IN-Newsletter Vol. 26, No. 45 November 12, 2003 Upcoming Meetings November 21st in Newington, CT Division Election Ballot Counting Development The 2004 Spectrum Defense Fund calling for the constant vigilance of all hams is underway. Returns through the first seven days total $17,053 from 396 donors. The average contribution is on target with past campaigns at $45.35. Follow up letters to target groups (not the full file) are scheduled for mailing the week of November 17. The Diamond Club continues to grow, albeit slowly. Renewals and upgrades from those up for renewal total 190 and reflect $37,261 and an average contribution of $190. The average is high due to the renewal of high level donors. The average will be mitigated as introductory level and Life Member renewals emerge. The 2004 Development budget and plan have been submitted for review. The latest issue of the Legacy Circle Letter has been mailed. The Chief Development Officer will attend a seminar on 2003 tax implications on planned giving on Nov 13. Plans for the W1AW Endowment mailing to all ARRL members are underway. The campaign will mail in early January 2004, and will offer multi-year pledge opportunities for the first time. Media Relations After re-soliciting nominations for the 2003 McGan Award, this year's honor will go to Tim Lewallen, KD5ING. Jennifer contacted Tim, wrote up the story for the Web and the plaque is in production. Director Day and North Texas SM Roy Rabey are working on an in-person presentation. News of Tim receiving the national award has appeared in at least one of his local media outlets, on KTRE-TV. Members of the Public Relations Committee held a conference call on November 9. Those who participated discussed committee goals for 2004, including the group's ongoing initiative to work more closely with field PR appointees and SMs. Three PRC members reported on the PR forums they'll be organizing at ARRL conventions next year. Jennifer has been asked to represent HQ at the Mississippi State Convention in February. She plans to host a PR forum, work the ARRL booth with SM Malcolm Keown and be available for any other convention responsibilities. A photographer from the Manchester, CT, Journal Inquirer visited HQ to get a shot of Dan Miller for an upcoming article on emergency communications. The article has not been published as of yet. Preliminary talks are underway about the scheduling of ARRL forums at the Dayton Hamvention in 2004. Jennifer submitted "Media Hits" to Rick Lindquist for the January issue of QST. The September clip reports have been mailed. Production/Editorial Our latest eBay auctions to clear out obsolete gear in Production were again successful, thanks to help from Dan Wolfgang, Shelly Bloom and Joe Shea. The ARRL Letter circulated to 67,264 members on Oct 31, up by 176 from the previous week and to 66,455 members on Nov 8. Also, thanks to anyone on staff I worked during Sweepstakes from VO1AA. (QSL to VO1AA QSL Manager Paul Piercey, VO1HE). Dave Hassler prepared several items for the Web site and assisted with The ARRL Letter. Sales and Marketing Efforts are underway to support a suggestion from the Recruitment and Retention ad hoc committee to test new ways to improve the renewal rate of the third renewal notice to members about to lapse. This mailing is sent to members in the month their membership expires (they haven't responded to the earlier-mailed notices). Presently, the third notice mailing includes a letter outlining membership benefits. New letters will be tested covering more topical reasons why someone would renew using specific or current state of affairs information. Our group has enlisted help from Dave Hassler, K7CCC, to craft these new pieces. Dave regularly contributes to "ARRL in Action" news reporting. That's just the type of message we are hoping to deliver and test! We are preparing to ship supporting materials to ICOM dealers participating in the new joint ICOM/ARRL membership recruitment initiative. A $15 ARRL membership voucher (sticker) will be affixed to the cartons of new ICOM radios through January 31. ARRL will accept the vouchers through February 29. The program will be analyzed shortly thereafter. Wisconsin Section Manager Don Michalski, W9IXG, regularly shares his membership recruitment successes with us. His efforts with John Ensley, N9RJZ, at the Fox Cities ARC hamfest resulted in 18 new and renewed memberships. Another batch of applications was received from San Francisco SM Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV. He handled sign-ups at the Willits Amateur Radio Society club meeting in late October. Our group regularly supports SMs with special membership applications, new-member premiums (free ARRL Repeater Directories), tabletop signs, and a friendly Membership Recruitment Tip Sheet. We are reviewing the product fulfillment shipping & handling fee structure, anticipating an adjustment to these charges soon. Direct costs, including those for packaging and the fees charged by shipping carriers, have sharply increased. The new pricing models we're considering compare well with the fees charged by some of the larger catalog retailers and direct-to-consumer businesses. Bob has prepared some images and descriptions to update a handful of ARRL product listings on the AMAZON.COM website. The most time consuming part of the exercise has been steering the information to the correct person (or persons) at AMAZON. Now available via the ARRLWeb Catalog: L/C/F and Single-Layer Coil Winding Calculator http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9123 Membership Services Awards Branch 5BWAS Plaques Shipped 7 WAS Certs. (400 QSLs ES/C) 8 WAS Certs. (450 QSLs F/C) 9 WAC Certs. (60 QSLs ES/C) 10 WAC Cert. (6 QSLs F/C) 1 LTMA Inquiries 3 A-1 Op. Noms. 2 A-1 Op Certs. 2 VUCC QSL Cards Checked 170 VUCC Initial Apps. 6 Grids 423 VUCC End. Apps. 3 Grids 81 HF/VHF Awards Manager Appt.: Ken Franklin, N1KJF, West Warwick, RI. Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-WAS QSL card checking, Extra Class certificates, OTC, Friendship, and VUCC awards, mail out all awards processed this week, and finish the filing chores for the LTMAs issued earlier this year. Contest Branch The first draft of the August UHF Web report was completed, including tables. Logs Received pages for the September VHF and 10 GHz and Up contests were prepared and posted to the Web. Tables and the database for the 10 GHz contest were prepared and sent to the author for use in the write-up. We continued to print and stuff envelopes for the 2003 DX Contests, which will be mailed during the next couple of weeks. Data entry for the CW Sweepstakes began as well as the start of compiling the cups and pins orders. DXCC Branch For the week of: November 9, 2003 Beginning Cards 169,168 Cards Received 14,243 Cards Processed 22,295 Ending Cards 161,116 Applications Pending 1,436 Processing Time 7.5 Weeks Year-to-date (2003) Cards Received 575,492 Cards Returned 627,412 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on September 17, 2003. DXCC is currently entering cards received on September 22, 2003. Heather Dzamba conducted two tours this past week. QSL Bureau QSL Service Status: Current. Cards mailed as of 11/09/03: 1,220,225. Cards mailed on 11/07/2003: 78,400. Jeri Forrest from DXCC has been training in the QSL Bureau to assist when needed. W1AW Matt Strelow, KC1XX and Andrew Toth, both of XX Towers Inc., were on hand Monday (11/3) to perform some antenna maintenance and repair. They installed the 60-meter dipole above the station, repaired the feed-point connection on the 17-meter visitor antenna and replaced the coaxial pigtail on the 10-meter bulletin antenna. The North tower rotator was also on their list for repair. It was determined that a small component within the rotator had failed. A replacement part was ordered (and has since been received). Barring inclement weather, the repair will take place on Wednesday, November 12. Thanks to Mike Tracy, KC1SX for performing the initial frequency measuring testing on the Harris and Ten Tec bulletin transmitters. These tests were done in preparation for the official upcoming Frequency Measuring Test that will take place on Wednesday, November 19 at 9:45 PM EST (0245z). (This FMT will take the place of the regular phone bulletin transmission scheduled for this time.) Joe updated the web code practice files. He also assisted Mike in the frequency measuring tests. Joe also continued work on the PC that will be used for SSTV operation. He also is in the process of troubleshooting a small problem within one of the Harris amplifiers. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the month of November. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. W1AW Telephone Sales year to date (2003): $30,568. Field & Educational Services ARISS international delegates voted at Tuesday's telecon to honor Roy Neal during a special event involving on-the-air time by astronauts, the Nov. 29-30 weekend plus a little time throughout Dec. NASA will design/print certificates that will be handled by ARISS internationals the same as we do QSLs; Frank Bauer is finalizing publicity. Rosalie prepared material for the VRC meeting and gave suggestions for speakers at an upcoming FCC technical meeting. Field & Education Support Team We bid a fond "Good-bye" and "Good Luck!" to Margie Bourgoin, KB1DCO, who is departing HQ to pursue a new job opportunity. Mary Lau was happy to distribute 3 grant checks to the following projects: ARRL "Education and Technology Circuit Board Project", a second grant to the Southern Appalachian Radio Museum; and finally, a Victor C. Clark Youth Incentive grant to the Venture Crew BSA #510 of Agawam, MA. Mary also wrote an announcement for ARRLWeb to note the introduction of our newest resource for Instructors: The Online Instructor Primer, by Linda Mullally, KB1HSV. Gail Iannone sent 6 hamfest approval letters and 2 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of the events to be "ARRL-sanctioned", processed 5 door prize orders, and sent 17 handout packages for upcoming events. Margie Bourgoin has been cataloging job procedures to make a smooth transition for her departure. She also sent monthly reports-- both hard copy and email -- to the selected clubs. Margie spoke with several instructors about orders for upcoming classes. She processed a new SSC and forwarded SSC applications for approvals. Margie also sent out one new club application for Director approval. Linda Mullally updated 42 clubs with 2 reactivations. She registered 24 Instructors and 1 Teacher, and sent out 4 Exhibit Kits and 2 JOTA Kits. Linda reports an increase in Instructor registration and graduation kit orders, as well as Instructor- based questions since the Online Instructor Primer was released. She completed the F&ES Monthly Revenue noted at: $3,565.31, and also completed the F&ES Monthly Inventory and Video Inventory reports. Jean Wolfgang has received and acknowledged 20 additional JOTA reports this week. She has also handled a new ARISS application from a school in TX and is writing a congratulation letter to a young ham/scout, KG6NIH, who will be receiving his Eagle Scout award. To become an Eagle is no small thing. In addition to earning many merit badges, the young man must also organize a service project from beginning to end. The following is an excerpt about this young man's project. "Nathan organized, solicited funds for, and completed the installation of a RACES radio station in Idyllwild, CA. He installed a Yaesu FT-8900R, two antennas to cover all bands, lightning protection, and a battery backup system that can run the system for about 2 days or more. All hardware, including masts, are stainless steel (25 year life). Everything is housed in a locked steel and lexan cabinet." Regulatory Information John Hennessee rewrote the reciprocal licensing introductory information on regulatory Web page. This is in the frequently asked questions format. He also assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Auburn, CA (WX6V) and Santa Fe, NM (K6NOF), and assisted an amateur with a covenant restriction in Maspeth, NY (N2SHP). Field Organization/Public Service Team Chuck Skolaut recruited a new participating member in the ARRL Monitoring System from California. ARRL had not had a monitor from this part of the country before now. Chuck is working with Section Leaders in the East Bay area in response to an FCC request for OO monitoring assistance of a repeater. He prepared and sent a tape to the FCC concerning problems on a Northern Florida repeater, too. Leona Adams has been handling the monthly expense reports sent in by SMs while keeping track of the section budgets. The monthly Field Organization Appointment Reports were sent to SMs for their review. We also received a petition nominating incumbent Eric Olena, WB3FPL, for another term as Eastern Pennsylvania Section Manager. The fifth annual ARRL/National Weather Service SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) will be December 6, 2003, from 0000 to 2400 UTC. Steve Ewald has been promoting this and asking Section Leaders to help spread the word, too. An ARRL Web News Page article on SRD has recently appeared, and November QST's Public Service column announces this operating event. The National Weather Service site has further details: http://hamradio.noaa.gov/. Steve is also working on January QST. Over the last month or so, all sections except for Puerto Rico have seen activity in reporting news and announcements by way of ARRL Section Web pages or other ARRL Web-based electronic news or message services. EmComm Grants Dan Miller reports all Level I seats for November were filled within 27 hours after registration opened. There are also 2 hybrid classes this month -- one in Gainesville, FL and one in Jonesboro, GA. Materials have been sent for his 4-hour emcomm seminar plus forums next week in Ft. Wayne; 23 people have already signed up to attend. Jerry Ellis answered phone calls, email, and recruited mentors for the Level 1 Class. Amateur Radio Education and Technology Project There was a last minute flurry of Project Grant applications received just as the November 1 deadline appeared. The final grant request count was: 16 Project Grants (13 recommended) and 4 Progress Grants (3 recommended). Grants are being reviewed by the Executive Committee. The Project Activity Board circuit board arrived from the manufacturer and one of the boards was built. Mark validated that the board is correct. The construction of the board should easily be done by middle/high school level students with adult supervision. The final board actually performs better then the bread-board prototype. The instructional manual is in final proofing. The Activity Board Suites should be ready ahead of schedule. An announcement for schools who wish to obtain one of the suites will go out soon, via a web spot and e-mail notification to existing Project schools. A specific application for the suite will be required (to ensure that there is a good faith interest in using the board, they have the computer required for the scope, have the ability to, or can obtain help with, building the board, and have reviewed the lessons and activities associated with the board). The application deadline will be January 31st. Mark will ship the suites to approved applicant schools by February 15th. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 11/27-11/28 Holiday Mark Wilson 11/26 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 11/25-11/26 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 11/14 ARRL Louisiana State Convention Zoe Belliveau 12/29-12/31 Vacation Kathy Capodicasa 12/2 Jury Duty Mark Dzamba 12/1-12/5 Vacation Pam Dzamba 12/1-12/5 Vacation Lisa Tardette 12/29-1/2 Vacation Dan Miller 11/13-11/16 Ft. Wayne, IN. Convention `` 11/21-11/23 Salt Lake City Convention Jean Wolfgang 11/26 Vacation Cathy Stepina 12/23-12/24 Vacation