<<041608.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 16 April 16, 2008 -- Covers the period April 6-12. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND We are pleased that the governor's signature on April 9th makes Kansas the 26th state to have adopted a state-level PRB-1 bill. During the week a phone call was received from a representative from the Department of Homeland Security working on the SHARES project asking for a clarification of something he had been told by a FEMA official regarding use of amateur radio in an emergency. I explained the provisions of 97.113 related to business transactions but also shared that in the case of imminent threat to life or property that 97.403 and 97.405 would come into play. At the request of the Education Department we clarified the status of emergency communications declarations since the changes to 97.401 in December 2006. The revised rules have eliminated reference to ECDs directly in Part 97, but the changes regarding emergency communications made at that time allow the amateur station to do whatever is necessary in the case of imminent threat to life or property. Also, ARRL Counsel feels that the statutory for the President to authorize an ECD still exists in the US Code. The change in the Part 97 rule may affect several test questions and will be addressed in some fashion in the EmCom course manual. We worked with Ed Hare and Mike Gruber in the Lab as well as Director Greg Sarratt on a complaint/letter received from a Florida amateur John Confrey, W4IVW, who felt his requests for assistance were not handled or even addressed by either the ARRL or FCC. After a very small amount of digging it was discovered that the FCC had on several occasions visited his location and found no problem, as well as several ARRL contacts were found, including an exchange of information with the Lab and an offer by Director Sarratt to meet with the gentleman. His "resignation" from amateur radio has apparently been shot gunned to numerous sites and individual for the past several months. Ed will be in contact with the gentleman one more time for a follow-up. Through Dennis Dura, we reviewed information on the Amber Alert venture developing in the state of Washington which would involve amateurs. While full information is not yet available, some initial concerns were raised including the issue of a violation of Part 97 if the alert was automatically re-transmitted from other services as well as an alert being initiated on the amateur bands by a non-licensed person. These concerns have been shared with the FCC and RACES officials in Washington who are developing the program. We noted that the Amber Alert programs would be similar to the SKYWARN program - while not an ARRL or ARES® program, it is a separate community service which many ARES members and other Amateur Radio operators may choose to join as individuals. Correspondence and phone calls during the week centered around reciprocal operating and traveling with radio equipment on airlines. We also worked with the EVP on preparing some grassroots legislative materials for a July QST article and for posting on the ARRL Web. At the request of the COO we worked with ISD and Web Services to address information request/update from the MDC Section Manager. By Friday April 11th all 50 states as well as 4 Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico have sites listed in the Field Day Site Location, with a total of 537 sites included in the database. We also assisted the Contest Branch on some data issues with a couple of soon to be reported contests. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH Plans for the Donor Reception in May are nearing completion. Invitations have been mailed 1000 with details for the evening of the event. More than 100 guests are expected to attend. More than 150 new inscribed bricks are expected to be laid in the Diamond Terrace this week, bringing the total number to approximately 300. An update from the trust officer on the Walter Coss estate tells us that a partial distribution of approximately $600,000 will be coming soon. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE We checked printer's proofs of the May/June issues of QEX and NCJ. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 14, for April 11, 2008. It went out to 68,674 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for April 11. Lab Reported by Ed Hare, W1RFI Staffing The Lab is pleased to announce that we have hired Bob Allison, WB1GCM, as our new test engineer. Bob is replacing Mike Tracy, who is leaving our employ on 4/25. Bob will start on 4/14, with a two week intensive training period. He comes to us with a number of years of testing experience in the broadcasting field. W1HQ The club station has just received an Icom 756 Pro III to replace the old Icom 765-courtesy of Icom America. BPL On April 4, ARRL hosted a visit from John Kremenacker, an employee of Amperion. He met with Ed Hare to discuss the ways that Amperion has improved the EMC design of its current line of BPL equipment. While employed at Amperion, John became KB3PJO, and is now an ARRL member and active ham. He told Ed that when he took HF equipment to a BPL area, he "got it," and understood just what the EMC concerns are. On the business front, BPL is far from dormant in the US. Last week, Ambient announced a new product line, the X-2000. This product uses BPL as part of a hybrid grid-control network. In an SEC filing, it also announced that it had secured a contract with Duke Power to deploy Ambient smart-grid technology and services. Interestingly, just a few short months ago, Duke had announced that it did not intend to use BPL as part of its future smart-grid plans. Current Communications also entered 19 new ZIP codes into the industry BPL database. These are all located in Colorado. Ed Hare noted that some of the required information in the database was missing. He contacted Current, who explained that the systems were to use newly certificated equipment, so at the time they entered the information, all of the details were not available. Current assured ARRL that all information needed would be entered more than 30 days in advance of the deployment and that the database entries were made early to give as much notice as possible. Current's equipment does not use the ham bands and its deployments in Cincinnati and Dallas have not resulted in interference problems involving Amateur Radio. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Membership Update Membership climbed to 154,086, exceeding forecast. We've enjoyed a first quarter gain of 551 members over year-end 2007-continuing our membership growth trend. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 1,300 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 240 free book membership premiums, and sent April QST mailing supplements. Now Shipping NEW ARRL apparel! "HAM" T-shirts, pullovers and caps are now available. And, 2008 ARRL Field Day pins, T-shirts and water bottles are in-stock. Visit www.arrl.org/new for details. Major solicitations for publications and membership will be mailed within the week. These direct marketing campaigns are expected to lift our volume of orders and applications throughout May and June. Customer Service has caught-up on a recent backlog of orders-mostly associated with fulfilling pre-orders for new products. We are currently shipping orders within our processing standard of 3 business days. Field Day has generated an influx of requests for exhibit kits (recruitment handouts). Thanks go to all of the staff who has chipped-in to help collate process and ship these materials to volunteers. We are currently up-to-date and we expect to have a sufficient inventory to support additional requests throughout the period. May QST began mailing on 4/8 and will be completed on 4/14 - on schedule. The Sales and Marketing leadership team attended a team development workshop. The workshop was led by our business consultant Bill Dunkerley. Hamvention Planning Update Our exhibit layout is completed-and we're working with Hara Arena to finalize decorating and other planning details. We're tying the ribbons on our list of exhibit personnel-staff, officials and volunteers. Shirts and badges have been ordered for the entire ARRL EXPO team. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch ARRL Phone Sweepstakes Results have been sent to QST. The 160m results will be submitted by the end of the week. We have had some difficulty with the EME results. With the help of Dan Henderson, N1ND, we believe we have the EME results in order at this time. 2008 RTTY Roundup data has been given to WS7I so he can do the write-up. January VHF data is going to K5MA and 10m data is going to WM5R this week. The next awards to be processed are the 2007 June VHF QSO Party certificates. I'm also going to review which gavels still need to be distributed since my arrival here at HQ. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also processed two Qualifying Run certificates. Joe also processed regular QSL card requests. He installed two new UPS units in Studio Two. (These two units are attached to the PCs running the APRS and Telpac systems.) Joe also reinstalled an Icom IC-756 ProII that was returned from repair. He also uploaded W1AW logs to LoTW and eQSL. And, Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the middle part of the month of April. Field Organization/Public Service Team The latest IARU Region 1 monthly Monitoring System report was received and forwarded to our ARRL volunteer monitors. After receiving several reports of unidentified RTTY operation on 14201 kHz, the investigation indicates that it's likely originating from Libya. Chuck Skolaut received a request from the FCC and forwarded it to regional Official Observers asking for their assistance in monitoring a 75 meter frequency. Two new Official Observes, from Georgia and Western Washington, have come on board. A case of improper and lack of identification on an Ohio repeater has been resolved. HQ also received information about an unlicensed person operating on 75 meters and music on another 75 meter frequency. Editorial work for June QST Public Service column is underway. Steve Ewald heard from Phat, HS1WFK, Secretary General of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST). Phat, who visited ARRL HQ last year, reports that he and RAST are making progress on several projects related to emergency communications. Phat conveys his best regards to ARRL. Southern Florida Section Manager Sherri Brower, W4STB, has been nominated to run for a new term of office as SM starting October 1, 2008. Leona Adams reports that Northern Florida SM election ballots have begun to arrive at HQ. Members in Northern Florida have until May 16 to return their ballots. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Hugh Brower has essentially completed the recurring-billing system. He will write some documentation of the procedures and train the staff in the Development office during the coming week. Hugh has also been working with VEC to prepare a project plan for the new VEC data-entry application that will allow VE teams to enter test-session data directly. Micah Murray fixed some minor glitches in the on-line membership application to support recurring billing options. He also made some improvements to the system we use to post news articles on the Web site. Jon Bloom spent time fixing some small bugs in Logbook, the Web/Siebel membership system and the FD locator. He also continued work on an ExamWin replacement application. Volunteer Examiner Coordinator Reported by Maria Somma, AB1FM The VE Manual is now available for $10 through the on-line store. Shipping is included in the price. To view the information on the web see ARRL Catalog Order No. 1328 http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1328#top. VE Patch sales are up 135% over same period last year. ($738 YTD 2008 / $313 YTD 2007). 1st Quarter Results in comparison to previous years. ARRL VEC ACTIVITY Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2006 Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2007 Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2008 Test Sessions Held 1,342 1,838 1,543 Candidates Served 7,392 16,552 9,484 Exam Elements Taken 9,007 20,383 11,696 New VEs Accredited 284 613 628 New and Upgrade License application forms transmitted to FCC 5,083 12,161 7,936 License Renewals and Changes transmitted to FCC 1,362 (Ø were Vanity license renewals) 2,152 (271 were Vanity license renewals) 1,953 (232 were Vanity license renewals) Club License applications transmitted to FCC 246 (Ø were Club Vanity license renewals) (98 new clubs) 364 (78 were Club Vanity license renewals) (133 new clubs) 363 (44 were Club Vanity license renewals) (132 new clubs) ALL VEC ACTIVITY Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2006 Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2007 Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2008 LICENSE TYPE LICENSE COUNT LICENSE COUNT LICENSE COUNT EXTRA CLASS LICENSE 935 2,180 1,423 GENERAL LICENSE 1,135 8,125 2,893 TECHNICIAN LICENSE 5,285 7,030 6,948 TOTAL 7,355 17,335 11,264 NEW AMATEURS Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2006 Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2007 Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2008 1st QUARTER 5,410 7,560 7,569 2nd QUARTER 5,978 7,561 3rd QUARTER 4,381 5,431 4th QUARTER 5,343 6,176 TOTAL 21,112 26,728 7,569 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 Shelly Bloom 4/14-4/18 Vacation Jon Bloom 4/14-4/19 Vacation `` 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 LouAnn Campanello 4/14-4/18 Vacation Steve Capodicasa 4/21 Vacation `` 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 4/16-4/18 National Comm. Systems meeting, Reston, VA `` 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Ann Figat 4/29-4/30 Vacation Steve Ford 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation Norm Fusaro 4/9-4/30 Int'l DX, Paestum, Italy & ARI Fair Pordenone, Italy `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Scott Gee 4/24-4/25 Vacation `` 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 4/18 Vacation `` 5/14-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Penny Harts 5/2-5/6 South Carolina Convention, Spartanburg, SC/Vacation `` 5/15-5/19 Vacation Ed Hare 4/15-4/17 ANSI C63 (EMC Committee) `` 5/14-5/16 Vacation (Dayton, OH) `` 5/29-5/30 IEEE SDCom meeting, Salt Lake City, UT `` 6/2-6/9 Vacation Mary Hobart 4/23-4/29 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA `` 5/14-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Amy Hurtado 4/22 Vacation `` 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 5/15-5/19 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH 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 5/9-5/10 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 Barry Shelley 4/17-4/18 Vacation 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, Convention Larry Wolfgang 5/15-5/18 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH