IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No.26 June 30, 2004 Upcoming Meetings July 15th in Newington, CT at 8:30am Programs & Services Committee July 15th in Newington, CT at 8:30am A & F Committee July 16-17, 2004 in Windsor, CT Board Meeting Development The Spring 2004 Spectrum Defense campaign has topped $217,000 from more than 4200 donors. The 2004 Education & Technology Fund is in circulation and the first return was received on June 29. Information letters have been mailed to 21 donors who are approaching Maxim Society status advising them of their lifetime giving total as they consider their future giving plans. Letters have been mailed to 47 Diamond Club members whose participation lapsed earlier this year. The Diamond Club program continues to grow with most of the new donors coming from the solicitations which have been mailed as a test in the membership renewal cycle. Discussions are underway to test a new more detailed reply form with hopes of expanding the Diamond Club solicitation in the renewal cycle. The program is scheduled for a major mailing campaign totaling 30,000 in August, but the success of the monthly process may change that with approval of Circulation leadership. Debra Johnson's analysis of the Diamond Club has yielded some very good information: The overall renewal rate has jumped from 60% last year to 68% this year. All but 2 of the lapsed Diamond club donors are still ARRL active ARRL members. The average contribution was projected at $100, but the actual average contribution is $129. A "substantial" new planned giving commitment has been received. Media Relations Jennifer did a live interview about BPL with KQV-AM, an all-news CBS radio station in Pittsburgh. The on-air personality who conducted the interview is a ham, and an ARRL Life Member. The interview aired just after a recap of recent comments about broadband technology made by George Bush and John Kerry. Thanks go to Joel Hallas for talking to a New Haven (CT) Register reporter about antenna configuration and antenna tuners, specifically the techniques described in the April 2004 QST article written by former HQ staffer Paul Danzer, N1II. The reporter was spurred by a press release generated by the PR folks at Housatonic Community College, where Danzer currently teaches. Jennifer talked emergency communications with a Connecticut-based freelance writer who is preparing a feature for new law enforcement magazine States Most Wanted. Her primary interest was emergency communications and homeland defense, although she was also interested in the ARISS program, general ham radio stats and basic information about what Amateur Radio operators do on the air. Jen sent the CNCS grant press releases, along with information on grants received from UTC for emergency course training. The writer also talked with Dan Miller about ARRL's online EMCOMM courses. Jennifer also did two Field Day interviews: The Daily News Transcript (Needham, MA) and WFLS Radio (Fredericksburg, VA). The June issue of Contact! was posted to the PR pages. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports that The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 26 (June 25), distributed to 66,942 members. Rick prepared stories on ARRL's reply comments on BPL, ISS astronaut announces daughter's birth via packet, short-term renewal enforcement case, $10,000 fine to former CA amateur, FCC turns 70, Vanity call sign fee to rise, White House relying on NTIA to make BPL go away, plus edited QRP Community and Youth columns as well as some news briefs for the Web. With voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy, Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for June 25. (Note: Rick will be gone Jul 2-Jul 9; send news items to Joel Kleinman.) Sales and Marketing August QST has left for the printer. We will begin soliciting ads for September QST immediately since the vacation rush is just about to begin for many of our important clients. The New Ham Express advertising printed supplement to our new ham mailings have returned from the printer. We have invoiced our customers and sent sample copies along as well. Advertising procurement for the upcoming edition of the ARRL Handbook is proceeding on schedule. Prospective advertisers have received one mailed print solicitation; one follow-up email solicitation and sales calls are underway. Summaries of highlights from the first half of 2004 were produced to support July Board meeting reports. Over $53,000 worth of ARRL Field Day merchandise (T-shirts and pins) was sold this year through June 24. We are negotiating a resale agreement with the author of a book published in the UK. Once finalized, the agreement will establish ARRL as an exclusive US distributor for the title. Forty membership applications were returned from the Northwest Division Convention in Seaside, Oregon, held June 18-20. Half of these were new or previous members. A New Products announcement was sent to 47,000 ARRL members on Tuesday. Recent exchanges with the author of YASME have contributed to new promotion ideas for the book. A review will appear in August's issue of QST. The review and some testimonials have also been added to the ARRLWeb to enhance the book's description within the e-store. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS Certs. (150 QSLs F/C) 3 WAS Cert. (50 QSLs ES/C) 1 5BWAS Certs. (1000 QSLs F/C) 4 WAS in the 90th Certs. 15 WAC QSL Cards Checked 60 A-1 Op. Noms. 8 LTMA Inquiries 10 VUCC Initial Apps. 4 Grids 257 VUCC End. App. 1 Grids 50 Awards Mailed 54 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-U.S. WAC awards, Basic WAS awards for June, and mail out awards processed this week. DXCC Branch For the week of: June 27, 2004 Beginning Cards 51,511 Cards Received 9,398 Cards Processed 8,762 Ending Cards 52,147 Applications Pending 392 Processing Time 2.7 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 237,679 Cards Returned 311,676 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on June 8, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on June 8, 2004. Wayne Mills attended the Friedrichshafen, Germany convention this past weekend. Stats on card checking are pending his return. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 45,550,648 QSL records have resulted 1,501,763 Logs Processed 55,970 Active Certificates 10,254 Users registered in the system 7231 Current Applications 107 Ready Applications 53 Applications Awaiting Mail 54 Contest Branch Preparation for mailing of the 2003 SS certificates was finished. We are now working on the 160-meter certificates for 2003. Being the week before Field Day, we spent a tremendous amount of time handling Field Day queries. We worked extensively with Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, who has put together a Field Day Submission applet for the web. It appears to be working well, as almost 100 Web-based submissions were received by Monday morning after Field Day. The write-up for the 2004 ARRL DX CW contest was received from the author and will be edited and sent to production this week. QSL Bureau Processing time is approximately 8 days from receipt. This week 126 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 160 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 06/27/04: 523,775. Due to staff illness, no cards were mailed this week. W1AW Field Day 2004 is a thing of the past! Thanks to Joe, NJ1Q, Dan, N1ND, Norm, W3IZ and John, N1KB for operating W1AW during Field Day. They made 657 QSOs were made on 80 through 2 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. The highlight of Field Day came when both 10 and 6 meters were open just past sunset Saturday night. Joe updated the web code practice files. He also tracked down a problem with the Command Technologies 20-meter amplifier and the repair is in the works. He worked the Friday night shift for a vacationing Scott Gee and ran the W1AW Field Day bulletins during the weekend. Joe also uploaded W1AW/90 logs to LoTW. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month of June and also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Rosalie worked on reports for the Board meeting and developed new figures for the re-forecast of the departmental budget. She began work on the report for the July PSC meeting, and met with Jenn and Steve on same. Rosalie reviewed the draft of a UTC-grant filing. She spoke with Chris Imlay about ARISS third party issues, and NASA Hq about future objectives. She and Leona fielded calls while Linda took a few days off (congrats to Linda on becoming a grandmother!) and while Norm was out on business. Gail Iannone sent 8 hamfest approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 5 label requests and 15 material orders for handouts and door prizes for upcoming events. She also reviewed club affiliation paperwork for 6 new clubs and sent them to the Division Directors and Section Managers for their approval in addition to acknowledgement letters to the club officials. Regulatory Information John Hennessee noted an increase in questions on station control this week. This always happens before Field Day. He also assisted an amateur with questions on local government zoning in Washoe County, NV (N7GXI). A new VCE was processed and several club constitutions were reviewed. Amateur Radio Education and Technology Program Mark Spencer gave four education talks at HamCom, who provided entrance and parking at no cost to teachers, scouts and homeschoolers. Hamcom also paid fees for scouts taking VE exams. He visited the Hamcom booth set up and staffed by students and teachers of one of our schools, DeGolyer Elementary. While delivering an antenna, Mark took the opportunity to schedule a special in-service seminar at our (local) Talcott Science Academy, one of our schools. Field Organization/Public Service Team As follow-up to last week's report, Chuck Skolaut learned that interference to Sonoma County's (CA) airport by a 2-meter repeater has been successfully resolved. Chuck received audio tapes from OOs about interference cases on 20 meters, and on two different 2-meter repeaters in California. He reviewed and forwarded the tapes to the FCC. In addition, a radio amateur in Pennsylvania provided an observation report on a strong, pulsed-type radar signal on 17 meters. Thanks to the Mailroom Staff, Leona Adams notes that the Minnesota SM election ballots/statements were mailed to ARRL members one week ahead of schedule. Minnesota members have until August 20 to return ballots to HQ. Leona has seen an increase in the number of mailing-label requests from members of the Field Organization; they use these for recruiting purposes. Steve Ewald took part in the monthly Citizen Corps Affiliate's teleconference where plans are underway for an in-person National Citizen Corp Conference in Denver in late July. He also worked with the Mailroom Staff to send an ARESCOM-sponsored informational mailing to SMs and NTS Leaders. He received word from SMs in Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama that their respective governors have declared "Amateur Radio Week" in their states surrounding Field Day. Thanks to Tom Hogerty for uploading the 2004 SET Guidelines and Reporting forms/information to the ARRL's Public Service Forms Web page area. CCE Jean Wolfgang processed 4 field test sessions and sent out certificates. She also printed certificates and ID cards for 53 graduates. Jean handled a hybrid class using a brand new process; it requires the mentor to collect the checks from the students and send all of these in at one time. This eliminates several steps of work for F&ES, accounting, and for our Web host. Jean sent out mentor calls for the next four classes that will open on July 6th, and assigned mentors to the 3 sections that will begin on June 29. She discussed with Rosalie another idea for publicizing our online courses. Emcomm Grants Dan Miller's SeaPac seminar saw 33 attendees; 2 were Field appointees, 11 were licensed more than 10 years, 67% were ARRL members, 22% were involved in Citizen Corps and attendees spent 11.5 hours per month on emcomm activities. Club/Mentor Program Norm Fusaro handled increased club correspondence about Field Day activity. He initiated a new ARRL Affiliated Club President's Reflector, which is now "live." A story about it will be the headline topic for this week's mailing to clubs. Norm is now moved into his new QTH in Bristol, CT, with antennas soon to follow. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 7/5 Holiday Jennifer Hagy 6/28-7/6 Vacation Barry Shelley 6/28-7/2 Vacation Mark Wilson 7/6 Vacation Dave Patton 7/8-7/13 Vacation `` 7/16-7/17 Board Meeting, Windsor, CT Perry Williams 7/1-7/14 Vacation `` 7/16-9/7 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 7/23-7/25 Central States VHF, Toronto, Canada `` 8/20-8/21 Convention, Albuquerque, NM `` 8/27-8/29 SW Division Convention, Phoenix, AZ Rick Lindquist 7/2-7/9 Vacation Robert Inderbitzen 7/19-7/30 Vacation Fatima Lorusso 7/6-7/9 Vacation Janet Rocco 7/26-7/30 Vacation `` 8/9-8/13 Vacation Jon Bloom 6/14-7/2 Vacation Mark Spencer 6/23-7/4 Vacation Debra Jahnke 7/5-7/9 Vacation `` 8/9-8/13 Vacation Zack Lau 6/28-7/2 Vacation Ed Hare 6/30-7/14 AZ State Convention/Vacation Lisa Tardette 6/28-7/2 Vacation Joel Kleinman 7/9-7/13 Vacation Danny Sayad 7/2 Vacation Mark Dzamba 8/23-8/27 Vacation Pam Dzamba 8/23-8/27 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 7/8-7/14 Convention, San Francisco, CA/Vacation Joe Carcia 7/6-7/9 Vacation Kathy Allison 7/6-7/12 Vacation Bill Moore 7/16 Pacific NW Convention Kathy Capodicasa 7/8-7/12 Vacation Di Szlachetka 7/6-7/7 Vacation