IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No.33 August 18, 2004 CEO After 10 years of service we said goodbye to Jennifer Hagy. She is relocating to another state and we wish he the very best in her future endeavors. For right now, any calls concerning media relations should be forwarded to Dave Patton. Larry Price and Paul Rinaldo are here this week working with Dave Sumner to prepare the binders for the IARU Administrative Council meeting October 2-4 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The notebooks will be duplicated and assembled by Lisa Kustosik and will be boxed and shipped by Kim Rochette and Marlin Mosley (who is in training). Development The 2004 Education & Technology campaign topped $97,000 with a major contribution of $25,000. This total includes the $25,000 grant for the pilot Teachers Institute which concluded successfully last week. A follow up to the Institute went to the donor with photos of the activities. The 2005 Spectrum Defense campaign is being prepared. After conversations with a donor who works at Microsoft, we will be receiving a corporate match of 50 licenses for Microsoft office valued at $25,000. We have several donors employed at Microsoft and receive matching funds in cash and by payroll deduction. Discussions on certificate and plaques for the long time member program are underway. Preparations are being made for a campaign for the Diamond Club. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter distributed to 67,898 members on Friday the 13th. That's another new circulation record. Rick prepared/edited stories on Amateur Radio preparations/activity in response to Hurricane Charley, the first ARRL Education & Technology Teachers Institute, an update on the Cinergy ham radio BPL team, ARISS school group contact with kids in TN, FCC fine reduction in malicious interference case, licensing changes in play in Canada and miscellaneous news briefs. Rick represented ARRL HQ at the New England Division Convention in Boxboro, Mass., over the Aug 14-15 weekend. With voiceover assistance (for the last time) from Jennifer Hagy, Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for August 13. (Rick will be auditioning newscaster wannabes.) Sales & Marketing Pre-orders for the 2005 ARRL Handbook with "First QST" reproduction are brisk. Orders totaling $18,000 were received in the first 5 days the product was introduced. Interest is largely due to the advertisement in September QST and attention on the ARRLWeb news crawl. The warehouse has taken delivery of The Secret Wireless War. The book was produced in the UK, and 400 copies have been consigned to ARRL as the exclusive US distributor. Pre-orders for the book have been shipped, producing gross sales near $7,000. Printed pieces for mailing 5,000 membership solicitations have been received. The mailing will test responses to a new appeal and enhanced premium. The leads were drawn from a pool of lapsed (expired) members with General, Advanced and Extra class licenses. Data gleaned from this mailing will help drive decisions about a large membership campaign planned for the fall. A department representative has been participating in a teleconference once each week with the 2005 National ad hoc committee. An ad insertion featuring the 2005 ARRL Handbook was produced for the fall/winter AES catalog. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS in the 90th Awards 22 LTMA Inquiries 2 VUCC Backfill Apps. 1 Grids 187 VUCC Initial Apps. 3 Grids 423 VUCC End. Apps. 6 Grids 997 Awards Mailed 21 Also, compiled the latest VUCC awards recipient list for October QST and ordered the 5BWAS plates. Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-Ship the 5BWAS plaques, process/mail VUCC awards, mail out awards processed this week, plus filing chores associated with the most recent 25- and 40-year LTMAs issued. Contest Branch We fielded corrections and changes to the 2004 Field Day Logs Received. We received the final cross-checked scores for the 2004 June VHF QSO Party, merged them into the master database, prepared the various charts and tables for the author and emailed them to him. We received additional material for the 2004 DX Phone web article and worked with Web Services on formatting and layout for those results on-line. Data entry for the IARU HF contest continued. We also handled a small robot problem for the 2004 August UHF Contest. Plates for the 2004 RTTY Roundup plaques were ordered. DXCC Branch For the week of: August 15, 2004 Beginning Cards 32,949 Cards Received 10,697 Cards Processed 12,462 Ending Cards 31,184 Applications Pending 199 Processing Time 3.5 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 328,383 Cards Returned 390,697 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on July 22, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on July 27, 2004. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 48,988,994 QSL records have resulted 1,677,655 Logs Processed 63,271 Active Certificates 10,864 Users registered in the system 7,715 Current Applications 71 Ready Applications 27 Applications Awaiting Mail 44 QSL Bureau Processing time is approximately 7 days from receipt. This week 108 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 120 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 08/15/04: 688,975. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files. He uploaded W1AW/90 logs to LoTW and corrected a problem with the Studio One rotator controller. He participated in Mark Spencer's micro controller class (as part of the first ARRL Education and Technology Program (ETP) Teachers Institute) on Thursday. Joe also began culling together equipment to upgrade the satellite tracking PC to a faster machine. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of August. He worked the early afternoon shift on Friday for a vacationing Joe Carcia and also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Rosalie held a meeting with Steve, Norm and Mary Hobart to plan for National Preparedness Month (Sept). KE5CGR is the call sign of new-ham astronaut Christer Fuglesang; he said he was looking forward to using his new abilities on the ISS to talk to schools and hams. Rosalie worked with NASA Hq to consolidate school evaluation forms. Two Tennessee schools took part in a successful ARISS QSO; reporters were there from 5 TV stations, 3 radio stations and several newspapers. Rosalie, Steve and Norm reviewed a paper by Chris Imlay that answers members' questions about use of the ARES servicemark. Gail Iannone wrote 39 hamfest and 4 convention announcements for October QST, and she thanks Jon Bloom for making a tweak to the online convention application. She sent 11 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval letter to sponsoring committees confirming the Director's approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 24 hamfest/convention material orders, and coordinated travel for Wayne Mills to be HQ rep at the W9DXCC Convention on September 17-18 in Illinois. She sent 1 SSC approval letter and certificate to the Orlando ARC. Linda Mullally worked with Dave Pingree to get scanned QSL cards sent to NASA. She updated 64 club records. She registered 5 Volunteer Instructors and handled 2 label requests. She sent out 690 assorted brochures, 3 Exhibit Kits and 2 JOTA Kits. She compiled the statistics (PSHR, BPL, SEC, STM) for the Public Service column of September QST. Regulatory Information John Hennessee gave a club talk to the Yankee Chapter of Chaverim International. In the wake of the hurricanes, he has received a number of questions about the legalities of issues involving Amateur Radio and newsgathering. He has noticed an increase in regulatory questions about the use of Amateur Radio in hospitals. He assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Washoe County, NV (N7GXI) and Gilpin County, CO (K0YX). CCE Jean Wolfgang assigned 67 mentors to students in 4 sections of the Level 1 EmComm classes that will begin on August 18. She sent out a call to other mentors for the Level 2 class, the Technician License course and the Antenna Modeling class. She set up two hybrid emcomm classes and updated a "wishlist" of changes for the CCE web site. Jean gathered information on registration and graduation numbers for the technical online courses for the budget and verified that a large supply order has arrived. Thanks to Bart for making tweaks to the CCE exam. Field Organization/Public Service Team Team members kept in touch with Section Leaders and amateurs who were extremely active in preparation for and response to Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley; Steve Ewald funneled information to Rick Lindquist for the Web. The Southern Florida Section worked closely with West Central Florida, providing back-up support. Steve represented ARRL HQ in a NVOAD teleconference (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) as organizations responded to emergencies in Florida and beyond. Steve prepared a readiness report for a document requested by FEMA to send to the White House on action being taken by NVOAD organizations in preparation for Bonnie and Charley. Steve took part in an ARESCOM telecon, and prepared the October QST Public Service column. He worked to publicize the FCC's revised policy on emergency declarations and on how ARRL will be involved in National Preparedness Month. Chuck Skolaut monitored HF emergency net frequencies surrounding Bonnie and Charley. He also received additional reports of unlicensed operations by fishing boats on 2 meters near California, and forwarded this to the FCC. Chuck heard about an off-frequency repeater in West Virginia. He notified the section's OOC who took an accurate frequency measurement, and forwarded it to the trustee who is now correcting the problem. Good work and cooperation by everyone! Leona Adams received an SM nomination petition from incumbent Missouri SM Dale Bagley, K0KY, and one from David Norris, K5UZ, from Arkansas. The monthly Field Organization Appointment Reports were sent via email to all SMs. Leona prepared over 20 appointment supply packages for new appointees, plus six OO test packages to operators who have been recommended for this appointment. Club/Mentor Program Norm Fusaro began composing a Power Point presentation on a new topic for clubs. He drafted an announcement for Amateur Radio groups to encourage participation in the Department of Homeland Security's National Preparedness Month, which is September. He took part in an ARISS telecon. Norm interviewed people for upcoming club and mentor stories, and put together a short highlight about a club for our club Web page. EmComm Grants We received a nice compliment from a member who'd just graduated from our emcomm course; the comment follows. "The Stillwater Assn has an active ARES unit, and I'm sure more of that group will be taking the course. Kudos to the ARRL for all the effort they have put in to produce an excellent training program." Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Last week, the ARRL hosted the first ever teacher's institute. Because of the apparent chaos that is always part of a great learning experience, you all were aware of the weeklong activity that culminated with the robotics unit on Friday. Many of you observed the teachers with their robots (one named Hiram by the way) attempting to negotiate a maze taped on the floor and also playing follow-the-leader. The teacher's institute was very productive and overall, met the goals of the initiative. The teachers' critiques of the institute generally were positive and constructive. In particular, the teachers compliment the ARRL staff for their wonderful support. Each teacher felt the experience was rewarding and they each left the institute with ideas and techniques that were immediately usable in their classrooms. Most teachers expressed that they were anxious to get back into the classroom to try the things they learned during the institute. The institute created an atmosphere in the building of excitement and learning. Thank you for helping to create that atmosphere and for sharing in the experience and excitement. If you are interested in the specific critiques on the institute, please contact Mark Spencer at ext. 369. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW: lk Staff Absentee List Lisa Kustosik 8/30 Vacation Mark Wilson 8/20 Vacation Perry Williams 7/16-9/7 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 8/20-8/21 Convention, Albuquerque, NM `` 8/27-8/29 SW Division Convention, Phoenix, AZ-personal `` 9/24-9/26 EWA Section Convention, Spokane, WA Steve Ford 8/30-9/1 Vacation `` 9/10 Digital Communications Conference John Hennessee 8/19-8/30 Vacation Dan Miller 8/26-8/29 SW Div Convention, Phoenix, AZ AnnMarie Pinto 8/9-8/20 Vacation Joel Hallas 8/6-8/20 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 8/17-8/20 Vacation " 8/21 Missouri State Convention Mark Dzamba 8/23-8/27 Vacation `` 9/2-9/3 Vacation Pam Dzamba 8/23-8/27 Vacation `` 9/2-9/3 Vacation Mary Hobart 8/27-8/29 SW Division Convention Danny Sayad 9/7-9/10 Vacation " 9/17 Vacation Joel Kleinman 8/27-9/1 Vacation Bill Moore 8/17-8/23 JARL Convention Dan Henderson 8/20 Huntsville AL Convention 8/23-8/27 Vacation Wayne Mills 8/23-9/3 Vacation Joe Carcia 8/20pm Vacation Heather Dzamba 9/3-9/10 Vacation Leona Adams 8/19-8/20 Vacation Steve Ewald 8/26 Vacation Kathy Capodicasa 8/23 Vacation `` 9/7-9/13 Vacation Lisa Tardette 8/30 Vacation