<<102109.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 32, No. 42 October 21, 2009 -- Covers the period October 11-17. Upcoming Meetings and Events Executive Committee Meeting October 24 @ 9:00am - Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 20 -- ARRL HQ Ad Hoc Committee Meeting on Amateur Auxiliary November 20 -- ARRL HQ Administration &Finance Committee November 21 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ Programs & Services Committee November 21 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ CEO Dave Sumner spent the week in Christchurch, New Zealand where he served as Chairman and Secretary of Working Group 1 (Policy Matters) of the IARU Region 3 Conference. The conference was followed by a two-day meeting of the IARU Administrative Council where he served as Recording Secretary. The ARRL hosted a week long class sponsored by the USTTI (United Sates Telecommunications Training Institute) to teach Amateur Radio Administration. The countries that the students traveled from this year where Ghana, Zambia, Mauritius, Philippines and Sri Lanka. Brennan Price headed up the class this year with the assistance from Lisa Kustosik. Pleasantly one of the students from Ghana, Yaw Ampofo Kwarteng, passed the Technician exam and received the call sign KJ4PVL. Next week we will acknowledge a number of staff members who have reached significant milestones in terms of years of service to the ARRL: Linda Kleinschmidt (40 years); Jon Bloom, Joe Carcia, John Proctor, Cathy Scharr, and Lisa Tardette (all 25 years); and Kathy Allison, Margie Bourgoin, Ann Figat, Dave Patton, and Jon Siverling (10 years). Congratulations to all! Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The questions continue to come in regarding the Board's statement on appropriate use, though the number has declined. We have also spoken with the FCC and are awaiting a Public Notice on the topic, which hopefully will help put a stop to several unauthorized "interpretations" given by FCC staffers in other Bureaus who are not authorized to make statements or interpretations on Amateur Radio. This has been the source of significant discussion among several high-ranking FCC officials, including the Chairman's office. The teleconference with Air Force Space Command and the 85th EIS testing unit on discrepancies in the latest PAVE PAWS identifications was help October 15 with Lab Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, and Dan Henderson, N1ND, participating for the ARRL. The Air Force has agreed to provide further information, including files confirming station identifications. The confusion over the differences in the number of repeaters previously identified but which neither the ARRL nor FCC could find on previous requests was explained to our satisfaction. The Air Force raised their concern over a significant number of repeaters that are no longer transmitting IDs. The ARRL suggested that such claims should be directly handled between the Air Force and the FCC. The basis for this suggestion is that while those repeaters may be affecting the radar, the lack of proper station identification was a different rules violation. The RIB manager presented a tour of ARRL HQ as part of the introduction for the USTTI, pinch-hitting for Technical Relations Manager Brennan Prize, N4QX, who was delayed in returning from Geneva. Later during the USTTI sessions, the RIB manager also did the formal presentation on the Amateur service rules and testing, working with VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM and Assistant Manager Perry Green, WY1O. Also on October 14-15, we also hosted Bob Heil, K9EID, for a few hours while here on an unofficial visit. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Connecticut Public TV is planning a show on the blizzard of 1978. Pictures and contact information with radio amateurs who were working emergency response communications have been shared with Jennifer Boyd, the producer. Also, working with HP Computers' Kris Sager, we provided information and aid in a special "HP in real Life" article about DXing and Andrew Vavra VE2DXY. Links to it can be found at ARRL's http://wedothatradio.wordpress.com/category/computers-and-amateur-radio/ and HP's http://www.hp.com/go/hamradiostory. The results of the web polling asking about knowledge of PR-101 (under 12% of the respondents knew of it) will result in renewed efforts to inform people about it while, despite several good attempts by PIOs to get noticed, outside of the Rocky Mountain regions of the country JOTA appears to have gotten little media coverage in non-ham publications this month. Much like the earlier Field Day release, parts and pieces of the fill-in-the-blank release provided for SET events has shown up in media coverage indicating that groups are customizing it to their own local situations as intended. The tragedy (3 deaths) at the home of Barbara Tenn, KJ4KFF, highlighted the dangers of overhead power lines. In the days afterward, intensive media surveillance was done and it was noted that the press reinforced the dangers of the electric lines, but not one story was seen incorrectly claiming the danger was in some way with Amateur Radio. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Spectrum Defense campaign is in the mail this week. We hope to see returns by the middle or end of next week. The follow ups will be sent the week of November 3. We were pleased to participate in the 10-year celebration here at HQ that included marking the 10 years of service of our own Margie Bourgoin, KB1DCO. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The December 2009 issue of QST will be released to the printer on October 22. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 28, No. 41, for October 15, 2009. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for October 15. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch The log submission deadline for the September VHF QSO Party has passed. We have received 594 logs. We have received a mere 61 logs for the 2009 10 GHz Contest. The log submission deadline is two days away. Unless there is a massive influx of logs in the next 48 hours, this will be the lowest level of participation in the 10 GHz Contest since 1989. Adjudicated data for the August UHF contest has been received from the scorer. All tables have been generated and sent to the results author. 244 logs were received for this one, the highest total since 1994. The Contest Branch continues to receive comments regarding the elimination of the assisted class in the EME Contest and the perceived abuse of the Rover categories in the VHF+ contests by a group of pack rovers in southern California. I continue to forward those comments to the VUAC. Certificates for the 2008 ARRL 160 Meter Contest will go out this week; 2008 10 Meter certificates will follow shortly, probably late next week. CW Sweepstakes is less than three weeks away. We have an infrastructure in place to handle the 15-day log submission deadline and get results online in 60 days, as we have promised. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams updated field appointment lists and sent out several OO test packets. Leona reports that Gary Stratton, K5GLS has been nominated to run for Section Manager for the Louisiana section for the term beginning April 1, 2010. Chuck Skolaut compiled and sent out the monthly OO Summary to all OOs, OOCs, and SMs. Documentation was forwarded to the FCC which was received from two North Carolina Official Observers regarding operation on a 75 meter frequency. Updated information was also sent to the FCC regarding unlicensed 2 meter activity in West Virginia. Intruder reports this week included a steady carrier on 14000 and an unidentified "buzz" type signal on 7251, both were forwarded to our monitors to investigate. Ron Cady K1RKD and Debra Johnson K1DMJ joined Chuck in operating from W1AW for the JOTA event this weekend. Over 60 contacts were made and several young scouts worked on their Merit Badge. Emergency Preparedness & Response Reported by Dennis Dura, K2DCD Attended and participated in the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) Fall national members meeting. A brief presentation on the need for communication planning and operations for catastrophic events and the coordination required between NVOAD members was made. Discussion followed between the national members in attendance and it was agreed that NOVAD should have a plan and place amateur radio resources at the ready for its member organizations. I was appointed the Chair of the working group to develop this activity. Participating NVOAD members also showing interest on the group are the Adventist Community Services, American Red Cross, Convoy of Hope and The salvation Army. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 11/26-11/27 Holiday `` 12/25 Holiday Kathy Allison 10/19-10/23 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 10/23 Vacation `` 11/13 Vacation `` 11/23-11/25 Vacation Dennis Dura 10/21-10/23 Emergency Management Crisis Comm. Conference, MO Steve Ewald 10/15-10/26 Vacation Scott Gee 12/7-12/8 Vacation `` 12/23-12/24 Vacation `` 12/31 Vacation Joel Hallas 11/19-11/20 North Fulton ARL, Atlanta, GA `` 11/30 Vacation Dan Henderson 11/23-11/25 Vacation `` 12/21-12/31 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 10/26 Vacation Joel Kleinman 10/23 Vacation `` 11/11 Vacation `` 11/24 Vacation Diane Petrilli 10/30 Vacation `` 12/21-12/28 Vacation Brennan Price 11/4-11/13 Vacation Dave Sumner 10/23-10/25 Executive Committee Meeting, Dallas, TX