It's always nice to begin a new year with good news. We ended the year with 170,528 members, an increase of 2.94% for the year and 2,801 ahead of what we had projected when the 2016-17 operational plan was put together. This gives us a nice cushion as we begin a year with the first dues increase in more than a decade. Bob Inderbitzen's team and Diane Petrilli in particular did a splendid job trolling for members, with emails to specific target groups proving to be a very cost-effective method. It helped that new licensing and upgrading both ran ahead of expectations during the year; I do not have final figures yet, but there were more than 31,000 new licensees and 11,000 upgrades in 2015. Percentage-wise the top division was Northwestern with a 5.2% increase, led by Idaho with impressive 9.9% growth. The complete stats are available in the ODV section of the website. Every division gained members. International membership showed a slight decline, probably attributable to the strong dollar. Incidentally, an analysis by Joe Speroni, AH0A, shows that over the past five years Idaho has had the greatest percentage growth in amateur licensing of any state. Yesterday was the first business day since the dues increase went into effect. There were no unusual problems, and a minimum of grumbling on the phones and in email. 73, Dave K1ZZ