[ARRL logo-and-logotype black gold vertical] IN-Newsletter Vol. 41, No. 43 December 9, 2016 Covers the period November 26 - December 2, 2016 Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events West Central Florida Section Convention December 09 - 10, 2016 @ Tampa, FL n1BCG Special Event December 11, 2016 @ Greenwich, CT Logbook Study Committee January 18, 2017 @ Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee Meeting January 19, 2017 @ Newington, CT New Director and Vice Director Orientation January 19, 2017 @ Newington, CT Annual Board Meeting January 20 - 21, 2017 @ Windsor, CT Chief Executive Office Reported by Tom Gallagher, NY2RF Tom Gallagher, along with Andy Shefrin, traveled to the Talcott Mountain Science Center to meet with the center's Director, Jonathan Craig. They reviewed how the center is using the computers ARRL donated to them earlier this year, and also discussed in detail the ham radio classes being taught at the center, and their work in encouraging amateur radio involvement. We look forward to ongoing interaction with them, and also view this as a means to extending ARRL's visibility in the local community. Planning and preparation continues for the Annual Board Meeting, January 2017. Education Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Teacher Registration Instructor Registration Graduation Kit Requests License Class Listings 5 18 0 16 Instructor Recognition Program Debra worked with IT to resolve some bugs in the instructor feedback system in the live environment that were not identifiable in the beta test environment. ETP Debra and instructors Tommy Gober, Larry Kendall and Bill Richardson reviewed the five grant applications received for the 2016-2017 school year and developed recommendations sent to the Board's Executive Committee to fund four of the applications. ARISS Contacts A telebridge contact with students at Michel LOTTE Junior High School in Belle Isle, France was successful Mon 2016-11-28. This was the first contact for French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, KF5FYG. Media & Public Relations Reported by Sean Kutzko, KX9X On Wednesday, November 30, to celebrate Mark Twain's 181st birthday, Sean activated a special event station from the Mark Twain House and Museum, while also live on Facebook. The event was very well received. He made 357 contacts from the Mark Twain House that day, and 600 during the week of the event. QSL cards have been pouring in all week. Sean was accompanied by a videographer during throughout the day, and a brief video of the event will be available on-line soon. The staff of the Mark Twain House and Museum have already indicated they are eager to work with ARRL on future events. ARRL's Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative Facebook group has reached 330 members (an increase of 50%) and "1,000 people talking about" stats since October 2016. Scott Westerman, W9WSW has been stirring the pot vigorously. Production/Editorial Reported by Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY Alli has been working with PageSuite to demo and launch digital QST next week with ARRL member log-in credentials, which will be authenticated by a single sign-on created by Dennis Budd. New application builds with log-in credentials will follow from PageSuite pending Apple's approval of the iOS app. Digital archives 2012-present, digital QST FAQs, and the sample QST issue, have all been updated on the website to reflect the new digital provider and will be published when the January 2017 PageSuite issue goes live. Using feedback from Bob Inderbitzen, Alli is finalizing the PageSuite instructional manual; it will be linked to the QST webpage and the digital QST announcement e-mail to assist members with the transition. A news story announcing this platform change has been published in this Thursday's ARRL newsletter by Rick Lundquist. Radiosport Reported by Norm Fusaro, W3IZ DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 2-3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 1-2 Days Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R November publication and product sales were $318,067, exceeding the sales forecast of $262,957. Royalties earned on sales of our Kindle e-books were $6,219 ($81,209 year-to-date). Year to date sales are $2,893,937, $60,319 ahead of forecast. Direct sales were $183,663; dealer sales were $134,404. Spurred-on by a handful of promotions conducted by mail and email -- we enjoyed high levels of ordering activity throughout the Thanksgiving holiday. Additionally, we extended our Cyber Monday campaign into Tuesday, responding to feedback from members who were unable to place online orders on Monday due to high website traffic. All of these orders made for a busy week at the warehouse, where Supervisor Steve Capodicasa reported 2,163 parcels shipped by the end of the week (2,093 in 2015). Jackie Ferreira implemented a holiday-themed e-store campaign beginning December 1, featuring a variety of products and specials. The campaign requires participants to subscribe to a daily email. Already, 3,700 people have subscribed. Yvette Vinci reports that her team of Member Services Representatives handled over 1,000 phone calls during the week following the Thanksgiving holiday - a busy week! Yvette continues to participate with an interdepartmental team to define the criteria for programming a new membership system. She has been preparing 'use cases' for a variety of membership administration tasks. Bob Inderbitzen is traveling to Dayton on December 8 to meet with Hamvention Chairman Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, and other key members of the Hamvention Committee. He is planning ARRL's participation at 2017 Hamvention. Bob will also receive a personal tour of the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio - the new home for Hamvention. 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 12/2/2016 1,129 25.0 43:55:31 16 seconds 11/23/2016 (3 days) 542 20.0 19:05:24 12 seconds 11/18/2016 823 18.2 27:08:25 12 seconds 11/11/2016 742 16.4 24:11:12 8 seconds 11/4/2016 812 18.0 28:23:40 11 seconds Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week Ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 12/2/2016 2,163 535 11/23/2016 (3 days) 878 288 11/18/2016 773 619 11/11/2016 856 481 11/4/2016 1,326 421 W1AW Reported by Joe Carcia, NJ1Q Thanks to Ken Bailey, Joe Carcia, Sean Kutzko, Chuck Skolaut, and Dan Wall for operating W1AW in Skywarn Recognition Day on Saturday, December 3. A number of contacts were made on HF and EchoLink, both with other WX stations as well as regular hams. Joe created the texts for the December W1AW Qualifying Runs. He readied the station for Skywarn Recognition Day. He also got the GPS functional with the WSPR project. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice texts for the upcoming week. He also processed VUCC certificates and endorsements. Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations Bob Allison 12/26 - 12/30 PTO " Joe Carcia 12/09 PTO Jackie Ferreira 12/27 - 12/30 PTO Steve Ford 12/22 - 01/02 PTO Norm Fusaro 12/22 - 12/27 PTO Tom Gallagher 12/09 Fairlawn ARC 60th Anniversary Celebration, Fairlawn, NJ " 12/14 - 01/03 PTO Scott Gee 12/23 - 12/27 PTO " 02/20 - 02/24 PTO Perry Green Medical Leave Dan Henderson 12/05 - 01/09 Medical Leave Gail Iannone 10/07 - 01/09 Sick Leave Bob Inderbitzen 12/28 - 12/30 PTO Debra Johnson 12/19 PTO " 12/23 PTO Sean Kutzko 12/22 - 12/30 PTO Lisa Kustosik 12/15 - 12/16 PTO " 12/22 - 12/23 PTO Monique Leveque 12/21 - 01/02 PTO Carla Pereira 12/23 PTO Diane Petrilli 12/16 PTO Sincerely Compiled by, Carla Pereira, Assistant to CEO