<<062613.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 36, No. 26 June 26, 2013 -- Covers the period June 16-22. Upcoming Meetings and Events Vice Director Orientation July 17 in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee July 18 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Programs & Services Committee July 18 @ 9:00am in Newington, CT Annual Board Meeting July 19-20, 2013 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT CEO Office Reported by Dave Sumner, K1ZZ Sean Kutzko, KX9X, took the Media & Public Relations helm on June 17. Welcome to your new role, Sean! His predecessor Allen Pitts, W1AGP, will continue to be involved in the Centennial video project and to assist in the transition. Media & Public Relations Reported by Sean Kutzko, KX9X While conditions weren't stellar during Field Day this year, it seems to have been an overwhelming success from a media perspective; we've received over 200 media hits surrounding FD and they're still coming in. Sean Kutzko gave interviews with five newspapers during the week of June 16 to provide national a perspective on Field Day, including the Sacramento Bee and the St Louis Post-Dispatch. The Governors of eight states issued Amateur Radio Week/Month proclamations: Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. We welcome four new PIO's into the fold: James Dolliver, W2JRD (Western New York); Michael Dean, K5MFD (Oklahoma); Carole Town, AF5CT (Oklahoma); Kenneth Hartzog, WA4JLQ (Alabama). We are saddened by the loss of Don Carlson, KQ6FM, one of the long-standing members of the PR Committee and a former SEC of Nevada. Don's voice has been heard on numerous ARRL PSA's over the years. His shoes will be hard to fill. Sean is still emptying boxes from his move while performing his duties. He will be travelling to the Rocky Mountain Division Convention this weekend in Estes Park, CO, giving two presentations on the FFMA Award and budget contest DXpeditions as well as sitting in on the PR forum with Katie Breen Allen WY7KRA and Ann Trudeau, KA0ZFI. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND In the past several weeks we have been concentrating on soliciting letters in support of the ARRL's efforts to secure sponsors for the "Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2013". Letters have been received from many sources for eight different members of the US Senate and four members of the US House. Due to several job reassignments in-house, the Regulatory Information manager has been working with the new Contest Manager, Mike DeCristopher, N1TA, in the week leading up to Field Day. We will continue to do so as needed for the near future as he familiarizes himself with the contest branch's databases, etc. We also continue to work with the VEC on questions regarding club callsign trustee issues. As the summer travel season is on us, the Regulatory Information office is handling a large number of queries related to overseas travel. We have also followed up with several information requests regarding PRB-1 and HOAs from Florida and North Carolina and an RFI query from Illinois. We were contacted by members of the VHF contesting community about an experimental licensed transmitter at Penn State that is operating just below the Amateur 50 MHz band. The emissions are apparently causing interference at the very bottom of band. We will continue to work with the individuals being affected as they try to come to a solution with the holders of the experimental license. Development Reported by Lauren Clarke, KB1YDD We are pleased to welcome E. Glenn Wolf, Jr., N5RN, as the 129th member of The Maxim Society. A mailing for the Spectrum Defense Fund is in production. A proposal to DARA is being prepared for 2014 funding for the Teachers Institute. CDO Hobart traveled to Georgia last week to attend meetings to promote the Second Century Campaign at The North Fulton Amateur Radio League, the SE DX Club and at the home of Ken Byers, K4TEA. Attendees at all of the gatherings were receptive to hearing stories of how leaders got involved in Amateur Radio and were inspired to tell their own story. The messages about the campaign goal and progress produced interest and follow up notes and campaign materials have been mailed to the interested hams. The reception held in Minnesota earlier in the month has produced at least two commitments, and two more gifts have come as a result of the presentation of Chairman David Brandenburg, K5RQ at the SeaPak convention. Future travel for the campaign includes a trip by CDO Hobart to W9DXCC (Illinois), to a 6m BBQ event in Texas (October) and possibly to Huntsville (Alabama). A second reception in Georgia at the home of K4UEE is being considered for Spring 2014. Production/Editorial Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY The 2013 Central States VHF Society Conference Proceedings went to press this week. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Product Review Bob Allison took delivered all of the completed Product Review items to the sales department for our fall on-line auction. He also prepared the screen room for incoming lab equipment. QST Mike Gruber completed the last remaining all photos for the upcoming generator article for December QST and turned everything over to Joel Hallas. Mike is looking for a photo of a natural disaster showing severely damaged power lines that might be used for the article. Bob Allison reviewed ads intended for QST and other ARRL publications for technical accuracy. RFI Mike started work on the upcoming EMC Committee Semi-Annual Report. Electronic Publications The Repeater Directory and Travelplus products are missing the PL tones in the states of GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV. Books Mike started a review of the Troublehooting chapter in the upcoming Handbook. It will be done next week. TIS A very popular topic is grounding for lightning protection. Pictures and drawings of proper grounding practices would be a very popular QST feature if published at this time of year. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R We are pleased to welcome Yvette Vinci to the ARRL headquarters staff as the new Circulation/Member Services Manager. Yvette previously worked for a local non-profit trade association, and has experience in printing, magazine publishing, circulation and office management. Jackie Ferreira reports that an ad promoting the ARRL Centennial Edition 2014 Handbook will appear on page 12 of August QST. Pre-orders will begin August 1st for personalization. National Traffic System supply items are now in-stock and available for ordering: http://www.arrl.org/shop/National-Traffic-System-NTS-Supplies. The merchandise includes an NTS pin, patch, sticker and mug. Diane Petrilli reports that summer-themed email solicitations have returned over 100 membership applications. The next membership campaign will mail to prospective members and lapsed members in mid-September. Diane also participated in a teleconference with some members of the Programs & Services Committee, discussing ways to improve membership promotion to students of Amateur Radio instructors. Each year, a contingent from ARRL attends the International Amateur Radio Exhibition in Friedrichshafen, Germany. This year's convention is June 28-30. ARRL representatives will include International Affairs Vice President Jay Bellows, K0QB and staff members Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, and Dave Patton, NN1N. IARU representatives will include President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, and Secretary Rod Stafford, W6ROD. Bob will post photos from the event to ARRL's Facebook page. Last year's event was attended by over 14,000 visitors. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity (reported by Steve Capodicasa): Week of Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 6/10/2013 961 458 6/17/2013 761 748 Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 5 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 3-5 Business Days W1AW Workers from M.G. Masonry are on hand to replace the stucco above the front door and to install proper flashing over the brick areas near the station's parapets. Thanks to Sean Kutzko for putting W1AW on the air for a few hours during the latter part of Field Day. He made 225 QSOs using CW and SSB on 40 to 10 meters. Joe Carcia processed four Qualifying Run certificates and two endorsements. He also processed regular QSL card requests and handled the transmission of the Field Day bulletins during the weekend. Field Organization/Public Service Team Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly Official Observer summary to all OOs, OOCs, and Section Managers. Radio amateurs from Georgia, North Texas and Puerto Rico successfully completed requirements to become Official Observers over the past couple of weeks. Our monitoring system volunteers were alerted to check out a report of a possible broadcast station on 30 meters, and OOs were alerted in the Santa Barbara section to check out unlicensed fishermen using 2 meters. A continued problem with a Canadian broadcast station causing interference on 160 meters was noted and more investigation continues. Leona Adams received a petition nominating Rob Griffin, K6YR, to run for a new term of office as Santa Barbara Section Manager. The new term for this particular election cycle begins January 1, 2014. Leona was also in touch with the group of Section Managers that will begin their new terms of office in October. Steve Ewald heard from many Section Managers who were planning to visit Field Day camps around their respective sections during Field Day weekend. Several "Amateur Radio Week" proclamations around the country were also announced by Section Managers and Section Leaders. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ License Instruction The Question Pool Committee of the NCVEC is currently reviewing requests for changes to the next Technician question pool to be effective July 1, 2014. Nathan McCray, K9CPO is working with Ward Silver, N0AX, to discuss changes and additions to the next revision of the Ham Radio License Manual to be produced by ARRL in the spring of 2014 to support preparation for the Technician license exam after the introduction of the new pool. We are receiving a steady flow of license class listings for the ARRL website-we received 15 new listings in May. Education & Technology Program Preparations for two sessions of the basic Teachers Institute are underway. The Introduction to Wireless Technology (TI-1) will be held at ARRL headquarters July 8-11, led by Mark Spencer, WA8SME, and at Parallax in Rocklin, CA July 15-18, instructed by Tommy Gober N5DUX. The first session of the new TI-2 on Remote Sensing and Data Gathering, sponsored and hosted by DARA, will launch in their new classroom facility, July 22-25. This session will be instructed by Mark Spencer. Recommendations for three ETP station equipment grants and 1 progress grant were forwarded to the Executive Committee and unanimously approved. Nathan is developing lesson plans for teachers and ham radio instructors that address concepts involved with satellite communications to core science and math concepts to post on a new Web page in the ETP section of the website www.arrl.org/lesson-ideas-and-learning-activities. We plan to build out this library over the next year with contributions from teachers and instructors. You'll find lessons on basic electronics topics Nathan has already completed and posted there. Continuing Education Program We filled the most recent section of the online Introduction to Emergency Communication (EC-001) course that opened May 29. There have been 92 online course completions of this course YTD through May 31. We have also recorded 79 successful field exams YTD. There have been eight successful completions of the advanced course, Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs (EC-016) January 1 - May 31. The PR-101 course continues to be popular, with 30 completions YTD. ARISS Ten US contacts are scheduled for the May - November 2013 period. The ARISS team supported 8 successful contacts during May and two so far in June. The most recent US contacts were: --Anacapa School in Santa Barbara, CA on May 22, direct with Christopher J. Cassidy KF5KDR. Watch a YouTube video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XiLrwmoKmM> that includes students identifying with their personal amateur radio call signs. --Astronomy Camp, in Tucson, AZ, on June 8 via telebridge with Chris Cassidy. Watch a video. <http://vimeo.com/68436301> Successful contacts in Canada and Russian were also supported during May and early June. During the most recent proposal review process with our ARISS partners, seven schools were selected for contacts during the November 2013 o May 2014 period. Since the US Office of Management and Budget is not expected to be able vet and approve the new ARISS online proposal process being tested by NASA JSC in time for the next fall proposal window, the partners must work out an interim plan for receiving proposals for the second half of 2014. This will likely involve greater participation by the ARRL Education Services office in managing proposals until the NASA process can be vetted and reinstated. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 7/4 Holiday Leona Adams 7/5-7/12 PTO Bob Allison 7/5 PTO `` 8/1-8/9 PTO Steve Capodicasa 7/8 PTO Joe Carcia 6/28 PTO `` 7/1-7/5 PTO `` 7/12 PTO `` 7/19 PTO `` 7/26 PTO `` 8/2-8/9 PTO `` 8/16 PTO `` 8/23 PTO `` 8/30 PTO Lauren Clarke 7/8 PTO `` 7/11-7/16 PTO Steve Ford 7/5 PTO Scott Gee 6/21-6/26 PTO Mike Gruber 7/5 PTO `` 8/26-8/30 PTO Dan Henderson 7/1-7/5 PTO `` 7/19-7/20 Board Meeting `` 8/5-8/9 PTO Mary Hobart 7/12 PTO `` 7/18-7/20 Committee Meeting / Board Meeting Gail Iannone 6/28-7/5 PTO Bob Inderbitzen 6/25-7/3 Friedrichshafen Convention, Germany/PTO Debra Johnson 7/5 PTO Harold Kramer 7/18-7/20 Committee Meeting / Board Meeting Lisa Kustosik 7/5 PTO `` 7/18pm-7/20 Board Meeting Sean Kutzko 6/27-6/30 Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Estes Park, CO Zack Lau 7/1-7/5 PTO Diane Petrilli 7/5 PTO `` 8/5-8/9 PTO Barry Shelley 7/18-7/20 Committee Meeting / Board Meeting Dave Sumner 6/27-6/30 Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Estes Park, CO `` 7/3-7/7 RSGB Centenary, Bedford, England `` 7/12 PTO (WRTC test) `` 7/18-7/20 Committee Meeting / Board Meeting `` 7/26-7/30 Central States VHF Conference, Elk Grove Village, IL `` 8/2-8/3 Great Lakes Division Convention, Columbus, OH `` 8/21-9/8 PTO `` 9/20-9/28 IARU Region 2 Conference, Cancun, Mexico