<<080112.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 35, No. 31 August 1, 2012 -- Covers the period July 22-28. Upcoming Meetings and Events Section Managers' Workshop September 14-16 - ARRL HQ Executive Committee: September 29 @ 8:30am - Denver, CO United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) October 1-5 - ARRL HQ Director/Vice Director Elections November 16 CEO Reported by Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ CEO staff is working on wrapping-up another successful and smooth-functioning Board meeting. A special thank you to Greg Kwasowski for driving the van; to Maryann Macdonald and Margie Bourgoin for helping with the Board books; to Penny Harts for helping with the goodie table in the lobby; to Sharon Taratula, Joe Carcia, Penny Harts, Deborah Voigt and Monique Levesque for setting and arranging things for the Committee meetings; to Steve Ford for taking pictures at the hotel and to those who made hotel runs during the day on Friday. Special acknowledgement and thanks to Andy Shefrin and Adam Bernard for working with the Marriott technicians in making all presentation and computer equipment run like a charm. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP CONTACT! for August has been posted. A base timeline for the past century of activity is being created with special focus on ARRL's spectrum defense actions past and current. This may become the underlying theme for the 2014 video and initial contacts with video producers exploring options are ongoing. National Preparedness Month is coming in September and once again groups and clubs are being encouraged to register with the FEMA website. Unfortunately again their website for this is not functioning in several places, but ARRL has been logged in as a "coalition member" for this national event. Development Reported by Lauren Clarke, KB1YDD To date: The Spectrum Defense Fund has received $130,304 from a total of 1191 donors. The W1AW Endowment Campaign has received $51,563 in contributions from 846 donors. The Diamond Club has received $123,842 in contributions from 675 donors. The Education & Technology Program has received $53,694 in contributions from 551 donors. An additional $109,194 from six donors has been received in support of the Teachers Institute Program. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Joel Hallas has turned in all the materials for his sixth ARRL book, Understanding and Using Antenna Analyzers. The digital edition of September 2012 QST was released to the digital publisher July 30. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed the July 26 ARRL Letter and produced and voiced Audio News. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Electronic Publication Support There is an issue with Garmin's map update not leaving enough space for TravelplusGPS-the download will hang if there isn't room for the 3MB file. Zack Lau compiled a list of reset requests for the Garmin Royalty report-Zack sent out 18 requests in the last six months. Historical Committee Bob Allison participated in a video conference with the other members of the Historical Committee. The meeting was conducted by the committee chair, Jay Bellows. The purpose of the meeting was to review a draft document regarding the purpose and guidelines of the Historical Committee. A solid foundation has been built with these guidelines, which will be presented to the Board of Directors when they meet July 19 - 21. Product Review Bob Allison has initialed testing of a modern HF/6M transceiver. Bob also investigated a software defined transceiver, with the help of Steve Ford, the reviewer. This SDR is next in line on the test list. Bob also tested a number of Handie-Talkies of the same model to determine if there is a potential performance problem. Bob will be working closely with the manufacturer to work out issues found. Radio Frequency Interference Mike Gruber completed testing the 33 LED bulbs and related lighting devices for conducted emissions. In addition, a number of thee bulbs were tested at WB1GCM for interference to an actual Amateur station. A number of bulbs were also tested with a special LED light dimmer. The selection of bulbs for this testing included: o 30 LED bulbs from a variety of retail outlets, Dayton and eBay sources. o 2 red LED (used) traffic lights purchased at Dayton. o 1 CFL bulb in a floodlight configuration, similar to a number of the LED bulbs. While the Part 15 rules and limits pertaining interference rule may work on a case-by-case basis for a small limited sources, they are not practical should many bulbs in several houses be contributing to a wide spread problem. It should also be noted that the limits for Part 15 LED bulbs are higher than for Part 18 consumer rated CFL bulbs. The data gathered by this testing will also be used to assess some of these issues, including the interference potential of LED bulbs vs. consumer Part 18 CFL bubs. Mike Gruber did some preliminary testing of a variable speed dc motor in a washing machine at WB1GCM. Mike Gruber assisted EMC Committee Chairman Kermit Carlson with the EMC Committee semi-annual report. With help from the EMC Committee, we are surveying retail outlets for marketing and labeling compliance with Part 18 rules. Both electronic fluorescent light ballasts and light fixtures with fluorescent light ballasts are included in this survey. Web Zack Lau uploaded the August 2012 Propagation Forecasts-the predicted solar flux for the propagation forecast is 143. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Publication orders and membership applications picked-up this week-welcome levels of brisk activity as we approached the end of the month. Steve Capodicasa reports that, during the week, the warehouse crew fulfilled 1,042 packages for publication and product orders, 648 membership signing premiums, plus QST mailing supplements. Registration forms continue to roll-in for staff and officials attending the National Convention/Pacificon in October. Online registration forms are due by August 10: http://www.arrl.org/pacificon-2012. ARRL received a donation from the Orlando Amateur Radio Club for its participation at Orlando HamCation in February. A bulk emailing was completed to help promote the upcoming New England Division Convention in Boxborough (August 24-26). We also continue to promote Division-level ARRL conventions on the ARRL website home page. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Field Organization/Public Service Team Leona Adam received and processed two Section Manager nominating petitions. Incumbent Missouri Section Manager Dale Bagley, K0KY, and incumbent Northern New York Section Manager Thomas Dick, KF2GC, have been nominated for new terms of office starting in January, 2013. Petitions for this particular section election cycle may be received at Headquarters through September 7. One radio amateur in Puerto Rico has completed requirements to become an Official Observer this past week. ARRL volunteer monitors are checking out a report of a steady carrier that has been heard on 14.030 MHz. Interference has been reported on 7.251 MHz and the South Cars net. The investigation on this is continuing. Chuck Skolaut handled questions on subjects such as operating overseas, foreign operation in the United States, the 6 meter band plan, and the frequency of a linked repeater system. Chuck also conducted a code qualifying run at W1AW and hosted visitors to the station. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 9/3 Holiday Leona Adams 7/30-8/3 Vacation Margie Bourgoin 8/17 Vacation `` 10/4-10/5 Vacation Joe Carcia 8/3 Vacation `` 8/6-8/10 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation `` 8/31 Vacation Steve Ewald 8/1-8/9 Vacation Jackie Ferreira 10/10-10/15 National Convention, Santa Clara, CA Steve Ford 8/6-8/10 Vacation Scott Gee 8/30 Vacation Mike Gruber 8/27-8/31 Vacation `` 10/1-10/5 Vacation `` 10/12 NearFEST, Deerfield, NH Joel Hallas 8/8 Vacation `` 8/15 Vacation `` 8/21-8/23 Vacation `` 8/29 Vacation Dan Henderson 8/6-8/10 Vacation `` 8/16-8/20 West Virginia State Convention, Weston, WV Mary Hobart 8/9-8/10 Vacation Amy Hurtado 10/10-10/15 National Convention, Santa Clara, CA Gail Iannone 8/20-8/28 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 8/17-8/20 Southeastern Division Convention, Huntsville, AL `` 8/24-8/26 New England Division Convention, Boxborough, MA `` 10/10-10/15 National Convention, Santa Clara, CA Khrystyne Keane 8/3 Vacation `` 8/10 Vacation `` 8/17 Vacation `` 8/24 Vacation `` 8/31 Vacation Joel Kleinman 8/16-8/17 `` 8/23 Harold Kramer 8/1-8/3 Vacation Maryann Macdonald 9/24-10/1 Vacation Diane Petrilli 8/6-8/10 Vacation `` 10/11-10/15 National Convention, Santa Clara, CA Becky Schoenfeld 8/10-8/16 Vacation Barry Shelley 8/2-8/3 Vacation `` 8/11-8/17 Vacation `` 8/23-8/24 Vacation `` 9/21 Vacation `` 9/28 Vacation Dave Sumner 8/9-8/13 Vacation