<<051408.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 20 May 14, 2008 -- Covers the period May 4-10. Upcoming Meetings and Events Programs & Services Committee May 31 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND During the week we worked on two news stories for the web (denial of two petitions and the proposed increase in vanity license fees). We also completed and sent to Production a series of FAQ to be incorporated into the reprint of the FCC Rules publication, which will also include the chapter on FCC Rules reprinted from the ARRL Operating Manual. In addition, we also completed a draft article for the July QST about the status of S. 1629 and H.R. 462. At the request of the FCC, we provide copies of the FCC Rules publication and the ARRL Operating Manual for their use in conjunction with the Crowell case. We also worked with Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, on several OO related issues. There was the usual correspondence and phone calls during the week centered around reciprocal operating and traveling with radio equipment on airlines. There were also several telephone conversations regarding repeater issues and questions. In addition I reviewed several local ARES MOUs for Steve Ewald to check for potential problems. Current groups registered with the Field Day site locator bring the totals to all 50 states, several Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico and we are approaching almost 750 sites included in the database. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Media Hits for July QST complete. Press and generic announcements for the opening of the Technology campaign complete and ready. The www.WeDoThat-Radio.org website is up and final bugs being worked out. All other parts of the campaign are already packed for Dayton. While PR Committee members will be thin this year due to many valid reasons, we look to be in OK shape for booth coverage at this point. All is ready for the launch and we're counting down. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH Plans are complete for the annual Donor Reception on Thursday evening before Hamvention opens. We expect about 110 guests to join the Directors at the Meadowbrook Country Club. The Guest of Honor will be Olof Lundberg, G0CLV/SM0CKV/W6CKV. Six new members of the Maxim Society will be welcomed to the group that now totals 47 donors. The ARRL Diamond Club realized more than $30,000 in revenue in April 2008. That total includes 45 new Diamond Club donors making an average contribution of $180.76, bringing the 2008 YTD total to 140 new donors. The number of Diamond Club renewals so far in 2008 total 526 with an average contribution of $200.79, compared to 463 for the same period in 2007. So far in 2008 40 ARRL members have made additional contributions to upgrade their memberships and join the Diamond Club, and there are 99 active pledges so far, compared to 68 for the same period in 2007. CEO Sumner is editing a letter of thanks to be mailed to donors who supported the Spectrum Defense/BPL efforts for the past five years. The mailing is expected to be out about June 1. Overall, revenue for 2008 has reached $992,396, largely due to the distribution received from the Coss Estate. The ARRL Foundation Scholarship vote is complete and confirmation letters and certificates will be in the mail this week. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 18, for May 9, 2008. It went out to 69,100 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for May 9. There will be no ARRL Audio News for May 16. It will resume May 23. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Membership Update April ended with 153,337 members, ahead of forecast by 83 members. This is down from March's total of 154,086 members-a decrease associated with the longer reporting period used in March, making April an unusually short reporting month. Also, the late mailing of a large direct mail campaign will push most of those returns into May, instead of April as originally planned. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,234 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 218 free book membership premiums, and sent May QST mailing supplements. Details for introducing ARRL's "fifth pillar" were finalized this week. President Harrison will make the announcement at Dayton Hamvention. ARRL's original four pillars, the underpinnings of the organization, were first introduced at the 2005 ARRL National Convention. The four pillars are public service, advocacy, education and membership. The new fifth pillar is "technology," and reinforces a precept of radio amateurs and ARRL-that ham radio is state-of-the-art, innovative and relevant. Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ The June issue of QST is back from the printer and our 6-page Z Fold advertising section proved to be a tremendous hit with our advertisers. As a bonus, we are also compiling the pages into an ebook forward to appear on our website. We have also completed work on the July issue of QST and will exceed that goal by a small margin. Work has already commenced on Ham Express 411 (our yearly advertising supplemental mini magazine). In addition to advertising content, once again we will also feature some editorial to ensure that this vehicle retains a longer shelf life for recipients. Year-to-date we have added a number of new ARRL Book dealers and new wholesale clients to our ranks. LDG, High Sierra Antennas, Powerwerx and the Sage Group to name a few. We are also pleased to welcome DX Engineering as our newest ARRL book dealer. Planning is already underway for the 2008 ARRL On-Line Auction. This year, the project will be overseen by Liz Linehan, the newest member of the Business Services Group. Liz managed two similar auctions (using the same software vendor) in her past career at CPTV. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N W1AW Joe and Greg have been busy with the interior painting of W1AW. So far, the foyer ceiling trim and ceiling itself have been painted with their finished coats. The foyer walls also have a coat of primer and one finish coat of paint. A second finish coat of paint will be going up in the foyer, and the window and floor trim painted. The main area also has a coat of primer. On Thursday, Matt Strelow, KC1XX and Andrew Toth, both of XX Towers Inc., were on hand to perform the spring antenna/tower inspections and also to perform some maintenance work. They replaced all the bolts on all the thrust bearings (on those towers that have rotators); replaced the rotor plate bracket U-bolts on the North and South towers; installed two additional bolts on the North tower rotor clamp; inspected the antennas and towers and made recommendations for some work to do during the Autumn inspections. Afterwards, they moved onto W1HQ's towers for some antenna work as well. In addition to the painting, Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He uploaded the 2008 NEQP logs to LoTW. He made a repair to the Harris amplifier used on 10-meters. And, he worked as "ground crew" for Matt and company. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the middle part of the month of May. Field Organization/Public Service Team New Official Observers from Eastern Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Western Washington completed certification and a new OOC for Connecticut was named. Sadly, we learned that Jack, N3NTD, the OOC of Eastern Pennsylvania became a Silent Key. Chuck Skolaut learned that OOs are tracking down a station in Illinois that is using a bogus call and another bootlegger in California. The FCC was contacted about a case where someone interfered with communications during a recent emergency exercise in South Carolina. The responsible radio amateur has been banned from local repeaters. Leona Adams received Section Manager nomination petitions from Scott Bauer, W2LC, incumbent SM of Western New York, and from Lynn Nelson, WØCQ, of North Dakota. The receipt deadline for ballots for the Northern Florida SM election is Friday, May 16, and the ballots will be counted on May 20. Thirty new Field Organization appointees were entered into the data base and initial supplies were also sent out. Steve Ewald represented ARRL on the National Citizen Corps teleconference with its affiliates. Plans are being formed for the annual National Citizen Corps conference this summer and for September's National Preparedness Month. Work continues on the Public Service column for July QST. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Hugh Brower and Jon Bloom continued maintenance work on our Web and Logbook back-ups. Hugh also made some tweaks to the on-line credit card reporting system to better serve accounting needs. Jon fixed a minor bug in the Web/Siebel integration system reported by Development. Micah Murray worked on tweaks to the membership application pages and site updates. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 5/26 Holiday Leona Adams 6/6 Vacation Kathy Allison 6/30-7/7 Vacation Jon Bloom 5/12-5/16 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Katie Breen 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/30-5/31 Atlantic Division Convention, Rochester, NY `` 7/10-7/14 Rocky Mt. Division Convention, Bryce Canyon, UT Steve Capodicasa 5/12-5/16 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/23 Vacation `` 7/7-7/11 Vacation `` 7/18 Vacation `` 7/21 Vacation Steve Coffey 5/19-5/23 Vacation Jackie Cornell 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dennis Dura 5/10-5/15 Florida Hurricane Conference, Ft. Lauderdale, FL `` 5/15-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Steve Ford 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation Norm Fusaro 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Scott Gee 5/14-5/16 Vacation `` 6/30 Vacation `` 7/1-7/3 Vacation Amanda Grimaldi 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Mike Gruber 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joel Hallas 5/13-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH/Vacation Nancy Hallas 5/13-5/20 Vacation Penny Harts 5/15-5/19 Vacation Ed Hare 5/14-5/16 Vacation (Dayton, OH) `` 5/29-5/30 IEEE SDCom meeting, Salt Lake City, UT `` 6/2-6/9 Vacation Dan Henderson 6/21-7/7 Friedrichshafen, Germany/Vacation Mary Hobart 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Amy Hurtado 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Gail Iannone 5/27-29am Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Karen Isakson 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Deb Jahnke 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation `` 6/27-7/6 Vacation Debra Johnson 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation `` 6/27-7/6 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joel Kleinman 5/27 Vacation `` 6/5-6/6 Vacation `` 6/9-6/10 Society of Nat'l Assoc. Publications, Washington, DC Lisa Kustosik 6/20-6/30 Vacation Sean Kutzko 5/13-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Zack Lau 6/19-6/20 Vacation Rose-Ann Lawrence 5/14-5/21 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Carol Michaud 5/30 Vacation Micah Murray 5/27 Vacation Dave Patton 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Frankie Perez 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Allen Pitts 5/15-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Maria Somma 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Sumner 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/23-7/1 IARU AC Meeting/Friedrichshafen, Germany Larry Wolfgang 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH