<<092309.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 32, No. 38 September 23, 2009 -- Covers the period September 13-19. Upcoming Meetings and Events Section Manager Workshop September 25-27 - ARRL HQ Global Emergency Communications Coalition Meeting October 7-8 - ARRL HQ United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 12-16 - ARRL HQ Executive Committee Meeting October 24 @ 9:00am - Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 20 -- ARRL HQ Administration &Finance Committee November 21 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ Programs & Services Committee November 21 @ 8:30am - ARRL HQ Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND After learning that the FCC had similar questions, we contacted the Air Force with some concerns involving repeater identification for the 2009 PAVE PAWS test results from California. We will continue to work with the Air Force on addressing these concerns. We are pleased to report that of the 18 repeaters identified in the 2009 testing at the Cape Cod site, 16 have completed mitigation techniques or are in the process of doing so while the remaining two are still pending action. There continues to be a large number of email and phone queries on the topic of appropriate use of amateur radio in conjunction with businesses and EmComm. The most recent flurry of activity has been triggered by publicity surrounding an FCC inquiry to an amateur's involvement with a drill at his work place, as well as several exchanges with both Bill Cross and Laura Smith at the FCC with amateurs who see this as a "new" rule from the FCC. We await the outcome of the Board's discussion on this very high profile topic. Several ARRL officials and amateurs in the Southwestern Division contacted us regarding an incident with a couple of amateurs during the September VHF Contest the weekend of September 12-13. The amateurs were set-up in a national park in the area but asked by park rangers to leave and given a warning ticket for not having a permit. Checking quickly with National Parks regulations, a special use permit is required for any special activity (not just amateur radio). So while there can be some discretion on the part of the rangers in cases like this, the amateurs were asked to cease operation for lack of a permit, not because they were operating radios. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Spectrum Defense Fund is in production. The first mailing will go out in early October, with follow up solicitations before the end of October with a request for contributions by November 30. Follow up solicitations will be sent by email to members and donors for whom we have email addresses. The only exception is the file of Prior Donors that will split 60/40. Thos prior donors for whom there is no email will be sent a follow up letter via post. This split in the prior donor file will give us an interesting opportunity to test the response to email vs. mail. By using email to many of the prospect the Defense message will reach more members with a reminder without incurring the expense of printing and postage. In addition, Development is encouraging members to consider a monthly installment gift which should help ease the burden for some members. Monthly giving has a minimum of $10 a month. With the recurring billing process now in place, the burden on staff for manual treatment of monthly giving is eased. Likewise, consideration is being given to a monthly giving option for the Diamond Club, beginning as low as $10 a month. This is a change from the current process which limits monthly and quarterly payments to commitments of $500 or more. The goal is to attract more new Diamond Club members and boost Diamond Club renewals by lowering the monthly option to $10 a month (or more) and adding token gift (lanyard, pen, etc). Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The November 2009 issue of QST was released to the printer September 22. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 28, No. 37, for September 18, 2009. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for September 18. Speaking of The ARRL Letter, it will be distributed on Thursdays starting September 24, and will be available in both HTML and plain-text formats beginning October 1. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI RFI Bob Allison has completed his TVI chapter for the RFI Book 2nd printing and forwarded it to me. Ron Hranac is in Europe and will start the CATV Chapter when he gets back. As mentioned previously, the transition to DTV has forced a rewrite of both chapters. Mike Gruber arranged to conduct a Power Line Noise Workshop with two IEEE members in October. The Workshop will be held on October 24 and 25. Spectrum Ed Hare has concentrated only on his preparation of reports for Chris Imlay to use in the upcoming BPL FCC filing next week. Web Mike Gruber needs new scans to complete the Larson E. Rapp Web page. It is on hold while Anthony Nesta is out. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R The team is knee-deep in 2010/11 planning. The 2010 ARRL Calendar was released to the printer. Expected delivery date is 10/1. The calendar features a selection of QSL cards from the W1AW collection-all very attractive, interesting, and depicting a global theme. A full page ad featuring the 2010 Handbook is being prepared for the winter catalog of a major ARRL publications dealer. An interdepartmental team (representing fulfillment, warehouse, accounting, IT, marketing, and operations) met with local sales representatives from UPS. Presently, Fedex is our preferred shipping carrier for ground and expedited shipments. UPS and Fedex compete closely on rates, but have a variety of different benefits and services involving technology, customer service, and delivery dates/times. Our consideration of shipping options is ongoing. We are finalizing a publications agreement with a software firm that has developed a practice examination application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The application will sell for $1.99 on the Apple Computer's "App Store" via iTunes. The product will be identified as an ARRL publication. While the royalties are small, we are eager to demonstrate some exposure for Amateur Radio and ARRL in the rapidly expanding mobile/portable technology arena. Amy Hurtado attended a National Postal Customer Council Seminar last week on Packaging Services, Intelligent Mail Barcodes, and Results Driven Marketing in a Down Economy. Among the key points: The USPS is offering discounts for the first time ever - and ARRL is taking advantage of these discounts by utilizing online postage systems. There are new USPS programs and services that may also benefit our international and bulk package shipments in the future. Intelligent Mail Barcodes, currently being tested on QST circulation, will eventually provide us with more information about delivery status, improve traceability, reduce paperwork, and introduce additional discounting. All mailers must implement this new coding standard by May 2011. Finally, the seminar offered some suggestions for marketing (and staying present) in a down economy. A large membership campaign will mail October 9, and features a 2010 calendar incentive as an early bird free gift for those who respond by November 30. The mailing also features the Antenna Book as a free gift incentive for 3 year membership commitments. The effort to promote multi-year memberships during acquisition has resulted in many more (over 1,000) multi-year signs-ups as compared to 2008. The second mailing (of three) mailed to "new ham" prospective members is beginning to generate responses. This mailing was introduced during the summer. An online survey invitation is included with the solicitation. So far, the mailing has generated 37 new members; 76 new hams have responded to the survey; 18 cited the mailing as their reason for joining. ARRL Conventions Date Name Division City State ARRL HQ Rep. Sep 26 SEDCO V Conference DL Pigeon Forge TN Ward Silver Sep 26 Mid-AT States VHF Conf. AT Plymouth Meeting PA Sep 26 Washington State NW Spokane Valley WA Dan Henderson Oct 3 EMCOMM East AT Rochester NY Harold Kramer Oct 4 W. New York Section AT West Seneca NY Harold Kramer Oct 9-11 Pacific Northwest VHF NW Seaside OR Gene Zimmerman Oct 11 Connecticut State NE Wallingford CT Joel Hallas Nov 7-8 Georgia Section SE Lawrenceville GA Nov 14 Alabama State SE Montgomery AL Nov 14-15 Indiana State CL Fort Wayne IN Ward Silver Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N W1AW Logs for the Hiram Percy Maxim 140th Birthday Celebration continue to pour into W1AW. To date, there are currently 200+ logs in the certificate database. Joe processed one Qualifying Run certificate. He also processed regular QSL card requests. He spent time inputting the HPM/140 applications into the database. Joe also built a keying box to be used with the broadcast computers. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of September. Field Organization/Public Service Team Preparations are nearly complete for the upcoming Section Managers' Workshop to be held at Headquarters September 25 -27. A dozen Section Managers are scheduled to attend, and they will be arriving in Connecticut on Thursday, September 24. Preliminary work on the candidate statements and ballots for the three Section Manager Fall elections is progressing well. Several positive comments on the National Traffic System's 60th Anniversary article in the October QST Public Service column have been received at HQ and by NTS leaders. The monthly Official Observer summary was prepared and sent to all OOs, OOCs, and Section Mangers. In addition, summary of monitoring activity covering the three IARU monitoring regions was prepared for the upcoming IARU Council meeting. Last week's report of a constant carrier on 14.030 MHz has been resolved. It originated from an Ethernet computer card. Since many hams are in the same situation, it -- at first-- seemed to be a radio frequency interference problem which many others had reported. An Official Observer in Western Pennsylvania did excellent work in following up on an incident involving third party traffic. A report of continued bootlegging of an Alaskan call sign was passed on to Official Observers in an attempt to isolate an area of origination. Emergency Preparedness & Response Reported by Dennis Dura, K2DCD Participated in Alabama Section ARES Exercise. Participated in National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster monthly teleconference meeting for the USI&A (United States Islands and Alaska) Committee. Participated in a business continuity webinar on Pandemic Preparedness. Continued preparations for GERC (Global Emergency Communications Coalition) meeting to be held at ARRL HQ on October 7th and 8th. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ The Education Services Dept has been experiencing the uptick in volume of questions from license instructors and teachers that occurs at this time of year. We processed 33 instructor and teacher registrations during August and 35 thus far this month. Continuing Education Program We have been meeting with CTDLC to discuss developing the new advanced emcomm course on the Moodle LMS. We are also pursuing discussions with other vendors who might develop the course in an alternative CD format. The course content is in process of review by a group comprised of active emcomm managers and emcomm field instructors. Education & Technology Program We held a planning meeting to evaluate the Teachers Institute offerings in 2009 and plan for 2010. Topics discussed included lessons learned from the piloted TI-2 on satellite communications, TI locations and schedule for 2010, topics for a TI-2 in 2010, administrative support for the TIs, assuring redundant coverage for all planned sessions, role of the website to support the ETP, relationship with ARISS and NASA, advertising and promotional efforts, potential partnerships with colleges and universities. Mark Spencer WA8SME reports that the equipment from the May round of ETP grants has been delivered. There also has been an up-tick in contacts with project schools as teachers across the country are getting back into the classroom swing and they are dusting off their TI information trying to put it to use. He completed the final Progress grant equipment which was a Mars Lander kit and sent it to the receiving school. Mark had a lengthy meeting at Parallax about the future of the TI program and the relationship between the ARRL and Parallax. Parallax is very supportive of our efforts and will continue that support or more in the future, including hosting one additional TI at the Parallax facility next year. Newly designed Foxhunt Transmitters were constructed and sent to the TI instructors. The units that will go out to schools in the next round of grants were also completed and are ready to go once the grants are approved. A summary article on the project is being authored for submission to QST. In addition, Mark reports that the prototype of a 70cm data link transceiver is completed and is meeting expectations. These data links are used extensively in ETP projects, including the CubeSat Simulator that will be highlighted in a forth coming article in the AMSAT Journal. A curriculum for a proposed TI-2 that focuses on basic electronics (digital and analog) as well as working with signals and wave forms is being drafted and tested. A number of schools and interested hams have been sending queries about hosting TIs at their facilities and in their local areas next year. It appears that the latest crop of TI graduates have been talking up their experiences this summer and publishing articles in local papers, which is generating some interest and inquires. Mark has also been servicing a number of requests from the general ham population about circuit boards and programmed PICs used in the Radio Telescope project that was published in QST a few months ago. One school has requested assistance in the design/development of a data link system to connect a sea borne buoy that they are developing back to the shore and their school. This is an interesting challenge and has some utility beyond this school's specific needs with the curriculum for Teachers Institute. ARISS As of late August, the ARISS Team has supported 72 school QSOs for the year. The record is 75 in one year, so we are likely to set a new record this year. Recent international ARISS contacts have included: - educators and students taking part in an international forum on small satellite development and projects held at the Peruvian National University, Lima, Peru - students at Tension Woods College in South Australia. The contact was integrated into the school's astronomy and physics lessons that included hands-on activities. - hands-on activities plus an ARISS contact at the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany. The contact was part of "The Long Night of the Stars," which brought technology to students through demonstrations involving space operations, satellite hardware, building and launching of small rockets, asking engineers questions about the education needed to reach the sky, plus viewing stars through telescopes. In the US, an ARISS contact on September 15 with Astronaut Mike Barratt, KD5MIJ, was integrated into the Camas Space Education Program, an eight-week curriculum at Liberty Middle School in Camas, Washington. For twenty years, all Liberty sixth graders have taken part in hands-on activities in the program as "astronauts in training," culminating with a 10-hour flight in the school's space station, Alpha-Z 2000. Students learned to use flight software, practiced using radios to link to their mission control and teachers, mastered special software that allowed their teachers and fellow students to record how the "astronauts" were progressing with their mission research, and some students even completed SCUBA training just as the astronauts do. Students and teachers learned lessons on how Amateur Radio works, what it is, how the ARISS radio systems work, the international ham radio teamwork in place, how to proceed with the ARISS QSO, and a little about the organizations that sponsor ARISS. ARISS Team member Nick Lance, KC5KBO, was interviewed by Amateur Radio Newsline. Nick reported: "We've probably licensed - I'm going to guess - around 50 or so astronauts. Anybody [astronauts] with a KC5 or KD5 or KE5 call sign has gone through the radio license class that we provide there [Johnson Space Center]. There are some crewmen who have not gone up to the ISS yet, and hopefully they'll get a chance [with ARISS] before the space station program is over." He added: "We had several classes of astronauts who brought their spouses and their children so they could all learn together." Most recently, the ARISS Houston Team sponsored a licensing session for Astronaut Tracy Caldwell; she is now KF5DBF. Caldwell is scheduled to fly with Expedition 23 in April 2010. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Kathy Allison 9/25-9/28 Vacation Bob Allison 9/25-9/29 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 9/25 Vacation `` 10/2-10-6 Vacation Joe Carcia 10/12-10/20 Vacation Dennis Dura 10/1-10/5 Vacation Steve Ford 10/9-10/11 AMSAT Symposium, Baltimore, MD Scott Gee 10/5-10/6 Vacation Mike Gruber 9/28-10/2 Vacation Dan Henderson 9/25-9/29 E. Washington Section Convention, Spokane, WA Mary Hobart 9/25 Vacation `` 10/2 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 10/8-10/9 Training Conference Khrystyne Keane 9/25 Vacation `` 10/23 Vacation Joel Kleinman 9/28-9/29 Vacation `` 10/5-10/6 Vacation Harold Kramer 9/28 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 9/25 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 9/21-9/25 Vacation Tony Nesta 9/21-10/2 Medical Brennan Price 9/25-9/27 ARRL/TAPR Digital Com. Conference, Elk Grove IL Steve Sant Andrea 10/16 Vacation Jon Siverling 9/17-9/25 ITU-R Study Group 1 and Working Groups, Geneva Dave Sumner 10/9-10/19 IARU R3 Conference/AC Meeting, Christchurch, NZ `` 10/23-10/25 Executive Committee Meeting, Dallas, TX