<<080807.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 30, No. 32 August 8, 2007 -- Covers the period July 29-August 4. Upcoming Meetings and Events United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 8-12 - ARRL HQ Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 16 in Newington, CT CEO Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ I would like to thank (even if it is a little past the time) the individuals that helped her make the Board Meeting run smoothly. A special thank you to Greg Kwasowski for driving the van; to Maryann Macdonald and Margie Bourgoin for helping with the Board books; to Penny Harts for helping with the goodie table in the lobby; to Khrystyne Keane for taking pictures at the hotel and to those who made hotel runs during the day on Friday. Special acknowledgement and thanks to Andy Shefrin for working with the Marriott technicians in making all presentation and computer equipment run like a charm. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The first draft of the next Pave Paws mitigation letter was written and is being edited / revised. The letter will provide specific details on each repeater to the owner and are scheduled to be sent during the week of August 6. Several projects were also tackled during the week. The new VC/VCE certificate proofs were received, accepted and given to purchasing for ordering. There were several general PRB-1/CC&R, reciprocal operating and rules questions handled via email and the telephone. There were also several updates/changes for items on ARRL Regulatory Information web pages that were sent to Web Services to be handled. Electronic submissions for Field Day from the Web applet now total 1795. By the end of the week of August 6, the non-applet electronic submissions should be printed and ready to enter into the database. As of Monday August 6, there were 186 Field Day Online Soapbox entries on the website. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Final arrangements and materials are being prepared for the conventions next week. The design for the billboard donated by Cliff Segar, KD4GT, was acceptable with him and has gone on to the printing company making up the sign which will appear 10x24 on I-40 in Tennessee. The second round of conversations with WalMart Emergency Operations Center managers have been positive and a draft proposal is being created. Initial ideas for the 2008 PR campaign are being shared and having positive responses. A coordinating/planning meeting with other departments is being arranged. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH July was highlighted by the official opening of the Diamond Terrace at ARRL, and also by the continuing financial growth of the ARRL Diamond Club. While the number of Diamond Club members remained level, the revenue generated by the program continues to climb. Revenues for July 2007 (after deducting membership dues) reached $36,198, compared to $10,272 for July 2006. The number of new Diamond Club members reached 89 in July 2007, compared to only 24 in July 2006. The average contributions for new members and renewing members registered $231 and $284 respectively -- substantial increases over 2006 average contributions for the same month. For the first seven months of 2007 the Diamond Club has reached $204,983 in revenues (after deducting membership dues) compared to $97,915 for the first seven months of 2006. Revenues from new and renewing Diamond Club members are up134% and 83% respectively. The next group of 60 brick requests for the Diamond Terrace have been sent to the vendor for inscription. The next major project on the horizon is the 2008 Spectrum Defense Fund campaign scheduled to mail in early September. Development has been participating in the launch of the new membership web project which includes the Diamond Club. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE QST Technical Editor Joel Hallas gave two presentations at the Texas State Convention in Austin this past weekend. Khrystyne Keane wrote and prepared the ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 31, for Friday, August 3. It was distributed to 65,793 members. Khrystyne also voiced and produced the August 3 edition of ARRL Audio News. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, TIS Tony Nesta, the Lab's part-time administrative assistant, will now be working from 12 to 5 PM, four days a week, to help provide better phone coverage during lunch hour and from 4 to 5 PM. He is he staff expert on providing article copies. Anthony is also looking for dead links on the TIS web pages. Zack Lau is sending updates for the TIS pages to the web staff. Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke Advertising sales for the October issue of QST are off to a very good start. Several proposals that we presented to clients were accepted and commence with this issue. Both LDG and HamPros will feature two-page spreads. Kenwood USA will be showcasing a new product, using a bind-in, perforated two-page flier. And DX Engineering, who places a full page advertisement each month has agreed to slowly increase their advertising by adding a 1/3 page on the facing page of their existing ad. Over the next several months their additional space will grow to an additional 2/3 page and finally increase to an ongoing two-page spread. Dealer book sales continued to be robust in July with increased orders from amazon.com. We are preparing a new Dealer Newsline, announcing the latest new products and, as usual, will follow up with telephone calls to procure orders. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N With regret, we bid Tom Hogerty, KC1J farewell. Tom has worked for the League for nearly 20 years and most recently in the MVP Department as Contest Branch Manager for the past year. He will be missed by his fellow co-workers and friends. We wish him well in his new endeavors. The Membership & Volunteer Programs Department welcomes Dennis Dura, K2DCD as our Emergency Preparedness & Response Manager. We wish him well in his new position. Awards Branch Category June 2007 July 2007 Year-to-Date Year End Goal WAS Certificates (Manual) 37 24 187 282 WAS Certificates (LoTW) 13 20 149 295 A-1 Op Nominations 75 23 310 601 A-1 Op Certificates 31 9 145 288 Extra Class Certificates 6 3 145 194 WAC Certificates 3 35 174 313 VUCC New / Grids 10/1,204 11/1,460 48/6,699 144/13,581 VUCC Endorsement/Grids 3/141 8/211 56/2,799 109/6,533 Processing Time 6 Weeks 7 Weeks 2 Weeks DXCC Branch Category June 2007 July 2007 Year-to-Date Year End Goal Credits Processed 59,027 69,685 362,700 622,215 Credits Received 59,210 42,698 361,475 622,342 Apps. Returned 622 650 3,584 5,643 Apps. Received 452 401 3,483 5,643 Apps. Pending 960 756 761 599 Processing Time 10 Weeks 8 Weeks 3 Weeks Contest Branch Incoming logs for Field Day have slowed to a trickle. Here are the totals to date: Type of Submission # of Submissions Web Applet 1,794 Robot 951 Paper Submissions to be Entered 220 Paper Submissions Entered 229 Total 3,194 IARU logs continue to come in at a steady rate: Type of Submission # of Submissions Electronic 443 Paper 78 Total 521 The rules for the 2007 November Sweepstakes have been posted to the Web site. The Contest announcement has been sent to Production for inclusion in the October issue of QST. Logbook of the World Category June 2007 July 2007 2006 Year End QSO Records Entered Into System 132,688,128 135,575,770 116,730,953 QSL Record Matches 8,921,327 9,227,274 7,193,911 Logs Processed 392,235 409,873 305,569 Active Certificates 25,164 25,710 21,889 Registered Users in System 16,584 16,960 14,474 Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries June 2007 July 2007 Lost Certificate 96 121 DXCC Status Inquiries 26 45 Data Not Shown 22 49 No TQ6 File Received from LoTW 22 18 Additional Certificate Requests 17 36 Cannot Log on to LoTW User Page 17 18 Cannot Upload Log to LoTW User Page 15 24 No TQ5 File Received by LoTW 15 28 Logbook Server Down 13 1 Incorrect Date Range 12 27 Lost Personal Password 12 13 User Email Problems 12 21 WAS Status Inquiries 12 18 Club Inquiries 11 17 New Callsign Changes 10 14 Cannot Understand Error Messages 9 13 Logbook Startup Inquiries 9 30 Cannot Activate/Load TQ6 Certificate 7 9 Logbook Suggestions 7 7 QSO Downloaded 7 5 Additional Documents Needed 4 5 Need Postcard 4 8 Other Inquiries 85 69 Total Inquiries 444 606 QSL Branch There is no delay in opening mail and a 3 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 66 pounds of cards were received from members. Field Organization/Public Service Team As ARRL HQ welcomed Dennis Dura, K2DCD, to the MVP Department this past week, Section Managers and Section Emergency Coordinators were also introduced to Dennis and welcomed him through the e-mail reflectors. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly ARRL Monitoring System report to the IARU Region 2 coordinator. A radio amateur from Massachusetts has joined the ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch group. A list of recent topics covered in OO advisories along with some guidance concerning them was sent to all OOs and OOCs. Documentation was prepared and forwarded to the FCC regarding complaints arising from operation on 2 meters over a lengthy time period in Arizona. What appears to be a Spanish SWBC station was reported on 14200 kHz. Our monitor stations are investigating. Chuck also helped at W1AW and conducted two tours of HQ for visiting guests and members. Leona e-mailed detailed Section Field Organization appointment reports to each Section Manager for review. This correspondence has generated more input for updating our database. Twenty two new appointments were made along with data changes and appointment cancellations, and new appointee packages were sent out. The Arizona OOC has recruited six new OOs in recent weeks, and the candidates passed their required training. Steve Ewald worked on the on-line Net Directory registrations, and he continues to receive public service reports from all over the country that represent Amateur Radio participation in a variety of summertime public service activities. HQ kept in touch with Minnesota Section Leaders who were following the news of the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis. ARES has not been called to activate in this emergency. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Micah Murray continued to resolve minor glitches and nuances of the new membership application Web system. The system has processed more than 1,000 membership applications so far, most without any difficulty. Micah also continues to work on Web page maintenance and creation. Hugh Brower worked on refining the Web credit-card processing system, used at this point primarily by the new membership system, to further reduce the number of "declines" to only those credit-card submissions that should be declined. Hugh also worked on a recurring problem with delivery of our bulk mail (bulletins, newsletters et al) to e-mail addresses at AT&T and its subsidiary, BellSouth. Returning from vacation, Jon Bloom first instituted a workaround for the failed capability to produce DXCC listings daily. This was caused by a change of servers hosting the DXCC data at HQ, with the new server being incompatible with the Logbook server. (The Logbook server is the machine that reads the DXCC data from the DXCC system and produces the listings.) The failure had also kept Logbook from updating members' Logbook DXCC applications, and the workaround resolved that issue as well. Jon also completed the modification of the on-line catalog check-out system to provide FedEx premium shipping options, with quoted prices, to customers worldwide. Working with Micah and John Proctor, in ISD, Jon spent part of the week putting together more of the information needed to proceed to the next phase of Web/Siebel integration: pushing membership data directly into the Siebel system. This effort, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, will involve re-implementing many of the business rules that Siebel applies during membership data entry. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 9/3 Holiday Leona Adams 8/17 Vacation Jon Bloom 9/26-10/5 Vacation Hugh Brower 9/7-9/14 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 9/4-9/10 Vacation Joe Carcia 8/3-8/10 Vacation `` 8/17 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation Norm Fusaro 8/20-8/27 Japan Ham Fair, Tokyo, Japan Scott Gee 8/20 Vacation `` 9/4 Vacation `` 9/21 Vacation Mike Gruber 8/10-8/13 Vacation `` 10/1-10/5 Vacation Ed Hare 8/17-8/20 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/22 Ambient Corp, Boston, MA `` 8/24-8/26 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV `` 8/27-8/28 Vacation Dan Henderson 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation `` 9/21-10/1 Wash. State Conv., Spokane, WA/PC NW VHF Conf., OR Mary Hobart 8/10 Vacation `` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/20 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation `` 8/31 Vacation `` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS `` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL `` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN Amy Hurtado 8/13-8/15 Vacation Gail Iannone 8/17-8/31 Vacation Karen Isakson 8/6-8/13 Vacation Deb Jahnke 8/6-8/13 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 8/16 Vacation `` 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Joel Kleinman 9/6 Vacation `` 9/11-9/15 Vacation Greg Kwasowski 8/6-8/13 Vacation Zak Lau 8/16-8/24 Vacation Monique Levesque 8/6-8/10 Vacation `` 8/30-9/4 Vacation AnnMarie Pinto 8/13-8/24 Vacation Allen Pitts 8/20 Vacation `` 8/30-8/31 Vacation John Proctor 9/27-10/9 Vacation Barry Shelley 8/10-8/24 Vacation Maria Somma 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Sumner 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/8-9/15 IARU Reg. 2 Conference, Brasilia Mike Tracy 9/7-9/14 Vacation `` 10/26 Vacation Perry Williams 7/19-9/4 Vacation Larry Wolfgang 8/13-8/21 Vacation