<<122408.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 52 December 24, 2008 -- Covers the period December 14-20. Upcoming Meetings and Events Administration &Finance Committee January 15 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee January 15 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Annual Board Meeting January 16-17, 2009 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT CEO Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Just a quick note reminding you all that the ARRL will be closed Thursday December 25 and also on Thursday January 1. Happy Holidays to all of you and a Healthy and Happy New Year! Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Spectrum Defense Fund has reached $263,257. One large contributions of $25,000 came in late last week. Thanks to John Proctor, Jon Bloom and Bob Inderbitzen for their help in sending our an email message from Dave Sumner to Defense donors in 2006 and 2007 who had not contributed to the 2008 campaign. A total of 111 contributions totaling $8430 came in from that effort with a healthy average contribution of $75.95. In addition, messages were forwarded to clubs and advertisers through Norm Fusaro and with cooperation by Deb Jahnke. A contribution of $25,000 was received for the Teachers Institutes in 2009. Two IRA contributions are in the works and are expected to come in before December 31. Year end contributions of $25 or more to any Development Fund are receiving a $10 coupon good on ARRL publication orders before April 2009. A fourth distribution of $2703 was received from the Stoner Estate, bringing the contributions to the ARRL Endowment in 2008 to $736,925. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The February 2009 issue of QST has been released to the printer. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 50, for December 19, 2008. Distribution has reached 73,526, an increase of almost 11 percent during 2008. She also produced and voiced ARRL Audio News for December 19. There will be no ARRL Letter or ARRL Audio News on December 26 or January 2. Both will return on Friday, January 9, 2009. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Product sales have neared $250,000 so far this month, nearing the forecast amount of $282,771 with 7 business days to go. All renewal forms and membership applications have been updated, discontinuing the senior discount rate. As of January 1, 2009 all mailings will reflect the update. A Membership direct mail solicitation is scheduled to drop on 12/29 to 50,000 lapsed and never members. A new design for the "5-pillars" banner stand has been finalized. The banners feature new graphics for each of the 5 ARRL pillars: public service, advocacy, education, technology and membership. Once manufactured, the banner stands will be available for ordering via www.arrl.org/brochures. Diane Petrilli has updated the resources for ARRL tour guides. She'll also be attending the February meeting of the Newington Amateur Radio League to help recruit new ARRL volunteers. Members of our department continue to participate in small groups assigned to the web site redesign. Most of our current work involves assembling content for the new site. Customer Service continues to be very busy through the holiday season with orders and renewals. Processing orders is currently within 2-3 working days (maintaining our service standard). We are receiving orders from a handful of recent direct mailings, including an international "new products" flyer (ride-along with QST), a 140,000 piece "new products" mailing (to members and previous customers), and a TravelPlus upgrade mailing. Email solicitations were completed for publication sales and contributions. ARRL will begin carrying a new softcover edition of Geoffrey Pidgeon's "The Secret Wireless War" early next year. The popular title in softcover will be available to customers at a somewhat lower retail price from the current $59.95 hardcover edition. Now Shipping: "International Microwave Handbook" 2nd edition (published by RSGB and ARRL). The Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,283 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 250 free book membership premiums, and processed QST mailing supplements for January. Financial reforecasts were completed for each of the department's branches for the December period: marketing, membership, fulfillment, product sales, and warehouse. Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ Staff continued to solicit advertising for February QST until the minute we uploaded to the printer and we were able to exceed our QST advertising goal by a small margin. We have already gotten off to a positive start for March QST and will welcome aboard two new advertisers, Scorpion Antennas and Luso Tower. In addition, solicitations are underway for advertising in the new edition of the ARRL Repeater Directory. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He processed three Qualifying Run certificates. Joe also made a repair to the Harris Audio Matrix power supply. He processed additional regular QSL card requests. Joe also installed the Flex Radio Systems Flex-5000A SDR in Studio Two. This included him building a simple CW keying interface to work with the various logging programs that interface with the Flex-5000A. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of December and early January. Field Organization/Public Service Team J.M. Rowe, N5XFW, has been appointed as the new ARRL Arkansas Section Manager starting on December 22, 2008. Rowe is taking the Section Manager reins from David Norris, K5UZ, who, in November, was elected the new Vice Director of the ARRL Delta Division starting in January. Steve Ewald has been in touch with J.M., N5XFW, to help him get started as Section Manager. When David Norris announced that he was stepping down from the Section Manager post, he recommended Arkansas SEC J.M. Rowe to the position. J.M was already scheduled to become Arkansas Section Manager on April 1, 2009, since he was the only nominee for the next term of office when the petition deadline passed on December 5. Before making the appointment, Dave Patton, NN1N, Manager of the Membership and Volunteer Programs consulted with outgoing Delta Division Director Henry Leggette, WD4Q, and with Mickey Cox, K5MC, the Delta Division Director-Elect. Leona Adams continued to prepare the Arizona and North Texas Section Manager election ballots and candidate statements. After the documents are printed, plans are underway to send out the ballots from Headquarters by January 2, 2009. The Indiana Section has a new Official Observer on its Field Organization roster, and a new operator from Oregon has joined the ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch. The FCC informed Chuck Skolaut that several reports of unidentified signals on 75 meters were legitimate users in Region 1. Documentation from a North Carolina Official Observer was received regarding a recent jamming case on 75 meters. Chuck continues to assist with Regulatory information questions. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ The RF Propagation course revisions written by Terry Dettmann are in review with Joel Hallas. The HF Digital Communications course has been retired from the Continuing Education Program roster of online courses. China Chaney is training to provide general back-up for CEP program and other Education Services functions as well as to continue support for CEP field exams. ARECC Field Instructors and Field Examiners were informed of the ARECC field exam increase to $15 that will be effective January 1. Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer reports that he is 20% complete with the building of the 5-building blocks of radio activity boards for next year's Teachers Institutes. He has completed the build and testing of a seismometer project that has been requested by one of the ETP schools. This equipment has been mailed to the requesting school. There has been an up-tick in requests for help and information from ETP schools of late, which could be due to the approaching holiday season and teachers having more time to plan for next year's activities. Nathan McCray is drafting a report demonstrating alignment of math curriculum with amateur radio and has been mentoring other teachers within his local district who are building an HF receiver. He is supporting other ETP teachers asking for guidance on setting up radio clubs and recruiting teachers for Teachers Institutes next summer. ARISS There has been a lot of activity with school contacts this month. Astronaut Sandy Magnus KE5FYE and Commander Mike Fincke KE5AIT have talked to schools in India, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, two in the US (in Belleville, Illinois and Richmond, Texas) and two in Italy. Four of the contacts were conducted during one week! Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, will participate in 25th anniversary ham-radio-in-space commemorative activities events during the rest of December and into January. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 12/25 Holiday `` 1/1 Holiday Leona Adams 12/24-12/26 Vacation Kathy Allison 12/26 Vacation `` 1/2 Vacation Bob Allison 12/26 Vacation `` 1/2 Vacation `` 1/2 Vacation Joe Carcia 1/2 Vacation Dennis Dura 12/24-12/26 Vacation Steve Ford 12/22-1/5 Vacation Norm Fusaro 12/23-12/31 Vacation Scott Gee 12/24-12/26 Vacation Joel Hallas 12/24-12/31 Vacation `` 1/16-1/17 Southern Florida Section Convention, Ft Myers, FL Ed Hare 1/2 Vacation `` 1/5-1/9 Vacation Dan Henderson 12/18-1/6 Vacation Mary Hobart 1/15-1/17 Committee Meeting/BOD Meeting Amy Hurtado 12/24-12/26 Vacation `` 12/29 Vacation `` 1/2 Vacation Gail Iannone 12/23-12/31 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 1/2-1/5 Vacation Debra Jahnke 12/24 Vacation Debra Johnson 12/24 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 12/26-1/2 Vacation Harold Kramer 12/29-1/2 Vacation `` 1/15-1/17 Committee Meeting/BOD Meeting Lisa Kustosik 1/2 Vacation `` 1/15-1/17 BOD Meeting Sean Kutzko 12/29-12/31 Vacation Zack Lau 12/22 Vacation `` 12/29 Vacation Kim Mancuso 12/26 Vacation Bill Moore 12/26-1/2 Vacation Dave Patton 12/22-12/31 Vacation `` 1/15-1/17 Committee Meeting/BOD Meeting Diane Petrilli 12/26 Vacation Allen Pitts 12/26-1/4 Vacation Brennan Price 12/29-12/31 Washington `` 1/12-1/15 Washington `` 1/15-1/17 BOD Meeting Janet Rocco 12/26 Vacation Steve Sant Andrea 1/2-1/5 Vacation Barry Shelley 1/15-1/17 Committee Meeting/BOD Meeting Dave Sumner 12/24-12/26 Vacation `` 1/15-1/17 Committee Meeting/BOD Meeting Diane Szlachetka 12/26-12/31 Vacation Alex Tara 1/2 Vacation Sharon Taratula 12/23pm-12/24 Vacation Lisa Tardette 12/26-12/31 Vacation Perry Williams 12/17-12/31 Vacation