IN-Newsletter Vol. 29, No.7 February 15, 2006 -- Covers the period February 5-11. Development 2006 contributions to Spectrum Defense have met the budgeted goal of $40,000. The W1AW Endowment campaign has garnered $4700 in the first three days of returns. Still awaiting Ham Aid test campaign returns. 2006 Member Loyalty recognition is awaiting materials and the plan is to mail certificates by the end of February. Confirmation letters to major donors for listing in the ARRL Annual Report, in QST and on the web are being mailed, along with save-the-date postcards for the Major Donor Recognition Reception to be held on Thursday, May 18 at Meadow brook Country Club in Dayton. ARRL Foundation Scholarships are being processed. Media & Public Relations Audio and Video PSAs for Hello campaign are in production along with website. Tear-out section, main article and side articles done for April QST about Hello. Media Hits for April also done. Arrangements made to meet with possible volunteer producer for longer video piece this week. The regular PR Committee conference call was thwarted due to bridge not set, but is rescheduled for Feb 15. There continued to be many positive SuitSat related articles while some BPL promoters appear to be taking a new tactic of trivializing amateur radio. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 25, No. 06, distributed to 66,261 members on February 10. Rick prepared/edited several stories/updates on the SuitSat-1 satellite project, ARISS school group QSOs at West Point and Timber Creek HS in FL, Radio amateurs hailed as "true heroes" on US House floor, Telecoms attorney poised to be fifth FCC member, ARRL EXPO will return at Dayton Hamvention 2006, ARRL Field Day 2006 info now available, AD5X captures Bill Orr Award plus several news briefs and announcements. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News. Sales & Marketing Online Courses We're experiencing a larger number of field tests than is typical. Jean processed 8 this week, and sent out another 5. Normally, we might see 4 or 5 field kits in an entire month. ON-LINE COURSES Registrations During this week Graduations Antenna Modeling (EC-004) 3 1 HF Digital (EC-005) 1 0 RFI (EC-006) 0 0 VHF/UHF (EC-008) 0 0 Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009) 0 0 Technician Licensing (EC-010) 1 1 Propagation (EC-011) 1 0 Analog Electronics (EC-012) 1 0 Digital Electronics (EC-013) 1 0 Emergency Comm. Level 1 (EC-001) 11 32 Emergency Comm. Level 2 (EC-002) 7 15 Emergency Comm. Level 3 (EC-003) 5 5 The Business Services group wrapped up advertising duties with NCJ and QEX. The Repeater Directory ads are collected and placed. Work continues to attempt to replace AES on the inside covers of the Repeater Directory. The "Hello" tear-out pricing and placement information has been obtained and passed on to the editorial department. Membership Services Awards / DXCC Category Processed WAS Certificates 24 Replacement Awards 4 A-1 Operator Nominations 13 Awards Mailed 27 VUCC Initial Apps 9 VUCC Endorsements 4 WAC Certificates 22 5BWAC Certificates 1 Awards Managers appointed this week: Dean Davis, KL7OR (HF/VHF) and Sean Fleming, K8KHZ (HF). Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the Week of: February 12, 2006 Beginning Credits 42,237 Credits Received 8,503 Credits Processed 15,575 Ending Credits 35,165 Applications Pending 381 Processing time 6.1 Weeks Year-to-date (2006) Credits Received 42,266 Credits Returned 76,850 DXCC is currently entering credits received on January 20, 2006. DXCC is currently mailing applications received on December 30, 2005. Contest Branch Checked results for the 2005 Phone Sweepstakes were received from the log checker and processed. Over 50 emails were sent in conjunction with these results asking for clarification of category information (cases where sent exchanges and claimed categories in the log did not match). The QST announcement and rules for the 2006 IARU HF World Championships were prepared and sent to production and Web Services. The 2006 Straight Key Night submissions were finished and the articles for QST and the ARRL Web were prepared and sent on to Production and Web Services. The change in the W1AW 160-meter CW frequency set to take effect in April meant that the W1AW schedules related to Field Day needed to be edited, which was done, with new Word Doc and Adobe PDF files prepared and sent to Web Services to replace those already posted. We began printing certificates for the 2005 IARU HF Championships for non-W/VE stations, which will be printed as soon as the certificate program is updated to print the new ARRL President's signature. The combined list of paper/electronic Logs Received for the 2005 160-Meter and the 2005 10-Meter contests were prepared and posted. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 91,414,057 QSL records have resulted 4,831,749 Logs Processed 186,955 Active Certificates 17,523 Users registered in the system 11,612 Hybrids Pending Mail 75 QSL Branch There is a 2 day processing time delay. This week, 130 pounds of cards were received from members. The next scheduled shipping date is Friday, February 17, 2006. W1AW During the previous weekend, high winds had caused damage to the upper rotatable 20-meter yagi. (One of the reflector elements broke off.) Joe has been in contact with Matt Strelow, KC1XX (the station's antennas contractor) to decide on replacement antennas as well as when the antenna/tower work can be performed. On Monday, Joe met with Don and Marjorie Starks, N3HOW and N3HOZ, respectively, of the United States Power Squadrons. They all met to discuss the USPS operating W1AW as part of a Special Event operation on June 3-4 during Boating Safety Week. Joe also modified one of the Ten Tec Omni VI+ transceivers (that is being used as a bulletin transmitter) to help eliminate some key click issues. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the month February. 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 Prompt action was taken by the FCC with regard to interference caused by a 220 MHz machine in southern California. Chuck Skolaut has forwarded additional documentation to the FCC about on-going problems on 75 meters. He is also reviewing information that details observed infractions on a 2 meter simplex frequency in California. An Official Observer in Tennessee was able to rapidly provide useful information for the FCC upon their request to help in an investigation. Volunteer Monitoring Stations have reported hearing the Chinese shortwave station on 18160 kHz, the digital German station on 3995 kHz and several unidentified signals on 75, 40, and 60 meters. Leona Adams handled nearly two dozen new Field appointments and an equal number of appointment cancellations from Section Leaders. Also, over 40 supply packages were processed during the week. Incumbent Section Managers Bill Woodhead, N1KAT, of Maine and Kit Blanke, WA6PWW, of Santa Clara Valley, have been nominated for new terms of office beginning July 1. Virginia Section Manager election ballots are scheduled to be counted on Tuesday, February 21. A few more Ham Aid applications continue to arrive from Amateur Radio operators who provided communications and support service during the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. So far, there have been 214 individual Ham Aid applications received since the program started in September. Steve Ewald edited and turned in the April QST Public Service column to the production department as Field Organization activity reports arrived. ARISS PR: Many non-hams who've read about SuitSat are asking ARISS Team members how to get a ham license! Allen, Rosalie and the ARISS Team continued to hear from reporters updating SuitSat stories; some of the reporters included: CBS, Washington Post, Washington Times, National Geographic News, newscientist.com, Science magazine, AP, Herald Times (Bloomington, IN newspaper), Florida Today (newspaper), Playfuls,com, AstroNet, CNN and Discovery Channel. Spaceflight@nasa.gov features photos of SuitSat being deployed. For ARRL Members: SuitSat telemetry shows 26.7 V on the battery; Lou McFadin figures its life as 9 days 9 hours from start to finish. Please listen to telemetry near the expected end to help the ARISS Team track battery power and learn about the suit's finish. SuitSat has been a great project for merging Internet and ham radio. Bill McArthur has done over 1000 QSOs, and has worked over 100 DXCC entities. ARISS' Effect on Schools/Students: Several school teachers have posted to www.suitsat.org what students have heard. Kenneth Ransom at Johnson Sp Ctr gave a presentation to 200 teachers at the Space Explorers Education Conference. Rosalie asked F&ES to send a large quantity of youth brochures for 7000 attendees of the upcoming Discover Engineering Family Day, Washington DC. International Aspects: Rosalie moderated the ARISS-Intl education committee meeting and prepared the minutes. Field & Education Team Hamfest & Conventions Hamfest Applications sent to Division Director for Approval 9 Hamfest Approval Letters sent to event sponsor 8 Handouts and Door Prize Material Orders Processed 14 Label Requests for upcoming events 2 Convention Applications sent to Division Director for Approval 1 Convention Approval Letters sent to event sponsor 1 Approval Letters for Newly-Affiliated Clubs sent to Club Officials 0 Charter of Affiliation Cert. sent for Presentation to New Clubs 0 New club applications reviewed 0 New clubs sent to Director & SM for approval by Director 0 New SSC Application sent to Director, SM, & ACC for Approval 1 SSC Approval Letter sent to Club Official 1 SSC Certificate sent to newly-designated SSC Club 1 Acknowledgement letters sent to club officials 1 Hamfest announcements for QST 46 Convention announcements for QST 4 Clubs & Mentors Club Updates 29 Club assistance and histories Below 51% notification 6 SSC sent to ACC 4 SSC Certificates 7 letters sent Instructor Reg 4 Teacher Reg 0 Class Materials Graduation Kits 12 Exhibit Kits/brochure requests 0 Jota Kits 4 Label Requests Filled 1 Sales Orders Processed 0 Public Service Reports Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program-Mark Spencer The bid for the equipment for the November round of grants has been received and is in review. The total expenditure on the equipment is approximately $23,100. The purchase order will be coordinated Monday. The prototype Ohms Law board has been received and is being populated with parts to validate the board design before ordering production boards. A professional brochure to advertise the teachers institutes has been developed by the graphic artists in HQ, an excellent product. The brochure is being reproduced for distribution at teachers conferences and has been posted on the web. A new web page has been added under the Education tab of the main page to highlight the teachers institutes. This page will be improved in the near future with additional text, links and updates. Work is in progress in developing learning objectives related to the new technician question pool. A project school teacher presented a forum on the ETP and other project related topics at an Indiana State science teacher's conference (NSTA). The attendance at the forum was above anticipated and additional hand-outs and CD-ROMs were needed, they will be mailed to interested teachers that requested them. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 2/20 Holiday Dave Sumner 2/15-2/16 Washington `` 2/17pm Vacation Ed Hare 3/12-3/17 ANSI Committee Meeting, Piscataway, NJ `` 3/30-4/1 IEEE EMC Meeting, Orlando FL Kathy Capodicasa 2/8-2/17 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 3/3 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 2/13-2/21 Vacation Rick Lindquist 2/21 Vacation Joe Carcia 4/21 Vacation Scott Gee 3/29 Vacation `` 4/24-4/28 Vacation Zack Lau 3/2-3/3 Vacation Dan Henderson 3/2 Vacation Wayne Mills 3/10 Charlotte Hamfest `` 4/20-4/21 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA Leona Adams 2/23-2/27am Vacation Bill Moore 2/17 Vacation Mary Hobart 2/17 Vacation `` 2/23 Vacation `` 4/21-4/23 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA Monique Levesque 2/21-2/24 Vacation Dave Patton 3/16-3/19 Nebraska State Convention, Norfolk, NE Cathy Stepina 3/13-3/17 Vacation