In-Newsletter Vol. 25, No. 6 February 11, 2002 Publications A new printing of The ARRL Operating Manual has been released to the printer. Development Development submitted a proposal to United Technologies (UTC) to fund the expansion of our ARECC program in Connecticut with hopes for a national rollout. The proposal total request is $277,000. UTC has asked for a meeting to discuss the proposal on March 8. Thanks to Bob Inderbitzen and Sue Fagan for their assistance in preparing two Development ads for the April QST. A full page four color ad is designed to thank the donors to the 2002 Defense Fund. A full color 1/2 page ad will support the direct mail campaign for the ARRL Education Project. Letters have been sent to donors who gave $500 ore more to the 2002 Defense Fund asking permission to list their names and call signs in the 2001 Annual Report. Thank you to all the staff who attended the Development 101 presentation. Ideas and leads have already started coming to the Development Office. Media Relations ARRL door prizes for the annual Amateur Radio Operator's Reception at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention have been shipped. The ham radio event will take place on April 10th in conjunction with the convention in Las Vegas. The show runs from April 6th until April 8th. The reception typically attracts 800-900 hams from the broadcast, production and telecommunications industries. The ARRL will once again have a booth staffed by local volunteers. Jennifer will provide more information on ARRL's presence at the convention in the coming weeks. Work on the 2001 Annual Report is underway. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 650 WAS Endorsements 8 WAC Certificates 51 WAC Endorsements 5 5 Band WAC Awards 11 Extra Class Certificates 61 Code Proficiency Certificates 10 Code Proficiency Endorsements 7 Code Proficiency Fails 2 Code Proficiency Returns 1 A-1 Operator Nominations 2 A-1 Operator Certificates 4 Long Term Member Inquiries 3 VUCC Initial Awards 9 Grid Squares - Data Entered 825 VUCC Endorsements 10 Grid Squares - Data Entered 672 For the coming week-Basic WAS awards for January, 5BWAS plaques, WAS QSL card checking, mail out 60 VUCC awards, compile VUCC listing for April QST, RCC, OTC, and Friendship awards. DXCC Branch Week Ending February 10, 2002 Beginning Cards 64,532 Cards Received 4,464 Cards Processed 10,260** Ending Cards 58,736 Applications Pending 411 Backlog Time 4 weeks Year-to-date Cards Received 48,729 Cards Returned 6,264 ** Outgoing Mail - We are mailing applications received in mid-January, 2002. There are approximately 75 applications in the mailroom currently being out-processed containing about 10,000 cards. This should close out the week with just over 20,000 cards processed. Card Processing - We are entering cards received on January 31, 2002. This week, DXCC began processing the QRP DXCC awards. Contest Branch The 2002 IARU HF rules were finalized and sent to production. Data entry for Sweepstakes Cups and Pins continued. The electronic results for 2001 SS CW were received from the log checking team and work was done preparing them. They were combined with the paper logs, and the Logs Received page prepared for the web. A database of the results was prepared and sent to Jon Bloom to begin work on formatting the on-line scores for the Web. The final draft of the 2002 Field Day packet continued, with goal of getting the PDF packet and rules on the web by the end of the upcoming week. QSL Branch QSL service status: Current. Cards mailed year to date as of 02/10/2002 - 273,925. Cards mailed on 02/08/2002 - 90,475. Janet Rocco spent 5 hours conducting tours around HQ. W1AW Scott Gee worked on slow and fast code practice runs for the latter part of the month of February. He ran some initial tests on an Alpha 374A amplifier, which will be used in Studio Three on the Kenwood TS-950S. He handled evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. Joe Carcia processed regular W1AW QSL card requests. He also repaired the Alpha 87A amplifier. He also installed on each Operating Studio PC a logging program that will be used primarily for the School Club Roundup. W1AW telephone sales year to date (2002): $1,407. Field & Educational Services Steve Ewald prepared a trip report and news stories for the Web on the recent radio conference at the National Hurricane Center.. Steve and Rick were in touch with Kansas and Missouri Section Leaders about ice storms, and with the Turkish IARU society about the earthquake to gather reports for ARRL news venues. Steve worked on the April QST Public Service column that will introduce the new PSHR criteria. He tutored Linda on how to prepare QST Field Organization monthly data (PSHR, BPL etc; she takes over as statistician. Linda Mullally has already begun to pre-register students and answer questions for the new Antenna Modeling class that opens February 11. She made 85 updates to affiliated club records. For the month of January, Linda reports F&ES brought in $4,272 of revenue from our videolibrary sales, shipping reimbursement for exhibit materials and sales of publications. The much higher total supports Margie's notation in past week of an increase in the purchase of educational materials by volunteer instructors. Jean Wolfgang has received 20 nominations for our annual educator awards; she verified eligibility and wrote acknowledgement letters. She began the QST article about the International Humanitarian Award winner. She worked with the Central Connecticut Radio Club on setting up in a town park for June Kid's Day. She shared information with a fellow who distributes an e-mail newsletter to ham scouters, and responded to folks about the Radio Merit Badge -- one decided to sign up for ARRL membership! Leona Adams sent acknowledgement letters to those who mailed in SM nomination petitions for the term beginning July 1, 2002. She prepared the SM election notice for April QST. She received a compliment from SM Donald Michalski of Wisconsin for taking time to rush materials requested at the last moment for a special presentation on emergency communications. John Hennessee worked with amateurs seeking PRB-1 legislation in Connecticut and North Carolina. He assisted amateurs with local zoning problems in Northville, MI and Cypress, CA and covenant problems in Miami, FL; Casa Grande, AZ and Nashville, TN. In Steve Mansfield's absence, John spoke with a rep from the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, about ARRL efforts for relief from CC&Rs. John followed up with Steve who will call the staffer with further information. Dan Miller made the announcement that the new on-line Antenna Modeling Course (EC-004) is ready, and posted a sample lesson. Registration opens February 11, and will remain open for two weeks. We already have four students enrolled! Participation in the ARECC Level I is markedly up this month. The first two classes of 50 students filled in 16 hours. Dan opened a third class of 50, and it filled within 32 hours. A fourth will remain open over the weekend, and we expect it to fill. Dan represented ARRL at the ARRL Virginia State Convention. Steven Blair continues to edit lessons for new on-line courses, and monitor discussions about issues involving lessons from on-going courses. Rosalie and Mark met with executives of the National Association of Radio and Television Engineers (NARTE) to discuss actions we could take to further each other's objectives. For starters, NARTE will publicize our C-CE courses to its members. Rosalie prepared announcements on the changes to the F&ES staff structure. Jerry Hill reports that applications for future Pilot Schools are coming in. He is working on finalizing equipment lists for our present Pilot Schools, and congratulating them on their selection as Pilot Schools. Mary Hobart is working on a funding proposal, which Jerry will review, and he continues to work on the curriculum. Carrie Cunningham, N7NFX will be helping Jerry staff the booth at the upcoming NSTA Conference. Gail Iannone coordinated travel for Rick Lindquist to the ARRL Vermont State Convention on February 23 in Milton; Brennan Price to the ARRL Washington State Convention on April 6-7 in Yakima; and Ed Hare to the ARRL Arizona State Convention on July 26-28 in Flagstaff, and Zack Lau to the Mt. Airy VHF Club's (Packrats) annual "ARRL Night." Gail sent 6 application packets to clubs requesting ARRL-santion for their events; 11 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention letter to sponsoring committees confirming the Division Directors' approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned. Brennan Price spent the week on the Repeater Directory attempting to secure a reasonably accurate and updated repeater listing for the New York City Metropolitan area in case amateurs in the area can't produce such a listing. New leadership in the formative coordination body will attempt to provide a listing by February 18. A back-up listing has been procured in case this attempt is not successful. Brennan continued to assist coordinators with data formatting and submission. One week out from the deadline, 21 coordinators have submitted data. Margie Bourgoin worked with Dan Henderson and Tom Hogerty to place a new link about club competition in the Club Companion Activities area of our Web site. Margie now has nine newly ARRL-affiliated clubs; these clubs were sent to the Executive Committee for approval on January 10. She posted a request to all affiliated clubs soliciting articles for "Ham Radio, Planning For The Future." F&ES provided material for a non-ham teacher and her assistant, WA2CAM, to present a talk on the Sheldon School (NY) ARISS QSO to 45 teachers at a conference at Space Center Houston, a museum near Johnson Space Center (JSC). Just before the talk, teachers got the thrill of asking questions of the ISS crew via live NASA videoconference. Two JSC hams assisted with the talk, giving teachers (a few are already hams who are getting classroom ham stations, others asked how to become hams) a tour of JSC's W5RRR. The Canadian Space Agency's "KidSpace" Web site now sports a transcript of audio from the McKenzie (ON) Public School ARISS QSO. Mary Lau reports that response is brisk to the listserver that will support discussion about F&ES Web resources. The first participation group will be added to the listserver next week; a second phase to permit more participants will commence when ISD adds a new server planned for early Spring. Mary also prepared a database that is used by the Scholarship Committee to help process applications, which are running 20% higher this year! 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Name Date(s) Reason All Staff 2/18 Holiday Diana Lamson-Lucas 2/15 Vacation LouAnn Campanello 2/18-2/22 Vacation