Sorry this one is late. <<111710.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 33, No. 46 November 17, 2010 -- Covers the period November 7-13. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP While there continue to be regular media hits in the newspapers and calls asking for presentation materials, things in general have quieted down lately. Work on the 2011 tech video continues and a weekend talk with Mark Severance of NASA was most promising in getting video of a special ARISS contact as part of that project. The public service flier is now being worked on in Graphics and a special letter mailed to ARRL PIOs is being drafted. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter and voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for November 11, 2010. There will be no ARRL Audio News during Thanksgiving week. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R October ended with 155,977 members, a gain of 303 members over September (year-to-date goal: 157,394). 73% of October expirees paid on time, compared to 72% in October 2009. Two large membership campaigns, sent by mail, contributed to this month's membership figures. Month-end email to lapsed members returned 283 applications, spurred on by a bonus offer featuring the 2011 ARRL Calendar. We are very pleased with the high response rate to email sent to international hams with ARRL Web site "guest" accounts. The combination of these positive gains helped to offset the lower acquisition resulting from fewer new licensees. October product sales were $351,700, falling short of the sales forecast of $451,579. Direct sales were $175,025.54; dealer sales were $176,675.25. Contributing to the shortfall was lower than predicted sales of the new edition ARRL Handbook, and author's delays completing the 5th edition of ON4UN's Low-Band DXing (now coming in December). 2011 Handbook sales were $193,402.12, falling short of the $240,000 forecast for the debut month of this new edition. We expect, however, that some of this shortfall may be recovered with higher-than-predicted sales in November and December. The Member Services team reports that the holiday shopping season is upon us! We processed over 1200 orders last week, and we are sustaining higher-than-usual daily levels of online orders, phone calls and mail. Handbook sales have been brisk during these first 2 weeks of November-resulting from a solicitation that was mailed to all domestic members in late October, and to international members as a ride-along insertion with their December issue of QST. During these first 2 weeks of November, the warehouse crew fulfilled 2,098 packages for publication and product orders, 797 membership premiums, and QST mailing supplements. The warehouse also completed fulfilling items from the 2010 ARRL On-line Auction. The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual, 2nd edition, was re-released with new practice exam software: ARRL Exam Review on CD-ROM. We hope the new software feature will be a helpful addition for students preparing for their first license. Additional versions of the software will soon be introduced in the ARRL General and Extra Class License Manuals. Membership mailings are being prepared for a couple of smaller, targeted groups including prospective hams (individuals that have requested information about getting started in Amateur Radio), and NCJ and QEX subscribers. The last large membership campaign of the year mails on November 15. Ads were prepared for Trailer Life magazine and Public Safety Communications (APCO). Both ads direct readers to special landing pages on the ARRL Web site tailored to their likely Amateur Radio interest areas. Special ARRL membership applications, produced as tear-off sheets, have been completed for ARRL VEC use. These application pads will be distributed with exam session materials sent to Volunteer Examiners. The sliding carousel on the ARRL Web site homepage was updated to include features for the ARRL VEC and ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW and Phone). A new page summarizing ARRL membership benefits will debut in January's issue of QST (page 14). Now Shipping: ARRL Morse Code Oscillator Kit and Morse Code Key. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Field Organization/Public Service Team Incumbent Wyoming Section Manager Garth Crowe, N7XKT, has been nominated to run for a new term of office (starting in April 2011). Leona Adams submitted the Section Manager Nomination notice for January's QST for the election cycle that concludes with new terms of office starting in July 2011. Section Manager election ballots in Missouri, South Carolina, and Western Pennsylvania are due at Headquarters by Friday, November 19 and the ballots will be counted on November 23. Steve Ewald gathered and submitted the nominations for the 2011 George Hart Distinguished Service Award to Dave Patton. He, in turn, shared them with the Programs and Services Committee members for their study and consideration. Editorial work on January QST submissions continued through the week. Chuck Skolaut compiled and sent the monthly ARRL monitoring report to the Region 2 coordinator. With more openings occurring on 10 meters, more reports of Spanish-speaking stations on the CW portion of the band have been received. Also, greater activity on the bands during recent contests have generated more advisories to stations operating outside of the bands or their license class. As a good result, though, several notes of thanks were received by Official Observers for their reminders regarding that. We also received a report of an unidentified signal in North Texas that was heard on several bands. This problem was resolved when the reporting station discovered that the noise originated from a local Electrostatic Air Cleaner. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 11/25-11/26 Holiday All Staff 12/24 Holiday All Staff 12/31 Holiday Leona Adams 11/19 Vacation `` 12/3pm Vacation Margie Bourgoin 12/20-12/24 Vacation Hugh Brower 11/22-11/24 Vacation Steve Ewald 11/29-12/3 Vacation Jackie Ferreira 12/23 Vacation `` 12/30 Vacation Steve Ford 12/23-12/31 Vacation Scott Gee 12/6-12/7 Vacation `` 12/23-12/27 Vacation Joel Hallas 12/22-12/29 Vacation Dan Henderson 12/20-1/5 Vacation Mary Hobart 12/27-12/28 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 12/27-12/30 Vacation Sabrina Jackson 12/6-12/7 Vacation Sean Kutzko 11/19-11/22am Vacation Rose-Anne Lawrence 11/19 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 12/27-12/31 Vacation Diane Petrilli 11/22-11/24 Vacation `` 12/20-12/22 Vacation `` 12/27-12/29 Vacation Steve Sant Andrea 11/29 Vacation Barry Shelley 11/23-11/24 Vacation `` 12/16-12/23 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 11/22-11/24 Vacation Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative Joel Hallas 12/3-12/4 W. Central Florida Section Convention, Palmetto, FL Brennan Price 11/1-11/24 SCRPM, SG5 & subsidiary Working Parties, Geneva