IN-Newsletter Vol. 26, No. 30 July 30, 2003 Development The ARRL Diamond Club now has 757 members averaging a $138 contribution. A targeted September mailing is planned in addition to the monthly solicitations that are part of the member renewal process. In addition to the 3 Director level donors ($5000), there are 5 Platinum level donors ($2500) and 14 Gold level donors ($1000). While a few Diamond Club renewal contributions have been received, the campaign to the first few donors from 2002 will begin in August. The Spectrum Defense special campaign for BPL has reached $180,725 in contributions from 3459 donors. The average contribution remains a strong $52.25 -- $6 above the average Spectrum Defense contribution. Several new $500 and $1000 donors have emerged during this campaign. A follow up memo based on the results of WRC-03 is being prepared for the 775 donors to that special campaign. The Historic Preservation test mailing has reached $2170 in contributions from 63 donors--a .6% response. Amendments to the performance measurements CNCS grant application will be made based on feedback from Washington. Thanks to F & ES staff and Bob Boucher, an EMCOMM survey will be mailed to grant-funded course graduates. Media Relations The Board’s decision to re-solicit nominations for the 2003 McGan Award has officially been announced. Jennifer prepared notices for the Web news crawl, the ARRL Letter, and the PR and PIC reflectors. So far, one nomination form has been requested. Jennifer contacted the nominators of the three candidates who did not fit the award criteria to explain the decision to re-solicit. The Lifetime Achievement Award for Dave Bell, W6AQ, is in the works and will be ready for Director Goddard to present at the Southwestern Division convention in the beginning of September. The fliers announcing the 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award are being printed and will be mailed out shortly. The fliers will be sent to nearly 6,000 media outlets throughout the country. Executive Update magazine contacted HQ looking for a ham in the Washington, DC area who works for an association, and would be willing to contribute an article about his or her experiences in Ham Radio. Jennifer contacted John Marino, KR1O, Vice President of Science and Technology with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). John readily agreed to help out. Executive Update is a monthly publication, published by the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives. The May clip reports are in the mail to Directors. Production/Editorial The Proceedings of the 2003 Eastern VHF/UHF Conference has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports that The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 29 (Jul 25, 2003) went out to a record 66,784 member subscribers--a gain of 437 subscribers from the first issue in July (Vol 22, No 27). That marks the third week in a row that readership has set a new record. Rick wrote/edited news items about the Morse code issue, the Space Camp Turkey ARISS contact and the results of the ARRL Board of Directors' July meeting, as well as several news stories for the Web. He also produced and edited ARRL Audio News--now with 130 outlets worldwide--with voiceover help from Jennifer Hagy and Brennan Price. During his first week, Joel Hallas prepared his first two New Products announcements, assisted in selection and purchase of items for the Product Review column, established contact with some retail establishments and manufacturers, and researched dynamic range testing methods and procedures. Sales & Marketing QST advertising slowed down somewhat in the August and September issues. Several advertisers opted out of what they considered to be "slow summer issues" and are gearing up for Fall insertions. However, we did see some new faces in September QST including:  Nifty Ham Accessories, a company that manufactures mini-manuals and operating guides for a wide variety of amateur transceivers, and SCO Inc.  SCO Inc is the creator of Log Windows logging software. This product was previously distributed by Creative Services Software. It was temporarily removed from the market due to trademark infringement actions brought forth by Microsoft. It is returning under the new moniker: "Log Window."  NANTENNA LLC, who came on board QST with our August issue, has decided to give NCJ advertising a try, as well. This company presently manufactures compact antennas, and top-hat enhancements for the Hustler line of antennas.  SCG is also test-marketing ads in both Sept/Oct 2003 NCJ and Sept/Oct 2003 QEX. Recently added banner advertisers include National Radio Data, a company that offers access to a Web-based frequency database (DC to daylight) on a subscription basis; and N2AQS, a company that produces a line of vertical dipole antennas. As a result of a mailing to past QST advertisers, Davis Instruments will be back in QST, commencing with the October issue, with a monthly 1/6 page, 6 issue commitment. Deb Jahnke has been working with Baker and Taylor on their order for the new edition of the ARRL Handbook as well as several other new titles. In addition, Ingram Publishing has been updated regarding new titles and editions. A mailing to ARRL publication dealers was prepared last week. It highlighted the most recent titles added to our product offerings including ARRL's FCC Rule Book, the ARRL Amateur Radio Map of North America, a handful of new RSGB titles, and a few others. An accompanying piece covers special sale and clearance items. The specials will increase dealer interest in some of our older-edition publications. Bob Inderbitzen collaborated with Sue Fagan as she designed covers for the 2004 ARRL Handbook and an upcoming publication titled ARRL's VHF/UHF Antenna Classics. A publication email solicitation was distributed to members on Friday afternoon, touting some of our recent publication additions. Weekend orders totaled 314 with the new edition of the FCC Rule Book being the most popular item ordered. A few assignments were completed that supporting our involvement in the publication e-commerce portion of the Siebel integration. Preliminary testing of ARRL’s new e-store has started. It is still too early to provide specific comments and feedback to the programmers. We are awaiting another version to continue testing. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 500 WAS Endorse. (50 QSLs ES/C) 1 5BWAS Plaques 10 L/T Member Inquiries 2 A-1 Operator Noms. 2 A-1 Operator Certs. 3 Extra Class Certs. 6 OTCs 4 RCCs 2 VUCC Initial Apps. 1 Grids 5 VUCC End. Apps. 4 Grids 143 VUCC Certs. Processed 10 Awards Mailed 25 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week—25- and 40-Year member awards, U.S. WAC and Code Proficiency awards, and continued VUCC awards processing/mailing. DXCC Branch Weekly Report July 27, 2003 Beginning Cards 117,506 Cards Received 12,287 Cards Processed 12,805 Ending Cards 116,988 Applications Pending 859 Processing Time 5.9 Weeks Year-to-date (2003) Cards Received 324,404 Cards Returned 423,357 QRPs issued this week 1 QRPs issued total 300 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on June 16, 2003. DXCC is currently entering cards received on June 23, 2003. QSL Bureau As of July 25, 2003, 845,375 cards were mailed. No cards were mailed this week. Heather Dzamba did 6 tours this week. W1AW Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of the month of August. Scott also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. “Old Murphy” struck the station last Friday when both the Bulletin and Main Office PCs failed. Joe managed to coax the bulletin PC to work long enough to handle the morning code practice transmission. He eventually ended up reinstalling Win98SE on both machines. Joe also processed certificates for the W1AW/Ø HamCon (ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention) operation held this past May. W1AW Telephone Sales year to date (2003): $16,849. Field & Educational Services Rosalie White worked on several items that came out of the Board meeting. She also drafted initial direction to her staff to gather information for upcoming budget planning. Field & Education Support Team Linda Mullally updated 24 clubs and registered 13 Instructors and 1 new Teacher. She sent out 7 Exhibit kits, 2 JOTA Kits and mailed out 35 initial supply packages for new appointments. Linda also restocked the department supplies to permit quick assembly of packages we send to members and field volunteers. Margie Bourgoin assisted Jean Wolfgang with Award Letters to nominees who did not win and she also notified Directors of award winners in their Divisions. Margie is working on a Power Point presentation for an upcoming convention she will be attending. Jean Wolfgang has received many positive comments on the Harmonics Youth page on ARRLWeb. She is keeping track of many of the suggestions made and plans to incorporate some of them into the site in the future. Thanks to Dan Wolfgang and Sue Fagan, Jean will soon be set up with drawing software and a no-longer-used older Apple computer to make drawing and altering graphics for the youth page much quicker easier. Jean has received ARRL gift certificates for distribution to VRC award winners. Gail Iannone sent 7 convention applications to the Executive Committee for their approval and notified the sponsoring committees confirming the EC’s approval for the events to be “ARRL-sanctioned.” She also sent 12 hamfest approval letters and 2 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Directors’ approval of the events to be “ARRL-sanctioned”; processed 2 label requests, 20 door prize orders, and sent 19 handout packages for upcoming events. Mary Lau distributed checks and cover letters to schools for all awarded scholarships. An impressive roster of universities and institutes will be receiving many of our young hams: Cornell University, Cal Tech, Whitman College, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, Texas A & M University, to name just a few. Mary also finalized a release document for acceptance of a last distribution of the William R. Goldfarb estate. Regulatory Information John Hennessee assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Mendocino, CA (KA6GBQ) and with covenant problems in Yarmouth, MA (KW3M) and Houston, TX (K9PGW). It appears that a zoning problem in Brevard County, FL (AB4ET) has been resolved. John worked with Chuck Skolaut and Rosalie White on a rules problem, involving an OO and a club, which has been resolved. He reports receiving a number of questions about the process for filing a Petition for Rule Making with the FCC. Incidentally, this can't be done on the Electronic Comment Filing System, but must be done by paper through the FCC Secretary. Field Organization/Public Service Team At the request of the VRC, Steve Ewald distributed copies of the VRC's Board Report and Evaluation of the ARRL Field Organization to the Section Managers and Chairs of the National Traffic System. We are hearing about and receiving several comments and reactions to this report-- especially from the NTS leaders and participants. Steve also has been in touch with the SMs who have been invited to attend this year's SM Workshop to inform them that the Field & Educational Services budget will be able pay for the Workshop, related travel and lodging expense. This news has been enthusiastically received, and a few more newer SMs are now considering their travel plans to attend the early-September Workshop weekend. This week, Leona Adams entered over thirty new Field Organization appointments and continued to maintain the database by making updates and cancellations. She worked with Chuck Skolaut by sending out Official Observer appointment packages to four new OOs, and test material to five that have been recommended to become OOs. Chuck Skolaut collected and handled several 10-meter interference reports and forwarded one onto the FCC. Tape-recording interference is one method in which OOs may document interference cases, and Chuck received four of these tapes from the OO Coordinator in Missouri about local repeater interference and harassment. From the Monitoring Program side of things, radar-type interference in the CW portions of 40 and 20 meters have been noted. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project Mark Spencer reports that teachers must be getting ready to return to the classroom. The level of calls and e-mails is going up. Most are asking for the status of the curriculum materials and also, more importantly, asking for help with making presentations to their School Boards and site administrations to gain approval for ham radio activities in the classroom. The feed back on the material provided has been positive. It was decided that the curriculum materials would be published on the web site versus in book format. This would reduce costs and make the material more of a "living" document that can grow and change as needed and which the teachers can use to create their own materials to suit their programs. The materials will be on the web in time for school. The digital oscilloscope arrived for review and shake down with the activity board. It is proving to be a powerful, relatively inexpensive tool for classroom use. EmComm Grants Dan Miller travelled to Ft. Tuthill, AZ to conduct a forum. An ARECC Brochure is also being developed for use at conventions and hamfests where other ARRL materials are displayed. This will first be available online as a downloadable file. He also used the able assistance of a special volunteer this week. A 71-year-old retired police chief, who was in the first week of his online Level I course, requested withdrawal expounding on several reasons for this decision. Dan asked Harry Lewis to reply and in Harry's inimitable style, an extraordinary message was drafted and sent. In his conclusion, Harry explained that he was 81 and that at 71-years-old, this gentleman should "hang in there!" C-CE The editor of the new Antennas course has completed his work and transmitted it to the author, Ward Silver. Ward expects to have a finished product in the next week or two. Beta testing may begin in September, depending upon how quickly CTDLC can publish the course to the web. The number of Emails, and telephone calls we get seems to be down possibly as to reflect the improved usefulness of the information now on our CCE web pages. 73, Sincerely, Dave Patton, NT1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer DCP: lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 9/1 Holiday Dave Sumner 9/19-9/21 W9DXCC Convention Mark Wilson 7/28-8/1 Vacation Jennifer Hagy 8/15 Jury Duty Barry Shelley 7/31-8/10 Vacation Rosalie White 7/24-8/4 Vacation Dan Miller 7/28-7/30 Vacation `` 8/14-8/17 Huntsville, AL Convention `` 8/21-8/24 Columbus, MO Convention John Hennessee 8/8-8/18 Vacation Joel Kleinman 8/5-8/15 Vacation Steve Ford 7/28-8/1 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 8/15-8/17 Huntsville Convention/AARE meeting “ 8/29-8/24 ICOM/SGC/SteppIR sales calls “ 9/06-9/09 WPA Section Convention “ 9/19-9/21 W9DXCC Convention – personal “ 9/23-9/28 MFJ/ArraySol/TXTwr sales calls “ 10/02-10/05 Ten Tec Hamfest “ 10/10-10/12 NNY Section Convention Jo-Ann Arel 7/28-8/1 Vacation Judy Miller 7/28-7/30 Vacation LouAnn Campanello 7/25-8/1 Vacation Karen Isakson 8/4-8/11 Vacation Dave Patton 8/4-8/8 Vacation Carol Patton 8/4 Vacation AnnMarie Pinto 8/11-8/22 Vacation Perry Williams 7/26-9/2 Vacation Wayne Mills 8/19-8/25 Hamfair, Tokyo `` 8/26-9/4 Vacation 9/19-9/21 W9DXCC Convention Joel Hallas 8/1-8/15 Vacation