IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 29 July 20, 2005 CEO CEO staff is working on wrapping-up another successful and smooth-functioning Board meeting. A special thank you to Greg Kwasowski;and Maty Weinberg for helping with the Board books; to Penny Harts for helping with the goodie table in the lobby; to Debra Johnson for helping at the hotel; and to those who made hotel runs during the day on Friday. Special acknowledgement and thanks to Joe Carcia for working with the Marriott technicians in making all presentation and computer equipment run like a charm. Lisa Kustosik would like to thank staff, especially Penny Harts, Zoe Belliveau, Ann Marie Pinto, Di Szlachetka, Sue Fagan, Mary Hobart, John Proctor, Dave Pingree, Greg Kwasowski and son Paul, and to Lisa'a husband Hossain and son Adam for the spectacular team effort to make the picnic a success. There was plenty of food, drink and laughs. Kudos! John Hennessee assisted amateurs with local government zoning problems in Polk Township, PA (K3PH); Eighty Four, PA (WB4GCS) where the amateur is taking this case to court; and Concord, CA (ND6H) where the City requires an excessive permit fee. He also assisted amateurs with covenant restrictions in Peoria, AZ (W9YMB) and West Boynton Beach, FL (KI4GTI). Other matters he dealt with include: An amateur in Iraq who reported interference from US Government stations on 15 meters (ARRL has received no such reports of actual interference); an amateur, AC3A, is concerned that the Dry Tortugas National Park required that he obtain a Park permit to transmit (ARRL is responding), an amateur in North Carolina was stopped for speeding and having "too many antennas" on his used police car and there are extenuating circumstances; and on the Florida statute effective last year which regulated RF and contains penalties. Last February, ARRL filed with the FCC a request for a declaratory ruling All of these matters continue to resurface after appearing on amateur reflectors with incomplete information. CDO The summer Spectrum Defense campaign is experienced some initial strength in returns. Through July 20 the campaign receipts total more than $44,600 in contributions from 979 donors. The follow up letter will mail July 25 to 30,000 members, including members that have been recognized for loyal support of 40 years or more. ARRL did not received a CNCS grant for training citizen with disabilities. We will continue to seek a source for this program. First Diamond Club returns from Life Members from the special mailing have been received. ARRL Foundation scholarship awards have been mailed to the winners' schools. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 27 (successfully) distributed to 66,272 ARRL members on July 15. That's up by 200 from the previous week. Rick edited and filed "Happenings" for September QST. He also prepared/edited stories on a Citation of Additional Authority filing by ARRL in the BPL proceeding, an article in The Hill by US Senate Spectrum Protection Bill sponsor Michael Crapo (R-ID) lauding Amateur Radio and urging support from his colleagues, Ham radio activities regarding Hurricanes Dennis and Emily, Jack Gerritsen (ex-KG6IRO) sentencing on state threatening charges, shuttle Discovery flight (to carry six amateur licensees), FCC Amateur Radio enforcement letters, the Amateur Amateur column for July and various announcements and news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for July 15. Lab BPL Once again, Ed Hare played "road warrior." Ed took Chris Imlay for a personal tour of the BPL system in Shelton, CT. They saw severe interference on two ham bands, and strong interference on two others. On 40 meters, there was S9 interference for almost a half mile along the power lines. Ed and Chris rode in the BPLMobile, which Chris reported as a smooth ride, much like riding a boat. Ed also met with the Western Massachusetts Electric staff operating the small BPL system in Feeding Hills, MA. Although they have cleaned up most amateur interference, Ed was able to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of their notching on the 30 Meter band. On WWV and international shortwave broadcast frequencies the interference was severe. RFI The lab took advantage of the Board Meeting to meet with the EMC Committee Chairman, Dennis Bodson. Mike Gruber and Ed Hare went over the EMC Committee report. Mike not only got Ed and Dennis up to speed on the status of FCC interference cases, but gave Dennis a demonstration of power line noise locating equipment. Lab Facility Maintenance Zack Lau discovered that the belt sander no longer worked-the pulley had worked away from the shaft and was binding against the housing. A little work by the Mike Gruber and Mike Tracy and the sander was functioning properly. If you notice any problems with Laboratory equipment or facilities, please report problems to the lab staff for maintenance-it may take weeks before we notice that something is broken. Technical Information Service 21 hours of TIS, which includes answering 21 phone calls and 62 emails. Sales & Marketing Department Details are being finalized for the product launch of the 2006 ARRL Handbook. This edition marks 80-years of The ARRL Handbook--originally titled The Radio Amateur's Handbook. The book builds on the extensive rewrite of the previous edition. An impressive addition for 2006 is a brand-new, high-power HF linear amplifier project using the new Eimac 3CX1500D7 power triode. The 2006 ARRL Handbook will make its worldwide debut on October 1. September QST will carry the first advertisement for the new edition, and will feature a very special pre-order promotion. Customers placing orders for the book before September 30 will get an anniversary reproduction of the First Handbook--originally published in 1926 and authored by the late Francis Edward Handy, W1BDI. The 224-page reproduction is a facsimile of the author's own signed personal copy. A limited supply will be produced. The offer will be made available from ARRL and Select ARRL Publication Dealers. The 2006 ARRL Handbook advertising goal has been exceeded, with another week of solicitation still ahead. The advertising team is wrapping up work on September QST. Page count target has been met; dollar target will fall short by approximately $7,000. Work continues on September/October NCJ and QEX advertising. The next publication "Dealer Newsline" (mailing next week) will include an offer of a desk copy of Amateur Radio on the Move to those dealers who pre-order the books. Also, dealers will be included in the pre-order special of the 2006 ARRL Handbook. Online Courses A solicitation was prepared and distributed to course mentors, offering them an opportunity to take the new Analog Electronics and Digital Electronics courses at a reduced rate. We hope, as a byproduct of this effort, we'll increase the pool of eligible mentors for these new courses. Course mentors are required to be ARRL members. This week (and from time to time) email was sent to mentors whose membership has lapsed--encouraging them to renew. Registration has opened for the newest online course: Digital Electronics. This is a 12-week course. Notice of the course opening has been posted to the news crawl, and other news outlets. ON-LINE COURSES Registrations During this week Graduations Antenna Modeling (EC-004) 3 1 HF Digital Comm (EC-005) 0 0 RFI (EC-006) 0 1 VHF/UHF (EC-008) 0 0 Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009) 1 0 Technician License Course (EC-010) 4 3 Propagation (EC-011) 3 1 Analog Electronics (EC-012) 2 0 Digital Electronics (NEW!!) (EC-013) 6 0 Emergency Comm. Level 1 (EC-001) Not open, 2 by US mail 50 Emergency Comm. Level 2 (EC-002) 42, 2 by US mail 23 Emergency Comm. Level 3 (EC-003) Not open, 3 by US mail 12 Membership Services Awards Branch 5-Band WAS Plaques 4 Extra Class Certs. 6 Replacement Awards 2 A-1 Op. Noms. 3 A-1 Op. Certs. 1 VUCC QSL Cards Checked 12 VUCC Initial Apps. 2 Grids 150 VUCC End. Apps. 4 Grids 162 Awards Mailed 35 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-WAS QSL card checking, WAS Specialty, WAS/90th, and VUCC awards, plus mail out all of this week's processed awards. Contest Branch Paper entries for the June VHF QSO Party resumed. Sorting and initial processing of Field Day related mail began. Data entry of paper Field Day logs began. Twice-daily updates to the Field Day applet logs received list were prepared. First draft editing of the DX Phone QST article was done, with about one page of cuts having to be made to meet space allocation. Several data projects were done for the Membership Services Manager in preparation for the Board Meeting at the end of the week. DXCC Branch For the week of: July 17, 2005 Beginning Credits 114,612 Credits Received 2,929 Credits Processed 14,466 Ending Credits 103,075 Applications Pending 912 Processing Time (Conventional) 7.7 Weeks Processing Time (LoTW) 1-2 Working Days Year-to-date (2005) Credits Received 342,940 Credits Returned 327,990 DXCC is currently entering and mailing applications received on May 24, 2005. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 75,416,207 QSL records have resulted 3,502,754 Logs Processed 132,617 Active Certificates 15,099 Users registered in the system 10,017 Hybrids Pending Mail 40 QSL Bureau There is a 1 day processing time delay. This week, 106 pounds of cards were received from members. No cards were mailed this week. Field & Educational Services The ARISS Team reports that the Expedition 12 crew is being considered for deploying SuitSat during one of their scheduled space walks. The crew will need to be trained in how to safely do the deployment. Frank met with the team from Space Adventures about the possible ISS flight of space tourist Greg Olsen; discussion was on training (licensing and equipment operation) in Russia and at Johnson Space Center for the 4 or so school QSOs. The A31 computer is scheduled to fly on the next Soyuz flight with the crew. Field Education Team Norm Fusaro attended the Arizona State Convention as ARRL's rep. He assisted the Director and SM at several forums and at the ARRL booth. Norm brought home 36 membership applications from the convention. He finished a Web story about a mother-daughter ham team who are very active in their club in Raleigh, NC. Thanks goes to Tom Hogerty who posted the story along with another one edited by Norm, submitted by a member, about hams setting up stations in retirement communities. Margie Bourgoin updated 20 affiliated club records, and processed 3 Special Service Club renewals. She registered 5 new volunteer instructors. She thanks Cathy Scharr and the Mailroom for handling a postcard reminder mailing to clubs about updating their records. This is the semi-annual reminder to update their records in order to stay actively affiliated. Margie conducted the monthly inventory of supplies and the revenue report for the department. Starting July 18, Margie became Accounts Payable/Payroll Administrator. Margie replaced Karen Isakson, who replaced Christi Grondzik, in the Staff Accountant position. Gail Iannone wrote 48 hamfest announcements and 11 convention announcements for September QST. She sent five hamfest approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Directors' approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned, processed 16 handout and door prize orders and one label request for upcoming events. She sent one new club seeking ARRL-affiliation to the Division Director and Section Manager for their approval as well as an acknowledgement letter to the club official. She coordinated travel for Harold Kramer to be the HQ Rep at the Southeastern Division Convention on August 20-21 in Huntsville, AL. Bill Barrett reports that the Community Education Project is in its wind-up phase. He reviewed the original grant document in order to map out the reporting process. He scheduled things for his last trips during the last two weeks of the grant period--one in Old Hickory, TN--August 8, and the other in Concord, NH--August 12. A statewide Connecticut meeting will be held on July 30, and it is now fully arranged with volunteers. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer spent the week in Ohio doing an off-site Teacher's Institute. He prepared reports and submitted photos of the successful event. Field Organization/Public Service Team After Hurricane Dennis struck Florida and Alabama, ARES members and others were activated. Steve Ewald kept in touch with the Section Leaders in those areas. He reported ham radio news at the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster daily teleconferences. NFL SM Rudy Hubbard reports that the Santa Rosa EOC was impressed by the hams; the EOC serves four western panhandle counties. Steve and Mary took part in a Citizen Corps Region I and II monthly teleconference to discuss ways ARRL can develop partnerships, especially for September's National Preparedness Month. Steve submitted updated files for the ARES Field Resources Manual. Section Managers recently received their Field Organization appointment reports from Leona Adams. They, in turn, sent her an increased number of appointment-data changes and cancellations. Over 20 new supply packages to Field appointees were sent out. HQ received a nomination for incumbent Santa Barbara SM Rob Griffin, K6YR, for a new term of office starting in January, 2006. Chuck Skolaut kept a watchful eye on Hurricane Emily and monitored the Hurricane Watch Net; he reported their plans to activate to gather reports for the National Hurricane Center. Chuck received and reviewed documentation on a California 2-meter repeater operation; he forwarded this to the FCC. Good progress has been reported in an interference case involving a Southern Florida repeater. A new member of the ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch program has been added to the roster. EmComm Grants Dan Miller prepared for, and traveled to, the Citizen Corps Council Western Region Conference (in Montana) as ARRL's representative. Grant statistics for the year 2002 up until now are: CNCS - 2002-09-01 to 2005-09-01 Course Reg Grads Grad % EC-001 5316 3782 71 EC-002 1222 811 66 EC-003 598 420 70 Total 7136 5013 70 UTC - 2002-10-31 to 2005-10-31 Course Reg Grads Grad % EC-001 1582 1146 72 EC-002 1337 1035 77 EC-003 774 658 85 Total 3693 2839 76 Sincerely, Dave Patton, NN1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer DCP:lk Staff Absentee List Joel Kleinman 7/22-7/29 Vacation `` 8/10 Vacation Harold Kramer 8/19-8/21 Southeast Division Convention, Huntsville, AL Bob Inderbitzen 7/25-7/29 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 7/29-7/31 Rocky Mountain Division Convention John Hennessee 7/27-8/9 Vacation Barry Shelley 7/17-7/22 Vacation `` 8/4-8/5 Vacation `` 8/15-8/19 Vacation Monique Levesque 8/1-8/5 Vacation Joe Carcia 7/22 Vacation `` 7/29-8/5 Vacation Karen Isakson 8/6-8/15 Vacation Perry Williams 7/7-9/6 Vacation Dave Patton 8/10 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 7/22-7/25 Vacation Maria Somma 7/22-7/23 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA `` 7/25-7/29 Vacation Perry Green 7/22-7/23 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA Norm Fusaro 7/22-7/23 NCVEC Conference, Gettysburg, PA Pam Dzamba 8/1-8/5 Vacation Janet Rocco 8/1-8/5 Vacation LouAnn Campanello 7/18-7/22 Vacation Allen Pitts 8/4-8/8 Texas State Convention Joel Hallas 8/12-8/26 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 9/5-9/12 Vacation Rosalie White 7/29-8/3 ARISS Int'l Meeting Bob Inderbitzen 7/25-7/29 Vacation Scott Gee 7/25-7/26 Vacation Dan Henderson 8/1-8/5 Vacation `` 8/10 Vacation Wayne Mills 8/5 Pacific Northwest Convention 8/8-8/12 Vacation Ed Hare 8/8-8/12 IEEE EMC Symposium, Chicago, IL `` 8/15-8/17 Vacation `` 8/25-9/2 Vacation Steve Ford 8/30-9/5 Vacation