<<012809.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 32, No. 4 January 28, 2009 -- Covers the period January 18-24. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND The biggest news of the week is that Laura Smith has started work at the FCC as the replacement for Riley Hollingsworth. While we are not certain of her exact title, she is the new primary point of contact for amateur radio enforcement issues. One change in this process will be that instead of her work going through FCC headquarters and the Spectrum Enforcement Division of the Enforcement Bureau, she will be working directly through the various field offices on enforcement actions. N1ND had a good introductory phone call with Ms. Smith during the week. The influx of cellular telephone bills continues, as is expected during this time of year when state legislatures are gearing up. At this time, we are aware of proposed bills in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Texas, Utah and Virginia. We are also aware of a state-level PRB-1 bill in Ohio. There has been a significant change announced by the WinLink Development team in regards to automatic forwarding of messages. On the Amateur Radio HF bands, ONLY manually initiated forwarding will be used worldwide. Paclink will continue to auto forward messages on Telnet and VHF/UHF Packet. This should resolve some questions that have been raised regarding proper control of transmissions and third-party content of messages that apply on the amateur bands. During the week, we responded to the usual assortment of queries on reciprocal operating and licensing issues. Finally, the draft of the 2009 ARRL Field Day packet was prepared and will be edited and finalized during the upcoming week with the goal of having it posted to the ARRL Web on Monday February 2. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Many projects are all going at once in PR thanks to volunteers who are aiding in the processes. Matt Aaron, KG4WXX, is editing the main new PSA for TV while Kevin Pauley, KB9WVI, is working on a spin-off PSA targeted for Field Day. Bill Morine, Jim McDonald, Don Carlson, Khrystyne Keane, Ted Randall, Harold Kramer, and possibly Jeff Beiermann are aiding in the writing and editing of PR-101. Kevin O'Dell, N0IRW, is working on adding a "Hello" presentation to a new edition of Talk on a Disk so we have all three main themes on it. Meanwhile, back at HQ, managers have been asked to start thinking about writing their sections for the Annual Report, Fathom has been contracted to update the graphics and navigation of the initial Hello website, Field Day promotional pieces for PIOs are starting distribution and new members of the PR Committee are being brought aboard. The DTV activity has resulted in many groups getting positive PR (and television coverage!) even while the date for conversion is unsettled. Initial arrangements and plans are being made for both Dayton and attending the NAB plus presenting at the Charleston, SC fest next week. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The ARRL Foundation Annual Meeting was held by conference call on Thursday, January 22, 2009. Actions during the meeting included election of Foundation Officers as follows: President Tom Frenaye, K1KI Vice President Dick Isely, W9GIG Treasurer Jim McCobb, K1LU Secretary Mary Hobart, K1MMH Other action during the meeting included a unanimous vote for the Bill Orr Award in Technical Writing to Larry Scheff, W4QEJ and the approval of two grants to the Venture Crew 47 and the Starke County Amateur Radio Club. Reports were received from the Scholarship Committee by tom Comstock N5TC who provided a history of the Goldfarb Scholarship winners and from the Proposals Committee that noted an average annual expenditure of betwee $11,000 and $14,000 on grant awards. Development contribuions through January 24 include $14,178 from 69 Diamond Club contribtuions, more than $12,000 to Spectrum Defense and more than $22,000 for Education. Preparations are being made for the annual mailing of Member Loyalty certificates and pins. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 28, No. 3, for January 23, 2009. She also produced and voiced ARRL Audio News for January 23. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Publication and product sales had topped $200,000 as we entered the final week of the month (combined direct and dealer sales). An email promotion was sent on Friday, generating $17k in orders over the weekend. We are developing a new affiliated hamfest incentive. Rather than sending free books as door prizes, we will soon be sending gift certificates to affiliated events, redeemable online for ARRL publication purchases. This plan should help reduce shipping costs and generate additional attention for ARRL and the online store. New artwork was produced to help refurbish the 10-foot tradeshow display. The same artwork will serve our planning to help develop some smaller tabletop displays. A membership solicitation will soon mail to non-member ARRL VEs. There are also plans to mail a solicitation to upcoming license expirees, encouraging ARRL membership and license renewal assistance. The mailing should drop in late-February. The first "ARRL Tour Guide" training session was held. Special thanks to Bob Allison and other staff throughout the building that helped offer encouragement, information and their enthusiasm during this training. A second group will have their training this week. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 832 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 944 membership premiums, and mailed January QST supplements Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ March 2009 QST left for the printer, including four new advertisers. Our recruitment efforts brought in Luso Tower, Hamtronix, Harvest Electronics and Scorpion Antennas. We also welcome the following companies back for varying limited QST runs: Kuhne Electronic GMBH, Lido Mounts, E-Z Hang, Distronix and Superberta.com LLC. A QEX and NCJ advertising promotion was sent during the week to all ARRL advertisers. QEX Cover 3 which had been relinquished this month by Tokyo Hy-Power, has been taken for a one-year commitment by HamCity. Although we had partially filled the ARES E-Letter with advertisers, we still had several ad spots still unsold. A promotion was sent during the week (now that we have the first HTML newsletter, including advertising), showing the actual E-Letter. Two spaces were sold, one to Gamma Research and the other to HamCity. In addition, from the promotion, we have two serious inquiries on the last remaining spot. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch Logs for the ARRL 10m and 160m contests have been turned over to the log checkers. Logs Received status: RTTY Roundup: 1,471; Deadline is February 2 January VHF: 386; Deadline is February 18. The certificates for the 2008 January VHF contest went out the door last week. Unfortunately, due to a corrupted database (and unsuccessful patch thereof), the certificates went out the door without the name of the event. Replacement certificates have already been shipped, and the database issue has been addressed. Next certificates to go out the door will be the 2008 ARRL DX Contest. W1AW Thanks to Sean Kutzko, KX9X, for operating W1AW in the CQ World Wide 160-Meter CW Contest. He made 140 QSOs, with 38 sections worked (out of a total 63 sections) for an initial claimed score of 13,243. Joe created the texts for the February W1AW Qualifying Runs. He processed one Qualifying Run certificate. Joe also updated the web QR schedule. On Inauguration Day, Joe checked into the MARS net that was activated for the celebration. He used ARRL MARS callsign AAN1ARL. Joe and Greg Kwasowski also reinstalled the K9AY 160-meter receiving loop for the CQ WW 160-Meter contest. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the latter part of the month of January and early February. Field Organization/Public Service Team Dean Feken, KL7MA, of Perry, has been appointed as Oklahoma Section Manager by Dave Patton, NN1N, Manager of ARRL Membership and Volunteer Programs. Dave consulted with ARRL West Gulf Division Director Dr. David Woolweaver, K5RAV, and received a recommendation from outgoing Oklahoma SM John Thomason, WB5SYT, who has just been appointed as Vice Director of the West Gulf Division. Steve Ewald and Leona Adams have been in touch with Dean, KL7MA to help with this transition. Leona has also been organizing Section Manager budget records and sending out supplies to new Field Organization appointees. Section Manger election ballots for North Texas and Arizona sections continue to arrive. Members have until February 20 to return ballots. Chuck Skolaut, who handles the administrative duties of the ARRL International Humanitarian Award, learned that the Board of Directors have voted to honor the Amateur Radio operators of the Sichuan Radio Sports Association, the Chinese Radio Sports Association and many operators from around China with the 2008 Award. The Amateur Radio operators in China provided assistance to victims of the May, 2008 earthquake centered in the Wenchuan area of Sichuan Province. One radio amateur from Eastern Massachusetts became certified as an Official Observer, and two radio amateurs became members of the ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch. One is from New Jersey and the other from California. Official Observers in Eastern Massachusetts are checking on improper operation of a 6 meter beacon, and Intruder Watch monitors have noted a Spanish broadcast station on 18.144 MHz, Spanish-speaking stations on 14.006 MHz, and "numbers" station on several 80 meter frequencies. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List Leona Adams 2/20 Vacation Scott Gee 3/4-3/6 Vacation `` 4/15-4/17 Vacation `` 4/27-4/28 Vacation `` 5/14-5/15 Vacation Mike Gruber 2/27-2/28 Vermont State Convention, Colchester VT Dan Henderson 4/10-4/12 North Carolina State Convention, Raleigh, NC Mary Hobart 2/13-2/15 Southeastern Division Convention, Orlando, FL `` 5/5-5/9 ARRL DX Phone, Cuacao Harold Kramer 3/5-3/10 Vacation Brennan Price 1/26pm-1/29 Fairfax Office `` 2/2-2/7 ITU Radiocomm. Advisory Group, Geneva Dave Sumner 1/29-2/2 Vacation `` 2/6 Vacation `` 2/27-3/2 IARU Reg.1 EC Meeting, London England