<<091708.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 38 September 17, 2008 -- Covers the period September 7-13. Upcoming Meetings and Events Section Manager Workshop October 10-12 - ARRL HQ United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 13-17 - ARRL HQ Executive Committee Meeting October 18 @ 9:00am in Chicago, IL Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 21 in Newington, CT Administration &Finance Committee November 22 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT CEO Office Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ CEO office would like to welcome Brennan Price, N4QX whose first day was Monday as our new Technical Relations Manager. If you need to reach him his extension is 250. Until January, Brennan will be working out of the Newington office and will travel to Washington/Fairfax as needed. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The first Longley-Rice requests for Massachusetts 70cm repeaters came in and was processed. We were not able to recommend coordination based on the proposed parameters presented. By the week a total of 15 requests had been received and the ARRL Lab will work on them. Numerous email and phone queries on a wide range of topics were received, including queries on license plate updates, assistance request for information on becoming a 501 (c) (3) organization, reciprocal operating in Jamaica and China, and identifying VCs in a couple of states. We also kept track of a few Hurricane Gustav items so Dennis Dura K2DCD, could gear up for Hurricane Ike. We also served as a member of the ARRL HQ Hurricane Ike team, handling a variety of tasks at the request of K2DCD throughout the week and weekend. We worked with ARRL General Counsel on some final wording for a Pennsylvania PRB-1 bill. Wording was crafted that met the concerns of the Pennsylvania Township Supervisors Association as well as protecting the PRB-1 protections for amateurs. Finally we processed a couple of corrections to callsigns or club names for the 2008 ARRL Field Day logs received (and database) list. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Obviously the main activity has been the hurricanes and attempts to attract national media to the ham radio actions. While contacts have now been made with ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox and BBC and there even have been interviews and tape shot, to my knowledge nothing has been aired as other communications means are holding well enough that there is not a crisis in communications. We remain in regular contact with PICs Lee CooperW5LHC; Nancy Alkire, K5NAA; and Brett Shayler, KE5ALK; plus PIO Joe Gadus, KD5KTX, in Houston. We also are working the human story "hook" that Joe Gadus III, KE5BVQ, is only 16 and yet is responding to his second major ARES action. He's at one of the PODs and also worked the Astrodome during Katrina. Participation in the coordinating conference calls continued until they were discontinued, but collaboration with various ARES leaders is ongoing. Requests for information on any activations in other areas of the country and information that can be used to make a worthy news story have not been successful thus far. Meanwhile, the recent flurry of off-topic postings on the PR email reflector has been addressed in a conference call by the PRC and the committee members have agreed to aid in keeping that forum on topic and be careful what is shared there. The PR Forum is perhaps the largest ARRL forum in which members can post without any prior censoring and the information there is seen by many as having ARRL consent even if it is erroneous. Technical Relations Reported by Brennan Price, N4QX Jon Siverling attended the regular meeting of PCC.II of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Administrations discussed positions on a number of topics, including Broadband over Power Lines and the potential for an amateur allocation near 500 kHz: * The United States delegation presented a BPL proposal that calls for the evaluation of "exclusion bands for commonly used amateur radio frequencies," mirroring the language proposed by Brazil. * On the 500 kHz issue, a Canadian preliminary view stated, "The Maritime community has expressed concerns about the increase in probability of harmful interference in the 500 kHz frequency range due to possible uncontrolled use by users of the Amateur service." Nevertheless, Canada is proceeding with experimental operation near 500 kHz. Brennan Price worked in Newington this week, preparing for a meeting of United States Working Party 5A at the FCC on September 25. Brennan also prepared for the USTTI Amateur Radio Administration Course, to be held in Newington October 13-17. Six administrators and one president of a national Amateur Radio organization are scheduled to attend. Instructors will include at least Brennan, Paul Rinaldo, Dennis Dura, Steve Ford, Norm Fusaro, Maria Somma, Perry Green, Mike Gruber and Ed Hare. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The ARRL Logbook (large format) is being reprinted, as is the NA Grid Locator Map. Joel Hallas has submitted several technical articles for the December issue of QST. Steve Sant Andrea was among those who volunteered to monitor emergency nets at W1AW during Hurricane Ike. Khrystyne Keane and I took part in conference calls with division and section leadership and HQ staff before and during the hurricane emergency and they wrote several Ike-related articles for the Web news crawl. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 36, for September 12, 2008. It went out to more than 71,000 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for September 12. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R On Tuesday, September 9, ARRL introduced its newest membership benefit -- giving members access to an online digital QST archive. This new benefit -- a service of the ARRL Technical Information Service (TIS) -- provides PDF copies of QST pages from December 1915 through December 2004, enabling members to view and print their favorite article, project and more. The new web architecture and programming were managed by Jon Bloom. Access to the archive is via the same ARRL Periodicals Search engine that has been available to members for quite a few years. The new archive benefit was introduced to members via the news crawl and ARRL Letter this week. The response from members has been overwhelmingly positive: "The new benefit of online back articles of QST is excellent. I just tried it and it is very fast! Thank you so much for providing this new service." -- N3NL "I just wanted to give a big ATTA boy pat on the back and a Gold Star to whomever decided to open up the QST archives for free. This is a wealth of information that is truly appreciated by me. It makes my ARRL membership much more valuable. Thank You VERY much." -- K9IUQ "I want to thank you immensely for the new search feature for members. This is a good thing!!" -- K3NG "I'm writing to thank you guys for putting up the QST archives on the web. It's really made me glad that I decided to join the ARRL in addition to RAC. Keep up the good work!" -- VE5SMC "The QST archive search is fantastic! For several years, since the re-kindled interest in balanced antenna feed lines, I have been searching for information on the "twin lamp" SWR indicator. In a few seconds I was able to search the data base and beginning with the October 1947 article I had all of the info I needed. I remember reading about this device in the 1950's but couldn't come up with any info in my limited archives and failing memory. Thanks for the new membership benefit." -- W2HV Work continues on the fall/winter publications and product catalog, and a direct mailing featuring our newest products. As a result of publication development delays with the upcoming General Class Course - book with CD-ROM - a new delivery date has been shared with customers that have made pre-orders. We have accumulated about 125 orders-direct and dealer sales. We investigated online search tools for books featured on Google and Amazon. We will soon be introducing 10-15 of our popular titles to the sites, in which portions of the content will be available to potential buyers. The Customer Service team is seeking a part time employee. We currently have the position posted on Carrierbuilder.com and will be reviewing applications and resumes in the next few days. New letter forms for the New Ham mailings will begin circulation this week. The new mailings include improved methods for tracking responses. Our current direct mailing for membership has yielded nearly 800 applications, having reached mailboxes just over 2 weeks ago. The mailing included a multi-year membership appeal and incentive. 47% of the applications are for 2 or 3 year terms. Gail processed 34 hamfest and 8 convention packages for September events and completed the "Coming Conventions" and "Hamfest Calendar" columns for December QST. She also coordinated travel for staff representatives to all upcoming conventions (see staff absentee list). The Warehouse crew fulfilled 987 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 385 free book membership premiums, and sent September QST mailing supplements. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch Most of my time this past week was as support for Hurricane Ike, as directed by Dennis Dura, K2DCD. I was in charge of gathering and maintaining the frequencies used in and around the affected area, and was also in charge of the operations schedule for W1AW. I posted a note on my blog and to the CQ-Contest, VHF and VHF-Contest reflectors to be mindful of emergency communications during this past weekend's contests. This weekend was the ARRL September VHF QSO Party. While conditions appear to have been lackluster, we have already started receiving logs for the event. W1AW It was a busy weekend at W1AW as a number of HQ staffers spent most of the two days monitoring the various HF frequencies being used for Hurricane Ike communications. Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He began construction of the components needed for a K9AY Terminated Loop for 160-meters. (This loop will be installed only when needed. It will not be a permanent installation.) Joe also configured EchoLink and Goldwave (audio recording program) for use during Hurricane Ike. He also prepared W1AW for the weekend activities. When not participating in HF monitoring or related activities, Joe was also active intermittently in the ARRL September VHF QSO Party. He was active on four bands (6 and 2 meters, and 70 and 23 cm). Joe made 40 QSOs with 19 distinct grid squares for an initial claimed score of 874. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the middle of the month of September. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona reports that there will be five upcoming Section Manager elections for the term beginning January 1, 2009. One section has three candidates. She has been preparing statements and ballots to be printed locally. Ballots and statements are scheduled to be sent to members by October 1, 2008. Chuck reports one new Official Observer was added to the group from Arizona this week. An unidentified beacon type signal was reported on 10.1065 and our monitoring team is investigating. Two reports of unidentified broadcasting on 14275 were received; the FCC was notified by one of the complainants directly. OOs are investigating a report of interference and use of bad language on 3913. Chuck returned from a successful convention in Arkansas at which he served as the banquet speaker, 19 new or renewed memberships were obtained. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Bob Allison 9/19-9/20 South Dakota Section Convention, Sioux Falls, SD Jon Bloom 10/4-10/13 Vacation Katie Breen 9/26-9/29 Vacation Hugh Brower 9/29-10/3 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 9/26 Vacation Jackie Cornell 10/10-10/12 Florida State Convention, Melbourne, FL Dennis Dura 9/20 EmComm East, Rochester, NY - Dennis Dura Steve Ewald 9/12-9/24 Vacation Steve Ford 10/13 Vacation `` 10/31 Vacation Norm Fusaro 9/22-9/26 Vacation Scott Gee 10/3-10/6 Vacation `` 12/23-12/26 Vacation Dan Henderson 9/18-9/21 Virginia Section Convention, Virginia Beach, VA `` 10/3-10/5 Western New York Section Convention, Buffalo, NY `` 10/10-10/13 Michigan Section Convention, Kalamazoo, MI Mary Hobart 9/19-9/20 W9DXCC, Chicago, IL `` 10/3 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 9/19 Vacation `` 10/15-10/20 Pacific Division Convention Joel Kleinman 9/26-10/1 Washington State Convention, Spokane, Vacation Lisa Kustosik 9/26-10/10 Vacation Sean Kutzko 9/30-10/6 Pacific Northwest VHF+ Conference Zack Lau 9/20-9/26 Vacation Dave Sumner 9/16-9/19 Vacation `` 9/23-9/25 Washington `` 10/16pm-10/20 Executive Committee Meeting, Chicago, IL