<<052709.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 32, No. 21 May 27, 2009 -- Covers the period May 17-23. Upcoming Meetings and Events Second Board Meeting July 17-18, 2009 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The Legislative Action booth at Dayton generated over 190 letters of support for HR 2160 which were forwarded by Great Lakes Division Director Jim Weaver, K8JE last week to Chwat & Co. During the week, we received word from several members that Congressman John Linder (GA-07) was indicating opposition to HR 2160. Working with John Chwat, a request and sample letter was sent to the Southeastern Division DLAC asking that ARRL members in Linder's district contact the congressman about reconsidering his position. A total of six ARRL members in five Congressional districts, who contacted their representatives asking support for 2160, received responses which were forwarded to us during the week. Amateur enforcement letters are once again being posted on the FCC website. This included 16 letters since February 18, 2009 to power companies on RFI matters and 13 letters to individuals on other matters. We have become aware of an ordinance in Mustang, OK that apparently allows amateurs to have towers up to a certain height but only if they are used for receive-only. We are reviewing this ordinance with ARRL General Counsel. We continue to work with General Counsel regarding an amateur in San Diego being sued in small-claims court for RFI. We also are looking into a proposed ordinance, initiated by a local health department in Arizona, which would ban most mobile electronic communications. A Maine bill on distracted driving that could affect amateur radio is still being monitored. Finally we are looking at what assistance we can provide AZ Section Manager Tom Fagan on the bill extending PRB-1 protection to CC&Rs. This bill has passed one house of the AZ legislature and is pending action by the other house. A good deal of time was spent during the week answering questions about statements from the FCC forum at Dayton regarding amateur radio communications support at hospitals and similar agencies, especially as part of drills and tests. The FCC reaffirmed K1ZZ's April QST editorial as being on target and emphasized that employees could not provide communications for tests and drills for their employer. Though some believe this to be a "new" interpretation by the FCC, this is in fact what Part 97 has said since the early 1990s and is not a change of policy. We followed-up on a question regarding retransmission of space-shuttle communications as well as a query on ARISS relating to a Boy Scout activity (thanks to Rosalie White, K1STO). Regulatory questions handled included continued operation after license expiration if the FCC was reviewing the renewal, band privileges for technicians, and a few queries clarifying privileges after the 40-meter broadcast move earlier this year. There are now 777 clubs and sites listed on the Field Day site locator applet representing all 50 states. There are also sites listed for six Canadian provinces/territories, as well as Puerto Rico. A Field Day story highlighting the locator will be penned in the coming weeks. We have a tentative commitment from one of the astronauts who is scheduled to be on board the ISS during the Field Day period to get on-the-air. This however is always contingent on their official duties and launch schedule. We will know more as we get closer to the event and will publicize this if it appears it is likely to occur. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP "Talk on a Disk," the CD containing prepackaged presentations of Amateur Radio, continues to be a highly requested item and the second batch of disks is running low. A third edition has been created which now includes material from the Hello campaign and has been sent to Production for label and duplication. The June CONTACT was completed ahead of time and is set for viewing on the 1st. Two good McGan Award nominations were received and copies mailed out to PR Committee members for their recommendations. The PR-101 course is getting its first graduates and the web-based automatic certificate maker and notification system seems to be working very nicely. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH Diamond Club revenues through mid-May have reached $81,000 with a healthy average contribution of $158. The campaign for the Education & Technology Fund is underway and initial returns have yielded $14,000 in revenue. A follow up letter will be sent to major donors. In addition, individual grants for the Teachers Institutes now total $100,000. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The July 2009 issue of QST has been released to the printer. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 28, No. 20, for May 22, 2009. She also produced and voiced ARRL Audio News for May 22. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R By all accounts, the 2009 ARRL National Convention at Dayton Hamvention was a huge success. The figures are still being tallied (no formal attendance figures from the Hamvention Committee, yet). Combined membership and products sales achieved a new, highest total. We've also enjoyed dozens of post-Dayton reports from members and volunteers with glowing reviews of the effort. In particular, ARRL's large exhibit area and the variety of program representation received high marks. Thanks go to the organization-wide effort that made the convention a great success. If you haven't done so already, check out the official convention blog (many photos) at www.arrl.org/blog. An evaluation session was held during the week to discuss the event in more detail, and to collect ideas for future conventions. Bob Inderbitzen is attending Maker Faire--the world's largest do-it-yourself (DIY) festival. This year, the festival will take place at the San Mateo County Expo Center in California on May 30-31, and is expected to draw crowds near 70,000. A large exhibit area at Maker Faire is planned to help spotlight ham radio. The Foothills Amateur Radio Society is the primary sponsor of the exhibit, but includes volunteers from many participating ham radio clubs and other related groups. The coordinating effort is being lead by ARRL Santa Clara Valley Assistant Section Manager Michael Pechner, KI6QNZ, of Palo Alto. SCV Section Manager Bill Dale, N2RHV, is also supporting the event. Bob has been working with the volunteers throughout the planning. He has helped produce handout materials and has assembled display items to contribute to the exhibit. Bob is anxious to explore this opportunity from both a recruitment perspective and to help advance partnerships with the event sponsor and participating organizations. Kim Piatek has accepted an offer to move from part-time to full-time in our Customer Service group. Kim will help fill a recent position vacancy. We welcomed Paul Cuppini to the headquarters team on Tuesday. P aul accepted a position vacancy, shipping-and-receiving clerk, at our North Mountain Road warehouse facility. He lives in E. Hartford, Connecticut. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,162 packages for publication and product orders, and shipped 265 free book membership premiums and QST mailing supplements. ARRL Conventions Date Name Division City State ARRL HQ Rep. May 29-31 RM Division RM Estes Park CO Kramer/Gruber May 30 AT Division AT Rochester NY Dan Henderson Jun 5-7 NW Division (SeaPac) NW Seaside OR Dave Sumner Jun 6 Georgia State SE Marietta GA Dan Henderson Jun 12-13 WG Division (Ham-Com) WG Plano TX Dave Sumner Jun 13 Tennessee State DL Knoxville TN Steve Ewald Jun 26-28 HAM RADIO 2009 Int'l Friedrichshafen Germany Inderbitzen/Patton Jul 4 E. Pennsylvania Section AT Bressler PA Jul 17-18 Arizona State SW Williams AZ Jul 17-19 Montana State NW Essex MT Jul 18 W0 DXCC/Contest Central DK Rochester MN Jul 23-25 Central States VHF CL Elk Grove Village IL Jul 24-25 Oklahoma Section WG Oklahoma City OK Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch Last week, the Contest Branch spent time assisting the Programs and Services Committee Chairman Bruce Frahm, KØBJ, in preparing a report for the VUAC. This report covered the recent decisions by the P&SC and the Awards committee on the VUAC's recommended changes to the Rover Rules in all VHF contests and some rules in the EME contest. The P&SC voted on April 4 to limit Limited Rover entrants to the bottom four bands used in any given VHF/UHF contest, and permit Club Competition in the August UHF Contest. These changes have been implemented in the rules on the ARRL Web site. The P&SC also asked for clarification from the VUAC on the proposed EME rules governing Assisted operation in the EME contest; talks are ongoing. Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, followed up on one of his Action Items from Dayton; the Youth roundtable discussion. The Youth teams asked him for help in getting more youth involved in contesting, and Sean worked on a draft for a set of rules for a new contest. The Contest Branch has also been working on a case of self-spotting by a DX station during the 2009 ARRL DX SSB Contest. Web results content for the 10M, RTTY, and January VHF contests will be delivered to the Web Development team this week. W1AW Thanks to Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, and Chuck Skolaut, KØBOG, for covering the W1AW morning and night shifts on Wednesday through Friday (5/13-15) while both Joe and Scott were attending Dayton Hamvention. Matt Strelow, KC1XX and Andrew Toth - both of XX Towers Inc. - were on hand Tuesday, May 19 to perform some antenna/tower work at W1AW. In addition to the Spring inspections, they also installed brand new Yaesu Az-El rotators on the Satellite tower; installed a new NOAA-x satellite turnstile antenna on the North tower; installed a side-arm atop the 120 foot tower (for use in temporarily running wire verticals up this tower), and replaced a coaxial pigtail on the 23 cm Satellite antenna. Joe compiled a "W1AW Temporary Operator" user-guide to assist with the night operations at W1AW. He also assisted Matt and crew with the antenna work. He processed regular QSL card requests. Joe also updated the web code practice files and their archives. He processed one Qualifying Run endorsement. Joe also made a repair to the new Yaesu G-5500 Az-El rotator controller. He had also spent Wednesday through Sunday (5/13-17) at Dayton Hamvention while working the booth at Special Event Station W1AW/8. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of May and early June. He had also trained other MVP staffers to handle the W1AW night shift during Dayton week. Field Organization/Public Service Team The Utah Section Manager Election ballots were counted on Tuesday, May 19. Incumbent Section Manager Mel Parkes, NM7P, was re-elected. Thanks to Team members Leona Adams, Chuck Skolaut and Steve Ewald for handling the election-related duties and for preparing the election announcement for the Web page. Leona has been keeping in touch with all of the Section Managers with regard to their annual Section budgets. Chuck forwarded a monitoring request to Official Observers in several western ARRL Divisions after receiving a complaint regarding intentional interference to a 75 meter net. Upon receiving another complaint involving QRM to another 75 meter net, northwestern OOs were alerted. A third report of interference to a 75 meter net is being investigated as well. Audio tape documentation was received from a North Carolina Official Observer responding to a previous monitoring request. Two separate intruder reports about activity on 40 meters were sent to the IARU Region 1 Monitoring Coordinator, and an unidentified digital signal was thought to be originating overseas. Several reports of the "gurgle" signal on 17 meters were initiated by our monitors in Arizona. A very appreciative response was received by a California Official Observer after he had sent a "Good Operator Report" card to a radio amateur. Here is quote from a portion of that correspondence: "I consider your card to me one of the highest compliments I could ever get in the Amateur Radio fraternity. I will cherish or even frame this OO card as the highest honor I could ever get. Just a mere thank you doesn't begin to express my appreciation. It's nice to be recognized for something good." Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Leona Adams 6/12 Vacation `` 6/29-7/2 Vacation `` 7/31 Vacation Kathy Allison 7/6-7/10 Vacation `` 9/25-9/28 Vacation Bob Allison 7/6-7/10 Vacation `` 9/25-9/29 Vacation Joe Carcia 6/19 Vacation `` 7/6-7/10 Vacation `` 7/17 Vacation `` 7/24 Vacation `` 7/31 Vacation `` 8/7 Vacation Steve Ewald 6/8-6/12 Vacation `` 6/13 Tennessee State Convention, Knoxville, TN Steve Ford 6/3-6/5 Publishers Conference, Washington, DC `` 6/27-7/5 Vacation Norm Fusaro 5/29 Vacation Scott Gee 5/28-6/1 Vacation `` 7/2 Vacation `` 7/30 Vacation Mike Gruber 5/29-5/31 Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Estes Park, CO Dan Henderson 5/29-5/31 Atlantic Division Convention, Rochester, NY `` 6/5-6/7 Georgia State Convention, Atlanta, GA `` 7/23-8/10 Vacation Mary Hobart 6/12-6/16 Vacation `` 8/12-8/14 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 5/28-6/1 Maker Faire, San Mateo, CA `` 6/23-6/28 Ham Radio 2009, Friedrichshafen, Germany `` 6/28-7/2 Vacation Debra Johnson 6/15-6/16 Vacation Joel Kleinman 6/4-6/5 Association Publishing Conference, Washington, DC `` 7/6-7/7 Vacation Harold Kramer 5/28-6/4 Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Estes Park, CO/Vacation `` 6/12-6/16 Vacation Sean Kutzko 7/17-7/20 Vacation Zack Lau 6/11-6/12 Vacation `` 6/18-6/22 Vacation `` 6/26-6/30 Vacation Dave Patton 6/24-6/28 Ham Radio 2009, Friedrichshafen, Germany Allen Pitts 5/27-6/8 Vacation Brennan Price 5/17-5/29 ITU WP5A and 5B, Geneva `` 6/12 Vacation Jon Siverling 6/1-6/5 CITEL PCC.II, Ottawa Dave Sumner 6/4-6/8 Seaside, OR `` 6/11-6/15 HamCom, Plano, TX Sharon Taratula 5/28 Vacation `` 6/2 Vacation Larry Wolfgang 6/5 Vacation `` 6/17-6/19 Vacation