IN-Newsletter Vol. 40, No. 30 September 2, 2015 - Covers the period August 23-29. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events Section Managers' Workshop September 17-19 - ARRL HQ Executive Committee October 3 @ 8:30am in Bloomington, MN LoTW Study Committee November 13 @ 9:00am - ARRL HQ Administration & Finance Committee November 14 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ Director/Vice Director Elections November 20 @ 9:00am - ARRL HQ CEO Office The office will be closed Monday, September 7 in observance of Labor Day. Have a safe & fun Holiday weekend! Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Diane Petrilli reports that August ended with 167,449 members, 1048 members ahead of the year-to-date goal. This represents a gain from July of 136 members; a gain of 222 was forecasted. The on-time renewal rate for August is 71.77% vs. 73.86% last August. The top sources of acquisition this month were associated with membership appeals by e-mail, and our direct mail to non-members with upcoming expiring licenses and new hams. Also contributing to acquisition in August were applications received from Austin Summerfest (Texas) and Boxboro (Massachusetts). Jackie Ferriera reports that August product sales were $201,415, falling short of the sales forecast of $216,065. Direct sales were $124,070 (up 12% from Aug 2014); dealer sales were $77,345. Royalties earned on sales of our Kindle e-books were $7,130. We now have 15 titles in Amazon's Kindle marketplace; 6 of those added in August. Yvette Vinci reports that on Tuesday, August 25, a reminder emailing was sent to members with a summary of "What's trending" in September QST-taking advantage of some early analytics shared by Alli Barbieri. The notification was sent to 121,735 members. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 8/28/2015 788 375 8/21/2015 867 304 8/14/2015 1,123 455 8/7/2015 647 395 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 2-4 Business Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 2521 W1AW/WAS 1789 W1AW Scott Gee and Dan Wall have begun to sort out the thousands of W1AW/portable QSL card requests located in the W1AW conference room in anticipation of eventual processing. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the week. he also processed VUCC applications and certificates. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams reports that the following incumbent Section Managers have submitted nominating petitions to run for a new term of office in their respective sections: Keith Miller, N9DGK (Tennessee), Ed Emco, W1KT (Western Massachusetts), Ron Cowan, KB0DTI (Kansas), Jim Latham, AF6AQ. The next term of office for this particular election cycle starts on January 1, 2016, and petitions need to be submitted to Headquarters by September 4, 2015. Steve Ewald continues to coordinate with fellow staff members and organize the upcoming Section Managers' Workshop that is scheduled to be held at ARRL Headquarters from September 18-20. The twenty one Section Managers are scheduled to arrive in Connecticut throughout the day on Thursday, the 17th. One amateur from Missouri successfully completed requirements to become an Official Observer this past week. Chuck Skolaut received an updated report on operations on 3940 kHz along the west coast. A drift net beacon was heard on 28226.4 kHz by a south Texas station using an ID as "CW." Threats heard on an Arizona repeater were passed along. Questions handled this week dealt with operating overseas, antenna zoning, a pending license renewal and providing communications for a road rally. Chuck returned from a successful ARRL State Convention in Kansas. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 9/7 Holiday Bob Allison 10/18 Connecticut State Convention, Meriden, CT Steve Capodicasa 9/21-9/25 PTO Lauren Clarke 9/3pm PTO `` 9/14-9/18 PTO `` 11/25 PTO `` 12/24 PTO Mike Corey 11/13-11/15 HamJam, Alpharetta, GA Steve Ford 9/3-9/4 PTO `` 10/9-10/11 Digital Comm. Conference, Chicago, IL / PTO `` 10/16-10/18 AMSAT Symposium, Dayton, OH Mike Gruber 9/28-10/2 PTO `` 10/16 NEAR-Fest, NH Ed Hare 9/11-9/13 Southwestern Division Convention, Torrance, CA Dan Henderson 9/3-9/6 Roanoke Division Convention, Shelby, NC `` 10/8-10/18 RSGB Convention, Milton Keynes, UK / PTO Gail Iannone 8/27-9/4 PTO Bob Inderbitzen 10/16-10/18 Pacific Division Convention, San Ramon, CA Debra Johnson 8/31-9/4 PTO `` 9/10-9/14 PTO Dave Pingree 8/19-9/22 PTO Brennan Price 10/16-10/18 Microwave Update, San Diego, CA Barry Shelley 10/1-10/2 PTO Dave Sumner 9/4 PTO `` 9/14-9/15 Findlay Hamfest / Club talk, Findlay, OH `` 9/16am PTO Yvette Vinci 9/4 PTO