<<091008.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 37 September 10, 2008 -- Covers the period August 31-September 6. Upcoming Meetings and Events Section Manager Workshop October 10-12 - ARRL HQ United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 13-17 - ARRL HQ Executive Committee Meeting October 18 @ 9:00am in Chicago, IL Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 21 in Newington, CT Administration &Finance Committee November 22 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND After attending both the Roanoke Division Convention in WV and the Shelby, NC hamfest, along with a week of vacation, the return to the office was marked by a very large number of emails to handle on a wide range of topics. The combined list of Logs Received for Field Day was posted and we are handling "problems" (callsigns wrong, missing entries, etc). The problems have been relatively few. Thanks to MVP staff Kathy Allison, Alexandra Tara, and Ashley Rakus for their work in processing what looks to be a record number of entries. Numerous emails/phone calls are coming in regarding the third PAVE PAWS list. We still do not know if the FCC has begun contacting licensees/trustees from the new list. We also have received the first request for a Longley-Rice plot for a new system in New England. Ed Hare will process this once he is back in the office. We also are working with Dennis Dura and the disaster response team with the aftermath of Gustav, response to Hanna and will be available as needed for Ike. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Allen was out part of last week for shoulder surgery, but returned as quickly as possible as the parade of hurricanes never stopped. There were several activities of note that resulted from the storms: The inclusion of PIC's and the Chairman of the PR Committee in the conference calls hosted by ARRL HQ is very beneficial and has aided referrals of reporters to the right people to get a good story. This addition should be continued in future operations. While national media condensed Gustav to about 3 hours of looking at one 100' section of canal wall and, when it did not fail for the cameras, they all went home; there were many local TV reports about hams preparations all over the country including areas far from the storm itself. ARRL HQ itself hosted a WTNH-TV reporter who witnessed and reported on one of the conference calls. Most reporters wanted to get audio clips of the Hurricane Net, but propagation was not allowing this in many places. November QST's Media Hits will focus on these TV segments. There was incorrect and potentially damaging information was copied from a blog and posted on the PR reflector regarding the Red Cross while Allen was out. Even with 1:1 corrections made, others chimed in. Repeated posts to the reflector to stay on topic slowed things down, but unfortunately a statement from ARC was needed to end it. Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, a professional videographer, reports he was able to get good action shots of Amateur Radio operations in several states during Gustav and Hannah. This video is also to be made available for ARRL uses and, when delivered, will hopefully be cut down to form a basis for a new video PSA featuring digital modes. 18x60" banners were ordered and have arrived for use in the Marine Corps Marathon in October. Following that event, they should be available for other uses including adding them to the Ham Aid kits. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The results of the summer campaigns have improved with the following numbers: Education & Technology Fund Summer campaign $17,357 YTD $20533 Lab Fund Summer Campaign $ 4664 Historic Preservation Summer Campaign $ 4554 The Spectrum Defense campaign for 2009 is in preparation for a fall mailing. Thanks to the efforts of CFO Shelley, an Endowment gift of approximately $36,000 has been awarded to ARRL from the estate of Gilbert Sholz, W9TPO Proposals for education funding will be prepared by our grant writer to 7 foundations and corporations in the next 60 days. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The 2008 Digital Conference Proceedings was released to the printer. We checked printer's proofs for the 2009 ARRL Handbook. Steve Sant Andrea was among those who volunteered to monitor emergency nets at W1AW during Hurricane Gustav. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 35, for September 5, 2008. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for September 5. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI RFI Issues Interference cases at the FCC are temporarily being put on hold until Riley's replacement is named at the Commission. At the present time, there isn't anyone handling routine interference complaints. A long standing power line noise complaint in Lakeland, Florida appears to have been dropped by the FCC. Earlier in the year, the FCC informed Mike Gruber that we could expect some firm enforcement action in this matter. It now appears they intend to dismiss the matter even the noise continues. The FCC appears to have concluded the noise is not harmful although it inhibits the complainant's radio reception and interferes with broadcast television. Ken Alexander, the volunteer that helps maintain the Sounds of RFI page, will no longer be able to do the page. Mike Gruber is the process of trying to find a new volunteer. EFH had to take some unplanned vacation time to work on a roof problem. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Final planning was completed to roll-out ARRL's newest membership benefit-the online digital QST Archive. Jenny Corales has accepted the full time position within the Customer Service group. Jenny has been working with us on a part time basis for almost a year. We have posted the opening for her previous part time position. October QST is in route to our members. The QST Survey invitation emailed to 5,000 members produced a response rate of 32.08%. Overall the feedback was positive, with 79% of participants rating their level of interest in QST as high to very high. The results are consistent with previous ReadEx survey results we have seen over the years. A direct mailing featuring our fall publication line-up is being prepared. The mailing is based on the 2-page spread of ARRL's new books and CDs in October QST: the 2009 Handbook, 50 Years of Amateur Radio Innovation w/ bonus calendar, General Class Course on CD-ROM and the Digital Emcomm Course on CD-ROM. The fall/winter product catalog is expected to go to the printer later this month, with a mail date of early October. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 897 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 314 free book membership premiums, and sent September QST mailing supplements. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch Much of my time recently has been involved with assisting HQ efforts for the hurricanes in the Caribbean. I have been tasked with keeping active lists of emergency frequencies and getting them out to SMs, Directors, SECs, and others. I also helped coordinate a W1AW operators' schedule in case we are needed for communications support here, and spent most of Labor Day weekend at HQ watching the development of Hurricane Gustav. With Hurricane Ike the next major threat as of this writing, I will continue in these support roles as tasked by Dennis Dura, K2DCD, until the need no longer exists. We have received 198 logs for the August UHF contest. This is on par with the last two years. The deadline for log submission was this past Saturday. September VHF 2007 contest certificates will go out the door by Tuesday, September 9. Plaques for this event have been ordered and should ship soon. 2007 November Sweepstakes plaques have been ordered and should ship in the next few weeks. Sweepstakes Contest Manager Ken Adams, K5KA, posted a note to the CQ-Contest reflector over the weekend, encouraging those who log by pencil and paper to try computer logging. While we will still accept paper logs, we are trying to reduce the number of paper logs received, as the time involved to manually enter all the QSO data is considerable. W1AW Joe (and other HQ staffers) spent all of the Labor Day holiday at W1AW monitoring the various HF frequencies being used for Hurricane Gustav communications. (He continued monitoring these frequencies and EchoLink nodes throughout the week.) Joe also experimented with an HF/EchoLink configuration devised by Vice Director Woolweaver that would allow an EchoLink user access to an HF transceiver. Joe also began troubleshooting an issue with the Harris amplifier used on 10-meters. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of the month of September. Field Organization/Public Service Team The Field Organization Team continued to work with fellow HQ staff members and Section Leaders on hurricane response and/or preparation. A special ARRL telebridge teleconference was held with on Friday, September 5, to prepare for Storm Hanna. Steve Ewald and Chuck Skolaut hosted a telebridge teleconference with Section and Division Leaders of the Northwestern Division. Chuck assisted at W1AW on Labor Day in monitoring the various weather and traffic nets associated with Hurricane Gustav. ARRL alerted the FCC Monitoring station of anticipated increased activity on a number of the net frequencies and the potential for interference. One incident of interference to a 75 meter net on Labor Day evening was reported, but it was of short duration. Documentation was received regarding operation on 14275 MHz. A reception report of the Russian single letter "D" beacon on 7039 kHz was received as well as a numbers station briefly on 14325. Chuck also prepared for the Arkansas State Convention. Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, of Brooklyn, has been nominated to run for Section Manager of the New York City-Long Island Section. With receipt of this petition before the September 5 deadline, there are now five SM elections slated for the fall. Leona Adams is preparing for these. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer reports that he has received all the acceptance letters for the May round of grants. HRO was awarded the equipment order and the equipment has been shipped. We currently have 6 grant applications in hand for the November round. Mark is testing a concept for an advanced Teachers Institute (using satellite telemetry in the classroom) and it appears to be feasible. The next test will be to verify if an affordable receiver will work for this concept. The re-engineering of the fox hunt unit to FSR was explored but rejected. A redesign of the fox hunt controller for 2 meter operation is underway. The daily weather satellite imagery that is sent to schools has been started up again for this school year. There is a lot of interest among the schools in this product, and particularly in tracking the development of recent hurricanes. ARISS Scouts from the Los Padres Council in Santa Barbara, California, had an ARISS QSO on August 19. Youth, ages 12 to 17 had worked on their Radio, Astronomy, and Space Exploration Merit Badges. The QSO was supported by the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club, and N6KTH set up a web site (www.n6kth.com/iss) to post video of related educational activities and to transmit streaming video of the QSO. The University of California, Santa Barbara Physics Department provided professors to work with scouts. Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, spoke on August 5 via ham radio (on HF from Johnson Space Center) with children of U.S. deployed soldiers. The youth were visiting the European Space Center in Belgium on August 5. ARISS coordinated a QSO for the Challenger Learning Center in Oregon, Ohio, sponsored by the Lucas County Educational Service Center. The Center reaches over 3,000 students and 100 teachers and has a science lab, and was aided by Steve Michalski, KB9UPS. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Member access to the QST archives was rolled out on September 9 to great acclaim from the members. Early indications are that traffic levels are high, as expected and planned for. In the first two days of operation, about 1,700 members had downloaded about 13,000 articles to the tune of over 11 GB of data. Hugh Brower investigated the use of "ARRL" on various social networking sites and reported the results to Harold Kramer and Chris Imlay. We are following up to ensure no one is using "ARRL" on these sites without official standing. Micah Murray continues work on the new VEC data-entry system. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Bob Allison 9/19-9/20 South Dakota Section Convention, Sioux Falls, SD Jon Bloom 10/4-10/13 Vacation Hugh Brower 9/29-10/3 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 9/26 Vacation Steve Ewald 9/12-9/24 Vacation Norm Fusaro 9/22-9/26 Vacation Scott Gee 10/3-10/6 Vacation `` 12/23-12/26 Vacation Dan Henderson 9/18-9/20 Virginia Section Convention, Virginia Beach, VA `` 10/3-10/5 Western New York Section Convention, Buffalo, NY `` 10/10-10/13 Michigan Section Convention, Kalamazoo, MI Mary Hobart 9/19-9/20 W9DXCC, Chicago, IL `` 10/3 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 9/19 Vacation Joel Kleinman 9/26-10/1 Washington State Convention, Spokane, Vacation Lisa Kustosik 9/26-10/10 Vacation Sean Kutzko 9/30 - 10/6 Pacific Northwest VHF+ Conference Zack Lau 9/20-9/26 Vacation