IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 47 November 23, 2005 -- Covers the period November 13-19. Upcoming Meetings and Events Annual Board Meeting January 20-21, 2006 in Windsor, CT CEO The ARRL HQ will be closed on Thursday the 24th and Friday the 25th in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Sending good wishes your way for a safe and happy holiday weekend! Lisa and the Election Committee would like to thank Greg Kwasowski, Trevor Morris, Frank Perez, Jean Wolfgang, Lisa Tardette, Lisa Riendeau, Karen Isakson, Gail Iannone, Ann Brinius and Rose-Anne Lawrence, for making ballot counting go so smoothly this year. Thanks also to the managers who also contributed to the effort by supplying the staff. John Hennessee processed two additional Volunteer Counsel applications. The VC Program remains a viable program and the number of VC's continues to increase. VC's are amateurs who are also lawyers. See http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/local/vci.html Presently, there are 280 VC's. The Volunteer Consulting Engineer Program has 87 participants. VCE's are amateurs who are professional engineers. See http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/local/vcei.html. There are presently 87 VCE's. Both are professionals and may charge for their services, but always give an initial consultation at no charge. Both are very helpful to members facing antenna zoning problems. Qualified amateurs may apply at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/local/vc-vce.html. John assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Bell, CA (KA6LUI), Pacific Junction, IA (KC0HWG) and Wylie, TX (KC5FKF). Media & Public Relations The Toy Drive rolls merrily on with about 1000 toys received and $2400 so far. The next 3 weeks are the make or break period. I am working with Memphis resident hams to develop a media event on Dec 15 when the toys will be loaded up to go south. I will be traveling to Memphis to be part of this event. I am trying to arrange ARRL participation at the April RTNDA (Radio Television News Directors Assoc) meet. This is in addition to the volunteer work done at the NAB held at the same time. Production/Editorial The January issue of QST has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 45, distributed to 65,661 members on Nov 18. This is a short week, and The ARRL Letter and ARRL Audio News will be going out Wednesday, Nov 23, so if anyone has items they'd like included, please e-mail them to me asap. Thanks. Rick worked on "Happenings" for Jan 2006 QST. He also prepared/edited stories on the ARRL's petition for rule making on regulation by bandwidth, ham radio response to tornados in the midwest, ARRL director/vice director election results, an update on the 2005 Holiday Toy Drive and Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school group contacts in Italy and England, in addition to numerous announcements and news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Nov 18. Lab BPL Ed Hare attended the November 14, 2005 IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society Standards Development Committee (SDCom) meeting in Portland, OR. Ed chairs the SDCom BPL Study Project. There was a long discussion about the lack of communication between the Power Engineering Society and the EMC Society on the co-sponsored P1775 BPL EMC standard. The BPL Study Project IEEE email list is up and running. The discussions have started slowly, but Ed expects to lead them to discussing issues concerning the P1775 standards. The P1775 standards address test methods and immunity of BPL equipment. The BPL database is on-line at http://www.bpldatabase.org. The FCC required that all systems be entered into the database by November 19. Ed spent a fair amount of time over the weekend checking the database to ascertain that all systems were in compliance. He updated the ARRL BPL database at http://www.arrl.org/~ehare/bpl/ex2.html with all of the public information from the industry database. Thanks to the generosity of a number of donors, the ARRL was able to fund most of the cost of an EMCO 6502 24" calibrated loop antenna. This is the "industry standard" for EMC testing. ARRL intends to use this for its BPL testing, freeing the Lab's 12" loop for loan to amateur groups who have a calibrated analyzer or receiver, but no calibrated antenna. Radio Frequency Interference/Electromagnetic Compatiblity Mike Gruber completed the report on his Lubbock Texas power-line noise investigation. Mike Gruber experimented with radiated emissions measurements using a device tested by an EMC lab as a "standard." Mike Gruber is working on a power-line presentation for the Florida Division Convention. HQ Club Station Zack Lau fixed the rotator controller. Sale & Marketing Advertising sales for January QST fell just $2,000.00 short of target, due to a last minute drop out by a regular client. Fortunately, the Advertising group remains comfortably ahead of YTD projections. Industry news includes R & L Electronics launching their new product line - JETSTEAM - power supplies, SWR Meters, Antennas & related accessories by separating this advertising from their traditional store piece. MSU placed an ad seeking a candidate for their ham radio scholarship. Also new this month are: * GEOCHROM * Ham Radio Insurance Associates * Elkins Training Academy - an existing QEX advertiser * Hamfest ads placed by: Orlando Hamcation, Miami Hamboree and Richmond Frostfest The new Emergency Power for Radio Communications book arrived in stock and back orders have been released. Basic Radio sales have received second orders from dealers but individual orders are a bit slow. We had a great special offering over the weekend with "packages" of similar topic publications which nearly doubled the amount of weekend orders, a welcome lift as the month-end draws near. We are happy to welcome two new staffers into our group. Wendy Lajoie, a regular part-timer attending a local college, and Nancy Coughlin who is replacing Fatima Lorusso who will be away for a few weeks. Also, we are delighted to welcome back from Florida Jo-Ann Arel who is filling in for Mark Dzamba while he is out. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 450 WAS Certificates (150 QSLs ES/C) 3 WAS Certificates (50 QSLs F/C) 1 5 Band WAS Certificates (250 QSLs F/C) 1 A-1 Operator Nominations 2 A-1 Operator Certificates 1 VUCC Initial Applications 2 Grids 219 VUCC Endorsement Applications 2 Grids 162 Awards Mailed 63 In addition, did the data entry, proofed, and sent in the order for 14 DXCC Challenge plaques. Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-WAC QSL card checking, Extra Class certificates, VUCC awards, mail out this week's processed awards, and work with DXCC staff on on-going plaque program and training on Awards Branch programs. Contest Branch The August UHF Results were opened on-line and the QST version edited and approved. We continue to receive interest in RTTY Roundup plaque sponsorship. Data entry for SS CW began. The combined list of Logs Received for the September VHF QSO party was posted to the web. Correspondence on several issues was handled. We met twice with the internal Question Pool team at the ARRL QPC's rep request working on the review of some additional questions. DXCC Branch For the Week of: November 20, 2005 Beginning Credits 57,267 Credits Received 7,256 Credits Processed 15,370 Ending Credits 49,153 Applications Pending 384 Processing time 5.7 Weeks Year-to-date (2005) Credits Received 552,274 Credits Returned 580,587 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on October 11, 2005. DXCC is currently entering credits received on October 21, 2005. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 83,804,248 QSL records have resulted 4,149,896 Logs Processed 160,369 Active Certificates 16,464 Users registered in the system 10,918 Hybrids Pending Mail 108 QSL Branch There is a 4 day processing time delay. This week, 116 pounds of cards were received from members. The next mailing is scheduled for Wednesday, November 23rd. W1AW The 2005 Frequency Measuring Test took place on Wednesday, November 16. An audio tone was transmitted on published frequencies for 160, 80 and 40 meters. Like last year's FMT, the object of the test was for amateurs to measure the frequency of that tone. To date about 50 entries have been received via email. (This is the first year in performing the FMTs that an email address has been provided for entrants to use.) During the FMT, Joe handled the audio announcements and tone transmissions while Scott read the frequency measurements. Joe finished with the FMT preparations. He got the D-Star 23cm repeater up and running with its input/output and simplex frequencies. Tests on the repeater will begin soon. Joe also processed two Qualifying Run certificates, and responded back to individuals who applied for Qualifying Run endorsements, but never qualified. Field & Educational Services Field Organization/Public Service Team The Field and Educational Services office is preparing to count ballots for the Western Massachusetts Section Manager election on Tuesday, November 22. Leona Adams received a petition that nominated incumbent Rudy Hubbard, WA4PUP, for a new term as Northern Florida Section Manager. That particular election is scheduled for the spring. Leona has also been processing Field Appointments and section-related expense reports. In the Official Observer area, Chuck Skolaut received documentation on a 75-meter situation that the FCC had previously asked OOs to monitor. There is progress in a long-standing intruder problem to a 2-meter repeater in the Midwest. HQ has also received several more reports of OTH (over the horizon) radar that's causing interference on 160 and 80 meters. Positive feedback has been received from radio amateur in Colorado who was delighted to receive a "Good Operator" report issued by an OO. ARES and other emergency-responding radio amateurs in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana were activated to help storm and tornado-stricken communities. Steve Ewald kept in touch with the Field Organization leaders in those sections and relayed news reports to Rick Lindquist. Steve has also been assisting some SECs and Emergency Coordinators gather information for their local presentations on the emergency capabilities of Amateur Radio. ARISS PR: The Discovery Channel produced an ISS documentary that includes footage taken at an ARISS QSO with the Neston Primary School (UK). The program will likely air in the US in January, and in the UK in December. AMSAT's latest journal ran a 1-page article on Kid's Day. News update: The December space walk where SuitSat was to be deployed has been delayed to late January or early Febuary. QSLs: Rosalie worked with AMSAT, and they will now start sharing the cost to print the ARISS QSLs. ARRL will no longer subsidize Russia's supply of ARISS QSLs, as was done in the past. Rosalie worked with the Europeans to finalize the QSL order; no ARRL work by our graphics department will be required, further saving money. Hardware: The 10-m PSK-31 uplink receiver on B.Bruninga's PCSat-2 payload appears to be malfunctioning; he's shut it off. ARISS' affect on schools: Rosalie and a recent ARISS school traded email about students. None of them or the teachers were hams, and now, many are interested. They now know what's required, and the hams will speak to each one who's intrigued, offering a license class. The science teacher has plans to integrate ham radio into classes, and asked if the club could participate in projects. The principal wrote a post-QSO news release for the area newspaper. Two TV stations and MSNBC had already carried the QSO. Rosalie networked the ARRL Anne Arundel RC with an ARISS school that needed an assist. She aided a school scheduled for a December QSO whose students are extensively researching radio propagation and space, and learning about ham radio. She gave information to ARISS teachers about a revised NASA evaluation form, and inputted data for the last few teachers late in submitting their NASA data. Crew members: ISS Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria will get ham license training. Six remaining non-ham astronaut-candidates (NASA Class of 2004) attended their first ham class. Rosalie took part in the US debriefing of Expedition 11 crew member John Phillips, KE5DRY. He was pleased with school QSOs, and the radios' functioning. Brazilian Space Agency's astronaut Marcos Pontes will be on the ISS for a week in March; he asked for license training. Members' questions: Rosalie answered questions for Yaesu about the use of UHF on ARISS. She handled a few ARISS APRS questions for Joel Hallas. International aspects: The ARISS Europe Team went to a meeting in the European Space Agency's (ESA) clean room where the future ISS Columbus module sits. They saw where the feed threws were installed for the L/S- band ham antennas; the antennas will soon undergo tests in that clean room. ARISS international partners are listening to early thoughts on new ARISS projects to be funded by others, including the Dept of Defense. AMSAT-Italia is a co-worker with ESA on planning a potential future project called "Ionospheria,"and a Web page describes it as including cooperative use of ARISS HF capability to predict HF K and A indices. Non-ARISS: Rosalie edited, for a final time, The ARES E-Newsletter. The readership increased by 678 between Oct 19 and Nov 16. She turned over several of the remaining Emcomm duties to F&ES. Field Education Team This week Norm Fusaro wrote a story for the web. In addition to the story, Tom Hogerty posted a PPT slide show from Ward Silver, N0AX. Ward's PPT on HF operating compliments the story of the same topic. The story has generated some positive comments from readers. Norm also helped two new hams with some tips on learning the Morse code and increasing speed and proficiency and several others who are re-discovering Amateur Radio and studying for their licenses once again. Norm is also working with a CAP group to get cadets licensed. The ACC reflector has been active and the main topic of discussion has been recruitment and benefits of ARRL membership. The ACC from WI created a great PPT show to use with clubs by ACCs to bolster recruiting efforts. Norm sent out an e-mail to 2000 clubs reminding them about the Spectrum Defense Fund campaign. One club raised an interesting question about utilizing Field Reports to qualify spectrum usage. The question was forwarded to Paul Rinaldo in Washington, DC who gave a very good explanation of how the Washington Bureau works with international organizations such as ITU. Working with Eileen Sapko and ENY SM Pete Cecere, N2YJZ, Norm was able to expedite the Westchester club's SSC renewal so that they could appoint an awards manager. The club is one of "the premier" clubs in ENY according to Pete. Roseanne Lawrence was very busy this week entering Instructors into the data base so they may start classes soon. Also, answering their additional questions by email---most frequently, how to sign up their class on the website. Rick Pourciau continues to send his appreciation and thanks for the extra business with the white ARRL logo Instructor badges. Roseanne worked with the Humbolt ARC ACC on their SSC renewal. She helped two more clubs looking to get reactivated after a long period of inactivity. They wanted to get caught up on everything from benefits to info about ARES, Skywarn, getting instructors started, etc. On Friday Rosanne assisted with the ballot counting for the election for Directors/Vice Directors. Club Updates: 25 Exhibit Kits: 3 Instructor Registration: 15 Teacher Registration: 1 Getting Started (Prospects): 2 Orders: Four more NYT books for the Technician class at the Red Cross in Farmington. Order of six NYT for an instructor registering by phone. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program-Mark Spencer I authored and submitted an article for publication to a home school journal magazine. The prototype of the wave fundamentals and modulation activity board has been completed. I pilot the use of the board in a classroom situation and it performed as expected. A dialog has been started with a school that is beginning a "learn and serve" type of program. The purpose of the dialog is to see if there is a potential for this school to serve as a pilot program for other schools to emulate. I participated in one teleconference with the education working group, and provided a thought piece on an education mission statement to the group for consideration at a later date. I will be out of the office from Tuesday to Friday next week. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 11/24-11/25 Holiday Dave Patton 11/21-11/28 Cartagena, Colombia (CQWW CW) John Hennessee 11/30 Vacation `` 12/16-12/26 Vacation Wayne Mills 11/18-11/30 Timbuktu, Mali (CQWW CW) Scott Gee 12/8 Vacation `` 12/12-12/13 Vacation `` 12/22-12/23 Vacation Steve Ford 12/24-1/3 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 12/2 Vacation `` 12/27-12/30 Vacation Joe Carcia 12/1-12/2 RFI Course `` 12/14pm Vacation Jean Wolfgang 12/1am Vacation Zoe Belliveau 12/27-12/30 Vacation Steve Ewald 11/28-12/2 Vacation Diane Szlachetka 11/23-11/29 Vacation `` 12/27-12/30 Vacation Mike Gruber 12/2-12/9 Florida State Convention & RFI/EMC field work Chuck Skolaut 11/30 Vacation