IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No.12 March 23, 2004 Upcoming Meeting April 24th in Newington, CT at 8:30am A & F Committee Meeting Development The W1AW Endowment has reached $87,833 from 1247 donors. Follow up letters have been mailed to three target audiences totaling 25,000 names. The carryover of the fall Spectrum Defense Campaign has exceeded $56,000 from 860 donors. A new campaign is in preparation. Development is working with Dan Miller and LouAnn Campanello to prepare the six month progress report for the CNCS grant. Development is preparing research in preparation for a meeting with a donor who is considering a significant gift to ARRL. Media Relations The "Year In Review" section of the 2003 Annual Report is complete, and has been forwarded to Dave Sumner for editing. Ed Hare and Rick Lindquist traveled to Westchester County, New York, to meet with a Wall Street Journal reporter. The reporter is gathering information for a possible follow-up BPL article, to include the ham radio angle. Ed and Rick got on the air to demonstrate the effects of BPL in the village of Briarcliff Manor, and discussed the various aspects of the BPL issue at length. Jennifer was invited to represent the League and put on a PR forum at the Western New York Section Convention in August. ARRL booth supplies were shipped out for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in April. Once again, ARRL member Bill Cornelius, K8XC, is heading up the volunteer effort on behalf of the League. Jen thanks Lisa K and Gail for gathering up the needed supplies for shipping. Production/Editorial The 2004-2005 Repeater Directory, a new edition of The General Class Q&A, VoIP: Internet Linking for Radio Amateurs and the Southeastern States VHF Society Conference Proceedings have been released to the printer. The May issue of QST will be released to the printer March 25. We checked printer's proofs for Low Power Communications. Maty Weinberg has been covering for Helen Dalton during her sick leave. We wish Helen a speedy recovery. Graphics staff created an attractive "BPL logo," color CD labels for the new ARRL Video Series VCDs, as well as the cover design for the new TravelPlus CD. Rick Lindquist and Ed Hare spent the better part of March 16 with Ken Brown, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, to demonstrate BPL firsthand (at Briarcliff Manor, New York) and to discuss its implications for the Amateur Service. His article appeared March 23. Rick reports that The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 12, went out to 67,115 members on March 19. Among other items, Rick prepared stories on Comment due dates and membership guidance for the BPL proceeding; a new ham radio-related video from The Ham Band in Denmark, a Daily Point of Light Award to an Iowa ARRL-affiliated club, the first ARISS school group QSO with a school in Scotland (on St Patrick's day, no less), Hamvention special achievement award to ARRL President Emeritus George Wilson, W4OYI (plus other award winners), ARRL President Jim Haynie's upcoming appearance on the Coast to Coast AM radio program (Mar 20) and Best Buy Foundation Te@ach grants to four ARRL ETP schools (updated). He also edited the QRP Community Web column for March and prepared the Happenings column for May QST. With voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy (and soundbite contributions from Dave Sumner on the BPL story), Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for March 19. News Editor Dave Hassler completed his QST column, ARRL-in-Action, edited four features for the ARRL Web site and contributed several small news stories. Joel Hallas has completed work on the May installment of the Product Review column, and he is wrapping up editorial work on the May/June issue of NCJ. The June Product Review column is well underway, and equipment for July is under evaluation. Sales and Marketing In addition to their product order fulfillment duties, Fatima Lorusso, Zoe Belliveau, and Danny Sayad are training to process membership renewals that are phoned in. As part of our ongoing effort to cross-train fulfillment staff, they are processing the memberships while still on the phone. Processing in this manner allows us to cut back on the number of invalid credit cards that require follow up and minimizes the number of pieces of paper that would require another fulfillment staffer to process. In time, we will add broken continuity and first time members to the mix as these require a few more steps. We're evaluating the results from a survey conducted in February of emergency service volunteers and other individuals closely connected to them. The responses provide feedback on a handful of new merchandise ideas to directly support these volunteers. The data was collected by Steve Ewald and compiled by Janet Rocco. Some additional analysis of 2003 membership mailings has contributed to further honing the Technician and Technician Plus leads for the latest membership campaign. A local letter shop is handling the assembly and mailing of this large campaign, which should hit the post office on March 24. Planning for the upcoming ARRL exhibit at Hamvention continues. An impressive 14-foot banner has been designed using artwork created for ARRL's 90-year celebration. The banner will take the place of the fixed exhibit that has served as a backdrop for the last few years. Following the examples of some of our sister societies that exhibited at the big European show in Friedrichshafen last year, a portion of our exhibit space (in front of the new banner) will be set up to serve as a meeting space for members, volunteers and leadership to congregate and visit during the event. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 450 WAS End. (50 QSLs ES/C) 1 A-1 Op. Noms. 12 A-1 Op. Certs. 2 LTMA Inquiries 2 VUCC Initial Apps. 9 Grids 544 Awards Mailed 86 Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the coming week-WAS and WAC QSL card checking, VUCC and A-1 Operator awards processing/mailing, and Extra Class certificates. DXCC Branch For the week of: March 21, 2004 Beginning Cards 71,052 Cards Received 9,390 Cards Processed 14,051 Ending Cards 66,391 Applications Pending 523 Processing Time 4.2 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 88,686 Cards Returned 148,690 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on February 20, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on February 24, 2004. Because of their level of participation in the DXCC program, the radio societies shown below were invited to submit one nominee for DXCC Card Checker: Poland Russian Federation Denmark Portugal Norway Israel Also, due to their level of activity, one additional nomination was offered to: Sweden Italy France Contest Branch Certificates for the 2003 September VHF QSO party were printed and queued for mailing within the next couple of weeks. Web results for the 2003 EME Contest were finalized and opened to members. Work was done on the Web results for the 2003 November CW Sweepstakes and sent to Web Services. The draft QST SS CW article was received from Production, edited and sent back with changes. Section-level competitive paper logs for the November Phone Sweepstakes were entered into a logging program and sent to the log checking team. Final scores for SS Phone were received, merged into the databases, tables prepared and forwarded to the author. QSL Bureau QSL Service Status: There is a delay of approximately 2 weeks. This week 163 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 230 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 03/21/04: 217,875. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files. He also assisted the building manager with a circulator pump replacement on the station's main floor heating boiler. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of March. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot, and worked the early afternoon shift on Friday for a vacationing Joe Carcia. Field & Educational Services Rosalie finalized 2 PowerPoint presentations and helped Frank Bauer with the US ARISS Team's presentation, for the ARISS international meeting next week. Thanks goes to Linda who pinch-hit with Rosalie on doing paperwork for newly affiliated clubs. Rosalie held a departmental meeting, and compiled data for a few items for the P-SC telecon. She found a co-sponsor for our second education annual award. Linda Mullally updated 53 club records with 1 reactivation. She registered 8 Instructors. She checked a membership roster for a club, and gave a huge assist with work needed to be done for the newest batch of affiliated clubs. She handled 1 SSC renewal, 2 Label requests and 4 Club Vanity email requests. She sent 10 Exhibit Kits and 3 JOTA Kits. Gail Iannone sent 7 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval letter to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 3 label requests, 11 door prize orders, and sent 12 handouts packages for upcoming events. She coordinated convention travel for the following HQ staff: Wayne Mills, Midwest Division, Apr. 30-May 1, Lebanon, MO; Dan Henderson, Maryland State, Mar. 27-28, Timonium; Dave Hassler, Iowa State, June 11-12, Sioux City; and Jennifer Hagy, WNY Section, Aug. 7-8, Williamsville. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project Mark Spencer set up and staffed a booth at the International Technology Education Association's national conference in Albuquerque. NASA paid for his registration, booth space, electricity, etc. Mark processed requests from Project schools for the TV Remote Decoder Kits. Another Project application arrived; Monday will be the cutoff date for new applications. CCE Jean Wolfgang is creating a new flyer to be included in the EmComm graduation packets. The flyer will invite the graduates to enroll in our CCE on-line technical courses. The first class of the online Technician License course will begin on Monday, April 6--we have four registrants thus far. Jean processed 2 CCE field tests and several grant graduates. Regulatory Information John Hennessee reports that SGLs, LGLs and some SMs are using the SGL Reflector as an exchange of ideas concerning state government issues and Amateur Radio. If any SM, SGL or LGL wishes to subscribe, they should send a message to John Hennessee, N1KB at n1kb@arrl.org. They should list their name, call, ARRL position and at least two e-mail addresses (very important) to subscribe to the SGL Reflector. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams prepared for the Oregon SM election getting ballots ready for the printer. The statements from the two candidates (WA7VDT and KZ7T) were proofread and formatted prior to printing. Leona prepared supplies and did record keeping for several new-appointees, and compiled and sent five Official Observer test packages to those who have been recommended. Chuck Skolaut handled two OO monitoring requests from the FCC's Riley Hollingsworth, and sent these to the appropriate Section leaders. He received four audio tapes concerning possible rule violations on 75 meters. Chuck is reviewing the tapes along with a couple of other audio tapes and reports on interference problems on 20 meters and another one in Florida. Steve Ewald compiled 186 replies to our recent survey about possible new ARES-related products. The SECs, DECs and ECs provided additional ideas and suggestions. Thanks to Janet Rocco for compiling the results and to Bob Inderbitzen for analyzing the data and comments. Steve and Dan Miller identified SMs, SECs and STMs who haven't taken ARRL's Level l course yet; we are sending personal invitations to encourage them to sign up. EmComm Grants Dan reports that UTC grads for Level II total 22, and for Level III, 16. CNCS grads for Level I total 693, for Level II, 156, and for Level III, 87. Hybrid classes continue to increase in number and have proven to be beneficial for students who have limited online or computer access, and for those with limited computer skills. Dan gave a seminar and talk at the Communications Academy, a ham radio emcomm event in Shoreline, WA. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Dave Sumner 4/12-4/21 IARU Reg.1 EC Meeting, & Vacation `` 4/27-5/6 Geneva, ITU working party 6E Meeting `` 5/12-5/16 Vacation Mark Wilson 3/24-3/29 Vacation Mark Spencer 3/30-4/5 NSTA Conference Rick Lindquist 3/26 Vacation Joe Carcia 4/5 Vacation Robert Inderbitzen 4/1-4/2 AES Superfest Dennis Motschenbacher 4/22 Sales meeting GA `` 4/23-4/24 SVHFC Technical & Banquet Speaker `` 5/13-5/17 Vacation Deb Jahnke 4/15 Sales call-Baker & Taylor - NJ Kathy Capodicasa 4/15 Sales call-Baker & Taylor - NJ Scott Gee 4/8 Vacation Danny Sayad 4/15-4/19 Vacation Rosalie White 3/24-3/26 ARISS-international meeting Dan Miller 4/1-4/2 Vacation Dan Henderson 3/26 Timonium, MD Convention Jodi Morin 3/26 Vacation Stu Cohen 4/8-4/13 Vacation