<<042308.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 17 April 23, 2008 -- Covers the period April 13-19. Upcoming Meetings and Events Programs & Services Committee May 31 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND Working with the amateurs in Lewiston, ME, we were able to provide sufficient information that they were able to use to get the Town Council to table the wireless communications facility ordinance that was being proposed which also attempted to institute local RFI jurisdiction, contrary to the existing FCC preemption and Congressional legislation. During the week I also prepared a PowerPoint presentation and talk on the work and responsibilities of the Regulatory Information office for a Brown Bag luncheon held Thursday April 17th at HQ. We also worked with the Contest manager on some issues with a couple of databases. Correspondence and phone calls during the week centered around reciprocal operating and traveling with radio equipment on airlines. There were also several telephone conversations regarding repeater issues and questions. During the week almost 100 additional groups had registered with the Field Day sit e locator bringing the total on Friday April 18th to 50 states, 6 Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico and 620 sites included in the database. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP 100k of the technology campaign brochures are expected to arrive the end of this week. The Swiss Army Knife 08 is already being requested and available. The 2008 Talk on a Disk is being duplicated. The stickers are here, the Web site is progressing nicely now. I am working on a page for July's QST. We have audio PSA's out and more coming (including special ones for Field Day) - and the "It's not your grandfather's radio" PSA is being considered for play on "The Dave Ramsey Show" as this is being written. The annual report is complete except for the final pieces of financial data and Sue Fagan is creating the pages. Once again she is making a VERY attractive looking piece to present ARRL to the world. Angel Santana, WP3GW, PIO in Puerto Rico had been frustrated and unable to raise interest until April 18 when he was on TV, radio and in the newspaper all on the same day promoting Amateur Radio - and it was also his birthday! For several reasons, many members of the PR Committee will not be able to make it to Dayton this year. We are contacting veteran volunteers to see if they will aid us in covering the PR booth. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH Bricks collected over the winter months were installed in the Diamond Terrace on Friday, April 18, bringing the total number of bricks to 411. The story on the ARRL website sparked additional contributions over the weekend at the Brass Level ($250) and above. A solicitation to lapsed Diamond club members has been mailed to 463 donors whose Diamond Club participation expired in 2007. ARRL received proceeds from the estate of Sally and Frank Lester, WA2AMJ totaling $5000. These unrestricted proceeds will go into the ARRL Endowment. The first returns from the W1AW Endowment Campaign arrived on Monday April 20. A follow up to major donors will mail the week of April 28. So far, respondents to invitations to the Donor Reception in Dayton total 62 with two weeks remaining until the deadline. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The June 2008 issue of QST, with an 8-page editorial insert about Field Day, is to be released to the printer April 23. Steve Sant Andrea has taken over custody of the QST Hints & Kinks column now that Dean Straw has retired from the ARRL HQ staff. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 15, for April 18, 2008. It went out to 68.958 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for April 18. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Product Sales Update As we approach the last full week of April, sales have reached $184,000 (April forecast $247,677). The spring edition of the ARRL publications and product catalog is being wrapped-up. A large catalog mailing is planned-hoping to beat the May 12th postal increase. ARRL earned $10,727 for our affinity Visa credit card program during the first quarter of 2008. As they've done in the past, US Bank representatives will help promote the card at our Dayton Hamvention exhibit. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,129 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 458 free book membership premiums, and sent April QST mailing supplements. Hamvention Planning Update The fulfillment and warehouse teams are assembling our big publication shipment for Hamvention. The deadline for all materials riding along with this bulk shipment is May 5. Please have your materials on the "Dayton" skid in the loading dock, and clearly mark or label all boxes for your booth. Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ We're pleased to welcome two more new ARRL Publication Dealers; Penninger Radio in W Chicago IL and High Sierra Antennas. Our 6-page Field Day Advertising section (June 2008 QST) is filled to capacity. We are also very close to meeting our advertising goal for the month. During the month, we had setback that we are working to quickly make up. For the next several issues, Tokyo Hy-Power has decided to maintain a monthly full page presence rather than the three pages per month they have been running. They have cited the dollar vs. yen exchange rate as the reason. We have also had several other clients who obtain parts from international vendors mention skyrocketing prices. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch January VHF data has been processed and sent to the results author. 10 Meter contest data was delayed slightly. It should be processed by the time this is circulated. Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X gave a talk at the North East Weak Signal VHF conference in Enfield, CT on Saturday 4/19. The main thrust was on the new Fred Fish 6 meter award, but questions were asked by attendees on a variety of topics. He also did a VUCC field card check. W1AW Joe repaired the 2-meter amplifier being used for broadcasts. He also updated the WL2K 2-meter W1AW-10 Telpac node software to a new system called RMS Packet Server. (End users of the W1AW-10 system will notice few differences.) Joe also updated some of the text that is used in the QST W1AW schedule. Joe registered callsigns W1HQ and W1INF with the new D-Star gateway system operating out of Bristol, CT (W1IXU). Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of April. Field Organization/Public Service Team At the invitation of the ARRL Programs and Services Committee, Section Managers have been taking an on-line survey that is specifically for SMs about their work and their Field Organization programs. Headquarters has been receiving names of many leading clubs around the country that are active in mentoring and helping newcomers. Thanks to our Section Managers and Affiliated Club Coordinators for suggesting these club names. ARRL HQ received and reviewed information about an unlicensed operation on 75 meters. In response to the FCC request, Chuck Skolaut forwarded this. He also sent information to the FCC about Internet sales of high-power CB amplifiers originating from California. Potential bootlegger cases are in the works in Nebraska and Tennessee. Leona Adams has been keeping each Section Manager up to date with regard to his or her section budget expenses during the first quarter of 2008. Fifteen new Field Appointments were added to the data base along with a number of updates, changes and cancellations. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ We're pleased to welcome Kim Mancuso as Education Services Assistant. Kim has been learning the processes and duties involved with supporting our Continuing Education program. Nancy and Kim will share responsibility for the program and each also take on other duties in the Education Department to assist with instructor and teacher registration and support as well as provide administrative support for other department programs. Editorial work on the new General Licensing course and Digital Emergency Communications courses continues under the oversight of Joel Hallas and Howard Robins who are handling editors. The final assessments are being developed to complete the courses. The next step will be user tests. Education & Technology Program On April 10 Mark Spencer completed the first Teachers Institute of 2008 with 11 teachers in Tampa, Florida. True to form, he delivered a remarkable experience that participating teachers described as "great" and "wonderful". New to the curriculum this year was a radio telescope project used to demonstrate the fundamentals of radio astronomy. Recent Web exposure has generated renewed interest and applications for the remaining sessions of the TI. The only section that has openings is the Dayton section, July 14-17. Mark has developed new hardware and software for monitoring SID (sudden ionospheric disturbance) that he has debugged and is testing. He plans to integrate this topic into the Teachers Institute curriculum in the future. This project might also generate interest among the general ham population as the solar cycle progresses. ARISS The ARISS Team recently met with Richard Garriott, W5KWQ. Richard received Russian training on the ARISS equipment in preparation for his Space Adventures trip on the ISS this coming October and has posted items about ARISS to his blog at http://www.richardinspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.welcome. Articles on how youths can take part in his activities, including a contest to design a mission patch, are on the Challenger Center web site: http://www.challenger.org/programs/garriottdownlinks.cfm <http://mymail.arrl.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.challenger. org/programs/garriottdownlinks.cfm> ARISS sponsored its first QSO with a Croatian school on April 7, and on April 13 another landmark was achieved--the first Korean ARISS QSO took with over 500 people attending. The QSO, handled by South Korean space traveler Yi So-yeon, HL0ARISS, brought media coverage from 5 TV stations and 10 newspapers. On April 18, Ms. Yi So-yeon did a second QSO for youth at the National Science Museum of Korea. Over 800 Central Middle School students took part in the Parsippany, NJ, ARISS QSO on April 14. Four newspapers including the New York Times, 1 radio station, and 3 TV stations covered the event, along with the school district's video team that provided live feed to the district's website so that all 14 district schools could view the QSO. In preparation for the contact, ARISS Volunteer Barry Cohen, K2JV worked with students for several weeks in advance of the event to teach them about Amateur Radio, ARISS and space technology. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Hugh Brower and Maria Somma finalized a project plan for the creation of a new data-entry system that VEC will use, allowing VE Teams to enter exam data directly and allowing ARRL Members to perform updates to their FCC records via the ARRL Web site. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 5/26 Holiday Leona Adams 4/23pm-4/25 Vacation Kathy Allison 6/30-7/7 Vacation Jon Bloom 5/12-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Katie Breen 5/1-5/4 Midwest Division Convention, Sioux City, IA `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/30-5/31 Atlantic Division Convention, Rochester, NY `` 7/10-7/14 Rocky Mt. Division Convention, Bryce Canyon, UT Hugh Brower 5/9 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 5/12-5/16 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/23 Vacation `` 7/7-7/11 Vacation `` 7/18 Vacation `` 7/21 Vacation Steve Coffey 5/19-5/23 Vacation Jackie Cornell 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dennis Dura 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Ann Figat 4/29-4/30 Vacation Steve Ford 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation Norm Fusaro 4/9-4/30 Int'l DX, Paestum, Italy & ARI Fair Pordenone, Italy `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Scott Gee 4/24-4/25 Vacation `` 5/15-5/16 Vacation `` 6/30 Vacation `` 7/1-7/3 Vacation Amanda Grimaldi 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Mike Gruber 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joel Hallas 5/14-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Penny Harts 5/2-5/6 South Carolina Convention, Spartanburg, SC/Vacation `` 5/15-5/19 Vacation Ed Hare 5/14-5/16 Vacation (Dayton, OH) `` 5/29-5/30 IEEE SDCom meeting, Salt Lake City, UT `` 6/2-6/9 Vacation Dan Henderson 5/2-5/5 Alabama State Convention, `` 6/21-7/7 Friedrichshafen, Germany/Vacation Mary Hobart 4/23-4/29 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Amy Hurtado 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Gail Iannone 5/27-29am Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Karen Isakson 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Deb Jahnke 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation `` 6/27-7/6 Vacation Debra Johnson 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation `` 6/27-7/6 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joel Kleinman 5/9 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 4/23-4/25 Vacation `` 5/2-5/6 Vacation `` 6/20-6/30 Vacation Sean Kutzko 5/12-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Zack Lau 6/19-6/20 Vacation Rose-Ann Lawrence 5/14-5/21 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Patton 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Frankie Perez 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Allen Pitts 5/15-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Maria Somma 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Sumner 5/3-5/7 IARU drafting project, London, England `` 5/5-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/23-7/1 IARU AC Meeting/Friedrichshafen, Germany Larry Wolfgang 5/5-5/9 Vacation Larry Wolfgang 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH