<<043008.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 18 April 30, 2008 -- Covers the period April 20-26. Upcoming Meetings and Events Programs & Services Committee May 31 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND On Saturday April 26th ARRL Lab Manager Ed Hare and I drove to the New England Air Station to the PAVE PAWS radar site. We met with base commander Col. Chris Gentry and had a productive meeting focusing on how we maintain the current status level of non-interference with the radar. As a result of the meeting and the subsequent tour of the facility with senior staff I believe we now have a far better understanding of the problems in general, as well as the similarities and unique aspects of both the situations at the Cape Cod and Beale AFB site in California. On Friday we read the BPL appellate decision after its release and answered a few questions posed by the web editor. We also spoke with ARRL Counsel to make certain we were able to answer members' queries coming into the office. During the week we addressed an ARISS SuitSat question for Rosalie White and the NASA contacts. Correspondence and phone calls during the week centered around reciprocal operating and traveling with radio equipment on airlines. There were also several telephone conversations regarding repeater issues and questions. Current groups registered with the Field Day site locator bring the totals to 50 states, 6 Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico and 666 sites included in the database. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Preparations continue for the unveiling of the Technical campaign at Dayton. The brochures and Talk-on-a-Disk arrived. Our part of writing the new website appears complete, we're on schedule and we await the final work by Fathom. The QRZ announcement of a EmComm testing session at Dayton by NE1L brought a flurry of activity in trying to hold off any stories about it until there were some clarifications on this plan. The May issue of Contact! is complete and ready to be posted May 1. Receipt of the auditor's report completed the text-gathering for the annual report. While there seem to be few postings of the announcement about the court decision, information was sent to a host of media outlets and comments received back (often about the "hide-the-peanut" phrase) indicated the reporters read it even if they did not write about it. I am confident that we shall see references made to the ruling in the coming weeks. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Joel Hallas has turned in nearly all of the technical material for the July 2008 issue of QST. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 16, for April 25, 2008. It went out to 69,207 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for April 25. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Membership Update A 50,000 piece direct mailing was sent to former members and non-members soliciting membership. We expect returns to start arriving later this week. Product Sales Update Sales reached $250,000-exceeding the April forecast of $247,677 with 3 days to go. The spring edition of the expanded publications and product catalog has gone to press. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,178 packages for publication and product orders, and shipped 515 free book membership premiums. The stock-pull for our exhibit at Dayton is underway. Mark Allgar, M1MPA, Commercial Manager at the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) reported that their staff has relocated to new administrative offices in Abbey Court, Bedford, England. More info at www.rsgb.org. Hamvention Planning Update Plans for Dayton are being finalized: * There will be five forums in the Hamvention program hosted by ARRL staff and/or volunteers. * The ARRL Youth Dinner will be hosted by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA), and prizes for the youth will be donated by DARA and Universal Radio. * A staff planning meeting will take place on May 7. * Field volunteers attending Dayton will be mailed shirts and program information later this week. Due to a scheduling conflict, Katie will be sending out information on picking up badges and parking passes while in Dayton rather than mailing them with the shirts. * A solicitation from our affinity partner MetLife is being developed, and should mail for delivery before Hamvention. The mailing will feature the latest MetLife and "Snoopy" advertising campaign. MetLife has featured Snoopy and the PEANUTS gang since 1985. * Keep posted to www.arrl.org/expo for any updated information about Dayton and ARRL EXPO 2008. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch The RTTY Roundup write-up has been received by the author. It will be reviewed this week. 10 Meter results data was given to the results author last week. It appears that the June VHF Contest plaque program has stagnated over the last couple years. I have solicited the VHF+ community for plaque sponsorship in the event, and have received several requests. Hopefully this will be the beginning of an upward trend in June VHF plaques getting sponsored. Work has begun on processing the 2007 June VHF Certificates and plaques. I hope to have the certificates out the door in less than two weeks. Plates will need to be ordered for the plaques; however, there were only 6 plaques sponsored in 2007, so that shouldn't take too long to produce. Curt Roseman, K9AKS, has sent us updated all-time section records for the June and September VHF contests. These records have been forwarded to our Web Development team and will get posted soon. W1AW Thanks to Bill Moore, NC1L for handling the Wednesday through Friday morning code practices and W1AW visitors for Joe Carcia, who was working the late afternoon/night shifts those days. Joe worked the late afternoon/night shifts on Wednesday through Friday for the vacationing Scott Gee. He processed two Qualifying Run certificates and one endorsement. Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He created the texts for the May W1AW Qualifying Runs, and updated the web with the May Qualifying Run schedules (for both W1AW and the West Coast QR stations). Joe processed regular QSL card requests. He also made a small repair to the Harris amplifier in use on 10-meters and installed a new Icom IC-756ProIII transceiver for use as the 40-meter broadcast transmitter. Field Organization/Public Service Team Al Shuman, K1AKS, of New Boston, New Hampshire, has been appointed Section Manager of New Hampshire, effective April 21. Dave Patton, NN1N, in consultation with New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, announced the appointment after Sterling Eanes, AK1K, SM since July 2005, decided to step down due to mounting work responsibilities and other commitments. Shuman has served as New Hampshire Section Manager for two previous terms: December 1992-June 1999 and October 2000-June 2005. His term of office continues through June 30, 2009. Steve Ewald and Leona Adams have been helping Al with information and material as he takes the reins as Section Manager. Official Observers in Arkansas have been tasked to investigate a potential unlicensed user of APRS, and they have also keeping track of interference to a couple of net. OOs have been active in gathering information on an interference case on a repeater in California as well as the broadcasting of music on 3910 kHz. Chuck Skolaut has also been providing back-up assistance in answering regulatory information inquiries. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 5/26 Holiday Kathy Allison 6/30-7/7 Vacation Jon Bloom 5/12-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Katie Breen 5/1-5/4 Midwest Division Convention, Sioux City, IA `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/30-5/31 Atlantic Division Convention, Rochester, NY `` 7/10-7/14 Rocky Mt. Division Convention, Bryce Canyon, UT Hugh Brower 5/9 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 5/12-5/16 Vacation Joe Carcia 5/23 Vacation `` 7/7-7/11 Vacation `` 7/18 Vacation `` 7/21 Vacation Steve Coffey 5/19-5/23 Vacation Jackie Cornell 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dennis Dura 5/1-5/6 EMCOMM West, Reno, NV `` 5/10-5/15 Florida Hurricane Conference, Ft. Lauderdale, FL `` 5/15-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Steve Ford 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation Norm Fusaro 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Scott Gee 5/15-5/16 Vacation `` 6/30 Vacation `` 7/1-7/3 Vacation Amanda Grimaldi 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Mike Gruber 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joel Hallas 5/13-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH/Vacation Penny Harts 5/2-5/6 South Carolina Convention, Spartanburg, SC/Vacation `` 5/15-5/19 Vacation Ed Hare 5/14-5/16 Vacation (Dayton, OH) `` 5/29-5/30 IEEE SDCom meeting, Salt Lake City, UT `` 6/2-6/9 Vacation Dan Henderson 5/2-5/5 Alabama State Convention, `` 6/21-7/7 Friedrichshafen, Germany/Vacation Mary Hobart 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Amy Hurtado 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Gail Iannone 5/27-29am Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Karen Isakson 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Deb Jahnke 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation `` 6/27-7/6 Vacation Debra Johnson 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation `` 6/27-7/6 Vacation Khrystyne Keane 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Joel Kleinman 5/9 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 5/2-5/6 Vacation `` 6/20-6/30 Vacation Sean Kutzko 5/12-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Zack Lau 6/19-6/20 Vacation Rose-Ann Lawrence 5/14-5/21 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Patton 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Frankie Perez 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Allen Pitts 5/15-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Maria Somma 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Dave Sumner 5/3-5/7 IARU drafting project, London, England `` 5/5-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/23-7/1 IARU AC Meeting/Friedrichshafen, Germany Larry Wolfgang 5/5-5/9 Vacation `` 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH