IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 5 February 2, 2005 Development The next full campaign, scheduled for February, directed by Development will be the Education & Technology Fund solicitation to the full ARRL active membership file. Save The Date Postcards are being mailed to major donors to highlight the Donor Reception during the ARRL National Convention in Dayton in May. This year's event will be on Thursday evening May 19 at Wright State University. Letters to major donors requesting permission for public acknowledgement of their generosity in the 2004 Annual Report, in QST and on the web are being mailed. Copy for the first issue of the Legacy Letter for planned giving is being prepared with help from the Sharpe Group. The renewal application for the Combined Federal Campaign arrived in Washington on schedule. Documents were prepared for John Chwat to present to CT Senators Dodd and Lieberman and Representative John Larson seeking a renewal of our EMCOMM training funding for a new module focused on Bio Nuclear Chemical emergencies. The scholarship application for the ARRL Foundation was Feb 1. Applications are being logged, coded and copied for the Scholarship Committee. Media & Public Relations Work has begun on the 2004 Annual Report and the many departments who provide input are being asked to give a "who and when" for their parts of the process. The audio PSA's continue to show up all over the country and emails come in from happily surprised members telling us they heard it on their local stations. The video PSA's are being duplicated (DVD's cannot simply be posted to the web like the audios). The first copies of the promised "Swiss Army Knife" CD for new PIO's has been sent to the PRC for any last additions or changes. The Leonard Award plaque has been ordered and the NAB convention seems to be on track. I am awaiting Bacon's response to my query and concern about the validity of the December media clippings report. February's CONTACT! has been completed and up on the web, and promotional pieces, sample news release and PIO materials have been written and added to the Field Day packets. The December clip reports have been mailed to Directors and to members of the PR Committee. Production/Editorial Stu Cohen has had to extend his leave of absence. Rick Lindquist reports that The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 04, distributed to 66,009 members on January 28. That's up by 328 during January. Rick prepared/edited stories on the ARRL Board of Directors meeting, an ARISS contact with a primary school in France, another proposed FCC fine in the Gerritsen case, and various news briefs and announcements. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for January 28. Sales & Marketing Plans continue to take shape for ARRL's exhibit at the 2005 ARRL National Convention at Dayton Hamvention. We are meeting with companies that produce display solutions for tradeshows as we plan to update our exhibit in time for this year's event. We have invited two organizations to attend as part of an expanded ARRL exhibit at Hamvention. The United States Power Squadrons (USPS) and The National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers (NARTE) have agreed to support our mutually beneficial activities by sending representatives. This is an opportunity for ARRL to showcase our ongoing relationship-building as we seek ways to recruit new hams and ARRL members. USPS attracts large numbers of hams that are recreational boaters. NARTE certifies qualified engineers and technicians in telecommunications and related fields, which inherently include many radio amateurs. ARRL Volunteer Examiners, working with the Hamvention Committee, have paved the way for NARTE representatives to provide FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL) examinations at the show (register through www.narte.org). Product sales totals continue to track well with January's forecast--a satisfying start to the New Year. Technical editor, Kelvin Barnsdale, ZL3KB, has informed us of his intent to review the ARRL publication "Experimental Methods in RF Design" for the New Zealand Amateur Radio Transmitters (NZART) 'Breakin' magazine. During the month of January 2005 (advertising for QST March 2005), ARRL Advertising signed on one new QST advertiser, and saw the return of two previous advertisers. EFM Communications, a small company who is about to enter the market with an HF antenna tuner product, placed a 1/24th-page black and white ad. EasyLog (Microware Software s.n.c.), that last placed an ad in June 2004 QST, resumed advertising with a 1/6th page ad after experiencing favorable response to the appearance of a "Short Takes" review published in QST January 2005. Sharing advertising space with regular ARRL advertiser Array Solutions, OptiBeam Antennatechnologien of Germany - a company that last placed an ad in QST in the August 2004 issue - split the expense of a 1/2-page ad. The advertisers provided a rough layout, but Diane Szlachetka earns special mention for turning the concept into an extremely attractive finished ad. A few straggling space reservations for the ARRL Repeater Directory continue to trickle in and revenue targets have been exceeded by a small margin. Many regular advertisers are returning for this edition. We also were able to bring back several advertisers who have been absent from recent editions including Alinco, AOR, and Yaesu. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS End. (50 QSLs F/C) 1 WAC Certs. (126 QSLs ES/C) 21 5BWAC Cert. (30 QSLs ES/C) 1 WAS in the 90th Awards 15 A-1 Op. Noms. 3 A-1 Op. Certs. 3 LTMA Inquiries 2 VUCC Certs. Processed 7 VUCC Initial Apps. 3 Grids 144 Awards Mailed 48 Also worked on some LTMA projects (on-going). Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-Basic WAS awards for January, WAS QSL card checking, file the VUCC applications from 2004, continue work on LTMA projects, and mail out awards processed this week. Contest Branch We finished mailing all previously printed certificates. Final approval was given on proofs of the 10 GHz, September VHF and IARU Contests. Data entry continued for the 160-Meter, 10-Meter and RTTY Roundup contests. Working with the authors of the 2004 EME write-up we worked on several new reports to output the results to conform to the new contest categories. Substantial work was done on the 2005 Field Day rules and packet, with a target date of February 1 to have the PDF and revised rules on the ARRL Web. Special concerns of several Board members were addressed during their time at HQ. A problem with the January VHF robot was discovered during testing and corrected in advance of the weekend's contest. Online versions of several articles were sent to Web Services for preparation and were opened to the membership. Line scores for several contests were sent to production to be added to the QST PDFs for posting to the web. DXCC Branch For the week of: January 30, 2005 Beginning Credits 46,891 Credits Received 8,820 Credits Processed 16,197 Ending Credits 39,514 Applications Pending 394 Processing Time (Conventional) 5.5 Weeks Processing Time (LoTW) 1 Working Day DXCC is currently mailing applications received on December 22, 2004. DXCC is currently entering credits received on December 22, 2004. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 62,422,655 QSL records have resulted 2,548,946 Logs Processed 95,445 Active Certificates 13,058 Users registered in the system 8,830 Current Applications 65 Ready Applications 0 Applications Awaiting Mail 65 QSL Bureau Processing time is 7 days from receipt. This week, 96 pounds of cards were received from members. Cards mailed as of 01/30/05: 61,600. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files. He created the texts for the February W1AW Qualifying Runs and processed one Code Proficiency endorsement and two certificates. Joe processed regular W1AW QSL card requests and revamped the equipment/operating positions in Studio Two. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of January and early February. He also began work on assembling modules for the Elecraft K2 QRP transceiver. Scott also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Field Education Team Rosalie critiqued a draft Power Point presentation for the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters. The ARISS Team aided astronaut John Phillips in earning his license (his son had gotten licensed much earlier); John will be on Expedition 11, a 6-month mission. Rosalie worked with ARISS Team members in nudging teachers to fill out NASA's evaluation form. Astronaut Leroy Chiao chalked up another school QSO. Gail Iannone sent 19 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval letter to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned, and processed 25 handouts and door prize orders for upcoming events. She sent paperwork for 4 new clubs seeking ARRL-affiliation to the Division Directors and Section Managers for their approval. She also sent 14 Charter of Affiliation certificates to newly-affiliated clubs. Norm Fusaro got some new Power Point programs uploaded to the ARRL multimedia library for clubs and individuals, including one on NTS and handling traffic that was submitted by KB3DEN. We received some positive response to the new licensing class flyer that is available on our Web site for clubs -- several have used it already and sent samples that they have made. Norm fielded phone calls about requests for material from clubs and individuals who are organizing licensing classes. Margie Bourgoin entered data for 157 club updates -- this signals that clubs are responding to a recent reminder postcard that we sent to them about keeping their club records updated. She reports handling 3 club reactivations, and 5 SSC renewal applications. She registered 11 instructors, and 2 schoolteachers. Jean trained Margie on the process of graduating CNCS and UTC students so Margie can be Jean's back-up during vacation time. Margie thanks Steve Ewald for sending a reminder to Field officials about submitting Public Service Activity Reports, and she's seen an increase in these. Jean Wolfgang administered the set up of two hybrid Emcomm courses and the paperwork for three field tests. She researched and corrected email addresses for Emcomm Level 1 course students, plus she updated several email addresses for mentors. Field Organization/Public Service Team The ARRL Monitoring System (Intruder Watch) has a new member from Missouri. Chuck Skolaut compiled the ARRL's contribution to the monthly Intruder Report. An FAA representative forwarded a note of thanks to the Nebraska OOC, local OOs and others for their monitoring assistance concerning a recent interference problem that is continuing. Also, regional OOs have been requested to aid the FCC in monitoring for a station on 20 meters. Leona Adams relayed 2005 Section budget figures to each Section Manager. An electronic version of the ARRL travel expense form is now available to SMs via the SM Area Web pages. Leona sent out nearly 20 new-appointee supplies, and she continues to update the Field Organization appointment database as Section Leaders report changes. With the reporting deadline near, 2004 Simulated Emergency Test summaries continue to arrive by mail and e-mail. Steve Ewald sent a reminder to Section Leaders about SET reports and about Public Service Activity Reports that has generated a noticeable response. In addition, Steve reminded SMs to consult with their SECs to make sure their Section Emergency Plans are kept up to date. Amateur Radio Education & Technology The next round of equipment purchases for Project grants has been sent out for bid. Equipment has already been purchased and sent to one school. A group of senior engineering students at Georgia Tech are using the TV Remote Decoder kit as a centerpiece of their senior thesis. The school materials President Haynie will take on his South American trip have been sent to Jon Siverling for translation. Equipment for the next project kit, the Basic Electronics course, was ordered; the kit should be released to schools in mid-February. The No-Solder CPO project we posted a while ago was translated into French and is circulating on the web. EmComm Grants Dan Miller is accepting pre-registrations for upcoming events -- LA State Convention total 7 so far; SEA-PAC total 6; EmComm Banquet in Dayton total 11 so far. He is also soliciting names from SMs for booth help for NEMA in Washington, DC, Feb. 11-15, and for the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, March 21-25. Regulatory Information John Hennessee is receiving an increasing number of questions on Restructuring, especially from former hams who are now interested in getting back into Amateur Radio. He reviewed the constitutions of pending clubs. John assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Conneaut Lake, PA (KF4KIQ), and with covenant concerns in Helotes, TX (K5JDA) and Antioch, IL (KA9KBX). Community Education Program The News-Times (Danbury, CT newpaper) ran a story featuring Bill Barrettt and ham radio emergency communications. Bill completed his first show at a Citizen Corps Council meeting (in Saco, Maine). Although Murphy decided to send a blizzard that day (city workers were home except for "essential employees"), Bill had a small, but very attentive audience. He is now critiquing every aspect of the trip and show, and made plans for tweaking some things. Sincerely, Dave Patton, NN1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer DCP: lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 2/21 Holiday Dave Sumner 2/3-2/11 Vacation Mary Hobart 2/11-2/13 Hamcation Orlando, FL `` 3/2-3/4 CNCS Meeting, Washington, DC Rick Lindquist 2/22 Vacation Wayne Mills 2/4 South Florida Section Convention Dennis Motschenbacher 3/4-3/5 Icom meeting, Miami, FL Bob Inderbitzen 3/21-3/23 National Postal Forum `` 3/24 & 3/28 Vacation `` 3/31-4/1 AES Superfest Roseanne Lawrence 2/7-2/18 Vacation Fatima Lorusso 3/7-3/11 Vacation Bill Moore 2/11-2/15 North Florida Section Convention/Vacation Mark Spencer 2/3-2/4 Indiana state science teacher's conference, Indianapolis Dan Miller 2/4-2/5 Hurricane Watch Net Conference, Miami, FL `` 2/11-2/15 Nat'l Emergency Mgt Association, Washington, DC Kathy Capodicasa 3/21-3/23 National Postal Forum `` 4/14-4/18 Vacation Mark Dzamba 2/14-2/16 Vacation Pam Dzamba 2/14-2/16 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 2/4-2/6 State Convention, Jackson, MS Joel Kleinman 2/11-2/15am Vacation Penny Harts 2/9-2/15 Vacation `` 2/24-2/25 Vacation