<<060408.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 23 June 4, 2008 -- Covers the period May 25-31. Upcoming Meetings and Events Annual Board Meeting July 18-19, 2008 @ 9:00am in Windsor, CT CEO Office We would like to wish Carole Dimock, N1NAM, happiness and good luck in her retirement. Carole worked for ARRL for 19 years in the mailroom. One thing Carole would like to do as an Extra Class operator is to operate from W1AW, so stay tuned! Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND We have begun work on getting the FCC's Public Notice DA 99-2344 on CEPT operations updated to reflect the CEPT's changes in reciprocal licensing for US amateurs visiting ERO countries. Rules require a copy of the FCC's public notice (in the three ERO languages English, French and German) to be carried by visiting US amateurs. A letter citing the necessary changes will be sent to the FCC. We continued working on the language of the agreement for the resumption of 70cm coordinations in New England to accommodate Air Force concerns on the PAVE PAWS interference issue. NESMC has agreed to the framework and as soon as Air Force officials give their approval we will be making a public announcement. Field Day queries are running high as we enter the last month before the event. The Field Day Locator applet added almost 100 new entries last week, bringing the total to 934 groups listed. Requests for Exhibit Kits are running high and can be ordered from the ARRL Web. We need to continue to stress that these orders need to be placed by June 13th - giving two weeks to fulfill the order. As 10-meter activity picks up we are starting to receive calls and emails from individuals reporting web sites and local sales of illegal 10-meter equipment. We have spoken to the FCC on this matter and the response back is mixed. Their "official" form letter reply to such inquiries is as follows: "Thank you for the information you submitted, but the major on-line auction sites receive worldwide over 7 million ads a month and work in 7 countries. They do a pretty good job of keeping equipment off their sites that is not certified, but cannot catch all of them. We don't have the resources to police every ad, just as we don't check newspaper ads or yard sales or other internet auction sites. We are, however, interested in any information about marketing such items by manufacturers or distributors or large scale retail businesses." Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH Development is please to welcome two new members to the ARRL Maxim Society, Ti-Michelle Connelly, NJ6T and William Mueller, AA5WM. The W1AW Endowment campaign has topped $42,000 from more than 550 donors. The follow up mailing to major donors has yielded two $1000 contributions and a $3000 pledge over 3 years. The Thank You campaign to nearly 18,000 Spectrum Defense donors who supported the BPL efforts over the past five years was mailed on Friday, May 30. The Spectrum Defense campaign produced $33,700 in 2008 before this campaign was mailed. Development is expecting the fulfillment of $20,000 in pledges to the Teachers Institute of the Education & Technology Program. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Once again this year, Maty Weinberg spearheaded Team ARRL's participation in the Relay for Life fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. The Newington RFL event has so far raised more than $15,000. Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 21, for May 30, 2008. It went out to 69, 937 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for May 30. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Awards Branch Category April 2008 May 2008 Year-to-Date WAS Certificates (Manual) 43 37 171 WAS Certificates (LoTW) 17 12 71 A-1 Op Nominations 21 31 101 A-1 Op Certificates 17 24 86 Extra Class Certificates 6 6 36 WAC Certificates 17 29 95 VUCC New / Grids 7 / 943 10 / 1,165 47 / 4,662 VUCC Endorsement / Grids 11 / 685 10 / 376 50 / 2,766 Processing Time Current Current Current DXCC Branch Credits Applications 2007 Carryover 206,843 1,750 YTD Received 288,467 2,622 Cumulative Total 495,310 4,372 YTD Processed 389,444 3,571 Remaining 105,866 801 Processing Time = 7 weeks Contests Sean, KX9X met with the Programs & Services Committee on Friday evening, May 30, who were in town for their meeting. He updated the P&SC on contesting issues and processes, answered questions, and gave a short synopsis of what he would like to see the Contest Branch do in the future. He also wrote an article for the May 30 edition of the ARRL Letter, promoting the June VHF QSO Party coming up the weekend of June 14. He included a brief how-to guide for working stations on 6 meters and encouraged hams with HF rigs that have 6 meters included to get active on the band. Logbook of the World Category April 2008 May 2008 QSO Records Entered Into System 169,037,119 171,593,119 QSL Record Matches 13,314,089 13,570,502 Logs Processed 588,822 608,659 Active Certificates 31,179 31,689 Registered Users in System 20,410 20,765 Logbook (Email Only) Inquiries April 2008 May 2008 Year-to-Date Lost Certificate 121 90 742 DXCC Status Inquiries 80 62 367 Data Not Shown 33 26 164 No TQ6 File Received from LoTW 20 13 71 Additional Certificate Requests 69 38 308 Cannot Log on to LoTW User Page 15 14 143 Cannot Upload Log to LoTW User Page 22 17 107 No TQ5 File Received by LoTW 20 23 141 Incorrect Date Range 20 20 181 Lost Personal Password 12 9 65 User Email Problems 54 23 158 WAS Status Inquiries 50 16 151 Club Inquiries 23 12 104 New Callsign Changes 12 9 55 Logbook Startup Inquiries 43 29 212 Cannot Activate/Load TQ6 Certificate 15 7 68 Logbook Suggestions 5 3 23 QSO Downloaded 4 9 29 Additional Documents Needed 13 9 73 Need Postcard 5 8 43 Directions Not Followed 74 56 296 Duplicate Email Inquiries 33 40 160 Cannot Sign Logs 14 10 57 Using Old Certificate N/A 20 20 Other Inquiries 56 62 245 Total Inquiries 819 625 3,983 QSL Branch April 2008 May 2008 Year-to-Date Cards Received 86,550 58,650 264,750 Cards Mailed 0 113,800 199,300 Field Organization/Public Service Team A Section Manager teleconference was held on May 28 for the SMs of the Delta, Hudson and Midwest Divisions. Steve Ewald and Chuck Skolaut hosted the call, and Allen Pitts was the guest speaker. Allen discussed ARRL's new public relations campaign and support materials. Steve also assisted Dave Patton with some preparations for the May 31 meeting of the Programs and Services Committee. A Section Manager nomination petition for incumbent Connecticut SM Betsey Doane, K1EIC, has been submitted. Leona Adams reports that the nomination deadline for new terms of office starting in October is June 6. Over a dozen new Field Appointments were added to the data base. Chuck Skolaut worked on a yearly monitoring report for the IARU Administrative Council. HQ received information from an Official Observer Coordinator in California and forwarded it onto the FCC. This was a direct response to the FCC's request for monitoring a 75 meter frequency. We also gathered and compiled information on commercial use of 440 MHz in California. This, too, was shared with the FCC. Questions covered this week included the confirmation that a report of a new cell phone law in North Carolina was a hoax, the clarification of the role of Field Day control operators, and providing information on selling equipment to overseas buyers. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ At the Dayton Hamvention Education Services booth, Mark Spencer and I had some lively discussions with instructors and teachers and interested hams about the curriculum materials Mark has developed, licensing instruction materials and the Emergency Communications training program. We also entertained a number of young people and older hams with the BOE-Bots and Mark's new "Wii" concept remote controller. Mark received feedback from booth visitors that has given him ideas for some new initiatives. Education & Technology Program Mark completed construction of two additional radio telescope interfaces for the new TI instructors, which he will send to them so they are familiar with the RT project and ready to teach the content this summer. A write-up on an improved data linked seismograph project that is used during the TI to demonstrate seismology fundamentals and how RF linked video games work has been posted to the web page. Mark also completed an article on the SID unit to be included in the TI curriculum and has sent it to the QST editors for consideration. While in Dayton Mark visited the classroom site and arranged for hotel accommodations for the Teachers Institute participants who will be attending the session there starting July 14. All sessions of the TI are full and applicants are being added to a waiting list. The May round of ETP grant applications (10 applications with 9 recommended for approval) has been forwarded to the Executive Committee for their approval. ARISS Rosalie White shares the loss of Silent Key astronaut Ron Parise, WA4SIR. The ARISS Team will greatly miss the dedicated work that he has done for nearly 20 years, starting in the early days of the SAREX program. He was a "ham's ham" who was loved by the entire team. In mid-May ARISS Vice Chair Gaston Bertels received notice that he was inducted into the 2008 CQ Hall of Fame for making a significant contribution to Amateur Radio and our planet. Gaston feels that earning the honor "puts ARISS in the footlights to the world." Our sponsor at Johnson Space Center's Education Office, Cynthia McArthur was presented the highly prestigious Silver Snoopy Award by Astronaut Barbara Morgan, KD5VNP, for support of educational activities, including ARISS, during STS-118. Astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA, gave two one-hour presentations including a video with footage of ham radio activities to nearly 1,000 students from Italian schools who have participated in ARISS QSOs. ARISS was at Space Expo in the Netherlands on May 23 sponsoring a QSO with Astronaut Reissmann. This event involved 12 Dutch primary schools whose students are participants in the Delta project, a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The next crew member who will do ARISS ops is Astronaut Greg Chamitoff who has chosen to speak with one school per week during his flight. His first crew pick QSO will be with a huge group of scouts from Marin County, California. AMSAT members and the ARISS Team sponsored an ARISS QSO and educational events at the National Air and Space Museum celebration on Space Day. The event was covered in a local paper; to view the article in the Southwester (page 11), go to: http://swdc.org/news/Southwester_JUNE_2008.pdf Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Leona Adams 6/6 Vacation Kathy Allison 6/30-7/7 Vacation Jo-Ann Arel 7/7-7/14 Vacation Katie Breen 7/10-7/14 Rocky Mt. Division Convention, Bryce Canyon, UT Steve Capodicasa 6/10 Vacation Joe Carcia 6/20 Vacation `` 7/7-7/11 Vacation `` 7/18 Vacation `` 7/21 Vacation Steve Ford 6/9-6/10 National Publishers Conference, Washington, DC `` 6/24 Vacation Scott Gee 6/30 Vacation `` 7/1-7/3 Vacation Ed Hare 6/2-6/9 Vacation Dan Henderson 6/21-7/7 Friedrichshafen, Germany/Vacation `` 8/23-8/30 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 6/24-7/1 Friedrichshafen, Germany Debra Johnson 6/27-7/6 Vacation Joel Kleinman 6/5-6/6 Vacation `` 6/9-6/10 National Publishers Conference, Washington, DC Lisa Kustosik 6/20-6/30 Vacation Zack Lau 6/6 Vacation `` 6/19-6/20 Vacation Kim Mancuso 6/23-6/27 Vacation Frankie Perez 6/19 Vacation Alan Pitts 6/3-6/8 Vacation Ashley Rakus 6/6 Vacation Steve Sant Andrea 7/7-7/9 Vacation Dave Sumner 6/13-6/16 Vacation `` 6/23-7/1 IARU AC Meeting/Friedrichshafen, Germany Sharon Taratula 6/20 Vacation