In-Newsletter Vol. 25, No. 8 February 26, 2002 Upcoming Meetings March 2nd in Arlington, VA at 8:30am Executive Committee April 20th in Ft. Worth, TX at 8:00am A&F Committee Development Interviews for the Development Associate position may be complete by week's end. Plans are progressing for the Donor Recognition Event at Dayton. Security will be extremely tight so our first steps are to make those arrangements. The staff at Wright Patterson AFB have been very helpful. Each invitee will be able to bring one person. The list of attendees must be submitted to Security one week before the event for background checks. Invitations are being designed and will be mailed as soon as possible. Mary Hobart will be attend the Maryland State Convention in April, including a short informal presentation at the ARRL Forum. Planned Giving brochures have been ordered and the first quarterly mailing is scheduled to mail the week of March 11. The list of major donors to appear in the 2001 Annual Report is almost complete. Publications We checked printer's proofs for the March/April issue of NCJ, and a new printing of Wire Antenna Classics has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist, N1RL, discussed the QST Product Review column in a forum this past weekend at the Milton (Vermont) Hamfest. The April issue of QST will be released to the printer February 26. Legislative Affairs A team from ARRL will be taking Capitol Hill by storm for a variety of regulatory and legislative activities. On Tuesday, February 26, Jim Haynie, Frank Fallon and Chris Imlay plan to visit the FCC to talk with a number of individuals with whom we have interests. The next day, Mssrs. Haynie, Fallon, Imlay, Siverling and Mansfield plan to attend the (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council) Think Tank on Homeland Security at Old Towne, Alexandria. On Thursday the group plans a number of visits on The Hill, hopefully geared toward getting CC&R type legislation introduced, as sometimes discuss by board members. They will be visiting a potential sponsor as well as a variety of individuals who've offered to give advice and assistance. Friday in Washington will consist of an informal planning session for the entire Washington team, to assemble at Booth, Freret, Imlay and Tepper. Haynie, Harrison and Fallon will also be attending the ARRL Executive Committee meeting the following day. Field & Educational Services Brennan Price spent most of the week preparing the Repeater Directory for release to Production. Response to our new on-line submission, editing and proofing mechanism is very positive. Brennan is also using the mechanism to work on the Directory in and out of the office. Also, favorable PRB-1 decisions from late last year (Marchand and Palmer) are slated for publication in the near future, greatly increasing their precedental value. John Hennessee assisted amateurs with local zoning matters in Memphis, TN (W4KHC); Upper St. Clair Township, PA (KA3DMD); and Sarpy County, NE (N2DLY) as well as covenants problems in Nashville, TN (W4VFC); Randolph, MA (N3UAN); Longs, SC (KC8IOG); and Hudson, FL. He updated Chapter 29 of the ARRL Handbook, and made updates to the Web pages about license plates, and about reciprocal operation for Micronesia, Cook Islands and French Polynesia. Field Organization/Public Service Team Thanks goes to Mary, Rosalie, Gail, Brennan and Jean plus the Mailroom and Accounting who helped Steve Ewald and Leona Adams open envelopes and count SM ballots. Incumbent Virginia SM Carl Clements, W4CAC, was elected over Lynn Gahagan, AF4CD. Bob Schneider, AH6J, was elected over John Peters, K1ER, in the Pacific Section, for the only other contested seat in the current SM election cycle. Leona reports a copy of ARRL's Articles of Association and Bylaws is sent with the "Congratulations" letter that goes to winning SMs; this upfront exposure should make a good impact on new SMs. Steve Ewald posted the new criteria on the ARRL Web site for the Public Service Honor Roll -- www.arrl.org/FandES/field/pshr/ -- along with an explanation and interpretation. The posting is an extended version of April QST's Public Service column. Steve has been receiving additional comments and inquiries about the PSHR criteria from numerous Section leaders. Normal ARISS packet activity with the RS0ISS call sign should begin soon. The Expedition 4 ISS crew will be installing the new packet module sent up last fall. Frequencies will remain as uplink, 145.99 MHz; downlink, 145.80 MHz. Rosalie and Steve reviewed an upcoming QST article that reports follow-up to September 11, 2001. Rosalie began initial work on setting up the next ARISS School Group teleconference. Jerry Hill reports that checks were processed and sent to the schools approved by the Executive Committee for Progress Grants. Equipment for the Pilot Schools approved by the Executive Committee was ordered. Jerry now has 11 new pilot school applications to be considered with this week's addition of: Clark Wood Elementary School, Elkland, PA; The History Center (Museum), Cedar Rapids, IA; Winchell Elementary School, Kalamazoo, MI; Vallivue High School, Caldwell, ID; and Greenfield-Central High School, Greenfield, IN. C-CE Team Dan Miller says most students enrolled in the Antenna Modeling Course have begun their work and are doing well without any major problems. Mentors are settling into their new roles. One student -- Eric Scace, K3NA, has already completed everything and passed the final exam with a score of 96%. Steven Blair is working on the printed version of the HF Digital Course. The C-CE Course Registration Page has been upgraded, now displaying all courses and whether registration is currently open. The C-CE Web FAQ and Course Syllabi have been updated as well. Field & Educational Support Team Gail Iannone sent 4 convention applications to the Executive Committee and notified those convention committees of the EC's approval of their events. She sent 21 hamfest approval letters to the sponsoring committees. Don't forget that Dayton Hamvention Marriott hotel reservation slips are due on Gail's desk on March 15. Margie Bourgoin worked with KY SM John Meyers on some outstanding SSC issues. She is catching up on a backlog of work from her absence, and reports 2 SSC renewals and one new Club application. Jean Wolfgang talked to a group of cub scouts touring HQ about JOTA and other youth programs. She also prepared updates for the Web site, including new Radio Merit Badge requirements. She met with a caregiver from Norwalk who would like to expose his clients to ham radio and possibly get a few of them licensed. Linda Mullally updated 51 affiliated club records with 1 reactivation, and registered 11 Instructors and 1 Teacher. Linda worked on numerous CCE responsibilities including updating 24 students who passed, sending graduation letters, and printing 50 graduation certificates and ID cards. Mary Lau completed elements of the Scholarship Applicant 2002 database and is moving into the stage of getting photocopies of the huge number of applications in advance of the March 1 mail-out to the Foundation Scholarship Committee. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 500 WAS Certificates 45 WAS Endorsements 27 WAC QSL Cards Checked 180 RCC Awards 14 OTC Awards 8 Friendship Awards 10 A-1 Operator Nominations 4 Long Term Member Inquiries 4 VUCC Initial Awards Mailed 25 HF Awards Manager Appointment: Charlie Stephens, KBØRNC, Salina, KS. For the coming week-U.S. WAC awards, Extra Class certificates, A-1 Operator, VUCC, and WAS Specialty awards. DXCC Branch Week Ending February 24, 2002 Beginning Cards 59,417 Cards Received 9,952 Cards Processed 13,691 Ending Cards 55,678 Applications Pending 376 Backlog Time 2.5 weeks Year-to-date Cards Received 71,922 Cards Returned 130,596 QRP Issued this week 23 QRP YTD 134 Card Return: DXCC is currently mailing applications received the second week in February 2002. There are approximately 90 - 100 applications in the mailroom waiting to be outprocessed, containing about 10,000 cards. Card Processing: We are entering cards received on February 8, 2002. 2,977 Millennium awards have been issued to date. Contest Branch The list of Logs Received for the 2001 ARRL International EME Competition was posted after the logs were verified against the server. Work began on preparing the EME article for QST. Data entry on January VHF continued. The ARRL Contest On-Line Soapbox was monitored daily, with DX and non-member submissions being screened. A large amount of time was spent assisting participants with log submission requirements since the ARRL International DX CW contest was held last weekend (sent email traffic during the week amounted to over 400, the majority pertaining log submission file requirement problems). QSL Branch QSL Service Status: Current. Cards mailed year to date as of 02/24/2002 - 350,225. Cards mailed on 02/22/2002 - 70,300. Janet Rocco spent 4 hours conducting tours around HQ. W1AW Joe Carcia processed the March W1AW Qualifying Run texts. He also processed regular W1AW QSL card requests. Scott Gee worked on slow and fast code practice runs for the latter part of the month of February and early March. He handled evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. W1AW telephone sales year to date (2002): $1,501. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Name Date(s) Reason All Staff 3/29 Holiday Dave Sumner 3/1-3/3 Executive Committee Meeting, Arlington, VA `` 3/8 MARS Strategy Conference, Washington, DC `` 3/13-3/20 Geneva `` 3/21-3/27 Vacation Steve Mansfield 2/27-3/1 Washington, DC Mary Hobart 4/6-4/7 MD State Convention, Timonium Steve Ewald 2/26-3/5 Vacation Dan Miller 3/28-4/1 Vacation J. Kleinman 3/5 Vacation `` 3/7-3/12 Vacation