IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 44 November 2, 2005 -- Covers the period October 23-29. Upcoming Meetings and Events Ballot Counting, Director/Vice Director Elections November 18 in Newington, CT A&F Committee Meeting November 19 in Newington, CT Annual Board Meeting January 20-21, 2006 in Windsor, CT CEO John Hennessee continues to assist with the Question Pool Group at HQ. In addition to the usual mix of regulatory questions, he assisted two amateurs with a local government zoning problem in Venice, FL (W4MO and Concord, CA (ND6H). Development The 2006 Spectrum Defense campaign has raised nearly $25,000 in just the few days of returns. The follow up solicitation will mail October 31 along with personalized letters to major donors. Complimentary copies of the 2006 Handbook with the reproduction of the first Handbook are being mailed to 25 key donors. In 2005 the Education & Technology Program has raised more than $120,000 from the mail campaign - $4000 under the original 2005 target. In addition, the Education program attracted $54,000 in grants to support the 2005 Teachers Institute. The Year End campaign is expected to mail in mid-November to a unique group of donors who will not receive the Defense follow up letter. The goal for the year end campaign is $43,750. The Question Pool Group of the Growth Task Force has nearly completed its submission of questions covering 10 sub elements for the new Technician Class Question Pool. The superior body of work of John Hennessee, Mark Spencer, Dan Henderson, Ed Hare, Norm Fusaro, Zack Lau, Larry Wolfgang and Perry Green has yielded a well-conceived syllabus along with carefully crafted questions. The group has maintained an open and productive dialog with the QPC that will serve as the basis for cooperative work on future question pools. Media & Public Relations The video PSA done by Patty Loveless and Richard Lubash are up on both the ARRL website and also at www.hello-radio.org to allow PIO's to download and place it in as many places as possible this month. CONTACT! for November is written and should be up on the web by Nov 2nd. Press releases for the Toy Drive are also written and being released. We already have placement of the PSA in Memphis and also Public TV out of Atlanta with more to come. The warehouse crew in Memphis has many volunteers and is using ARRL Education T shirts as uniforms. There is the possibility of the Governor of TN coming to the warehouse on 12/15 when we plan to pack the trucks to go south. Other invitations have been sent but no other responses yet. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 42, circulated to 65,747 ARRL members on Oct 28. Rick prepared/edited stories on the Hurricane Wilma response (several updates), the expansion of Ham Aid eligibility to Rita and Wilma volunteers; first ARISS school group QSO for new ISS commander, Bill McArthur, KC5ACR; vanity processing suspension could be through most of December; update on ARRL Holiday Toy Drive (thanks, Allen Pitts!), and several announcements and news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Oct 28 with soundbite help from Mary Hobart. Many thanks to those who were at the 10 Year Club dinner Oct 27. Sales and Marketing The business services group is gearing up for January QST advertising. As this issue is "Vintage" themed, a group of advertisers whose products relate to the theme and are not current advertisers have been identified and will be contacted. The "Advertising Matters" planning calendar for 2006, along with the new rate cards for QST, NCJ, and QEX are being created. The "Dealer Newsline" featuring Basic Radio and Emergency Power has been sent to dealers. We continue to see reorders for the Handbook from dealers. The Secret Wireless War was sent to Barnes and Noble for their consideration in placing it in their stores for resale. The title has been entered on the websites of our wholesale partners in an effort to make the book readily available to them for purchase. Sarah Dorsey has been active preparing membership planning used in the 2006 budget plan. Sarah also continues work on a Fall direct mail piece, the development of programs called out in the FY 2006 budget, and preparations for the upcoming meeting with the United States Power Squadrons to discuss the MOU between the two organizations. October product sales exceeded forecast by $205k, reaching $477,400. Most of the overage is attributed to strong first-month sales of the 2006 ARRL Handbook. Thanks go to everyone who contributed to the production, promotion and fulfillment of this new edition. Sales of the new ARRL Calendar topped 400 units in October. That's a banner debut for this new ARRL product! New ham information packages were sent to 27 prospects. Online Courses Course processing for 17 course sections has begun for classes beginning October 28 and November 4. A solicitation for the Technician Class Online Course is being prepared, inviting associate (unlicensed) ARRL members to register for the license preparation class. ON-LINE COURSES Registrations During this week Graduations Antenna Modeling (EC-004) 0 1 HF Digital (EC-005) 0 0 RFI (EC-006) 0 1 VHF/UHF (EC-008) 0 0 Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009) 0 0 Technician Licensing (EC-010) 3 0 Propagation (EC-011) 1 0 Analog Electronics (EC-012) 0 0 Digital Electronics (EC-013) 0 0 Emergency Comm. Level 1 (EC-001) 19 16 Emergency Comm. Level 2 (EC-002) 5 9 Emergency Comm. Level 3 (EC-003) 2 8 Membership Services Awards Branch WAC QSL Cards Checked 60 25-Year Member Awards 8 A-1 Operator Nominations 10 A-1 Operator Certificates 3 DXCC Challenge Plaques Shipped 16 VUCC Initial Applications 2 Grids 10 Awards Mailed 18 In addition, did data entry for 16 Honor Roll plates and 11 #1 Honor Roll plates for the latest plaque orders, and shipped out various plates, pins, etc. Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-Basic WAS awards for October, U.S. WAC and VUCC awards, complete and proof the latest orders for 5BDXCC, Honor Roll, and #1 Honor Roll plates, and work with DXCC staff on plaque program and training of Awards Branch programs. Contest Branch The 2005 10 GHz data entry was finished and the Logs Received page posted to the web. Data entry for the September VHF QSO Party continued. Time was spent Monday through Thursday working with the Question Pool sub-group of the Strategic Planning Committee. A presentation for the SC State Convention was prepared for presentation the weekend of October 28th. DXCC Branch For the Week of: October 30, 2005 Beginning Credits 59,153 Credits Received 8,023 Credits Processed 21,488 Ending Credits 45,688 Applications Pending 509 Processing time 5.8 Weeks Year-to-date (2005) Credits Received 525,112 Credits Returned 537,987 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on August 19, 2005. DXCC is currently entering credits received on October 12, 2005. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 81,832,585 QSL records have resulted 3,990,166 Logs Processed 154,842 Active Certificates 16,261 Users registered in the system 10,781 Hybrids Pending Mail 101 QSL Bureau There is a 1 day processing time delay. This week, 126 pounds of cards were received from members. The next mailing is scheduled for Friday, November 4. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files. He also finished construction of the tower side-mount for the D-Star "receive" antennas. He is now working on the tower side-mount for the D-Star "transmit" antenna. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the first part of November. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Field Organization/Public Service Team With Hurricane Wilma striking Florida early last week, Chuck Skoluat kept in touch with the Section Leaders in all three Florida sections. Daily ARRL telebridge teleconferences were held to help accommodate coordination. Steve joined the teleconferences late in the week after his return from a vacation trip. Chuck reviewed and forwarded documentation to the FCC concerning problems with two different repeaters in California and one in Georgia. Information was forwarded regarding an earlier FCC monitoring request on 75 meters. Intruder reports show a broad-band signal has been heard on 160 meters and another separate signal on 40 meters. Leona Adams has been updating the Siebel system with new appointments, cancellations and changes. Over 30 supply packages to new appointees were sent out. She is in the process of generating Field Organization Appointment reports which will go out to SMs next week. Ballots continue to come in for upcoming Western Massachusetts SM election, and the deadline to receive them is Friday, November 17. Ballots will be counted on Tuesday, November 22. On Friday, Steve hosted former Minnesota SM Randy Wendel, KM0D, on his visit to HQ. Mike Harris visited HQ once again and discussed ARES issues with Steve. Rose-Anne provided additional support material for his studies. ARISS The world's largest particle physics lab, CERN, will host a November ARISS QSO during a space science conference of 400 scientists, teachers and students from around the world. The European Space Agency sponsored a six-country student competition, and the winners will interview astronaut Bill McArthur during the QSO. Rosalie networked Brazilian ARISS volunteers to the Johnson Space Center ARISS Team to help Brazilian astronaut Marcos Ponte earn his ham license. The ARISS Team's work to expand our media efforts is helping. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Hq Assoc Administrator of the Space Operations Mission, stopped Frank Bauer in NASA Hq's hallway to ask how progress on deploying SuitSat was going. Rosalie networked Allen Pitts and the Johnson Space Center ARISS Team who may be able to assist with ARRL's Hello campaign. At the official debrief of the Expedition 11 crew, they said the radios were in use a great deal, and the crew was happy with the radios' functioning Rosalie contacted the last six 2003 ARISS schools to update their apps. She asked about ARISS QSOs for the weeks prior to Nov-Dec holidays, but schools prefer to wait until Spring time. ARISS will ask NASA Explorer Schools with more recent applications, if they are interested in QSOs for those Nov-Dec times. EmComm Rosalie's contact at Department of Homeland Security shipped a large binder proposing his program that networks ARES and CERT. Rosalie asked that binders be forwarded to Harold and Dave Patton along with President Haynie. Field Education Team Norm Fusaro interviewed a club for an upcoming story and with Tom Hogert's help he put a club story on the web. Norm worked with Hugh Brower to assist a member who was having trouble with ARRL web services. Norm also worked with the QPC this week and prepared for an upcoming engagement. This week Roseanne Lawrence updated 62 clubs and registered 8 new instructors. She also filled several request for materials including the ham from VK. Roseanne also worked with a club to increase their visibility in the community and recruit new members. Gail Iannone sent 9 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval letter to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Directors' approval of their events as "ARRL-sanctioned," and processed 1 handout and door prize material order for an upcoming event. She also sent 1 new SSC approval letter and certificate and 1 SSC renewal letter and certificate to those clubs seeking and renewing their SSC status. She also sent 3 new club affiliation applications to the Division Directors and Section Managers for their approval along with acknowledgement letters to the club officials. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program-Mark Spencer I completed the trip and presentation to the California Council of Electronics Instructors on Saturday. The group was receptive to my presentation. Information on a free, on-line electronics instructional resource was presented at the conference, how to access this resource has been passed on to ETP participating teachers. I participated in a number of meetings with the question pool team via telecom, significant progress is being made by this group and deadlines will be met. I obtained some exceptional curriculum materials for using weather satellite systems in the classroom. This curriculum material is being distributed to the small number of ETP schools that are using these systems in their classrooms. The deadline for the November round of grant applications is Monday. To date I have 6 Project and 6 Progress grant applications in hand. I anticipate a few more just prior or close to the deadline. This is a healthy number of applications. Sincerely, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer Staff Absentee List All Staff 11/24-11/25 Holiday Dave Sumner 11/10-11/11 Vacation Dave Patton 11/21-11/28 Cartagena, Colombia (CQWW CW) Lisa Kustosik 11/3-11/4 Vacation Ed Hare 11/9-11/11 IEEE BPL study project, Portland, OR Wayne Mills 11/21-11/30 Timbuktu, Mali (CQWW CW) Scott Gee 12/12-12/13 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 11/3-11/4 Vacation `` 11/11-11/12 US Power Squadrons HQ, Raleigh, NC Sarah Dorsey 11/11-11/12 US Power Squadrons HQ, Raleigh, NC Steve Ford 11/11 Vacation `` 12/24-1/3 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 11/21-11/23 Vacation `` 12/27-12/30 Vacation Judy Miller 11/7 Vacation Kathy Allison 11/16pm Vacation `` 11/17-11/18 Vacation Joe Carcia 11/23 Vacation `` 12/1-12/2 RFI Course Larry Wolfgang 11/3-11/8 Vacation Jean Wolfgang 11/3-11/6 Vacation `` 11/22-11/23 Vacation `` 12/1am Vacation