IN-Newsletter Vol. 41, No. 15 May 4, 2016 - Covers the period April 24-30. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events LoTW Study Committee July 13 @ 10:00am in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee July 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee July 14 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Second Board Meeting July 15-16 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT Production/Editorial Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY The June issue of QST is at the printer. The 2nd edition of Storm Spotting is at the printer. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Diane Petrilli reports that April ended with 168,628 members, 259 members ahead of the year-to-date goal. This represents a loss from March of 548 members; a loss of 562 was forecast. The on-time renewal rate for April (April expirees who renewed by end of April) is 69.14% vs. 72.47% last April. The largest sources of acquisition were responses to our regular mailings to "new hams", word-of-mouth (contributes traffic to the ARRL website), and ARRL notification of FCC license expiration. Jackie Ferreira reports that April product sales were $277,259 ($269,100 in April 2015), just short of the sales forecast of $280,426. Direct sales were $146,126; dealer sales were $131,133. Year to date sales are $1,059,857, $27,556 ahead of forecast. Our newest title, High Speed Multimedia for Amateur Radio, contributed gross sales of $14,815 (745 units). The 2016 Field Day product line (t-shirts, hats, pins, patches, & mugs) contributed $21,047 in sales this month. Royalties earned on sales of our Kindle e-books were $6,983 ($28,348 year to date). A handful of news and social media attention yielded some additional registrants for our first-ever ARRL Youth Rally at Dayton Hamvention. We have 17 youth registered, ages 11 to 26 years old; half of them licensed. A teleconference was held for the adult leaders with parts supporting the program for the Youth Rally. We're excited about the activities planned for these young people! Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci: Week Ending Calls Answered Calls Per Hour Total Talking Duration Average Speed of Answer 4/29/2016 832 18.5 29:07:34 8 seconds 4/22/2016 830 18.4 26:39:20 9 seconds 4/15/2016 828 18.4 24:13:27 8 seconds 4/8/2016 936 20.8 27:21:20 9 seconds Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week Ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 4/29/2016 1,042 550 4/22/2016 960 481 4/15/2016 956 440 4/8/2016 1,613 715 Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Bob Allison is nearing completion of testing an SDR HF/6 meter transceiver. Another SDR transceiver is already lined up for testing. Test equipment used for testing handheld transceivers was sent to Essco Calibration Labs for calibration. This equipment will once again be used at the Dayton Hamvention to identify which handheld transceivers tend to be non-compliant with FCC spectral purity rules. Calibration is a must if test equipment is used for published test data. Web Zack Lau uploaded the Propagation Forecasts for May. The predicted solar flux is 111. RFI The power line noise case that Mike Gruber investigated about a year ago remains ongoing. The utility in this matter no longer seems to be communicating with the complainant. The Woodinville, WA case involving an apparent grow light has now been closed by the FCC. Although the FCC's own field investigation determined that there was harmful interference in this matter, the complainant's Congressman told the complainant that the FCC no longer has the resources to deal with his complaint. The FCC's Seattle office was shut down and the "Tiger Team" isn't stepping in. Considering that the FCC's on field investigation determined that there was harmful interference in this matter, this is a very troubling development. Mike Gruber responded to a letter written by CenturyLink to the FCC. This letter concerned an RFI case in Idaho. In it, Mike detailed five well documented cases of RFI to the Amateur service. There have been a number of RFI cases from CenturyLink VDSL systems in the last few months. Mike continued work on the p1897 document and attended and chaired several meetings during the week. Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 1-2 Days W1AW Joe Carcia processed one Qualifying Run certificate and one endorsement. Joe also processed regular QSL card requests. He created the texts for the May W1AW Qualifying Runs. He constructed a side-arm for use with the ENG van for supporting the wide-band antenna, as well as preparing shelving that will be used to hold the 12 VDC power supplies. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the week. He also processed some VUCC endorsements. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 5/30 Holiday All Staff 7/4 Holiday Bob Allison 5/19-5/25 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 7/22-7/23 Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, OK Alli Barbieri 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Zoe Belliveau 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Stephanie Borden 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Margie Bourgoin 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joe Carcia 5/27 PTO Lauren Clarke 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Steve Ford 5/20 PTO `` 7/5-7/15 PTO Norm Fusaro 6/3-6/5 Northwestern Division Convention, Seaside, OR Tom Gallagher 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/21-6/27 International Exhibition, Friedrichshafen, Germany `` 7/14-7/16 Committee Meetings/Board Meeting Scott Gee 5/19-5/20 PTO `` 6/30-7/8 PTO Jen Glifort 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Mike Gruber 5/31-6/3 PTO `` 8/22-8/26 PTO Ed Hare 5/9-5/13 IEEE EMC Committee Meeting, Piscataway, NJ `` 5/18-5/21 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/23-5/26 IEEE EMC Society BOD meeting, San Francisco, CA `` 6/10-6/20 PTO Dan Henderson 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/27-6/3 PTO `` 7/14-7/16 Committee Meetings/Board Meeting Bob Inderbitzen 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/21-6/27 International Exhibition, Friedrichshafen, Germany `` 6/28-6/29 PTO `` 7/5-7/8 PTO Deb Jahnke 5/10 PTO Lisa Kustosik 7/14-7/16 Board Meeting, Windsor, CT Zack Lau 6/17 PTO Kim McNeill 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Michael Scharr 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Barry Shelley 5/5pm PTO `` 5/16-5/17 PTO `` 6/2 PTO `` 6/17-7/1 PTO `` 7/14-7/16 Committee Meetings/Board Meeting `` 7/18-7/26 PTO `` 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Maria Somma 5/11-5/13 PTO `` 5/19-5/21 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/31-6/1am PTO Yvette Vinci 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH