<<111908.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 31, No. 47 November 19, 2008 -- Covers the period November 9-15. Upcoming Meetings and Events Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections November 21 in Newington, CT Administration &Finance Committee November 22 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND For the weeks ending November 7 and November 14 we spent a significant amount of time on PAVE PAWS issues. It was discovered that up to twenty four 70 cm repeaters in California were on the air and pending coordination with NARCC but had not appeared on the NARCC database being used by the Air Force. A list of these repeaters was provided to the Air Force. We also raised the question of apparent problems with some identification of several repeaters in the latest Air Force testing, and requested help from Air Force Spectrum Management on ensuring that proper identification standards be used in the future. We also accepted the Air Force's offer of providing the ARRL with the audio recordings used to make the identification of involved repeaters (fulfillment of the offer is still pending). On November 12th Ed Hare from the ARRL Lab and I met with Bob De Mattia, K1IW, and Lou Harris, N1UEC, of the New England Spectrum Management Council on PAVE PAWS related concerns around the Cape Cod radar site. The session included working with the NESMC officials on how to run Longley-Rice calculations and the parameters that ARRL was using to make them as accurate as possible within the scope of the information which ARRL has. We were also made aware of a conflict between the repeater coordinating and packet coordinating groups in Northern California over coordination of D-Star systems. As per ARRL policy, we will not get involved in regional disputes on coordinating issues. We were contacted with a similar request involving coordination within the SERA coordinating territory and will not become involved in that dispute either. Reciprocal operating information requests came in from groups headed to the Bahamas, Ecuador, Barbados, as well as several individuals coming to the US. We also handled numerous member queries on the IBEC / IBM proposal on BPL. Finally, we spent time working with the Contest Branch on several database projects. Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP Shooting for a new video PSQA featuring technology and ham radio has been delayed due to illness of the videographer. The impromptu contest to see which PIO could come closest to guessing the figures sent by staff regarding the cost of equipment and training for ARES on an annual basis resulted in James Johnson, KI4TAT, coming closest and preparing an article on the real value of hams to the communities they serve. (He won a PR for Dummies book) A press release regarding Skywarn Appreciation Day went out and will be sent out again as the date gets closer. Concern was raised when it was found that the State of CT apparently has regulations that anyone offering or installing TV reception equipment for others apparently needs to be licensed. This puts the volunteer actions of hams in aiding elderly with the digital conversion boxes into some question. While so far we only have the response of the CT Dept of Consumer Protection to this issue, other states may have similar laws and ham groups, no matter how well meaning, should be wary. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The 2009 Defense campaign is picking up. Contributions through Nov 18 total more than $43,000 from 559 donors for a solid average contribution of $77. The follow up to major donors was mailed Nov 17 and to Major prospects on Nov 18. Thanks to Bob Inderbitzen for his help in sending out an email message to ARRL members regarding the Spectrum Defense Fund. The proceeds of the Gilbert Scholz Estate in the amount of $33,024 were received on November 13. This contribution brings the ARRL Endowment revenues for 2008 to more than $734,000. A correction to last week's In-News: The third partial distribution from the Stoner Estate was $5,405. The total number of bricks in the Diamond Terrace now totals 521. 33 new bricks were installed on November 18. Solicitation letters to 271 lapsed Diamond Club members were prepared to mailing to encourage renewals by year end. Activity reports on the 2008 Teachers Institutes from Mark Spencer, WA8SME, Education & Technology Coordinator were mailed to 12 key donors to that project. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The January 2009 issue of QST has been released to the printer. A reprint of the EmComm Level 3 Coursebook has been released to the printer. Steve Sant Andrea completed the EmComm Level 1 course. Khrystyne Keane took part in the Phone Sweepstakes effort from W1AW over the weekend. Khrystyne also wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 45, for November 14, 2008. She also voiced ARRL Audio News for November 14. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R At the end of October, membership totaled 154,252 (start of year 153,535). We are at the highest membership since 2003 levels. October product sales were $290,446. The sales forecast was $381,840. YTD, we are ahead of forecast by $184,989. As reported last month, we booked over $50,000 of 2009 Handbook sales in September, rather than in October where these first sales were forecast. The book was early by a couple of days, and we opted to fulfill back orders during the last two days of September. The remainder of the negative variance, about $41,000, is largely associated with lower sales of the new edition Handbook. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 847 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 512 free book membership premiums, and sent October QST mailing supplements. They also processed about 75% of the ARRL online auction items. Gail Iannone has taken over the administration of Silent Keys. She is responsible for updating membership records and compiling the monthly Silent Key column for QST. Please forward all applicable SK correspondence to her attention. A Holiday Shipping schedule has been posted online along with a Holiday Gift Guide. Please take a moment to review this new section of the online catalog. Pricing for shipping services will change on Sunday, Jan. 18, as announced by the US Postal Service Board of Governors. The changes apply to Express Mail, Priority Mail, Parcel Select, Parcel Return Service and some international shipping products. Overall, shipping services prices will increase an average of 5 percent. The new prices are available at www.usps.com/prices. Here are the average increases: Priority Mail up 3.9%, Express Mail up 5.7%, Parcel Select up 5.9%, Parcel Return Service up 5.3%, International Shipping up 8.5%. We started making outgoing calls to lapsed members on Wednesday, November 19, soliciting membership. The effort supports a trial program using the services of a professional telemarketing firm here in Connecticut. Calls are being made to members who have lapsed within the last 18 months. After we complete this trial, we will evaluate its effectiveness and proceed from there. Business Services Reported by Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ Two new advertisers, prospects who received one of our mass solicitations, begin advertising with the January issue of QST. Telewave, Inc. has signed a 6 month contact for a 4-color, quarter page ad in each issue. Integral Media, Inc. will display a full-page, 4-color advertisement in January QST. We are still working out a rotation for future ads. 2009 Advertising proposals have been sent to all advertisers whose contract terms are due to expire. Our most recent advertisers who have responded with a slightly higher level of advertising in 2009 are Alinco and Marsh Affinities. Staff is currently working on an advertising solicitation to all World Radio advertisers who are not already current ARRL Advertisers. Our offer will include a small incentive depending on the length of a contract. New Year's advertising solicitations are also in the works for QEX and NCJ. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch Sweepstakes Phone is now history. Participation seemed extraordinarily high and Clean Sweeps were plentiful. We did a great job of promoting this year's event from several different sources and it seems to have paid off. We had received almost 600 logs via email less than 12 hours after the end of the event. W1AW Thanks to ARRL staffers Sean Kutzko, KX9X, Mary Hobart, K1MMH, Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA, and visiting operators Ward Silver, NØAX, Katie Breen, W1KRB, Dwayne Allen, WY7FD and Vincent Sgroi, K1RM for their operating W1AW in the 2008 ARRL November Phone Sweepstakes. They made 1,667 QSOs with all 80 ARRL/RAC sections for an initial claimed score of 265,120. The 2008 Autumn W1AW Frequency Measuring Text took place on Wednesday, November 12 at 9:45 PM EST. The test consisted of two audio tones (of unknown frequency) being sent on W1AW's 80 and 40 meter "digital" frequencies. The two tones were spaced less than 1 kHz apart and were sent separately, each in 10-second intervals. The object of the FMT was for participants to measure the two tones. As with the last two FMTs, participants can use a web-based form to input their measurements. Mike Fahmie, WA6ZTY, also ran a West Coast version of the test immediately following W1AW. (His audio tones were of different frequencies, but he used W1AW's 80 and 40 meter digital frequencies.) The results of this FMT will soon be available on the web at http://www.b4h.net/fmt/index.php. Matt Strelow, KC1XX and Andrew Toth, both of XX Towers Inc., were on hand Wednesday, November 12 to perform some maintenance work and antenna/tower inspections at W1AW. (They also did some antenna work for W1HQ.) In addition to the inspections, they replaced the antenna pulleys on each tower; replaced the hardware on the North tower side-mounts; removed the turnstile antenna from the North tower; installed a counter-weight on the Satellite antenna array; installed a side-mount on the Satellite tower for the K9AY loop antenna; replaced two coaxial pigtails; and made a small repair to the 160-meter dipole. Joe prepared the frequency measuring and audio equipment for the 2008 Autumn FMT. He worked with the XX crew with the repairs. Joe created a draft of the 2009 W1AW and West Coast Qualifying Run schedules. He completely reorganized Studio One to make it more "contest-friendly". Joe also ran additional cables to Studio One for receive-only antennas. He built a simple keypad for use with the Icom IC-7700 internal voice keyer. Joe also performed an equipment swap and repair on the Harris broadcast equipment used on 15-meters. Field Organization/Public Service Team Three radio amateurs from Western Washington completed certification to become Official Observers this past week. The digital signal reported on 14.325 MHz during recent operations of the Hurricane Watch Net was confirmed by the FCC as originating in northern Russia, and it is permissible. Several more reports of improper operation on 14.275 MHz were received by Chuck Skolaut and passed on to the FCC. The monthly Intruder Watch newsletter was received from Region 1. Intruder reports included an OTHR on 21.010 MHz and several reports of the Russian single-letter beacons on 40 meters. Incumbent Wyoming Section Manager LeeAnne, WY7DTW, has been nominated to run for a new term of office beginning April 1, 2009. Leona Adams has been handling many Section Manager expense report forms and keeping track of section budgets, and the Field Organization Team is preparing to count SM election ballots on November 18 for five contested elections. Steve Ewald has been working with Dave Patton on some assignments for the Programs and Services Committee. Editorial work on the Public Service column and the Field Organization Reports for January QST was almost wrapped up by the end of the work week. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ The Digital Emergency Communications CE course was wrapped up, sent to production and is now in stock for shipping. The supporting product notes page has been posted. A newsletter to Instructors and Teachers was produced and sent to 7,508 subscribers. There have been 415 classes listed on ARRL's website with scheduled start dates through October. Classes listed this year include 49 scheduled in California, 29 in Ohio, 35 in Washington, 59 in Texas, 22 in Virginia and 26 in Pennsylvania. An ethics policy has been developed for the Continuing Education Program and the Mentor Guide for online mentors revised. Both will be published to the web soon. YTD CEP course enrollments are up overall, 16% over 2007. Total EmComm enrollments online are slightly lower. October is the first month that reflects the loss of the Level 3 EmComm courses, which YTD has averaged 13 enrollments per month. Technician licensing is going strong with several group enrollments added during the past two months. Greater focus on promotion of the technical enrichment courses seems to be boosting enrollments in these courses. Total enrollments in the technical courses (excluding the licensing course) are up 19% over 2007. Sep Oct YTD 2008 YTD 2007 EmComm (all levels) 124 119 1049 1068 Technician Licensing 73 52 570 507 All other courses 23 25 259 217 Total 220 196 2074 1792 In addition, YTD we have processed over 500 EmComm exams given in the field. Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer, WA8SME reports that he obtained a VR5000 receiver from a Yaesu vendor to evaluate the receiver for possible use during the TI-2. The preliminary review of the receiver is that it will meet the needs of the TI-2 curriculum. There has been a significant up-tick in requests for information and support from the general ham population on satellite antenna control systems, probably in response to the recent ISS operations. There also has been a significant up-tick from overseas hams and people in general from overseas also on the satellite antenna control interfaces but also requests for detailed information on the seismometer projects posted on the web and used by the ETP. Many of these requests are coming from graduate students exploring assignment and project ideas. Surprisingly these types of requests are coming more frequently from schools overseas than US schools. Also, for some unknown reason, there has been an up-tick in interest in some older ETP projects that have been posted on the web, in particular the no-solder projects. Mark made a site visit to Reno NOAA Weather Service to explore that location as a possible site for the TI-2 this summer. There are some problems with the location, so an alternative location will also be pursued. The TI schedule is in final draft. The hosts are confirmed and are on-board and ready to help. We have received a record number of grant applications for the November round of ETP grants. ARISS Rosalie continues to send reports received from members who were thrilled with the various on-the-air ARISS activities Richard Garriott performed for 12 days. His educational actions garnered a lot of media attention. Orono Middle School, one of our ETP schools, snagged a QSO with Garriott. Teacher Richard Glueck, wrote,"I firmly believe that while some modern kids take space flight and satellites for granted, that ARISS is a good thing, amateur radio is the most significant manner in which teachers can get kids to interact with spaceflight in a personal manner." The ARISS Team estimates that Garriott made over 300 voice QSOs. Our MVP department will provide Garriott with support to issue QSL cards for his contacts. Hams uploaded over 2200 SSTV images to the special web site the ARISS Team developed with an AMSAT member. One of Richard's scheduled school QSOs was with the Pinehurst School in Ashland, OR. The K-8 students learned about the technology of the ISS, history of space travel, and they engaged in amateur radio learning projects, including the building of a turnstile antenna that they used, and the downloading of Richard's SSTV images. Audio of the QSO was available via IRLP and EchoLink. Rosalie was interviewed for over two hours by Ted Randall for his broadcast talk show on The QSO Radio Show. The interview focused on ARISS' educational effects on students, and specifically, what Richard Garriott was doing with schools. AMSAT has worked with the CafePress store, and it is now offering mugs and t-shirts emblazoned with the ARISS logo. Web/Software Development Reported by Jon Bloom, KE3Z Our new Web-based VEC data-entry system has reached the milestone of being tested with "real" data by the VEC department staff. We anticipate beginning to send limited live data to the FCC on Nov 24 and are targeting December 1 for a full switch-over to the new system. During the switch-over period and for a short while thereafter, we will be closely monitoring the data sent to the FCC and the responses from them to ensure that the system is operating properly. Since the inception of our HTML newsletter system -- currently supporting just the ARRL Contest Update -- insertion of ads has been a manual process, with me directly updating database fields to support each issue of the newsletter. To improve on that process and to prepare for the upcoming conversion of the ARES E-Letter to an ad-supported HTML form, I have created a Web administrative tool that will allow the Advertising Department to insert ads directly into the issues. Programming of that tool is complete, and over the next couple of weeks I will train the Advertising Department in its operation and will use the system with upcoming issues, then release it to Advertising. Along with a few other programming tweaks that have recently been made, this will allow both the editorial and advertising elements of the newsletters to be prepared and sent without any direct involvement by IT staff. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 11/27-11/28 Holiday `` 12/25 Holiday Leona Adams 11/21 Jury Duty Steve Capodicasa 11/24-11/26 Vacation Joe Carcia 11/26pm Vacation Steve Ewald 12/1-12/5 Vacation Steve Ford 12/22-1/5 Vacation Scott Gee 12/8-12/9 Vacation `` 12/24-12/26 Vacation Dan Henderson 11/25-12/5 ARI Headquarters Milan/Pescara Convention, Italy `` 12/18-1/5 Vacation Debra Johnson 11/26 Vacation Joe; Kleinman 12/3-12/9 Vacation `` 12/11 Vacation Bill Moore 11/24-11/26 Vacation `` 12/26-1/3 Vacation Brennan Price 11/7-11/25 Vacation Ashley Rakus 11/26 Vacation Dave Sumner 11/10-11/21 IARU Reg.1 Conference, Cavtat, Croatia/Vacation Sharon Taratula 12/24 Vacation