In-Newsletter Vol. 25, No. 18 May 6, 2002 Development The Education and Technology fund campaign to ARRL members has raised more than $93,000 from 1900 members, with and average gifts of more than $51. This average gift exceeds the average for the Defense Fund by about $8. The follow up letters to several different segments of ARRL members, active and lapsed, were mailed the week of May 1. About 150 very personal letters will go out before Dayton. Donor gifts for this campaign have arrived and will be shipped starting next week. The proposal for federal funding to expand the ARECC training program has been completed. The request seeks $574,750 over three years to fund 5000 new Level 1 emergency communication hams. This request is in addition to the UTC grant which funds an expanded program in CT. See the Media Relations report below for an update on PR efforts around the UTC grant. The second planned giving information mailing to 15,000 hams is scheduled for May 15. The Education and Technology Fund proposal draft is complete. Lisa Kustosik is assisting with final arrangements for the 50 guests who will attend the Donor Reception in Dayton. Media Relations Jennifer attended a meeting with Mary Hobart at United Technologies Corp. in Hartford to discuss plans for promoting the UTC grant and the online emergency communications course opportunities in Connecticut. We met with UTC's media relations manager and a consultant with a PR firm in Hartford who works part-time for UTC. Our ideas were well received and the meeting was very successful. The "plan" is in the works. More details to follow. Jennifer provided information to Rick Lindquist on the upcoming deadline for this year's McGan Award. The information was also posted to the ARRL Web site. Several more requests for nomination forms have been coming in. The deadline is May 24. Door prizes for the Sunday morning PR forum and press kits have been shipped to Dayton. In Steve Mansfield's absence, Jennifer has been handling his e-mail and other miscellaneous duties or requests. She's been in close contact with our Washington legislative staff and everything is going smoothly. Jennifer prepared a special recruitment kit for Jim Maxwell to mail to a member of the media who Jim talked with at NAB this year. He explained that he had been interested in ham radio as a kid. He was happy to receive whatever materials we'd send. Work continues on the 2001 Annual Report and plans for the PR forum and PR committee meeting in Dayton. Due to a slew of viruses being spread over the PR reflector in the last couple of days, the reflector will be moved to our in-house Exchange server, allowing all messages to be scanned for viruses before being posted. Jennifer posted a message to the PR reflector group to make them aware of the change. They have been asked not to post anything to the reflector until further notice. Sales & Marketing Group Dennis Motschenbacher is happy to announce that Deb Jahnke is now our Sales Manager. Deb has earned this position by repeatedly demonstrating her ability to generate sales revenue through strong staff leadership as well as her own direct sales initiatives. We now have a complete Sales and Marketing leadership structure that has immediately begun implementing activities that will increase ARRL sales through improved customer relations and innovative new offerings. Last week Dennis traveled to Mississippi and spent an entire day with Martin Jue, owner of MFJ Enterprises. The meeting went very well and a good relationship was established. They developed a work list of opportunities to pursue together that have mutual benefit for the League and MFJ. Key creative talents from the Marketing, Circulation and Advertising groups have been joined together into "Dream Teams" charged with working with new and existing clients to increase those company's sales revenue through traditional and some rather dramatically non-traditional use of League resources. Members of these teams will meet directly with clients via conference calls. Rohn, Force 12 and MFJ are clients that already have Dream Team projects in motion. Marketing Deb Jahnke and Bob Inderbitzen are enjoying being immersed in many new responsibilities. A variety of innovative marketing and sales plans are in development. Most of the current projects involve publications, membership, and advertising. The new, Spring/Summer ARRL Publications Catalog is available. Copies have been distributed to staff, Directors, and Officers. We intend to do the direct mail next week. A new supply of Field Day t-shirts (2,000 shirts) is in stock. All sizes are presently in stock and shipping. Completed posters depicting ARRL publications have been received. The artwork will accompany materials being shipped to Dayton for the ARRL exhibit at Hamvention. A new title, the International Microwave Handbook, should arrive sometime in mid- or late-May. The book is published by RSGB, and includes contributed material from ARRL. It replaces (and updates) the 3-volume set of microwave books, formerly offered by the RSGB. ARRL Ordering details: International Microwave Handbook #8739, retail $39.95. Wholesale pricing is available for ARRL publication dealers. Bob assisted Steve Ewald in assembling an apparel proposal for the Volunteer Resource Committee to help identify ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers. Advertising Hanan Rayyashi is working with Joe to bring him up to speed in the Advertising Department. Hanan will work with the Advertising Staff to develop a new filing system for our current past and present advertisers. She also met with the Accounting Department staff to discuss payment records of our Advertisers. A department meeting was conducted early this week with the Production staff to work on the conversion to computer to plate. Preparations for Dayton trip and the July issue of QST, July/August issues of QEX and NCJ are now taking place. At Dayton Hanan and Joe will greet our advertisers and address any concerns they may have. They will also meet several potential advertisers. Hanan has invited an out-of-industry prospect to the show, and she will take the opportunity to introduce him to amateur radio and discuss how his product will fit in to our members needs. Joe Bottiglieri joined our Advertising staff as an Accounts Manager on Monday, April 29. His initial assignments include resolving a small number of member complaints concerning our advertisers. He also has also been contacting existing advertisers to introduce himself. Joe is also responsible for adding new advertisers there he is making calls to both prospective and past advertisers. Joe will begin managing accounts of our NCJ and QEX advertisers. Carol Patton sent out reminder cards to our classified customers whose ads have expired. Carol is also working with the Sales staff to identify potential display advertisers in her list of customers. She is working on the Repeater Directory billing and July QST Insertion Orders. Circulation We are pleased to announce that Kathy Capodicasa will immediately assume the position of Senior Fulfillment Supervisor. Kathy will take responsibility for both membership and publications transactions and processes. Our new Products Fulfillment Supervisor, Zoe Belliveau, will report directly to her. Reporting relationships will remain the same for their respective staff members. Congratulations to both Kathy and Zoe. Drop Shipments of the new edition of the ARRL Repeater Directory have commenced and the remainder of our stock should be in Newington shortly. Despite the fact that our printer delayed delivery of the Directory, we met April publications targets. An elevated number of outgoing dealer sales calls combined with several Web "specials" definitely had a very large impact on our ability to meet our goals for April. May billings will include April budgeted Repeater Directory revenue. Deb Jahnke is working on final Dayton preparations. For those of you who are waiting for Exhibitor Badges, etc., we were notified on May 3rd that those precious items are finally on the way. Several of our dealers and advertisers have expressed increasing interest in commercial mailing list rentals. We are presently looking at making the information into a more attractive package and include it with all outgoing prospective Advertiser and Dealer kits. We are also looking at other outgoing commercial information that could use a face-lift as well using this product to create a new revenue stream. We are very pleased to have a new ARRL Dealer in our midst. KJI Electronics Inc, of Cedar Grove NJ (a long-time advertiser) has opened a storefront. We were please to help with his initial order to insure that a broad selection of ARRL products will appear on his shelves. Publications We checked page proofs for Understanding Basic Electronics. Field & Educational Services ISS tourist Mark Shuttleworth's random QSOs were a hit with those lucky enough to hear and contact him. F&ES staff received several e-mails from hams who were excited to have QSOed with him, including one who said: "Thanks to all at ARRL for your participation in this, and so many worthwhile ventures in amateur radio." Shuttleworth's school QSOs also helped Amateur Radio through some good PR from various media this week. Rosalie prepared for the national Red Cross Partner's Meeting, and will be participating in it on Tuesday in Washington DC. Regulatory Team Brennan Price received reports of a persistent unmodulated carrier on 17 meters, most likely originating in Europe; an HFDF request to the FCC was prepared. Brennan received a well-documented interference case from a Local Interference Committee; he immediately turned it over to the FCC. He reviewed the Activities chapter of the ARRL Handbook. The ARRL Repeater Directory was delivered, and Brennan confirmed no printing errors were made. John Hennessee assisted amateurs with covenant problems in Houston, TX (K5HUT), and Miami, FL (K9LTN). He worked to update the Public Relations information on the ARRL antenna restriction Web page with assistance from Jennifer Hagy and Steve Ewald. He took a half day to assist at the Amateur Radio booth set up by the Newington Amateur Radio League during the Connecticut Family Science Expo, where many children stopped. C-CE Dan Miller announced this week's graduate total from online courses as: 21 for Level I, 11 for Level II, 6 for Level III, and 9 for Antenna Modeling. In-person classes and exams in Pepperell, MA produced 4 grads for Level I, 6 for Level II and 5 for Level III. A student wrote saying he found the Student Activities in the Level I helped him greatly for the situation near his home last weekend -- the tornadoes that hit La Plata, MD. The West Central Florida SM announced he has begun fund-raising to aid his Section's hams with tuition for ARECC training. Clark County (NV) Office of Emergency Management is sponsoring and funding an in-person em-comm classes for county hams. Steven Blair processed exams for the revised Level I course and made answer template copies for distribution to CE teams when the new course exam will be offered in the field. Field Organization/ Public Service Team Steve Ewald was in touch with Section Leaders from Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia about recent emergency responses to tornadoes, storms and flooding. News reports were funneled to the News Desk and Media Relations. Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen and Steve prepared a staff recommendation on ARES apparel. With the new PSHR criteria starting on May 1, Steve fielded more questions on interpretations. Leona Adams continues to see more Emergency Coordinator appointments (nearly a dozen this week alone), and an increase in Official Observer appointments, too. With the Spring hamfest season now underway, there has been an increase in SM expenses, and Leona entered about 20 of these into the Section budgets. A Section Manager nomination form for the Virgin Islands has been received. Field & Educational Support Team Mary Lau prepared letters to both scholarship awardees and those who did not get an award. She prepared Web copy and a press release for when the final scholarship vote is completed. Mary wrote her July QST column. She also reports that KY SM John Meyers, NB4K, reached a new total in Section messages sent to constituents in a single week: 13!! Jean Wolfgang accepted 3 ARISS applications for future contacts and added them to her database. She's putting Educational Advisor packages together with rating sheets and summary sheets for the F&ES Instructor of the Year awards. She wishes to thank Brennan for his assistance with "Ham Radio...Planning for the Future" article formatting. Margie Bourgoin reports that 2 new clubs are seeking ARRL affiliation, and she has forwarded copies of their applications to the appropriate Director and Section Manager. She also notes that 2 Special Service Clubs have renewed. Margie submitted the results of the 2002 Club Questionnaire for Rosalie's review. Linda Mullally completed the monthly revenue that shows F&ES brought in $2502.75 in sales of videolibrary tapes, books, and for reimbursement for shipping. She also finished the inventory report for F&ES paper materials and videos, and reordered four video volumes. She updated 78 affiliated club records, and processed 3 reactivations of de-activated affiliated clubs. Gail Iannone sent 8 convention applications to the Executive Committee and notified the convention committees that they were all approved. She also sent 8 hamfest approval letters and sent a Wouff Hong supply package for the ceremony to be performed at the Southwestern Division Convention to be held August 16-18 in Escondido, CA. The Big Project We now have 18 Pilot Schools and 7 Progress Grant Schools for a total of 25 schools in the Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program. Schools, ARRL Officers and respective Directors and SMs were notified by e-mail; schools will get official postal mail letters. Jerry began querying new Pilot Schools for equipment requests. He completed basic lesson plans for one more curriculum unit, and helped staff the booth one day at the CPTV Science Fair. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 200 WAS Certificates 2 WAS Endorsements 2 WAC QSL Cards Checked 18 WAC Certificates 33 WAC Endorsements 3 5BWACs 1 A-1 Operator Nominations 5 A-1 Operator Certificates 39 Long Term Member Inquiries 3 VUCC Initial Awards 2 Grids (Data Entry) 361 VUCC Endorsements 5 Grids (Data Entry) 534 Friendship Awards 5 OTC Awards 4 RCC Awards 3 Backlog Status A-1 Operator Awards Current Basic WAS 5 weeks Specialty WAS Current WAS QSLs Current WAC QSLs Current CP Awards 4 weeks RCC Awards Current OTC Awards Current Friendship Awards Current Extra Class Awards Current VUCC Awards 1 week U.S. WAC Awards Current Foreign WAC Awards 3 weeks HF Awards Manager Appt.: Roger Byron, KR4WS, Holmes Beach, FL. For the coming week-Basic WAS awards for April, foreign WAC, Code Proficiency, and VUCC awards, and 5 BWAS plaques. DXCC Branch Weekly Report May 5, 2002 Beginning Cards 39,419 Cards Received 14,715 Cards Processed 15,869 Ending Cards 38,265 Applications Pending 321 Backlog Time 1 Week Year-to-date Cards Received 191,944 Cards Returned 263,613 QRP Issued this week 5 QRP YTD 196 Card Return: DXCC is currently mailing applications received on April 30, 2002. Card Processing: We are entering cards received on April 30, 2002. One new DXCC Card Checker was appointed this week. Contest Branch Data entry for US paper logs for 2002 ARRL International DX Phone logs was completed. Layout and revision of the Web and QST versions of those results for the 2001 ARRL November Phone Sweepstakes continued. Electronic log results from the 2002 ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes were received, formatted and brought into the master database. We have continued to recruit guest authors for various contest results for the web and QST. The rules for the 2002 ARRL UHF Contest and 2002 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Competition were finalized and sent to production. QSL Branch QSL service status: Current. Cards mailed year to date as of 05/05/2002 - 810,125. Cards mailed on 05/03/2002 - 79,625. Janet Rocco spent 5 hours conducting tours around HQ. W1AW Kenwood USA donates a Kenwood TS-2000X to W1AW! What started out as a simple request turned into a reality when Phil Parton, N4DRO, Assistant Sales Manager for Kenwood, personally dropped off a new Kenwood TS-2000X for use in W1AW. (This model of TS-2000 contains the 23cm module.) In early February, Joe Carcia wrote to Kenwood, requesting the donation, for use as another visitor HF station, but specifically for use as part of the satellite station. Two months later, the TS-2000X takes its place as part of the W1AW equipment complement. The old Kenwood TS-790 (which the '2000X replaced) has a new home in W1INF. Joe assisted Mike Tracy with short-term frequency measurements of both the Harris and Omni VI+ transmitters. It came as no shock that the Harris exciters did not drift during the 10-minute key-down test. This is a good sign, given the equipment has been in service for 12+ years. The Omni VI+ exciters, however, did drift approximately 3 Hz during the 10-minute key-down test. Long-term frequency tests will be performed soon. In preparation of the Kenwood donation, Joe ran cables and updated the satellite-tracking computer with a new hard drive and additional serial ports. He processed regular W1AW QSL card requests and also worked the Thursday and Friday night shift for vacationing Scott Gee. On Sunday, Joe hosted members of the Candlewood ARA as they operated W1AW in the New England QSO Party. (Working W1AW during this event counts for additional points.) Joe also installed a revised, special version of the contest program CT to assist with the logging. Overall, 300 QSOs were made (3 with DX stations) on 40 to 10 meters, for a claimed score of 14,850. Scott Gee worked on slow and fast code practice runs for the month of May. He handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. W1AW telephone sales year to date (2002): $3,606. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Name Date(s) Reason All Staff 5/27 Holiday Dave Sumner 5/7-5/15 Geneva `` 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Mary Hobart 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Steve Ford 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Dennis Motschenbacher 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Joe Bottiglieri 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Hanan Rayyashi 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Debra Jahnke 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Kathy Capodicasa 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Bob Inderbitzen 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Danny Sayad 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Wayne Mills 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Bill Moore 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Jennifer Hagy 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/20 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Rick Lindquist 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Dan Miller 5/16-5/19 Dayton Hamvention Jerry Hill 5/16-5/19 Vacation (Dayton) Kristy Perillo 5/2-5/13 Vacation Brennan Price 5/6pm Schenectedy Amateur Radio Assoc., NY `` 5/8-5/15 Vacation Rosalie White 5/6-5/7 Red Cross Partners Meeting, Washington DC Joel Kleinman 5/16-5/17 Vacation (Dayton)