator plugin to be recognized by the browser-otherwise they get into a loop where the browser tells them to install the plugin that they just installed! Google Chrome now blocks the use of plugins. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R We conducted a final bulk-emailing promoting the West Gulf Division Convention, Ham-Com, encouraging traffic to the ARRL booth. The convention was held June 12-13. We completed a review of the department's year to date results as part of the mid-year reforecast exercise. Yvette Vinci prepared the email notification for the July 2015 digital edition of QST, distributed to ARRL members on Wednesday, June 10. The distribution list included 120, 591 members. Yvette completed "reminder letters" to 413 members making quarterly payments toward Life Membership. And, in June, we processed 22 paid-in-full Life Memberships and 20 Life Membership pledges. Jackie Ferreira reports that a flyer promoting the new version of our "TravelPlus for Repeaters(tm)" Windows-based software mailed to 7,000 past purchasers. Email solicitations were also distributed promoting the software and TravelPlus Mobile GPS for Garmin devices. The ARRL Extra Class License Manual is now available from Amazon as an e-book in the Kindle format. This completes our plan to offer all 3 ARRL License Manuals for Kindle. Amazon also carries the print editions-permitting their customers to choose either format. A handful of additional marketing tactics have been planned to help improve publication sales results during the summer months. Now shipping: The ARRL Centennial QSO Party 2014: The W1AW Portable Operations<http://www.arrl.org/shop/The-W1AW-Portable-Operations/> booklet. We continue to have an open position for the Front Desk Receptionist. An experienced radio amateur is preferred. Employment inquiries can be directed to Monique Levesque. Presently, the responsibilities are being covered by other staff from our Member Services team on a daily rotation. Logistics and materials were finalized for the shared ARRL and IARU exhibit space at the International Amateur Radio Exhibition, HAM RADIO 2015, to be held in Friedrichshafen, Germany June 26-28. The ARRL team includes Diane Petrilli (membership), Norm Fusaro (DXCC and awards), Dave Sumner, and Kay Craigie. The IARU contingent includes Tim Ellam, Ole Garpestad, and Rod Stafford. Bob Inderbitzen and Steve Ford reviewed the developer's drafts of Bob's suggested design enhancements to the online ARRL Exam Review<http://www.arrl.org/examreview> resource. The online browser-based program was introduced in May 2014 as a supplementary review and practice exam resource for the current editions of ARRL License Manuals. ARRL Exam Review already supports the new General Class question pool, for exams given on or after July 1. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 6/12/2015 810 410 6/5/2015 1,476 1,088 5/29/2015 1,018 376 5/22/2015 913 804 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 4 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 2-4 Business Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 1971 W1AW/WAS 1523 W1AW Joe worked the early afternoon/night shifts on Thursday and Friday for the vacationing Scott Gee. He also updated the web code practice files and their archives. Joe assembled the TNC-Pi unit that will be used with the experimental Davis WX Station for EMCOMM use. The TNC-Pi will be connected to a Raspberry Pi. He updated the code practice QST source web page. He also processed two (2) Qualifying Run certificates regular W1AW QSL card requests. Field Organization/Public Service Team Ed James, KA8JMW, of Albuquerque, was named as New Mexico Section Manager on June 11 to succeed Bill Kauffman, W5YEJ, who resigned citing increased family responsibilities. Kauffman had served as New Mexico's SM since 2012, and was the Section Emergency Coordinator for many years prior to that. Ed, KA8JMW, will complete the remainder of the current term, which continues through the end of the year. Dave Patton, NN1N, made this Section Manager appointment after consulting with, and receiving the recommendation from, Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, and Vice Director Dwayne Allen, WY7FD. The Los Angeles Section Manager election ballots and candidate statements were sent to the printer this past week. Leona Adams has been in touch with all of the Section Managers who will be continuing with new terms of office this coming summer. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly Official Observer Summary to all OOs, OOCs, and Section Managers. Questions received this past week included power limits on the bands, repeater users' identification, antenna zoning, operating overseas and HR 1301. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 7/3 Holiday Lauren Clarke 6/26-6/29 PTO Jackie Ferreira 6/24-6/26 PTO Steve Ford 8/14-8/17 PTO `` 8/24-8/28 PTO Scott Gee 6/18-6/19 PTO Mike Gruber 7/20-7/24 PTO `` 8/24-8/28 PTO `` 9/28-10/2 PTO Dan Henderson 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting Bob Inderbitzen 6/25-7/1 PTO `` 7/27-7/31 PTO `` 8/6-8/9 Summerfest, Austin, TX `` 8/21-8/23 Boxboro, MA Harold Kramer 6/19-6/26 PTO `` 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting Dave Patton 7/24-7/26 Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, OK Diane Petrilli 6/23-6/29 Friedrichshafen Convention, Germany `` 6/30-7/2 PTO `` 7/10 PTO `` 7/24 PTO `` 7/31 PTO `` 8/3-8/7 PTO Dave Pingree 8/19-9/22 PTO Barry Shelley 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting Chuck Skolaut 6/11-6/25 PTO Dave Sumner 6/23-6/29 Friedrichshafen Convention, Germany `` 7/16-7/18 Board Meeting/Committee Meeting Maty Weinberg 7/6-7/24 PTO