IN-Newsletter Vol. 40, No. 44 December 9, 2015 - Covers the period November 29-December 5. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events LoTW Study Committee January 13 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee January 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee January 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Annual Board Meeting January 15-16 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The last few weeks have been quite busy. Since the Amateur Radio Parity Act was introduced into the House in March, a total of 15,792 letters have been collected, sorted, counted and shipped to TKG in DC for delivery. To supplement that, we have begun learning and utilizing the new service provided by RallyCongress, which should help generate more contacts from ARRL members to their elected officials on Capitol Hill. In the first 48 hours since a concentrated effort was emailed to our membership, focusing on 14 specific districts in the House that had recently been visited by ARRL representatives: a total of 324 persons visited the website, generating 317 email / web form contacts with their members of Congress. This site will be utilized in the future to help generate more contacts with both the House and the Senate. At the invitation of the Commanding Officer of the PAVE PAWS radar at Cape Cod Air Force Station, I met with their staff to discuss the upgrade to the facility that is currently underway and how we can continue to partner with the Air Force to keep the Amateur Community in the region informed of changes being made. Many thanks to New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, who accompanied me on the site visit. We look forward to continuing the good working relationship that we have built with them on this project. We are at the time of year when most state legislatures have finished their 2015 dockets so there is little action on the state front. Several states do allow their legislators to pre-file bills for the upcoming session. We continue to monitor these, forwarding any that may be of concern to Amateurs to the appropriate Director and Section Manager. Many thanks to General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, for providing a letter addressing concerns of a new tower ordinance in Brookings, OR. We worked with the Oregon SM and amateurs in the community. The new proposed ordinance is on hold for several reasons, including apparently trying to address the issues raised by Mr. Imlay. (Thanks to all involved in this project). The various, assorted reciprocal license questions continue to come in and are handled. A query from a club in Oregon wishing to change trustees on its 22 club call signs (9 vanity, 13 sequential) was received and the Regulatory Office is working with the VEC to address their questions. We have also been in-the-loop with Mike Gruber, W1MG, in the ARRL lab (and his efforts working with an ongoing interference issue in Woodinville, WA. Kudos to the lab staff who has been working hard on resolving that issue. Since mid-September, I have also been filling in as the Acting Contest Manager. The past few weeks have seen QST-related work progressing on schedule. Several sets of contest certificates, plaques and club competition gavels have been processed. There was a problem with data received from the log checker affecting about one-third of the mailing addresses for participants in the 2014 Ten-Meter contest. Unfortunately this did affect several hundred certificates. We are in the process of correcting this problem and will be re-printing and mailing certificates to those affected as soon as replacement certificate stock arrives. Many thanks to the staff of the Awards area who have stepped in to help package and mail about 3000 certificates in the last month. Production/Editorial Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY No report. Development Reported by Lauren Clarke, KB1YDD No report. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Bob Allison completed testing of an SDR HF/VHF software defined transceiver. Bob is currently compiling the data in preparation to sending it to the manufacturer. Bob tested W1AW's Kenwood TS-590S after Kenwood made repairs that corrected an ALC overshoot issue. This issue was a common problem for the early production runs of this model and was first discovered by Bob in the Lab. W1AW's unit now has a clean bill of health. Bob continues to work with a major manufacturer regarding issues of one of their transceivers. QST Zack Lau reviewed the page layout for his March 2016 Antenna. Operating Zack Lau's LoTW account reached the 25,000 QSL milestone with a 70% confirmation rate. Industry Contact Ed Hare attended the IEEE EMC Society Standards Development and Education Committee and Board of Directors meetings in Orlando. No significant action was taken by the Board that could impact Amateur Radio. The first meeting of the IEEE power-line-noise working group is expected to take place by telecom on Thursday, December 10. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R No report. Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 2 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 2-4 Business Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 2772 W1AW/WAS 1974 W1AW Report for the week ending November 28, 2015: Joe Carcia updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also updated the December Qualifying Run schedule and the weekly code practice QST source web pages. Scott processed some VUCC applications and certificates. He also worked on fast and slow code practice runs texts for the week. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ During October and November we recorded 103 instructor registrations, 30 teacher registrations, and 79 ham radio license class listings. We published the fall issue of Radio Waves<http://www.arrl.org/radio-waves>, sending it to 11,829 subscribers. Per Board request, we are developing a printed version to be distributed as part of information hand-outs in Washington and for other public relations purposes. Education & Technology Program. We received 11 applications for grants for this school year. The applications have been reviewed and recommendations sent to the Board's Executive Committee for approval. I am working with the ETP instructors on plans for 2016 sessions of the Teachers Institute. Changes in the TI application are being considered as well as a possible extension of the introductory TI to 5 days. The topic for a TI-2 is also under discussion. ARISS. Scheduled ARISS contacts with six US schools/organizations during October and November included: * Corpus Christi Catholic School, Chambersburg, PA, October 6 direct contact with astronaut Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS. Read a local news story<http://archive.publicopiniononline.com/local/ci_28933696/corpus-christi-students-take-call-from-astronaut-aboard> about the event. * Bay View Elementary School in Burlington, Washington, October 14, a telebridge contact with Lindgren. The contact was the front page headline story<http://www.goskagit.com/all_access/skagit-students-connect-with-space-station/article_c36d5b3d-4bb7-54df-9556-61ffe3483cb7.html> in a morning edition local newspaper. Watch a video<http://kafe.com/kafe-mornings/watch-bay-view-kids-talk-to-the-iss/> of the interview. * West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI, a direct contact October 23 with astronaut Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH. A local news station produced a documentary<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkOvN9CKB9M> about the event. * Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, Michigan, direct contact October 27 with astronaut Lindgren. Read an advance story<http://patch.com/michigan/dearborn/ground-control-major-tom-dearborn-students-talk-space-station-0> about the contact. * Daggett Montessori School, Fort Worth, Texas, a direct contact October 29 with Lindgren. Read a local news story<http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article41837055.html> about the contact. * Ste. Genevieve du Bois Catholic Elementary School, Warson Woods, Missouri, a direct contact November 12 with astronaut Lindgren. A local newspaper posted a story<http://stlouisreview.com/article/2015-11-12/catholic-school> about the event. On November 3 there was a special ARISS contact event between crew members on the ISS, students from the Institut Florimont in Lancy, Switzerland, and attendees and dignitaries attending the World Radio Conference 2015 meeting at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland. This was a direct contact between ISS crew members Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS, and Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH and the ITU Headquarters' Amateur Radio station. Watch a video<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahdDiuFk2-Y&feature=youtu.be> capturing the event. Nine international contacts were also completed during the period with students in Japan, Malaysia, Russia, United Kingdom, Austria, Canada and Italy. We received 20 educational proposals from schools/organizations desiring to host an ARISS contact during the July-December 2016 time period. The review committee will announce the list of schools/organizations to move to the next stage of preparation to host a contact on December 15. Sincerely Compiled by, Maty Weinberg, KB1EIB (for Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ) Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 12/25 Holiday Lauren Clarke 12/24 PTO Jackie Ferreira 12/24 PTO Steve Ford 12/4 PTO " 12/11 PTO " 12/21-12/31 PTO Dan Henderson 12/17-1/5 PTO Bob Inderbitzen 12/24-12/31 PTO Debra Johnson 12/23-24 PTO " 12/30-31 PTO Harold Kramer 12/21-24 PTO Lisa Kustosik 12/1-12/22 PTO Diane Petrilli 12/21-12/24 PTO Sincerely, Maty Weinberg, for Lisa Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO / Meeting Planner ARRL--The National Association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Tel: 860-594-0245 --- Fax: 860-594-0259 email: lkustosik@arrl.org