IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No.34 August 25, 2004 Development The spring 2004 Defense campaign has exceeded $239,000 from more than 4600 donors. The fall campaign is close to production and will be mailed to current members in mid-September. Thank you gifts have been chosen that include a striking silver and red pin, a mug, and at higher levels, a 50' tape measure, a stainless thermos with carrying case and a 64K pen drive. The final three items will bear "ARRL" in red. The Diamond Club solicitation to approximately 30,000 targeted members is expected to mail the week of September 30. The prospect file includes criteria on longevity, license class and geography. The new Loyal Member Award program will be launched to 50, 60, 70 and 80+ year members by Labor Day. Pins have been ordered and a unique personalized plaque has been created using the QST cover from January of the 50th year, 60th year, 70th year and 80th year. The plaque is offered to members of 50 years plus at cost plus shipping. Debra Johnson is working with John Proctor and Kathy Capodicasa to effect the award of one year of Diamond Club benefits to this group. The congratulatory letter from Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, has been composed and certificates are being printed. The audience for this program segments is approximately 2800 members. The goal is to complete this initial LMA mailing before the Spectrum Defense campaign is mailed in mid-September. A new Maxim Society plaque was awarded to Diamond Club Director Bruce Marcus, N1XG. Top donors will receive complimentary copies of the 2005 Handbook and a reproduction of the first QST. Estate gifts have been received from the Marion Evans Trust totaling $41,820 and a partial distribution from the Kainen estate of $14,089. Both gifts will go into the ARRL Endowment, but since neither gift was designated to a specific fund, they will both be put into the General Fund of the ARRL Endowment. Production/Editorial The 2005 ARRL Handbook, significantly revised this year, was released to the printer August 20. Congratulations to everyone involved on a job well done! The October issue of QST will be released to the printer August 26. Dean Straw has been at ARRL HQ to assist with the Handbook wrap-up. Along with Rick Lindquist, he attended the New England Division Convention in Boxboro, Massachusetts, last weekend. Sales & Marketing Congratulations to Rose-Ann Lawrence who passed her General Exam -- and Aced it! Pre-orders for the 2005 Handbook continue to accumulate at a fast pace. Online orders have exceeded 1,300 units. Two email solicitations conducted during the week helped to drive even more orders to the site. The next component to this rollout includes direct mail. Nineteen membership applications were returned from the New England Division Convention in Boxboro, MA, held August 14-15. Half of these were new or previous members. Very encouraging discussions continue with the leadership of the United States Power Squadron. Dennis Motschenbacher will be attending their annual Governing meeting, participating in a number of closed meetings covering topics relevant to both organizations. Members received a glance at the upcoming September issues of QEX and NCJ in an email solicitation sent on Monday. By the end of the week, online sign-ups included 25 subscriptions for NCJ and 157 for QEX. The mailroom completed a 5,000-piece membership solicitation on Friday. This is largely a test mailing, the results of which will help hone the planning for a larger campaign in the fall. We are anticipating delivery of ARRL's RF Amplifier Classics very soon. Pre-orders for this new title are nearly at 300 units. Advertising is currently working on October QST. Although we will see several advertisers returning after long absences, unfortunately two advertisers have opted out of QST for the remainder of the year. Maha Energy, who had committed to returning in the October issue, indicates they will not be doing media advertising with us for an indefinite time. Despite all persuasion attempts, they claimed that our pricing was simply more than they could afford. In addition, Comet Antennas has decided to bow out for the remainder of the year. Although they conceded that sales did increase after advertising, they plan to track sales for the next several months without advertising and regroup in the new budget year. We are still working with Comet to persuade them to be a part of our 8-page November QST tear-out section. Dennis Motschenbacher attended the New Mexico State Convention in Albuquerque. He participated in the ARRL Forum lead my Director Stinson. Dennis made a technical presentation and was the Banquet Speaker at this well attended hamfest. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS Certs. (Replacements) 4 WAC Cert. (Replacement) 1 LTMA Inquiries 3 VUCC Certs. Processed 14 VUCC Initial Apps. 2 Grids 221 Awards Mailed 48 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-Ship the 5BWAS plaques, WAS and WAC QSL card checking, foreign WAC and VUCC awards, plus add the 50- and 60-year awards information into the Siebel member records for the recently issued awards. Contest Branch The final editing of the Online DX Phone results was completed and the results opened to the membership. Data entry for the IARU HF paper logs continued, as did shipping of 2003 10-Meter contest certificates. Presentations were prepared for the 2004 Alabama state convention in Huntsville. Individual email requests were again sent to all problem Field Day entries asking for revised submissions. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 49,526,885 QSL records have resulted 1,702,323 Logs Processed 64,266 Active Certificates 10,953 Users registered in the system 7,781 Current Applications 88 Ready Applications 30 Applications Awaiting Mail 58 QSL Bureau Processing time is approximately 7 days from receipt. This week 114 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 130 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 08/22/04: 688,975. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files and uploaded W1AW/90 logs to LoTW. He created the W1AW Qualifying Run texts for September and processed three Qualifying Run entries. Joe also began processing QSL card requests for the Joe Walsh/Bob Heil ARRL SSB DX contest operation held last March. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month of August and early September. He worked the early afternoon shift on Friday for a vacationing Joe Carcia and also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Rosalie worked with Department of Homeland Security in planning ARRL's part in National Preparedness Month (Sept). She sent a report to NVOAD on ham ops in the days following Hurricane Charley. She, Dan, Steve and Jean took part in a meeting with a CNCS rep. Rosalie set up a staff meeting with a ham from Belize wanting to work on Restructuring. SM Hill thanks Rick Lindquist for his fine story on California fires. The ARISS Team held a successful QSO for Challenger Learning Center in Illinois, and a monthly international telecon. Linda Mullally updated 47 club records with 2 reactivations; she renewed 6 Special Service Clubs. She registered 8 Volunteer Instructors and 1 schoolteacher, and handled 1 label request. She sent 1,404 assorted brochures, 4 Exhibit Kits and 2 JOTA Kits. She answered multiple questions on hand-out-material availability from members planning activities for National Preparedness Month. A thank you goes to Mark Spencer for typing an ARISS QSL card in Braille for a sight impaired ham. Another QSLer wrote on his card: "Although I've been a ham for 36 years, this contact with the ISS got me more excited than I've been about ham radio in a some time." Gail Iannone sent 6 hamfest approval letters and 3 convention approval letters to sponsoring committees confirming the Director's approval of the events as ARRL-sanctioned. She processed 16 hamfest/ convention material orders and 2 label requests for upcoming events, and sent Wouff Hong supplies for the ceremony to be performed at the West Virginia State Convention, August 28-29 in Weston and the Kentucky State Convention, September 10-11 in Louisville. She reviewed affiliation paperwork for 6 new clubs to forward to Directors and SMs for approval, plus acknowledgement letters to club officials. Field Organization/Public Service Team Steve Ewald, Rick Lindquist and other staff stayed in touch with Florida Section Leaders in Hurricane Charley's aftermath, coordinating ARES and ham radio support, along with ARES teams assisting from other sections. Steve took part in daily NVOAD telecons and the monthly National Citizen Corps' telecon. ARES continues to provide assistance for Northern California fire fighters. Steve visited 4 SMs and 5 SECs at Boxboro, and NLI SEC KA2D and a Red Cross volunteer visited here at Hq. As back up for Chuck (on travel), Steve sent an FCC monitoring request to central US OOCs (and SMs) about an interference issue. Saturday, December 4, will be the date for this year's SKYWARN Recognition Day co-sponsored by the National Weather Service and ARRL. ARRL's Amateur Radio Awareness Day has been moved to September 18. An announcement of this went to Field Organization Leaders and affiliated clubs. Leona Adams has made preparations for the Minnesota SM election ballot counting that will take place on August 24. Ballots were due at HQ by Friday, the 20th. George Tranos, N2GA, has been nominated for another term as SM of New York City-Long Island. Club/Mentor Program Norm Fusaro's new Power Point for club programs, on mobile HF, was posted to the Web, thanks to Tom Hogerty. Norm completed a story for clubs and mentors on a young Floridian ham and her whole family of hams; he learned the kids were active in Florida's hurricane emcomms. He, John Hennessee and other staff met with Bob Fox, V31MD, to discuss license restructure and mentor support for new hams, including young people and schools, in Belize. Norm and Mark Spencer discussed various ways ARRL clubs may help and support schoolteachers and school clubs. CCE Jean Wolfgang is tracking down outstanding reimbursement and stipend checks, exploring the possibility of offering students and mentors an option to donate the reimbursement back to ARRL programs. She saw an increase in CNCS grads as a result of an email she sent to mentors encouraging them to aid students in finishing before the end of the grant year. She approved 2 emcomm test sessions, and reassigned 3 students of a mentor who had become ill. Jean solicited mentors for upcoming classes assigned, and assigned mentors for two emcomm Level 2 sections, and the Antenna Modeling classes to open Aug 24. EmComm Grants Both of Dan Miller's recent grant-funded events were successful. APCO (public safety officials' conference) in Montreal had 30 people in attendance, and Boxboro had more than 30 people present. The folders he gave out for the first time at APCO seemed to be well received. His new survey for served agencies garnered some good stats to review. Dan began preparing for the next seminar, in Phoenix, and sent materials ahead; 70 people signed up already, to attend. We are inching closer to our CNCS Year 2 goal of emcomm grads as the end of the month approaches -- CNCS grads total 1880. UTC grads total 25 for Level I, 130 for Level II, and 144 for Level III. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer reviewed feedback from the Teachers Institute. Teachers found the experience rewarding and well worth their time; adjustments will result from the lessons Mark learned at the institute. Plaques for the annual awards conveyed at the July Board meeting arrived and have been sent to presenters. Work progresses on the L/C/DSP board; Mark is on track to have them for teachers in September. The next kit is a receiver produced by AmQRP organization; stop by if you want to see this neat little receiver. Mark will develop curriculum for it that looks at the circuit block level down to the component level to make building the receiver a real learning experience. Regulatory Information John Hennessee participated in a NVOAD (National Organizations Active in Disasters) teleconference while Steve was on a Citizen Corps telecon. John reports receiving an increase in questions on Echolink and IRLP. He reviewed the constitutions of clubs seeking ARRL affiliation. He received word that the antenna zoning restriction faced by Ken Claerbout, K4ZW, who is building a station in very rural Maine, was finally resolved through the regional Land Use Regulatory Council. Ken was very appreciative of ARRL support in his case. John assisted an amateur with a local government zoning restriction in Sahuarita, AZ (K7ZY) and assisted amateurs with covenant problems in Annandale, VA (AB4CG) and Lake Wylie, SC (W4LNY). 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW: lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 9/6 Holiday Lisa Kustosik 8/30 Vacation Perry Williams 7/16-9/7 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 8/27-8/29 SW Division Convention, Phoenix, AZ-personal `` 9/8-9/10 US Power Squadron Governing Mtg, JAX, FL `` 9/22-9/24 PacNW Client Visits `` 9/24-9/26 EWA Section Convention, Spokane Steve Ford 8/30-9/1 Vacation `` 9/10 Digital Communications Conference John Hennessee 8/19-8/31 Vacation Dan Miller 8/26-8/29 SW Div Convention, Phoenix, AZ `` 8/30 Vacation Judy Miller 8/26-8/27 Vacation Joel Hallas 9/3-9/7 Vacation Mark Dzamba 8/23-8/27 Vacation `` 9/2-9/3 Vacation Pam Dzamba 8/23-8/27 Vacation `` 9/2-9/3 Vacation Heather Dzamba 9/3-9/10 Vacation Mary Hobart 8/27-8/29 SW Division Convention Danny Sayad 9/3 Vacation " 9/17 Vacation Joel Kleinman 8/27-9/1 Vacation Dan Henderson 8/23-8/27 Vacation Wayne Mills 8/23-9/3 Vacation Steve Ewald 8/26 Vacation Kathy Capodicasa 9/7-9/13 Vacation Lisa Tardette 8/30 Vacation Mark Spencer 8/27-8/30 WV Convention Rose-Ann Lawrence 9/3 Vacation Joe Carcia 8/27pm Vacation