<<040809.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 32, No. 14 April 8, 2009 -- Covers the period March 29-April 4. Upcoming Meetings and Events Second Board Meeting July 17-18, 2009 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND With the 40-meter rule changes taking affect, there were numerous questions about how it affected US amateur usage. Apparently, some nets were stating this meant new frequencies for US amateurs, which was not the case. There were also a couple of inquiries about what action the ARRL was going to pursue against any foreign broadcast stations that were still operating (the answer has been that at this time the matter is up to the individual countries where these stations might still be operating.) Inquiries were still being made regarding the FCC actions in the Morrison case and their clarification of repeater operations. We also clarified with the FCC a query about a special event 1x1 callsign being used outside of US territory (the answer is that a 1x1 special call is not eligible for use outside FCC-regulated territory). Several updates to reciprocal information were received and processed on our website (or on the OH2MCN website that works parallel with ours on providing reciprocal operating details). A brief survey report was prepared at the request of the General Counsel looking at how several major traffic safety organizations might be addressing use of amateur radio or other two-way radio systems in relationship to the numerous cell phone bills in various states. Amateur radio does not appear to be of concern to those groups in that context. We prepared a brief article on the FCC's investigation of unauthorized amateur radio use by officers of the Indianapolis Police Department. We also participated in a brief update meeting on the Fathom project and participated in the orientation for new West Gulf Director Woolweaver. Field Day inquiries remain steady. The Field Day product advertising flier was included in the 2009 Field Day packet with an update posted to the web. We currently have 355 groups in 47 states, 5 Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico listed on the Field Day Locator web applet. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP The text for the annual report is almost completed and awaits some final additions. The two PSA's have been released. One for Field Day and the other promoting Technology. Both have already gotten the attention of stations and cable outlets. It appears that between parts of Virginia and Texas, that over 20 TV stations and 10 or more cable outlets are already running them. In addition, the sound track from the Field Day PSA has been turned into an audio PSA all by itself and is running on many Virginia radio stations thanks to Jeffrey D. Seay, N4LFJ. Web page outlines for the main ARRL website have been completed and the updating of the Hello-Radio.org site is also on track for May 15 release. With the NAB now only 2 weeks away, final preparations are being made for attendance there. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Steve Ford gave two presentations during AES Superfest in Milwaukee April 3-4. Joel Hallas has completed his three chapters -- Receivers, Transmitters and Transceivers -- for the 2010 ARRL Handbook. Khrystyne Keane wrote and Joel Kleinman distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 28, No. 13, for April 3, 2009. Because of the Good Friday holiday, the next ARRL Letter will be distributed on April 9, and there will be no ARRL Audio News for April 10. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI RFI Mike Gruber had a telephone conference with Laura Smith early in the week and completed the first initial pass through the open RFI cases with the FCC. Laura Smith has been sending FCC advisory letters rather quickly in order to catch up with the backlog. One case, near Pittsburgh, PA involves a utility that sent the ham a letter that they will only respond to his RFI complaints if he pays for the service call. Ms. Smith agrees that this is unacceptable and responding by letter accordingly. Mike Gruber sent all his comments concerning the Handbook EMC chapter to Ward Silver. Product Review Bob Allison reviewed ads for the NCJ and QEX. Dayton HamVention Bob Allison has two volunteers for the class he is teaching at the Dayton Convention. Both are ARRL technical advisors. Ed Hare is asking his QRP Group based out of Cincinnati-Bob hopes to get two more volunteers. 100 keyer kits from Mark Spencer arrived. 100 clock kits will be here shortly. The instructional CD copies are being made thanks to Cathy Scharr. Label design was completed. Volunteers will be applying the labels to the CDs and placing them in envelopes. The rest of the equipment (tools) should be arriving next week. W1HQ/W1INF Bob Allison repaired the lab's Ameritron AL-1200. It puts out over 1000 watts-he thinks the tube is a little tired. The Lab's Heathkit SB-220 amplifier is on the bench being repaired. Bob Allison estimates that about 5 hours is needed to fix the HV supply, protective shorting mechanism, and fan. Lab Safety Bob Allison got his own lab coat. He installed three eyewash stations in the Lab. The one for the shop is located adjacent to the door leading from the Lab to the shop. There is also one in the darkroom and another in the Cage room. An additional Eyewash station was given to W1AW. Extra saline solution is located in Bob's storage cabinet. QST Archive Zack Lau was able to link some 10GHz QEX articles in the archive database to web pages on our site. Zack also discovered that the Radio Shack HTX-242, Ten Tec 1220, and Yaesu FT-3000M weren't included in the QST archive database-the long line listing all 7 radios got truncated at "R." These were added to the database. Electronic Publications Bob Allison reviewed the liner notes our new General Class license manual on CD. He found the program would not run under Windows 95. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Membership Diane Petrilli and Steve Ford returned from a successful event at the headquarters store for Amateur Electronic Supply in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The store's annual in-house show, "Superfest," drew nearly 1,000 visitors. Steve made a handful of presentations including a local television appearance. Diane returned with over 100 membership applications. ARRL officials included Section Manager Don Michalski,W9IXG, Director Dick Isely,W9GIG, and Vice Director Howie Huntington,K9KM. Product Sales March product sales ended the month at $269,703, exceeding the month's sales forecast. Direct sales were $136,479; dealer sales were $133,223. March sales contributed to a successful first quarter-gross revenues of $791,016, and exceeding the plan by $17,706. Year to date sales are ahead of the same period in 2008. Some online surveys have been completed. The surveys support planning for W1AW and ARRL membership. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 961 packages for publication and product orders, and shipped 310 free book membership premiums and QST mailing supplements. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch All Sweepstakes cups, pins and brooms have been shipped. Thanks to Carol Michaud, KB1QAW, Kathy Allison, KA1RWY, Ashley Rakus, and Alex Tara for their hard work in this endeavor. Club Competition gavels for the 2008 Sweepstakes are being ordered. Sean Kutzko, KX9X, should be able to make the presentation to the winning clubs at Dayton. Kathy Allison, KA1RWY, will begin work on creating databases for all plaques available in ARRL contests, including which ones are sponsored and which ones are available. These will be placed on the Contest Branch web site. We hope easy access to this information will get more clubs and individuals interested in sponsoring plaques in all ARRL events. DXCC Branch Credits Applications 2008 Carryover 100,014 908 2009 Received 156,948 1,270 Cumulative Total 256,962 2,178 2009 Processed 188,839 1,645 Remaining 68,123 533 Processing Time 8 weeks Category Mar 2009 Year-to-Date Triple Play WAS 52 238 WAS Certificates (Manual) 11 50 WAS Certificates (LoTW) 26 101 A-1 Op Nominations 8 36 A-1 Op Certificates 12 57 Extra Class Certificates 6 36 WAC Certificates 9 36 VUCC New / Grids 6 / 589 36 / 2,533 VUCC Endorsement/Grids 7 / 411 32 / 1,867 Processing Time Current Logbook of the World Category Mar 2009 % Change Jan - Mar 09 QSO Records Entered Into System 217,310,630 3% QSL Record Matches 20,065,612 5% Logs Processed 915,073 6% Active Certificates 39,611 3% Registered Users in System 25,999 4% Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries Mar 2009 Triple Play WAS Inquiries 342 Initial Setup Inquiries 349 Customer Usage Issues 156 Maintenance 292 Award Related Concerns 173 Total 1,312 Field Organization/Public Service Team Chuck Skolaut and Steve Ewald have been continuing to work with Dennis Dura in preparation for the Global SET on April 18. W1AW is scheduled to be on the air for the Global SET that Saturday morning. Chuck is registering more stations to participate in the event. Steve provided a list of nominees for the various ARRL educational and technical service awards and another report in preparation for the Programs and Services Committee meeting that was held on April 4. Leona continued to assist the Section Leaders and Section Managers, including new Section Managers in North Texas and Iowa who started their terms of office on April 1. Gary Tangrady, K5GST, of San Antonio, has been nominated to run for the next term of office as Section Manager in South Texas. Nominations for this particular election cycle are due by June 5. The FCC asked for assistance from Official Observers in two separate cases to verify reports and collect documentation. More reports of the "gurgle" type signal on the low end of 20 meters were received. For the last 3 days, however, it has not been heard. The FCC is following up on this. HQ continues to receive pertinent documentation about a case on 75 meters. Also, the IARU Region 1 monitoring team says shortwave broadcasters are still being heard between 7100 and 7200 kHz. Several inquiries this week were about operating overseas, broadcasting on SSTV, and call sign research for an ARRL member. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 4/10 Holiday Hugh Brower 4/24-4/29 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 5/11-5/15 Vacation Joe Carcia 4/22 Vacation `` 5/8 Vacation `` 5/13-5/17 Dayton Hamvention `` 6/19 Vacation Jackie Cornell 4/20-4/24 Vacation Steve Ford 4/20-4/24 Vacation Norm Fusaro 4/15-4/24 SRT International DX Convention - Italy Scott Gee 4/15-4/17 Vacation `` 5/14-5/15 Vacation Mike Gruber 5/29-5/31 Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Estes Park, CO Joel Hallas 5/13-5/19 Dayton Hamvention/Vacation Ed Hare 4/20-4/24 C63 EMC Committee, Piscataway, NJ `` 5/13-5/15 Vacation `` 5/20-5/21 IEEE SDCom EMC committee, Philadephia, PA `` 5/22-5/25 Wyoming State Convention `` 5/26-5/27 Vacation Dan Henderson 4/10-4/12 North Carolina State Convention, Raleigh, NC `` 4/17-4/19 Tennessee Section Convention, Memphis, TN `` 5/14-5/17 Dayton Hamvention Mary Hobart 4/17-4/20 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA `` 5/13-5/17 Dayton Hamvention Bob Inderbitzen 4/13-4/15 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 4/24-4/26 Arkansas State Convention, Rogers, AR `` 5/13-5/17 Dayton Hamvention Lisa Kustosik 4/9-4/13 Vacation `` 5/13-5/15 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 5/14-5/17 Dayton Hamvention Carol Michaud 4/15-4/17 Vacation Bill Moore 5/13-5/17 Dayton Hamvention Dave Patton 4/14-4/19 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA `` 5/13-5/17 Dayton Hamvention Ashley Rakus 4/13 Jury Duty Barry Shelley 4/16-4/21 Vacation Sharon Taratula 4/14 Vacation