IN-Newsletter [cid:image001.jpg@01D1E364.CFDAE900] Vol. 41, No. 26 July 20, 2016 - Covers the period July 10-16. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events CEO Office Reported by Tom Gallagher, NY2RF The Publishing Committee held an extensive teleconference with Kai Siwiak, KE4PT, the editor of QEX to develop a support plan for the publication and its new editor. Steve Ford, Becky Schoenfeld, Bob Inderbitzen, Yvette Vinci and I were attending. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Testing Bob Allison and a QST Product Review author worked out the last performance details of an SDR transceiver. With the help of Bob and his test data, the manufacturer made several changes to make the transceiver more usable. Yet another software defined transceiver is on Bob's bench that had to be updated first before testing began. Testing is going smoothly at this point, but there may be another software revision soon, which will require some retesting of the SDR. ARRL Web Zack Lau uploaded the propagation forecasts for August. The predicted solar flux is 81. RFI Mike Gruber, Pete Turbide, and Bob Allison located two sources of noise in Coventry while testing a demo model of the new Radar Engineers Model 243. The power company has been notified. A follow-up visit concerning RFI from a funeral home in Rocky Hill was not needed-just before the scheduled visit the noise went away. Central Division Director Dick Isely, Vice Director Kermit Carlson, ARRL Counsel Chris Imlay, Mike Gruber, Bob Allison & Ed Hare discussed a number of EMC and FCC issues in a meeting. Mike Gruber made numerous additions to the RFI Web pages. One of them includes an information pamphlet that hams can give their neighbor in the event of an RFI issue. By typing in certain information on a cover sheet, the information is automatically inserted into the document in the appropriate location. Thanks to Dave Cole, NK7Z for his assistance in this matter. Mike Gruber helped EMC Committee Chairman Kermit Carlson prepare the EMC Committee report. Mike Gruber assisted Rick Lindquist in writing a news story about an FCC notice concerning RFI from LED lightbulbs. QST Zack Lau obtained some screen shots of FLdigi in PSK31 mode with his home station. Bob Allison found that using W1HQ was impractical due to the high noise level and frequent operations during the day from W1AW. Historical Committee Bob Allison, and volunteers Mike Marinaro, WN1M and Jonathan Allen, K2KKH, met with the ARRL Historical Committee, consisting of Midwest Division Director, Rod Blocksome, KØDAS (chairman of the committee), Southwestern Division Director, Dick Norton, N6AA and New England Division Director, Tom Frenaye, K1KI. Mike Marinaro did an excellent job giving the committee members a tour of the Historical Collections. The next task for Bob, Mike and Jonathan is to create the ARRL Heritage Museum, a virtual museum, hosted on our web site. This virtual museum will be a valuable membership benefit with a very low startup cost. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Diane Petrilli reports that an e-mail encouraging hams to join ARRL and upgrade their license class, and an e-mail sent to non-ham users of ARRL Exam Review for Ham Radio (our online review and practice exam resource) have returned over 50 new members so far. Other e-mails to all lapsed members will be sent over the next two weeks. Jackie Ferreira has been working with Sue Fagan as Sue completes the cover designs for the upcoming new editions of The ARRL Handbook and The ARRL Operating Manual. She also prepared a handful of targeted e-mails promoting publications and products. Yvette Vinci prepared a reminder emailing to members with a summary of "What's trending" in August QST, taking advantage of some early analytics shared by Alli Barbieri. The notification was sent to 121,545 members on Tuesday, July 19. Bob Inderbitzen teleconferenced with our new account representative for the ARRL Visa Card program at US Bank, the creditor and issuer of the credit card. John Proctor fulfilled a mailing list for an upcoming mailing promoting the card, which will be mailed by US Bank. Earnings to ARRL have been above average this year; $23,511 for the first 6 months for royalties, new cards, and card renewals. The majority of new accounts are attributed to our own marketing and promotion of the card by email and via traffic to our website. In June, we earned our highest one-month payment since the program inception in 2005: over $6K. Did you know?...in 2015, ARRL fulfilled orders to 67 countries. The top countries by sales volume included Canada, Australia, Japan, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci: Week Ending Calls Answered Calls Per Hour Total Talking Duration Average Speed of Answer 7/15/2016 848 18.7 25:54:53 9 seconds 7/8/2016 (4 days) 668 18.5 21:35:26 10 seconds 7/1/2016 792 17.6 27:33:22 11 seconds 6/24/2016 769 17.0 25:10:37 8 seconds Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week Ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 7/15/2016 896 471 7/8/2016 (4 days) 1,078 208 7/1/2016 1,209 345 6/24/2016 974 579 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 2-3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 1-2 Days W1AW Thanks to Steve Ewald, Chuck Skolaut and Dan Wall for covering the morning station activity and transmitting schedule for the past two weeks during Scott Gee's and Joe Carcia's vacations. In the previous week, Joe worked the early afternoon and his night shifts for the vacationing Scott Gee. He also processed regular QSL card requests. Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also repaired one of the 419B bandpass filters used in Studio One. Joe also removed some of the equipment additions he made to the ENG van. Scott Gee worked the early afternoon and his night shifts for the vacationing Joe Carcia. He also worked on fast and slow code practice texts for the two upcoming weeks. He processed a few VUCC certificates and endorsements. Field Organization/Public Service Team This past week, a radio amateur from Northern Florida completed requirements to become an Official Observer. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly Official Observer Summary to all Official Observers, Official Observer Coordinators and Section Managers. Lou Everett, WA5LOU, was appointed as the new OOC for Indiana. A report of unlicensed fishermen using a 2 meter repeater in Maine was received, and OOs are checking on it. There was also a report of a bootlegged call sign being used on a 440 machine in Western Washington. Chuck sent out OO supplies, and he also conducted a morning code practice run at W1AW and hosted two guest operators at the station. Leona Adams received and handled nominating petitions from four incumbent Section Managers who are candidates for new terms of office starting January 1, 2017. The petitions are from Skip Arey, N2EI (Southern New Jersey), Tom Dick, KF2GC (Northern New York), Cecil Higgins, AC0HA (Missouri) and Darrell Davis, KT4WX (West Central Florida). Section Manager election ballots from Minnesota and Ohio are arriving. Members in those sections need to have their ballots received at Headquarters no later than August 19. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations Bob Allison 7/21-7/24 Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, OK `` 7/29-8/8 PTO Steve Capodicasa 8/22-8/26 PTO `` 9/19-9/23 PTO Jackie Ferreira 7/18-7/22 PTO Norm Fusaro 8/5-8/7 Texas State Convention, Austin, TX `` 8/19-8/21 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV Tom Gallagher 8/12-8/14 New Mexico State Convention, Albuquerque, NM Mike Gruber 8/22-8/26 PTO `` 9/26-9/30 PTO Ed Hare 7/22-7/29 IEEE EMC Symposium, BoD meeting, Toronto, Canada `` 8/31-9/9 PTO `` 10/14 PTO Debra Johnson 7/21-7/24 ARISS Meeting, Washington, DC `` 8/29-9/4 PTO Zack Lau 8/24-8/25 PTO Diane Middleton 7/25-7/29 PTO Dave Patton 8/4-8/8 Northwest DX Convention, Portland, OR Diane Petrilli 8/5-8/12 PTO Kim Rochette 7/25-8/1 PTO Barry Shelley 7/18-7/26 PTO Chuck Skolaut 8/20-8/21 Kansas State Convention, Salina, KS Maria Somma 7/28-8/1 PTO `` 8/22-8/26 PTO Yvette Vinci 8/19-8/26 Southeastern Division Convention, Huntsville, AL/PTO