IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 8 February 23, 2005 Development Diamond Club response continues to grow daily, with good response from the regular membership renewal mailings. Member Loyalty letters and certificates for members of 40 years or more are in production and will be mailed by March 4. Copy is complete for the full file Education & Technology campaign. Production details are being finalized. Development is participating in planning for the 2005 National Convention at Dayton in May, including a reception for major donors and prospects on Thursday evening. Scholarship processing for the ARRL Foundation is complete and copying of nearly 300 scholarships for the review committee will begin this week. . Media & Public Relations The first batch of new Video PSAs went quickly and are on the air in many places. An improved edition has been completed and will be duplicated quickly as demand remains high. I am also looking for good pricing on duplicating the "Swiss Army Knife" CD of materials for PIOs that has been found to be very helpful. In light of recent questions about the cost and accuracy of a clipping service in the days of Google and the Internet, I am looking at cost-saving alternatives to Bacons. Materials for NAB conference door prizes have been sent and booth materials are being gathered. An idea and proposal for a major new PR initiative for 2006 is in development and awaiting a decision. A workable plan to implement a speaker's bureau referral site has been developed. I am still awaiting annual report write-ups from several activities - due date agreed upon is March 1. The January clip reports have been mailed to Directors and to members of the PR Committee. Production/Editorial The April issue of QST has been released to the printer, as has the new 4th edition of Low Band DXing, by John Devoldere, ON4UN. Speaking of April QST... this issue marks the inauguration of a new semi-monthly two-page article for less experienced readers, "Getting to Know your Radio," by Joel Hallas, W1ZR. It is designed to acquaint new hams with the operation of some of the more obscure functions and features of modern radio equipment. This month's topic--Passband Tuning. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 07, distributed to 65,396 League members on Feb 18. Among other things, Rick prepared/edited these news items: ARRL COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B, arrives at HQ; Dean Straw, N6BV, testifies on BPL before the California Public Utilities Commission; successful ARISS school group contact with Fairview Elementary School in Illinois; FCC upholds a $4000 fine against a Missouri radio amateur; FCC chief, commissioner recommend changes in open meeting rules; FCC proposes keeping vanity call sign fee at $20.80, plus several announcements and news briefs. Rick also completed work on "Happenings" for April QST. With voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy and soundbite support from Harold Kramer, Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Feb 18. Sales and Marketing The President's Day email campaign contributed to a great weekend for online publication ordering. We received over 400 orders totaling $20,000. Members of the fulfillment team came in during the holiday weekend to help process orders. The warehouse jumped into packing orders on Tuesday. The campaign included a promotion for packaged-sets of ARRL publications. These were a big hit--contributing over $4,000 in sales. New house advertising for April QST includes ads for new editions of The ARRL Repeater Directory, TravelPlus for Repeaters CD-ROM, and ON4UN's Low Band DXing. ARRL National Convention Update Information we have provided to Hamvention about the ARRL National Convention has been posted to the Hamvention web site. Rosalie has assembled a slate of "official" ARRL forums: * ARRL Grassroots Forum * ARRL Mentoring Forum * ARRL Forum * ARRL Public Relations Forum * ARRL Technology Task Force Forum * AMSAT & ARISS Forum (organized by ARRL, but run by AMSAT) * ARRL Section Manager & Section Leaders Forum With Rosalie's help, planning for the Wouff Hong ceremony is well underway. SM Joe Phillips is leading the activity. We've arranged a space for the ceremony on Saturday night (May 21), at the Crowne Plaza (formerly Stouffers). It begins at 10:30 PM. The news crawl featured a story about the ARRL recognition award presented to the 2005 Dayton Hamvention(r) Committee by Director Jim Weaver. The award recognized the committee for their invitation to host this year's ARRL National Convention. Repeater Directory ads were checked for requested placement and correct indexing. The ad section of April 2005 QST was completed on time, despite some last minute insertions that arrived just before press-time. Preliminary reports show that combined advertising revenue for the month will exceed targets by approximately $5,000. An e-mail solicitation has already been sent to present and potential advertisers for the May issue of QST that will feature an 8-page, Dayton Theme, tear-out section. We already have several pages filled and will continue our efforts throughout the month. A follow-up postcard, being drafted now, will be printed in-house and sent out in ten days. Two new proposals for 2005 advertising package options were developed and sent to major manufacturers. The proposals have received positive initial feedback and discussions are ongoing. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 450 WAS End. (50 QSLs ES/C) 1 Replacement Awards 2 25-Year Member Awards 9 25-Year Member Certs. Processed 9 VUCC Initial Apps. 1 Grids 106 VUCC End. Apps. 3 Grids 72 A-1 Op. Noms. 3 LTMA Inquiries 3 Awards Mailed 17 Also, filed the WAS applications from 2004, and worked on some LTMA projects (on-going). Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-WAC QSL card checking, WAS Specialty and VUCC awards processing/mailing, and continue work on LTMA projects. DXCC Branch For the week of: February 20, 2005 Beginning Credits 35,913 Credits Received 3,644 Credits Processed 11,760 Ending Credits 27,797 Applications Pending 306 Processing Time (Conventional) 6.8 Weeks Processing Time (LoTW) 1 Working Day DXCC is currently mailing applications received on January 3, 2005. DXCC is currently entering credits received on January 3, 2005. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 64,293,491 QSL records have resulted 2,674,700 Logs Processed 100,505 Active Certificates 13,404 Users registered in the system 9,016 Current Applications 38 Ready Applications 0 Applications Awaiting Mail 38 QSL Bureau Processing time is 5 days from receipt. This week 95 pounds of cards were received from members. Cards mailed as of 02/20/05: 123,550. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW W1AW made a few contacts during the 2005 School Club Roundup. Thanks to Debra Johnson, KB1LMT, Mark Spencer, WA8SME and Rosalie White, K1STO for their participation. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of February and early March. He continues with assembling the SSB adapter module for the Elecraft K2 QRP transceiver. Scott also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Joe updated the web code practice files and uploaded logs to LoTW. He created the texts for the March W1AW Qualifying Runs and processed four Qualifying Run endorsements. Joe also worked with Andy on the process of upgrading the office PC (currently running Win98SE) to Windows XP format. Also, when it was acceptable, Joe was QRV on satellite AO-51 (Echo) using Mode V/S (2-meters up/2.4 GHz down) handing out contacts with W1AW. So happy were some members of the satellite community that they posted on the AMSAT reflector how pleased they were working W1AW on Echo (especially using this particular mode). Field & Educational Services Rosalie got the okay for another official ARRL forum for the national convention in Dayton -- the time slot was the only empty hour of forums that was left. She discussed tentative plans for the convention with F&ES members who will give forums and/or put on exhibits. She drafted a report to be given at the upcoming monthly ARISS international telecon. Field-Education Team Jean Wolfgang sent an email solicitation to over 800 Level l online emcomm course graduates, suggesting to them to register for the Level ll course. She processed 50 emcomm graduations, set up 1 hybrid emcomm class and sent welcome letters to registrants of 3 course sections that will begin soon. She responded to several students who did not receive their course passwords and student ID numbers. She is working on the most feasible way to sort the active mentors from the inactive ones, which would cut down on the number of email solicitations she has to send to mentors. Jean also read for a small part of the "Sights and Sounds of Amateur Radio" video program. Gail Iannone sent 21 convention applications to the Executive Committee for approval, and sent letters to each convention committee confirming the EC's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned. She sent 7 hamfest approval letters and 4 convention approval letters to sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned. She processed 13 handout and door prize orders for upcoming events, and continues to update, daily, the "Hamfest and Convention Database" on the ARRL web. The department sent its condolences to Norm Fusaro, who was out of the office most of the week due to a death in the family. After he returned, he assisted several new clubs with overcoming some of the hurdles that present themselves when new clubs are formed. Norm worked on presentations for upcoming conferences and a mentor workshop. Margie Bourgoin updated 64 records of affiliated clubs, and reactivated the affiliation of one club. She processed 3 Special Service Club renewals. Margie also worked with several instructors on orders for their upcoming licensing classes. She spent time training with Jean on the mechanics of Access, used for keeping records on progress of emcomm online students. Margie drafted a letter regarding the use of ARES as part of a club name, for a club reactivating after several years. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams and the team have been preparing for SM election-ballot counting on February 22. Arkansas and North Texas are the contested elections. Northern New Jersey SM Bill Hudzik, W2UDT, was nominated for another term. Leona contacted other SMs who have not turned in a nominating petition for possible new terms beginning July 1. Steve Ewald networked with Tennessee and Maryland ARRL convention officials in preparation for his attendance at these events in March and April. He heard from Alabama Section leaders following a successful simulated emergency test involving Army chemical stockpiles, where Calhoun County ARES/RACES tested communications at the Emergency Operations Center. FEMA Region 4 representatives said, "The amateur radio group was the best we have evaluated and their knowledge of radio and communications was excellent." SMs have been making use of their monthly Section News summaries and email announcements to members. For example, the Vermont section leadership is encouraging hams to contact state legislators to support a PRB-1-type bill. In Nebraska, hams are asked to contact state senators to vote against legislation that would allow BPL. In Kentucky, there is a proposal to raise the fee for special license plates (including call sign plates); ARRL members were asked to contact their representatives. Chuck Skolaut received word from New Mexico Section Leaders that the source of the "Yosemite Sam" signal on 3700 kHz and three other frequencies has been determined by two hams who practiced direction finding techniques. The signal, which is now silent, originated on the Laguna Indian Reservation near Albuquerque. More information has been gathered on interference cases about Oregon and California repeaters and, also on technical problems with a California repeater. Investigations are underway to track an unidentified signal on 2 meters in New York, as well as noise on 75 meters. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer sent his article on our teacher's institute to the National Council of Teachers of Math, who will distribute the information on their web. Mark checked out all the HTs from the FBI, and sent a notice to schoolteachers who must report their plans for using the HTs, if awarded. Plans have rolled in; there'll be no trouble finding good homes for the HTs. The prototype of the next activity board, which involves exploring a simple transistor amplifier with three different waveforms, is done, and lessons are being drafted. Mark applied to be a curriculum/textbook reviewer for a national science organization. There has been a flurry of ARISS school applications received. Mark got a surprising number of inquires (the majority from overseas schools) about the seismograph project on our web pages. School materials President Haynie requested for his South American trip were delivered to their destinations. Regulatory Information John Hennessee reviewed constitutions of clubs applying for ARRL affiliation. He processed the Volunteer Counsel application of Bob Stevens, K9ING of Midland, TX. He provided support to the Connecticut PRB-1 Team on their initiatives. He also assisted an amateur with a local government zoning matter in Signal Hill, CA (W6YY), and assisted amateurs with covenant restrictions in Daytona Beach Shores, FL (N4EDQ); Wenatchee, WA (AC7MW); and Maricopa (Mesa), AZ (K9CJM). John thanks Jon Bloom who was very helpful when John was unable to access the ARRL Web. Community Education Program Bill Barrett traveled to Phoenix for his second CEP presentation. After some difficulties with setting up in the scheduled room were resolved; 42 Citizen Corps Council members arrived! Six of these people were hams. Helping Bill was District Emergency Coordinator Walt Schuknecht, N7IZM, and 4 area ARES members. Another 15 hams were in attendance in the audience. CCC members showed high interest in Bill's show, and stuck around afterwards, networking with ARES members, trading business cards, etc. EmComm Grants Dan Miller represented ARRL at the well-attended Hurricane Watch Net Conference in Miami, where he also networked to get speakers for the upcoming National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans. At the National Emergency Management Association in Washington DC, 350 people attended from all levels of emergency communications and many parts of the country. Dan set up an exhibit, and asked visitors what their first priority was regarding emergency communications. The answers revolved around interoperability, data collection, coverage and trained operators. Results of 21 of his surveys showed 63% of respondents are familiar with ham radio, 69% use federal money for emergency preparedness, 38% and 44% respectively are familiar with ARES and RACES, 38% are working with area ham radio groups, 38% believe ham equipment is up to date and meets their needs with 31% having no opinion, and 31% say their primary communications mode is Internet email. Dan is preparing for 3 March events listed below. Sincerely, Dave Patton, NN1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer DCP: lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 3/25 Holiday Dave Sumner 3/3-3/4 IARU planning meeting, GA `` 4/13-4/18 IARU Reg. 1 Conference Preparatory Meeting, Croatia Mary Hobart 3/2-3/4 CNCS Meeting, Washington, DC `` 4/15-4/17 International DX Convention, Visalia Dennis Motschenbacher 3/4-3/5 Icom meeting, Miami, FL Bob Inderbitzen 3/21-3/23 National Postal Forum `` 3/24 & 3/28 Vacation `` 3/31-4/1 AES Superfest Fatima Lorusso 3/7-3/11 Vacation Kathy Capodicasa 3/21-3/23 National Postal Forum `` 4/14-4/18 Vacation Steve Ewald 2/25-3/8 Vacation Steve Ford 2/25 Vermont Section Convention Rosalie White 3/1-3/4 CNCS Conference, NASA HQ `` 3/7-3/8 Vacation Jean Wolfgang 3/4-3/7 Vacation Dan Miller 3/2-3/6 Nat'l Severe Wx Workshop, Midwest City, OK `` 3/10-3/13 LA State Convention, Rayne, LA `` 3/21-3/24 Nat'l Hurricane Conference, New Orleans, LA `` 3/28-3/30 Vacation Joel Kleinman 3/8 Vacation