<<053007.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 30, No. 22 May 30, 2007 -- Covers the period May 20-26. Upcoming Meetings and Events Administration & Finance Committee July 19 in Newington, CT Second Board Meeting July 20-21, 2007 in Windsor, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The week began working through several hundred emails received while in Dayton. Afterwards Pave Paws took center stage. We are beginning to work on the draft of the letters that will be sent to the individual repeater owners affected by the PPRs. The letter will include details of the mitigation agreement with the DoD and any additional recommendations that emerge from the Longley-Rice plots that Ed Hare should have finished after the Memorial Day weekend. Also we hope to include either a letter or statements from the contact person at the FCC indicating they are aware of the proposals and will be dealing with any problems arising from non-cooperation or continued harmful interference after the plan is implemented. We are pleased that the state of Oklahoma is poised to be the twenty-fourth to adopt a state version of PRB-1 with the bill having been approved by both houses of the state legislature on Tuesday May 22 and is awaiting the signature of the governor. Congratulations to OK SM John Thomason, WB5SYT, and his team! The NC state PRB-1 bill has also passed the state House and they are awaiting consideration by the state Senate. We continue to monitor a very broad cell-phone / "electronic communications" bill in NJ. Queries on the Field Day front are picking up as we approach one month before this annual activity. Numerous rules questions are being handled daily and an extended conversation was had with a free lance reporter in the San Francisco area who is gathering background information for an article. We also had a follow-up planning meeting for the FD activities from W1AW. As part of that activity we will be doing some staff activities during lunch the Friday before Field Day to give non-licensed and newly-licensed staff members a small taste of what FD and on-the-air amateur radio is about. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH A grant proposal has been submitted to United Technologies for a 3-year $150,000 grant to support the Teachers Institute in Wireless Technology for 2008, 2009 and 2010. I do not expect a response to this proposal until September. The response to the 2007 Education & Technology campaign has reached $ 71,800 from 782 donors for a very healthy average contribution of $91.82. The goal of this solicitation is $80,000 from selected segments of the membership file, including major donor and major prospects. While we are waiting to start site preparation for the Diamond Terrace at ARRL, the engraving on first group of engraved Lucite replicas is nearly complete. The requests for the brick engraving have been sent to the monument company. The first phase of the Diamond Terrace is expected to be complete by July 4. A fifth granite bench has been requested. Before the terrace is complete, the placement of the five benches will be determined. There is no update so far on the grant proposal to Dept of Homeland Security for citizen preparedness training. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP The Annual Report is in the final stages before going to the printer. The final draft of June's CONTACT! is completed. With the arrival of the "Talk on a Disk" CD's, announcements are going out to PIOs and clubs about their availability for presentation use. McGan nominations are in, duplicated and sent out to the PR Committee for evaluation. Contacts made at Dayton with several people who may be examples of Amateur Radio creativity in the 2008 campaign and follow-up communications have been sent. We are still awaiting Governor Rell's decision and reply to our Field Day invitation, and options are being created for her to speak with other state Governors via radio if she comes. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The July 2007 issue of QST was released to the printer May 24. We wish Senior News Editor Rick Lindquist all the best upon his retirement June 1. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 21, distributed to 66,608 members on May 25. Rick prepared stories on the League's federal appeals court filing in its BPL rules review petition, the FCC letter to Ambient to demonstrate that it's complying with the conditions of the Experimental license under which it's operating the Briarcliff Manor BPL system, Oklahoma poised to be next PRB-1 state, FCC designates three Amateur Radio applications for hearing plus several news briefs and announcements. Rick and Khrystyne Keane shared duties in voicing, editing and producing ARRL Audio News for May 25. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R May product sales are strong--spurred on by brisk sales of license manuals, the new edition ARRL Antenna Book, and publication sales at our exhibit in Dayton. We anticipate that sales will likely meet or exceed forecast before the end of the month. A membership mailing is being readied-to send to 100,000 lapsed- and never-members. The mailing list includes all "post-restructuring" licensees. The results are in from ARRL's exhibit at Dayton Hamvention. Membership: New 81 (59 in 2006); Renewal 732 (633 in 2006); Lapsed 121 (112 in 2006); TOTAL 944 (833 in 2006). Thanks to everyone that contributed to our top-notch exhibit! ARRL has partnered with MetLife for a new group insurance program. ARRL members can now seek discounted rates for home and auto insurance. The program also includes products and services offered by MetLife Bank (CDs, Money Market Account, etc.). Katie Breen has led this effort-and will serve as the program contact person. More information can be found in an ARRL web news brief at http://www.arrl.org/?artid=7477. The MetLife program was launched at our exhibit in Dayton-the timing of which followed months of negotiation and planning. To help support the launch, MetLife canvassed a large number of members with a mailing helping introduce the new membership benefit. Planning is underway for ARRL's exhibits at Friedrichshafen (Germany in June) and the ARRL National Convention (Huntsville in August). Amy is participating in an intradepartmental team that is planning to centralize the fulfillment of various handout materials: recruitment brochures, instructor resources, hamfest materials, etc. The warehouse crew processed 942 packages for orders shipped during the week of May 14. In addition, 525 free book membership premiums were shipped, and a supplemental mailing for June QST. The warehouse also unloaded 29 pallets of publication reprints: Ham Radio License Manual, Emergency Communications Handbook, VHF/UHF Antenna Classics and more. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch The final touches were put on the Contest Results columns for the 2007 January VHF, RTTY Roundup and the 2006 10 Meter contests. The web versions of these contests have been sent to WSDD staff. Ken Wolffe, K1EA, delivered the electronic logs for the 2007 International DX (CW) contest. They were combined with the paper logs and sent to column author Scott Robbins, W4PA, to begin work on the results for QST and the web. QSL Branch There is no delay in opening mail and a 2 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 112 pounds of cards were received from members. W1AW Thanks to Bill Moore, NC1L for running the morning transmissions on Friday for Joe Carcia, who was out on vacation. Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also conducted some video recording tests with the new PC. Joe also spoke with Alabama Section Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, concerning the status of the donated D-Star equipment for the W1AW 2-meter D-Star repeater, and its possible use by the PVRA. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of the month of June. He also assisted the DXCC department with the checking of some database-inputted cards against DXCC applications. Field Organization/Public Service Team Incumbent New Hampshire SM Sterling Eanes, AK1K, was re-elected to a new term of office that starts July 1. Election ballots were counted and verified on May 22 by Leona Adams, Gail Iannone and Steve Ewald. Colorado SM Jeff Ryan, K0RM, and Eastern Washington SM Mark Tharp, KB7HDX, have been nominated for new terms of office starting in October. Leona has also been handling exhibit kit orders. The National Citizen Corps office held its monthly teleconference with affiliated organizations, and Steve Ewald took part in the call on behalf of ARRL HQ. Plans are underway for the annual Citizen Corps in mid June. Steve hosted a teleconference with Section Managers of the Delta and Midwest Divisions. Rose-Anne Lawrence joined this call and discussed educational topics and how to recruit young people into Amateur Radio. Chuck Skolaut also participated in the phone conference. Chuck has received seven positive notes and inquiries so far from members who read his June QST article, "Unidentified Flying Signals and What We Can Do About Them." He has received reports that unlicensed fishermen are using a frequency very near one of the 60 meter channels in the Gulf Coast area. An investigation is underway. Also, an unidentified noise from 3916 to 3918 kHz (possibly a digital shortwave broadcaster) is under observation by our Intruder Watch monitors. The Chinese station is still being heard on 18160 kHz as well as the "PUN" beacon from South America on harmonics of 1752 kHz. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 7/4 Holiday Jon Bloom 6/15 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 6/1-6/6 Vacation Katie Breen 6/1 Rochester Hamfest `` 6/14-6/26 Vacation `` 6/28-7/1 Iowa State Convention Joe Carcia 6/28-7/6 Vacation `` 7/13 Vacation `` 7/20 Vacation `` 7/27 Vacation `` 8/3-8/10 Vacation Steve Ford 6/13-6/15 SNAP Publishing Conference, Washington, DC Perry Green 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA Mike Gruber 6/4-6/8 Vacation Ed Hare 7/8-7/13 EMC Society Symposium Committee Meeting, Honolulu, HI Dan Henderson 6/1-6/3 Georgia State Convention, Marietta, GA `` 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation Mary Hobart 6/1-6/4 Northwestern Division Convention, Seaside, OR `` 6/15 Vacation `` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS `` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL `` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN Bob Inderbitzen 6/8 Vacation `` 6/21-6/26 Vacation `` 7/16-7/20 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 6/7-6/10 Ham-Com, Arlington, TX `` 6/11 Vacation Joel Kleinman 6/13-6/15 SNAP Publishing Conference, Washington, DC Zak Lau 6/21-6/22 Vacation Bill Moore 6/8-6/10 West Gulf Convention, Plano, TX Dave Patton 6/19-6/25 Friedrichshafen Germany Convention Maria Somma 6/19-6/27 Friedrichshafen Germany Convention `` 7/13-7/22 Vacation `` 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA `` 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Sumner 6/10-6/25 ITU-R WP8A Geneva, and Friedrichshafen Germany Larry Wolfgang 5/31-6/1 Vacation