IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No.23 June 9, 2004 Upcoming Meetings July 15th in Newington, CT at 8:30am Programs & Services Committee July 15th in Newington, CT at 8:30am A & F Committee July 16-17, 2004 in Windsor, CT Board Meeting Development The W1AW Endowment Fund has reached $151,130 in revenue with a strong average contribution of $81.65. With a cost of $48,000, the net to the Endowment is $103,130. Returns are falling off dramatically so the fund will not realize the budgeted results. A campaign will need to be mounted in FY 2005 to continue building this important fund. The spring 2004 Spectrum Defense campaign is seeing strong returns from the follow up mailing. The full file campaign has reached $185,663 in donations from 3,447 members. The average contribution is nearly $54 -- $10 higher than previous Defense Fund average gifts. However, this campaign is falling well below budgeted goals. Development has been notified this week of a $50,000 estate commitment. This brings the total number of planned gift commitments close to 40. The Education & Technology Program is mailing to 55,000 targeted members, with a follow up to 10,000 members -- major donors, prior Education donors, donors to other campaigns and a segment of other active members. This campaign is designed to raise funds to assist with the pilot Teachers Institute in August 2004 and to fund project kits to schools. The goal is to fully fund the Teachers Institute at $50,000 to educate 16 teachers in wireless technology. Half of that $50,000 budget is committed and the balance will come from two sources -- the current campaign and another generous donor. A letter was emailed to 1600 affiliated clubs explaining Memorial and tribute contributions that could be made around Memorial Day and Fathers Day. The second annual report for the three-year United Technologies grant is in preparation. It will detail the progress to June 1, 2004, including data from the public service database and progress toward the goal of training 3000 hams in ARECC courses before the end of the grant period - December 31, 2005. Preparations have begun to submit the renewal request for year three of the CNCS Emcomm grant. Dan Miller is preparing preliminary thoughts which will be translated into formal measurable work plans on which our success will be based through year three. With assistance from CFO Shelley, a letter has been submitted to the federal OMB appealing rejection of ARRL's participation in the 2004 campaign. The rejection was based on fundraising and administrative costs as a percentage of the overall organization budget that exceeded acceptable limits. This program for federal employee contributions attracted more than $10,000 in 2003. Media Relations Thanks go to Ed Hare, who fielded a call from a reporter with The Seattle Times when Jen was out of the office. The reporter was working on a BPL story, and Ed shared a lot of good information with him. Jen later followed up, and lent additional assistance. We're told that the story is "in the queue," and will run soon. The Patriot News (Harrisburg, VA) BPL piece - reported here last week - is also expected to appear in print soon. It did not run on June 5, as expected. ARRL antenna guru Dean Straw agreed to be interviewed for a New York Times piece about monopole antenna technology. The reporter was focusing the story on the work of Rob Vincent, K1DFT, and his success in the development of monopole antennas. Jen answered more member questions about Field Day publicity efforts. The May clip reports have been mailed to the Board and members of the Public Relations Committee. Production/Editorial Bob Schetgen was at HQ Friday to pick up some material for QST and QEX. Bob reports that he's making good progress in his recovery. The July/August issue of NCJ has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 23, distributed to 66,522 members on June 4. Rick prepared stories on the BPL business in Manassas, VA, and Potomac, MD; ARES activations in Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky; a successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station QSO with a NY school group; Oldest US ham, Tex Burdick, W5BQU, SK; Kentucky's youngest ham; MA ARES drill; K6KPH to transmit W1AW FD message for West Coast, and some Web announcements. With voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy, Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for June 4. Joel Hallas submitted August QST New Product announcements and a technical article that he prepared for publication in the August issue. Stu Cohen submitted technical material for August QST. Sales and Marketing May publication sales topped $300,000, narrowly missing the budget target by $9,600. The small variance was easily covered by $25,000 of advance Repeater Directory sales in April. These sales were booked one month earlier than had been planned. Publication sales is running ahead year-to-date by $45,500. Sluggish sales of the 2004 edition ARRL Handbook have been offset by stronger than planned sales of Now You're Talking! and other ARRL titles. The July/Aug issue of QEX will include a promotion for all of the ARRL C-CE online courses. A handful of new ARRL web banners have been produced. Some of these ads can be seen in the banner rotations on the ARRL web site, QTH.com and buck.com. Bob collaborated with Norm Fusaro on a Field Day announcement emailed to clubs. Earlier in the week, members of the Sales & Marketing team met with Norm to discuss ways that might help lead to improvements on a variety of fronts. Ideas were discussed for garnering greater club involvement in new membership recruitment. Headquarter visitors are now greeted by a large birthday banner celebrating the organization's 90th anniversary. It's the same banner that provided a backdrop to the ARRL exhibit at Dayton Hamvention. Thanks to Greg Kwasowski--it now hangs proudly from the front portico for all to enjoy. ARRL advertising welcomes RADIUS Radio Network Technology and Martek Radio LLC, and returning advertisers Kuhne electronic, Barker & Williamson, Boxboro and CSI with advertising insertions in the QST July 2004. After a one-year absence, Miracle Antenna will be resuming advertising with an ad campaign slated to begin in QST August 2004. Lisa Tardette is working with Diane Szlachetka on a Dealer Newsline to promote a variety of titles. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 200 WAS Certs. (1000 QSLs F/C) 20 WAS Certs. (800 QSLs ES/C) 16 WAS/90th Awards 15 Extra Class Certs. 11 A-1 Op. Noms. 2 LTMA Inquiries 8 VUCC Backfill Apps. 3 Grids 270 Awards Mailed 82 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-VUCC awards processing/mailing, U.S. WAC awards, compile the latest VUCC award recipient list for August "QST", work on report for BOD including YTD statistics, gather various LTMA data, and mail out all awards processed this week. DXCC Branch For the week of: June 6, 2004 Beginning Cards 61,426 Cards Received 8,322 Cards Processed 8,497 Ending Cards 61,251 Applications Pending 486 Processing Time 3 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 211,042 Cards Returned 274,586 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on May 17, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on May 17, 2004. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 44,483,713 QSL records have resulted 1,449,946 Logs Processed 53,017 Active Certificates 9,981 Users registered in the system 7,009 Pending Applications 109 (57 hybrid) Contest Branch Rules announcement for the 10 GHz and Up contest were finalized for the web and QST. The January VHF Sweepstakes article draft was received from the author and is being prepared for production. Data entry for 2004 DX pins was finalized and we are waiting for the pins in order to ship. Solicitation letters for the June 2004 VHF QSO Party plaques were prepared and mailed. Plaques for the 2003 November Sweepstakes were ordered. QSL Bureau QSL Service Status: There is a delay of 4 days. This week 93 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 110 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 06/06/04: 523,775. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the month of June. He worked the early afternoon shifts (in addition to his regular night shifts) on Tuesday through Friday for a vacationing Joe Carcia and also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Thanks goes to Rick Lindquist for his Web story about astronaut Mike Fincke's QSO with Walton Central High School in New York. Rosalie pinch-hit for Steve while he was on vacation, to assist some SMs. She and Norm worked on ideas for better communication with clubs. She aided Gail in learning certification production for a new batch of newly affiliated ARRL clubs. Linda Mullally updated records for 111 affiliated clubs, with 4 reactivations. She registered 2 new Volunteer Instructors. She checked membership rosters for 3 clubs, and also answered questions from club officers regarding the new NEAM service (it gives clubs access to information on new hams for clubs' recruitment purposes). She handled 7 SSC renewals (including their certificates), 3 label requests and 2 club vanity email requests. She sent 28 Exhibit Kits and 4 Scouting Kits as well as 1045 assorted brochures. Gail Iannone sent 8 hamfest and 4 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 12 hamfest/convention material orders for handouts and door prizes for upcoming events, and coordinated travel for Ed Hare to be the HQ rep at the Arizona State Convention on July 1-4 in Williams, and for Mike Tracy to be the HQ rep at the Pacific Division Convention on October 15-17 in San Ramon, CA. She sent 10 affiliation certificates to the club officials or ARRL officials whom she queried about wishing to present these to the new ARRL-affiliated clubs. Field Organization/Public Service Chuck Skolaut sent to the FCC a tape documenting questionable 75-meter AM phone operation, and forwarded a specific report of unlicensed 10-meter operation. He received information concerning repeater problems in IL, MO, CA, and NNJ. A Tennessee Official Observer received a thank you as the result of a Good Op Report and an advisory he had sent recently. Leona Adams received two SM nomination petitions for the term beginning October 1: Elizabeth Doane, Connecticut, and Doug Rich, W7VDR, Idaho. Leona sent first signer and acknowledgement letters to nominators. She made preparations to send out monthly Field Organization Appointment Reports. She also entered expense information into Section budgets, and appointment and cancellation data. Regulatory Information John Hennessee continues to work at updating The FCC Rule Book for the next edition. The Part 97 revisions effective June 1 should be on the ARRL Web by the time you read this. He also made various other regulatory Web page changes. Antenna zoning problems seem to be on the decline this week. CCE Jean Wolfgang was able to immediately apply to her daily duties a few short cuts she learned during her Access classes. She's seen a few more emails this week asking about the online Technician license course. Jean processed 81 mentor stipends for May and a total of 23 graduation records for this week. EmComm Grants Dan Miller and SM John Thomason of Oklahoma collaborated with disaster workers from all over the U.S. and many foreign countries at the NVOAD Conference in Louisville, KY. Dan and John made contact with many non-ham officials and brought additional Amateur Radio awareness to them. Following that, Dan's seminar at EmComm West in Reno, NV, was well received. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program The purchase of the radio station equipment for the latest round of approved schools has been sent out for bid to dealers by Mark Spencer. He hopes to make the order by 22 June. The survey of the Sections, asking which SMs have Assistant SMs for education or youth, has been completed. Mark has thought about some ways to improve educational support to them, and these will be discussed in F&ES. As of early June, we have 2292 registrations and 1348 graduates in the CNCS-sponsored emcomm courses and 284 registrations and 157 graduates in the UTC-sponsored courses. Mentor/Club Program Norm Fusaro met with the marketing folks to put together a Field Day mailing to clubs. He also sent information to clubs about the New Amateur search tool on the ARRL Web site. In the first 4 days since introducing the Web search tool, it had over 300 uses. Norm wrote a Web item featuring the Plano Amateur Radio Klub in Texas and the success they have had with new hams. He began work on a PowerPoint presentation for clubs on welcoming committees. He handled several customer service issues; one was a new ham having trouble initiating an HF QSO and not getting help from his local club. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 7/5 Holiday Dave Sumner 6/18-6/21 NW Division Convention, Seaside, OR Barry Shelley 6/28-7/2 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 6/19-6/20 HamCom, Dallas, TX `` 7/23-7/25 Central States VHF, Toronto, Canada `` 8/20-8/21 Convention, Albuquerque, NM `` 8/27-8/29 SW Division Convention, Phoenix, AZ Rick Lindquist 7/2-7/9 Vacation Robert Inderbitzen 7/19-7/30 Vacation Fatima Lorusso 6/14 Vacation `` 7/6-7/9 Vacation Janet Rocco 6/29 Jury duty `` 7/26-7/30 Vacation Cathy Stepina 6/3-6/13 Vacation Zoe Belliveau 6/21-6/25 Vacation Jon Bloom 6/14-7/2 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 6/11-6/12 Iowa State Convention Mark Spencer 6/18-6/20 HamCom, Dallas, TX `` 6/23-7/4 Vacation Wayne Mills 6/18 Hamcom, Dallas, TX 6/23 - 6/28 Convention, Friedrichshafen, Germany Debra Jahnke 7/5-7/9 Vacation Joel Kleinman 6/15 Vacation Stu Cohen 6/11-6/14 Vacation Zack Lau 6/28-7/2 Vacation Ed Hare 6/30-7/14 AZ State Convention/Vacation Dan Miller 6/17-6/20 NW Division Convention, Seaside, OR Rosalie White 6/25 Vacation Scott Gee 6/15-6/16 Vacation