IN-Newsletter Vol. 41, No. 8 March 2, 2016 - Covers the period February 21-27. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events Executive Committee March 12 @ 8:30am in Westlake, TX Administration & Finance Committee May 4 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Production/Editorial Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY The pocket-size and spiral-bound Repeater Directories have been sent to the printer. High Speed Multi-Media is wrapping up and should go this week. Work continues on the Extra Class License Manual and the Extra Q and A book. Work has just started on the 2nd edition of the Storm Spotting book. We are also working on the May and June issues of QST, as well as the May/June QEX and NCJ. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Bob Allison tested an ultrasonic receiver for QST Product Review. The test data were compiled and sent to QST Product Review Editor, Mark Wilson. Bob also tested two preamplifiers that operate on 2 meters and 70 cm. That data was passed along to Mark as well. Bob is presently working on testing a triplexer and band pass filters for 20, 15 and 10 meters. Travel Bob Allison and Mike Gruber attended HamCation in Orlando Florida. Volunteers Pete Turbide, W1PT and Jonathan Allen, K2KKH were vacationing at the time, but spent quite a few hours assisting in the Lab's booth, which tested handheld transceivers for attendees interested. About 200 handhelds were tested. Bob also presented a forum about Product Review testing, with an explanation of what the various dynamic ranges mean. The tent the forum was held in was full. Lab Maintenance Bob Allison and volunteer Lori Kosior did a major cleanup in the Lab's workshop. The Lab would like to thank Greg Kwasowski for replacing the contactor (power relay) in the screen room. The new one is much quieter and will make the screen room more agreeable for producing videos. QST Zack Lau looked at an article submission by Ed Fong-who figured out how to add a third band to his very popular dual band J-Pole antenna. The idea looks quite good, even though it isn't practical to model with antenna modeling software. Electronic Publications The recommended work around for issues with Windows 10 and CD-roms is to copy the CD-rom onto a flash drive with another computer and use the copy to install the program to the Windows 10 computer. This fixed an issue with an older Antenna Book CD as well, so it may not be a problem related to how we currently release CD-roms. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Interdepartmental meetings were organized by IT to discuss the beginning stages for a new membership management system. The new system will integrate membership across the ARRL Information System (AIS), accounting system, and ARRL website. It will replace membership processing and recordkeeping on the Siebel system. Our department's planning team includes Yvette Vinci and Diane Petrilli. Diane Petrilli reports that February ended with 169,853 members, 16 members ahead of the year-to-date goal. This represents a gain from January of 97 members-rather good results on the heels of the January 1st dues increase; a loss of 288 was forecast. The on-time renewal rate for February is 68.99% vs. 68.92% last February. The largest sources of acquisition were applications received from ARRL notification of FCC license expiration, a January membership mailing, the ARRL website (not attributed to anything in particular), and our mailings to new licensees. Our exhibit at the ARRL National Convention in Orlando contributed 64 new members. Jackie Ferreira reports that February product sales were $235,156, falling short of the sales forecast of $247,187. Direct sales were $161,143; dealer sales were $74,013. Direct sales were up $51K from February 2015-our best February since 2012. Sales at our exhibit at the national convention in Orlando contributed $15,653. New books introduced over the last 2 months contributed over $31K. Royalties earned on sales of our Kindle e-books were $5,430. Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci: Week Ending Calls Answered Calls Per Hour Total Talking Duration Average Speed of Answer 2/26/2016 1,101 24.4 34:31:47 11 seconds 2/19/2016 812 22.5 22:32:21 9 seconds 2/12/2016 829 18.4 26:05:13 11 seconds 2/5/2016 858 19.0 27:00:55 9 seconds Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week Ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 2/26/2016 1,051 738 2/19/2016 776 168 2/12/2016 704 402 2/5/2016 902 383 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 2-3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 2 Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 2838 W1AW/WAS 2016 W1AW Joe Carcia installed a new Acom 2000A amplifier in the broadcast racks. He also began the installation of an antenna cut-off switch in W1HQ. Field Organization/Public Service Team Three new Section Managers and five incumbent Section Managers will begin new terms of offices in their respective sections starting in April. The results of three balloted Section Manager elections this winter were revealed late Tuesday, February 23. In the Pacific Section, Joe Speroni, AH0A, of Honolulu, was elected in his race with Kimberly Fendt, WH6KIM, of Mountain View. Out-going Pacific Section Manager Bob Schneider, AH6J, of Keaau, decided not to run for another term of office. Schneider has been the Pacific Section Manager for the previous ten years. Prior to the previous five two-year terms, Schneider also served as Pacific Section Manager from 1992 to 1996 and again from 2002 to 2004. In the San Diego Section, Dave Kaltenborn, N8KBC, of Chula Vista, was elected in his race with Patrick Bunsold, WA6MHZ, El Cajon. Out-going San Diego Section Manager Steve Early, AD6VI, of La Mesa, decided not to run for another term of office after serving in the position for the last eight years. In Virginia, incumbent Section Manager Dr. Joe Palsa, K3WRY, was re-elected in his race with Anthony Harbour, KG4YXP, of Ridgeway. In Louisiana, Scott Wren, KD5DFL, of Pineville, will succeed Jim Molan, KD5IGG, as Section Manager. Wren was the only nominee for the new term when Molan, of Cottonport, decided not to run for the position after serving a two-year term. The following incumbent ARRL Section Managers did not face opposition and were declared elected for their next terms of office beginning April 1, 2016: Pete Cecere, N2YJZ, Eastern New York; Joe Ames, W3JY, Eastern Pennsylvania; Karl Bowman, W4CHX, North Carolina; and Chris Stallkamp, W0ADZ, South Dakota. Leona Adams reports that John Core, KX7YT, of Portland, Oregon, has been nominated to run for the Oregon Section Manager position. The next term of office in Oregon begins in July, and nominating petitions are due at Headquarters by March 4. Incumbent Minnesota Section Manager Skip Jackson, KS0J, has been nominated to run for another term of office. Nominations for this particular election cycle are due at Headquarters by June 10, and the new term starts in October. A report of interference to the OMISS net was called in by the net manager. The interference was verified by Chuck Skolaut, here at Headquarters, and the information was forwarded to the FCC. Interference reports were also received regarding a 75 meter net and ECARS on 7255 kHz. Bad language complaints were reported regarding 3860 kHz and 7185 kHz. A request for information was received regarding AMTS. A complaint about grow lights was referred to the ARRL Lab. A 10 meter beacon was reported being heard on 28.264 MHz by a radio amateur in South Texas as well as the Russian single letter "K" beacon on 7.039 KHz. Questions this week dealt with license privileges, closed repeaters, the FCC website, the lifetime license proposal, and net check-ins. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 3/25 Holiday Tom Gallagher 3/11-3/13 Executive Committee Meeting, Westlake, TX Barry Shelley 3/4 PTO Dave Sumner 3/11-3/13 Executive Committee Meeting, Westlake, TX