<<062706.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 30, No. 26 June 27, 2007 -- Covers the period June 17-23. Upcoming Meetings and Events Programs & Services Committee July 19 in Newington, CT Administration & Finance Committee July 19 in Newington, CT Second Board Meeting July 20-21, 2007 in Windsor, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND Working with Ed Hare in the lab during the week, we identified numerous problems with the data that we have regarding repeaters involved in the Pave Paws radar problem. Some of these problems include: repeaters no longer on the air, operating under different callsigns, coordination data provided ARRL is either incomplete or wrong, no data on uncoordinated repeaters, and even several that are misidentified by wrong callsigns. We have reviewed the list and forwarded it to the repeater coordinator asking for help in trying to resolve as many of these problems as possible. Afterwards, we will be back in contact with each repeater owner to try and verify the information we have is as correct as possible (actual location, antenna gain, feedline loss, power, etc.) As of Friday June 22, we had received notice that 9 of the 15 New England repeater owners and 66 of the 105 California repeaters have voluntarily reduced power to meet the first step of the mitigation plan. Based on the current information in hand, the ARRL Lab has completed the first run of the Longley-Rice studies for the California repeaters. Because of the bad/missing information in the data we have in hand, there are numerous instances where valid L-R plots can not be made. We hope to correct as many of these as possible when we receive the new/update information we have requested above (or will be requesting). The first pass of the L-R calculations will be provided to the DoD during the week of June 25. With Field Day coming at the end of the week, there has been significant time spent with member contact on various FD related queries. The web applet for reporting individual FD summaries has been updated by volunteer Bruce Horn, WA7BNM and tested - it is ready to go. The Online Soapbox is also ready and available. Field Day Friday activities at ARRL Headquarters were a success - thanks to Dan Henderson, Harold Kramer, Mary Hobart, Lisa Kustosik. Joe Carcia, Allen Pitts, Katie Breen, Maty Weinberg, Penny Harts, Steve Ford, Jodi Morin, Frankie Perez and anyone else I missed for their work on what was a successful project in-house. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP As noted in this month's Public Relations Committee meeting, both the quantity and quality of the media coverage for Field Day has improved significantly this year. What used to be short blurbs between the yard sales and bingo notices have been replaced with real articles, pictures and much better copy thanks to the efforts of the PIOs. In addition, attempts were made to link two governors and 2-4 congressmen live on the air in the early part of FD. The unfortunate time of 2:30 EDT was due to Gov. Minner's schedule, and propagation was awful. But it was a start and something we intend to build on for next year with better timing, more politicians, and hopefully better conditions. I sadly note the sudden death of Duncan McArthur, GB1FVT, who was a great help on the Scot side of the Atlantic in the recent Hello campaign. He truly was one of the good guys. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Education & Technology Fund was boosted this week with a contribution of stock of more than $25,000 to support the continuing success of the Teachers Institute in Wireless Technology. That generous contribution brought support for the Teachers Institute to $110,000. Total members donations to the Education campaign brought the 2007 grand total to $182,514 from 944 donors. The Diamond Terrace is well underway with the new sections of sidewalk complete and laying of the pavers beginning June 26 with an estimated completion date for the bricks of June 29. The six granite benches are in house at the engravers and final inscriptions are being approved. A construction photo will appear in the August QST with a 1 page photo montage in the September issue. In addition, a story will appear on the ARRL website and the photo library will reside on the Diamond Terrace pages of the ARRL website. The Donor listing that appears in the 2006 Annual Report has been posted on the ARRL website in the Development Overview page and a presentation of that listing is in the ARRL front lobby. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The August 2007 issue of QST and the 2006 DXCC Yearbook have been released to the printer. Joel Hallas has submitted the technical articles for the September issue of QST. Khrystyne Keane wrote and prepared the ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 25, for Friday, June 22. It was distributed to 65,323 members, an increase of 157 over last week. Khrystyne also voiced and produced the June 22 edition of ARRL Audio News. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R General Class License Manuals began to ship last week and we have fulfilled all backorders. The front lobby Publication display was re-organized last week to clean up older publications and to re-arrange product lines into groups; Emergency Communications, Operations, Licensing, Antenna's, Technical and other books. Work on the apparel will be next with new items to be offered in the next few months. A survey regarding W1AW transmissions is being prepared through Zoomerang for Steve Ford. A 10,000 individual sample base will be used to gather the most responses possible. The survey is expected to go out by the end of this week. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch The International DX CW Contest Results, web version, was delivered to WSDD for posting. After much discussion about the upcoming EME contest, here's what will happen to get the word out about the changed rules: Ward Silver will spread the word using the Contest Rate Sheet. Joe Taylor, K1JT will alert interested parties with posts to the VHF and CQ contest reflectors. Joe has shared a mock up version of the summary sheet with me for the contest. The existing file will no longer work with the advent of the new rules. QSL Branch There is no delay in opening mail and a 1 day delay in slotting of cards. This week, 90 pounds of cards were received from members. W1AW Field Day! Whew! It was a lot of fun, despite the poor band conditions. We made 317 CW, 466 Phone and 21 Digital contacts, on 80 to 2 meters, for an overall claimed score of 2,284. The GOTA station (we used W1HQ) did quite well, too, with 169 contacts on 80, 40 and 15 meters. Much of the time was spent dealing with visitors to the station, as well as Elmering same. A number of ARRL staff were on hand, too. Thanks to them and to the visitors for operating W1AW. Thanks also to Greg Kwasowski, W1GJK for his making major repairs to the station's generator. Apparently, whatever caused the power failure on Saturday, June 16 also affected the generator's control circuits and solenoid used for the automatic transfer switch. He was able to purchase all the replacement parts from a Kohler supplier located in East Granby. Pictures of the replaced components can be seen on the Field Day blog located at: http://www.arrl.org/blog/Field%20Day%202007 Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He processed four Qualifying Run certificates and one endorsement. He made a quick repair to the 160-meter broadcast transmitter. Joe also handled all the Field Day bulletin transmissions during FD weekend. He also updated the Field Day blog with material. Joe also readied the station for the Field Day activities. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the later part of the month of June. He also assisted the DXCC department with checking database-inputted cards against DXCC applications. Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adams continued to make printing preparations for the San Francisco Section Manager election. Headquarters has received a petition that nominates incumbent Rob Griffin, K6YR, for another term as Santa Barbara Section Manger. Jack Green, AD4LP, of Sale Creek, has been nominated to run for Tennessee Section Manager. Twenty five exhibit kits were ordered and shipped out this week. Chuck Skolaut reported a busy week for applications from amateurs wishing to join our ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch program. Four new members were added. An FCC monitoring request concerning 20 meters was received and forwarded to regional OOCs to pass on to their OOs. A report of unlicensed fishermen heard on 75 USB off the New England coast was forwarded to local OOs. Details of 5-letter CW coded groups that were heard on 3926 kHz and an unidentified carrier on 7272.47 kHz were forwarded to our Intruder Watch monitors for monitoring. The National Citizen Corps office sponsored its monthly teleconference with its affiliates, and Steve Ewald joined the call. Feedback on the previous week's in-person conference on preparedness was discussed. Citizen Corps representatives from across the country have been invited to join Amateur Radio clubs or groups for Field Day. Section Managers have been promoting Field Day through their news and announcements, and many SMs planned to visit multiple Field Day camps during the weekend. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ I developed some new registration pages for instructors and teachers in support of an article in August QST inviting instructors and teachers to refresh their registration with us. We engaged a new content writer, Jim McDonald, KB9LEI, for our Technician licensing video project. A number of issues with course or manual content and questions about CEU credits with on-line courses kept me busy tracking down answers. Ward Silver, N0AX delivered a course upgrade for the Digital and Analog Electronics courses, developing a Power Point tool-kit of circuit symbols students will find useful to complete assignments. Rose-Anne worked on updating the JOTA information on the website. She has been training with Jennie to learn how to take on the administrative duties to support the on-line continuing education program and provided support during Jennie's absence last week. Jennie has been managing the administrative support for the on-line courses for a month now and is doing a fine job scheduling classes and resolving the daily questions and problems that arise. Education & Technology Program The first Teachers Institute at the Parallax facility is complete. Mark reports that overall it was a positive experience again. Parallax is an excellent host for the TI and they are very supportive of the program. The participants of this TI were by far the most diverse group to date and included representation from student teachers, K through 12, college and vocational education teachers. Three participants took successfully their technician class license test as an extra curricular activity. A special thanks to Ken Hall, WO6J of the River City ARCS VE Team for supporting the examination session. ARISS Students from three area schools took part in the Suarlee, Belgium ARISS QSO. Media coverage included newspapers and three TV stations, both local and national. Rosalie took part with other ARISS Team members in an official NASA crew debriefing session with Expedition 14's Michael Lopez-Alegria. He related, among many other things, that he really enjoyed the school QSOs. The ARISS Team is working on the schedule of school contacts for the new Expedition 15 crew. They are adapting to their ISS outpost, and it is hoped they will participate in QSOs with schools and others. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 7/4 Holiday Leona Adams 6/29-7/3 Vacation Jon Bloom 7/9-7/27 Vacation `` 9/26-10/5 Vacation Katie Breen 6/29-7/1 Iowa State Convention `` 7/30-8/3 Vacation Hugh Brower 9/7-9/14 Vacation Joe Carcia 6/28-7/6 Vacation `` 7/13 Vacation `` 7/20 Vacation `` 7/27 Vacation `` 8/3-8/10 Vacation Jackie Cornell 7/2-6 Vacation `` 7/30-8/3 Vacation Steve Ford 7/2-7/3 Vacation `` 7/30-8/3 Vacation Perry Green 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA Ed Hare 7/8-7/13 EMC Society Symposium Committee Meeting, Honolulu, HI Dan Henderson 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA `` 8/16-8/28 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL/Vacation Mary Hobart 8/17-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/7-9/9 MFJ Anniversary/Starkville MS `` 9/14-9/16 W9DX Convention, Chicago, IL `` 9/28-9/29 TenTac, Pigeon Forge, TN Tom Hogerty 7/2-7/6 Vacation Amy Hurtado 7/2-7/4 Vacation `` 8/13-8/15 Vacation Gail Iannone 6/28-7/3 Vacation `` 8/17-8/31 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 7/16-7/20 Vacation Debra Johnson 7/2-7/11 Vacation Monique Levesque 7/5-7/10 Vacation `` 8/6-8/10 Vacation `` 8/30-9/4 Vacation Carol Michaud 7/11 Vacation Frank Perez 6/27-6/29 Vacation Allen Pitts 7/2-7/6 Vacation Barry Shelley 7/5-7/9 Vacation `` 8/10-8/24 Vacation Chuck Skolaut 7/5-7/10 Arizona State Convention, Williams, AZ/Vacation Maria Somma 7/13-7/22 Vacation `` 7/25-7/28 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA `` 8/16-8/19 ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL Dave Sumner 6/29-7/3 Vacation `` 8/1-8/6 Vacation `` 8/15-8/19 GAREC/ARRL National Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 9/8-9/15 IARU Reg. 2 Conference, Brasilia Maty Weinberg 7/2-7/20 Vacation