Ladies and Gentlemen: I don't often reopened to anything on the reflector. However, I just couldn't resist. Under Sales and Marketing, we state that our membership is down less than we projected and this is a modest positive event. I content that the only positive event is that we didn't lose any or GOD forbid we actually gained membership Sincerely, Dennis Bodson _____ From: Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ [mailto:lkustosik@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 12:02 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:12097] IN-News IN-Newsletter Vol. 28, No. 15 April 13, 2005 Development The Education & Technology Fund campaign has raised more than $11,000 in the first five days of responses with an average contribution of more than $61. The follow up mailing is planned for the end of April to be sent to four segments of the ARRL membership. One of those segments is members who have received Member Loyalty certificates since last Fall -- a first measure of whether that effort will raise funds for ARRL programs. A grant application was sent to CNCS on April 12 requesting $891,550 over three yeasr to engage disabled citizens in Amateur Radio. The goal of the grant is to license 2500 disabled hams and train them with the Level 1 EmCOMM course, provide each one with a hand-held radio and set up 71 community stations. Key objectives of the program include giving disabled citizens the survival skills of Amateur Radio, employable skills in electronics, a volunteer role as emergency communications volunteers and the integration of disabled hams into clubs and ARES groups. A decision on he grant is expected by fall. The next Legacy Circle newsletter on planned giving is in production. I should be mailed by the end of April. The next campaign in the schedule is the spring Spectrum Defense campaign. Plans for Development's and the ARRL Foundation's presence at Dayton are complete. Media & Public Relations In the past week press release regarding Mike English at Dayton, Kid's Day and hams involved in PA floods was done. Media Hits was done using the new expanded format. Several responses were made to BPL articles. The recruitment for the PR booth at Dayton was continued and the text for the 2004 annual report was 95% completed and sent out for comments. Together with Ed Hare, I participated in the national Yankee Group investment forum on BPL and effectively ended it with the introduction of interference issues. The transition from Bacon's to Burrelles Luce press service is completed and initial reports should be available soon. Production/Editorial The May/June 2005 issue of QEX has been released to the printer. Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 14, distributed to 65,110 ARRL members on April 8. Rick prepared/edited stories on ARRL's reply to oppositions filing, an ARISS school group contact with students in Texas, three stories on Amateur Radio's participation in the TOPOFF3 federal exercise (and a visit to the ARES marshaling area for interviews & photos), SKYWARN activity in MS and several briefs and announcements. He also covered via teleconference an ARISS school group QSO in California, and gathered information for future stories. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for April 8. Sales and Marketing Membership statistic reports for the end of March membership figures were run and distributed. We had planned to be down by 378 from the end of February membership figures. Instead, we were down by only 252. New members recruited during the month of March totaled 738, an increase of approximately 100 more than the past several months. We are finally seeing some larger numbers of new licensees to recruit. For the first quarter, we had anticipated a cumulative loss of 1,397 members through March. Our actual cumulative loss totaled 786. While this positive news is modest, it most certainly is the kind of membership news we have been hoping to be able to give this year. The April membership mailing to 45,000-lapsed General, Advanced and Extra Class Licensees will drop into the mail stream during the week of April 11. Preparations for the 60,000-piece mailing to Technicians with input from an outside consulting firm are also underway. A mail solicitation seeking ads for the New Ham Express was sent to current and potential advertisers on Friday. The 4-color promotional piece included a sample copy of the current New Ham Express. We have already received advertising commitments exceeding $11,000 toward our goal of $49,000. The new edition of New Ham Express will debut in June. Advertising staff is currently working on insertions for June QST. An email solicitation was sent out during the week to present and potential advertisers. The solicitation has already netted two brand new advertisers, one a half-page insertion with a 4 month commitment. The spring/summer edition of the ARRL Publications Catalog is being wrapped up. It leaves for press this week. Harold and Dennis attended the International Wireless Communications Expo in Las Vegas, meeting with existing manufacturers who also do business in commercial communications. Private meetings were held with two manufacturers who are considering entering into totally unique mutually beneficial revenue generating ventures with ARRL. They also met with numerous other firms exhibiting at the conference who could benefit from exposure in our periodicals and publications. National Convention planning update Diane, Sue, and Bob worked together on a trade show display that will serve as a new backdrop for our exhibit at Dayton. The items include a 10-foot "pop-up" display and four 7-foot banner stands. These items use a combination of eye-catching graphics with concise messaging. They will help stop members and prospective-members in their tracks! We have new commitments from some of our business partners to participate with us at Dayton. QST's printer, RR Donnelley, will support a display at the ARRL exhibit that depicts the partnership we have with one of the world's largest printers. Barker Specialty, the company that manages ARRL logo merchandise (sportswear, apparel, and other promotional merchandise) will setup shop within the ARRL sales and membership exhibit area. Most everyone at HQ traveling to Dayton attended a planning meeting Thursday. Topics addressed included the short presentations being prepared for the "ARRL stage," exhibit staffing, and a primer on using the ARRL membership application (copies will be at every exhibit). This year's membership application incorporates enrollment options for ARRL Diamond Club. Membership Services Awards Branch WAS Certs. (600 QSLs F/C) 12 WAS Certs. (500 QSLs ES/C) 10 5BWAS Plaques 4 WAC QSL Cards Checked 84 VUCC Initial Apps. 1 Grids 109 VUCC End. Apps. 1 Grids 10 Replacement Award 1 A-1 Op. Noms. 1 Awards Mailed 13 Also, worked on some LTMA projects (on-going), and compiled the VUCC Award list for June QST. Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-U.S. WAC, VUCC, and WAS in the 90th awards, Extra Class certificates, plus mail out all this week's processed awards. DXCC Branch For the week of: April 10, 2005 Beginning Credits 26,862 Credits Received 8,331 Credits Processed 15,147 Ending Credits 20,046 Applications Pending 206 Processing Time (Conventional) 2.4 Weeks Processing Time (LoTW) 1 Working Day DXCC is currently mailing applications received on March 24, 2005. DXCC is currently entering credits received on March 24, 2005. A nomination request letter has been received from Greece and an invitation for a nomination has been sent to RAAG. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 69,218,964 QSL records have resulted 3,032,680 Logs Processed 113,413 Active Certificates 14,105 Users registered in the system 9,464 Hybrids Pending Mail 41 QSL Bureau Processing time is 9 days from receipt. This week 180 pounds of cards were received from members. Cards mailed as of 04/10/05: 268,450. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW W1AW received as a donation a Vibroplex "Lightning Bug" key, serial number 221897. The donation was made by Dick Pooley, W7HUY. Dick was inspired to make the donation after he and a few of his fellow club members from Washington state operated W1AW. In particular, one of the operators used (for the first time) the Vibroplex key already on hand at the station. Thanks to Steve Ford for his installing at W1AW the latest version of UI-View32 (with Precision Mapping). UI-View32 is an APRS program that is more diverse than what was in use, in this case, WinAPRS. Joe installed a separate program to read the weather information from the Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2000 weather system. This program in turns creates a weather log file that is read by UI-View32 so the station's weather information can be beaconed. With the software loaded, Steve and Joe monitored APRS stations involved in TOP-OFF. In addition to the APRS stations, repeater activity from the affected area was also monitored. And in a similar vein, Joe continued with SCAMP experimentation. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the month of April. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Rosalie compiled information on Tony England for use in a news release about his Dayton appearance. She was asked by the National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) for ARRL participation on their awards committee. She prepared notes on ARES's role in TopOff 3 for NVOAD's records. She and Steve shared ideas on plans for the SM Dayton Forum. ESA taxi astronaut Vittori was trained and is scheduled for two future QSOs. Field Education Team Norm Fusaro networked with a Virginia club trying to revitalize itself by using a Field Day event as the springboard to generate member activity. He worked with Steve and Rosalie on recruiting a club to help with Emergency Preparedness Month (Sept). Norm received follow-up e-mail from a youngster who had expressed interest in ham radio -- the boy set April 21 for his license exam, but wrote to say he already passed El 2 and just missed his 5 wpm CW (and will re-try soon). The Mt Baker ARC in WWA expressed appreciation for ARRL's recognition of their booklet for new hams -- Tom Hogerty posted a version of it to the Web for other clubs to use. Mt Baker ARC had no idea the work would have such an impact, and is pleased. Margie Bourgoin and Norm began developing a checklist for hams starting a new club. Margie updated 40 club records, reactivated 2 clubs, and processed 3 Special Service Club renewals. She also registered one new Volunteer Instructor and 1 new schoolteacher. Margie also assisted Jean by setting up two new Sections for CCE classes and registering the students. She process the graduation of some CCE students. Jean Wolfgang processed 82 mentor recognition checks for March and handled processing of 16 field test students. Jean also worked with CTDLC, our Web host, to solve an ongoing registration problem that she pointed out to them again. She registered 3 new hybrid sections of the Emcomm course. Since the CNCS grant will end in a few months, she is looking at ways to make the transition from the member-only, grant-sponsored courses to the possibility of sections that would be available to non-members. Our next new online course, Digital Electronics, may be available by late May. Jean assisted Rosalie and Mary in reviewing the Technician license course in its availability to disabled folks. Gail Iannone prepared and sent packets containing 8 convention applications and 11 club applications to the Executive Committee for their meeting. She sent 5 hamfest approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Director's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned, and 2 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the EC's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned. She processed 5 handout and door prize orders and 1 label request for upcoming events. She sent Wouff Hong materials for the North Carolina Section Convention, April 17. She sent 3 Charter of Affiliation certificates to newly-affiliated clubs. She arranged for Norm Fusaro to do a talk about ARRL at a French Businessman's Organization in Newington. Regulatory Information John Hennessee is in the beginning stages of locating chapter reviewers for the next edition of the ARRL FCC Rule Book, which will most likely be our "Restructuring edition," making the book a big deal to update. There could also be a new printing or edition before that time, depending on whether the FCC gives us any surprises -- the Omnibus rulemaking could be brought to the table. John also assisted an amateur with a local government zoning problem in Concord, CA (ND6H) and with a covenant problem in Auburn, CA (K7VP). Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project Mark Spencer displayed ARISS and Amateur Radio at the National Science Teachers Association national conference; about 14,000 teachers attended. He has heard back from teachers he talked to about our teacher's institute. A few inquiries about the institute came from Rick Lindquist's web spot. Mark tested the circuit board he designed on transistor amplifier exploration, and has the construction manual in draft form. Mark completed the fox hunt activity project, and started the draft announcement on it. These two projects are the final new additions for this year's institute. Community Education Program Bill Barrett went to El Paso to give his presentation to the area Citizen Corps Council. The number of attendees was small, but they were enthusiastic. And all were already hams! They wore multiple hats -- in most cases 3 to 5, including volunteer fire fighters and EMTs -- and reported that most area volunteers are hams. They said more people would have come to the meeting, but volunteers are being asked to do too much training and too many meetings since 9/11. They like the idea of learning more, but they are just plain tired. Field Organization/Public Service Team We congratulate Connecticut Section Leaders and ARES members and all hams who planned for and supported Amateur Radio's involvement in TopOff3. News stories recounting the activities are on the ARRL Web's New Page. Steve Ewald was in touch with ARES groups and Section Leaders to help gather news and reports about ARES/RACES activation for the flooding in the mid-Atlantic states. He planned for the Section Manager's forum at the National Convention in Dayton. Chuck Skolaut received documentation on an Ohio repeater that is having technical problems, and this has been forwarded to the FCC. The FCC issued another monitoring request that covers a situation on 75 meters for Official Observers to watch for. Good teamwork by Nebraska OOs resulted in a resolution concerning local repeater interference. Chuck participated in a BPL and local interference committee teleconference call with a group in Ohio. Leona Adams received an SM nomination petition from incumbent Western Washington SM Ed Bruette, N7NVP. Over 30 new appointments plus changes and appointment cancellations were registered in the Field Appointment database. Forty supply packages were sent to new appointees, and Leona processed expense reports for SMs. SM election ballots from West Texas and New Hampshire are arriving; May 20 is the deadline to return ballots. EmComm Grants Dan Miller attended the National Hurricane Conference and said it was a great success. Attendance at the ham radio presentations was better than in the past two years. The goal of providing topics and speakers geared to non-hams worked extremely well. The conference was very well attended, and good data was gathered from the 51 surveys received. The Communications Academy in Washington state was successful in its good attendance, both overall, and for the emcomm presentation. Dan began preparing an exhibit for the Ohio Homeland Security Symposium, and forum talk for the National Capital Area ARES Conference. Sincerely, Dave Patton, NN1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer DCP: lk Staff Absentee List Dave Sumner 4/13-4/18 IARU Reg. 1 Conference Preparatory Meeting, Croatia `` 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention Mary Hobart 4/13-4/18 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA `` 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Debra Johnson 5/19-5/23 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/24 Vacation Dennis Motschenbacher 5/19-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Bob Inderbitzen 4/13 Vendor visit-Barker Specialty, Cheshire, CT `` 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Kathy Capodicasa 4/14-4/18 Vacation `` 5/9-5/13 Vacation `` 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Zoe Belliveau 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention Joe Bottiglieri 5/19-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Cathy Stepina 4/4-4/15 Vacation Ed Hare 4/18-4/20 IEEE Chapter Meeting, Chicago, IL `` 4/21-4/22 Vacation `` 4/25-4/29 ANSI Committee Meeting, Piscataway, NJ `` 5/18-5/22 Vacation Mike Tracy 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention Wayne Mills 4/14-4/29 International DX Convention, Visalia, CA & Vacation `` 5/19-5/20 Dayton Hamvention `` 6/22-6/27 Friedrichshafen Bill Moore 4/16-4/18 Section Convention, Raleigh, NC `` 4/28-5/1 State Convention, Birmingham, AL & Vacation `` 5/19-5/20 Dayton Hamvention Dave Patton 5/18-5/23 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/23-5/27 Vacation `` 6/21-6/27 Friedrichshafen Janet Rocco 4/13 Vendor visit-Barker Specialty, Cheshire, CT Rosalie White 4/15-4/17 South Dakota Section Convention Dan Miller 4/18-4/21 OH Homeland Security Symposium, Columbus, OH `` 4/22-4/23 National Capitol ARES Council, Baltimore, MD `` 4/29-5/4 National Disaster Medical System Conference, Orlando FL LouAnn Campanello 4/18-4/22 Vacation Steve Ford 4/18-4/19 Vacation Joe Carcia 4/21-4/22 Vacation `` 5/27 Vacation Scott Gee 5/2 Vacation `` 5/19-5/20 Vacation Joel Kleinman 5/13 Vacation Rick Lindquist 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/23 Vacation Joel Hallas 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention `` 5/23 Vacation