IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 17 April 27, 2005 Development The 2005 Education & Technology Program solicitation has topped $38,000 from nearly 700 donors. The follow up segments are in production, including a segment of members recognized as Loyal Members of 40 years or more. The first of two major funding commitments to the 2005 Teachers Institute has been received. A trust document was received from a California couple who have been welcomed into the Legacy Circle. Development is working with the Finance office to investigate offering charitable gift annuities to members as part of the ARRL's planned giving program. Media & Public Relations Stan Perkins reports that the National Association of Broadcasters showing by the ARRL went very well - in fact it went so well that they ran out of some promotional materials even with more available than any prior year. I await word on how the concept of celebrating 100 years of voice over the air was received. Follow-up contacts are underway with the people whose names were collected at the NAB. A proposal for implementing the Speakers' Bureau was finalized for the PSC. The first run of news clips in pdf form was done from the new BurellsLuce site and went well. Recruitment of people for Take Your HT to Work Day is underway - it should be a lot of fun. Materials and presentations are being prepared for Dayton. Production/Editorial The 2004 DXCC Yearbook has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 16, distributed to 65,258 members on Apr 22. .Rick prepared/edited news stories on the EC meeting of Apr 9 (remaining business); W6TER antenna case win; new crew arrival/change of command aboard ISS; NH ARISS school QSO, amateur applications referred for hearing by FCC, W0ORE to be ARRL EXPO 2005 guest, plus several news briefs and announcements. Rick also completed work on "Happenings" for June QST. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News, our weekly webcast. Sales and Marketing The advertising section for June QST left for the printer as scheduled, despite numerous last minute advertising insertions. Based on the last two years performance we had originally planned 55 QST display pages for June. Our final tally was 61 advertising pages with actual revenue exceeding expectations by $20,000. We have received the very first membership returns from our 45,000 April membership mailing. No returns had been planned until May. However, our mailing bureau was able to turn the mailing around very quickly. We will have our first analysis report in 30 days. The agency assisting with our May, 60,000-piece Technician mailing has been peppering us for various information and we hope to see a first package draft shortly. Returns for this mailing are slated to begin in June. Advertising staff continues to work on ad insertions for the New Ham Express as well as beginning work on July QST. Publication sales this month had exceeded $200,000 by April 24, suggesting our target for the month likely will be met. A nice handful of new publications began shipping this month. An email solicitation was sent to our publications list on Friday. The email featured ARRL Field Day products, the RSGB book sale, the ARRL National Convention, and new editions of TravelPlus, ON4UN's Low Band DXing, and The ARRL Repeater Directory. The effort was a big success, achieving over $10,000 in online orders placed throughout the weekend. Thanks go to Penny Harts and Judy Miller for offering to staff the ARRL lobby store during the Newington NARL hamfest, June 11 and 12. ARRL National Convention Planning Less than 30 days to Dayton! Exhibitor badges have been ordered for staff, Officers, Directors, Vice Directors, and other exhibit volunteers. Efforts are now focused on wrapping up supplies for shipping: posters, signs, handouts, publications, and all the "trimmings." The official ARRL National Convention web page has been updated with the latest convention detail. Visit www.arrl.org/expo to download the ARRL National Convention Guide. These four pages will also be printed within the Dayton Hamvention program. It is filled with all of the ARRL National Convention activities taking place throughout Hamvention. Upon reviewing the material, a Hamvention Committee member remarked "WOW...you ARRL folks must be bringing an 18-wheeler to Dayton!" ARRL Passport has left for press. This booklet supports a convention-style scavenger hunt. Visitors pick up a free ARRL Passport at the ARRL EXPO exhibits area. They'll use their ARRL Passport to wander from exhibitor to exhibitor and from activity to activity, and qualify to win great prizes! The activity is limited to the first 5,000 visitors to the ARRL EXPO exhibits area. Passport Prize Drawing winners will be announced during the Sunday afternoon Hamvention awards activity in the arena. Prizes have been donated by Icom, Kenwood, AOR, and Alinco. The activity is sponsored entirely by ARRL advertisers. We are coordinating with volunteer Mike Kirlin, KC8UPN who will organize and run the Hamvention Special Events Station, featuring W1AW/8. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 250 WAS Certs. (450 QSLs F/C) 9 WAS Certs. (100 QSLs ES/C) 2 5BWAS Cert. (250 QSLs ES/C) 1 WAC QSL Cards Checked 78 A-1 Op. Nominations 1 A-1 Op. Certificates 5 LTMA Inquiries 4 VUCC Certs. Processed 2 VUCC Initial Apps. 3 Grids 450 VUCC End. App. 1 Grids 26 VUCC Backfill App. 1 Grids 359 Awards Mailed 24 Also, worked on some LTMA projects (on-going). Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-More WAS QSL card checking, U.S. WAC, WAS in the 90th, and VUCC awards, plus mail out all this week's processed awards. Contest Branch We finalized the 160-Meter Web results and opened them to the web. We received back the 2005 RTTY Roundup article and material from the author, prepared it and forwarded it on to Web Services for layout for the web. We worked extensively with the DX Contest Log Checker testing new software for processing those results. Line scores for both Sweepstakes CW and Phone results were proofed from Production for attachment to the PDF for the web. DXCC Branch For the week of: April 24, 2005 Beginning Credits 22,038 Credits Received 11,429 Credits Processed 15,619 Ending Credits 17,848 Applications Pending 184 Processing Time (Conventional) 4.4 Weeks Processing Time (LoTW) 1 Working Day DXCC is currently mailing applications received on March 24, 2005. DXCC is currently entering credits received on March 24, 2005. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 70,302,979 QSL records have resulted 3,115,987 Logs Processed 115,995 Active Certificates 14,287 Users registered in the system 9,564 Hybrids Pending Mail 5 QSL Bureau Processing time is 10 days from receipt. This week, 145 pounds of cards were received from members. Cards mailed as of 04/24/05: 337,050. Cards mailed on 04/22/05: 68,600. Field & Educational Services Rosalie reported that six of the seven crew members on the Return to Flight space shuttle mission are licensed ham radio operators. She helped prepare a first quarter NASA report on ARISS. The European Space Agency (ESA) posted a story on its Web site on the recent Italian ARISS QSO. ESA spationauts Thomas Reiter and Leopold Eyharts received training from Russia's Energia and GCTC and Sergey Samburov will train them on the SSTV system; they fly on the shuttle to the ISS in August. Field Education Team Gail Iannone compiled all information for those staying in the ARRL's block of rooms at the Dayton Marriott, and submitted the rooming list to the Marriott Event Manager. She sent 5 hamfest approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 19 handout and door prize orders, and 3 label requests for upcoming events. She sent 8 approval letters to the sponsoring clubs confirming the EC's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned, and sent 4 new applications from clubs seeking ARRL-affiliation to the Division Directors and Section Managers for approval. Jean Wolfgang reports the good news that her solicitation to students who withdrew from EmComm classes in the last few months has resulted in some of those students registering again before the CNCS grant year is over! She has received email bounces from more than 12% of the students (that registered less than a month ago). She happily says that after sending email messages to 300 Level 2 graduates, inviting them to register for Level 3, the result is an almost full Level 3 section! Jean set up one hybrid class and received 3 more rosters for upcoming classes. She graduated 67 emcomm students, printed their certificates and ID cards and requested checks for them. Jean set up classes and assigned mentors, processing 4 sections that will open on April 29. With Tom Hogerty's help, Norm Fusaro uploaded two new learning tools to the ARRL's "Learn CW" page. The new resources came as a result of a recent article by Norm about learning CW. He worked on a CD-ROM of resources and programs available to clubs. He helped a prospective ham studying for his license get in touch with a local club for help. Norm entertained a new ham visiting HQ to make his first HF QSO from W1AW -- Nate, KB1MFH, age 10, just passed his Tech and CW exams, and is on his way to becoming a General. Norm will write a story about Nate and his grandfather, W1DPM, who has been a great mentor. Margie Bourgoin processed 25 updates to affiliated club records, and registered 1 new Volunteer Instructor. She placed orders for departmental supplies that are running low due to an increase in requests for exhibit kits and ham events. Margie continues to update the database of Public Service Activity Reports and the database of information from the EmComm Surveys. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer's Transistor Amplifier Exploration Board is complete and ready for distribution to schools; an announcement was posted on the web. Mark received 2 Progress and 1 Project grant applications to be processed during the second increment of 2005's grants. He has received 8 formal requests from teachers to attend the ARRL Hq Teacher's Institute. He changed the June institute date to July 25-29 so as accommodate more teachers. He received 4 applications from people wanting to attend an institute to be held in Ohio. Community Education Program Bill Barrett updated his travel and work schedules; he contacted people in the next two months' worth of show locations to touch base with them and ensure the shows and work revolving around them are on their front burners. Locations are Humboldt, IA; Centennial, CO; Staunton, VA and Galesburg, IL. An e-newsletter, "CEP Update," to go to all remaining locations (clients and hams) was drafted. Its purpose is to aid in smoother future meetings by relating to, and gaining from, the experiences of the shows completed thus far. A follow-up letter is being finalized for mailing by USPS, to each of the previous locations, to measure the lasting results by soliciting comments; it will go to both clients and hams. Field Organization/Public Service Team ARRL recognized National Volunteer Week (April 17-23) and thanked its volunteers. Steve Ewald helped prepare a news story for the League's Web page and extended it to SMs via their reflector. Some SMs forwarded personal thanks to League members/volunteers in their sections. Steve joined Rosalie White and Mary Hobart in hosting an introductory visit to HQ by Linda Winkler, a Citizen Corps regional representative for FEMA Regions 1 and 2. We discussed ways ARRL and Citizen Corps (along with its other affiliates) could partner better with one another. In addition, Steve called into the monthly Citizen Corps Affiliates' teleconference. Leona Adams received a petition from J. Steven Cochrane, W7JSC, of Cheyenne, nominating him to run for Wyoming SM. Petitions for this SM cycle are due June 10. Ballots for the on-gong Section elections in West Texas and New Hampshire are still coming in, and are due at HQ on May 20. Over two dozen new Field Appointee initial-supply packages were sent this past week, and Leona continued updating the database. Chuck Skolaut received and reviewed documentation on two cases in California. One is on a repeater, and another is on a simplex frequency -- this information has been forwarded to the FCC. Chuck also sent the FCC details received about possible rule infractions on 40 and 75 meters. An Illinois station received thanks from Riley Hollingsworth at the FCC for information he provided about certain equipment listed for sale on Internet sites. Two Official Observer Coordinators were instrumental in resolving separate issues this week. Regulatory Information John Hennessee assisted an amateur with a local-government zoning problem in Los Ranchos, NM (K4RN), and with a covenant restriction in Ashe County, NC (KD4MCA). He processed the Volunteer Counsel application of John McGrath, N2HQD, of Albany, NY. He reports receiving more general questions about digital operations, probably spurred by the proposed bandwidth petition. EmComm Grants Dan Miller reports on his trips to the Ohio Homeland Security Symposium, where he answered many questions about ham radio emergency communications, and to the National Capital ARES Council, where he gave a two-hour presentation and brought home 30 surveys. At the Ohio event, 10 minutes into the keynote speakers' speeches, the power went down for 15 minutes, and speeches were completed using emergency lighting and no speaker system. In addition to the conferences, Dan attended a club meeting near each location. The April CNCS grant update was prepared by Joel Kleinman, edited by Dan Miller, and Tom Hogerty posted it to the ARRL Web. Sincerely, Dave Patton, NN1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer Staff Absentee List Dave Sumner 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention Mary Hobart 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Dave Patton 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/23-5/27 Vacation `` 6/21-6/27 Friedrichshafen Germany Convention Wayne Mills 4/20-4/29 Vacation `` 5/19-5/20 Dayton Hamvention `` 6/22-6/27 Friedrichshafen Germany Convention Dan Miller 4/29-5/4 National Disaster Medical System Conference, Orlando FL `` 5/7-5/10 Salvation Army Conference, Lake Buena Vista, FL `` 5/13-5/16 EMCOMM WEST, Reno, NV `` 5/17 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/27 Vacation Ed Hare 4/25-4/29 ANSI Committee Meeting, Piscataway, NJ `` 5/18-5/22 Vacation Joel Kleinman 5/13 Vacation Bill Moore 4/28-5/1 State Convention, Birmingham, AL & Vacation `` 5/11 Vacation `` 5/19-5/20 Dayton Hamvention Scott Gee 5/2 Vacation `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation Judy Miller 5/5-5/6 Vacation `` 5/19-5/23 Vacation Joel Hallas 5/6pm Vacation `` 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/23 Vacation Kathy Capodicasa 5/9-5/13 Vacation `` 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Joel Kleinman 5/13 Vacation `` 5/23 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Mike Tracy 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Maria Somma 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention Debra Johnson 5/19-5/23 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/24 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Zoe Belliveau 5/19-5/23 Dayton Hamvention `` 6/20-6/24 Vacation Joe Bottiglieri 5/19-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Rick Lindquist 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/23 Vacation Fatima Lorusso 6/27-7/1 Vacation Lisa Tardette 6/27-7/8 Vacation Janet Rocco 4/29 Vacation