ARRLWeb: Inside Your League: The Web/Software Development Department

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Inside Your League--The Web/Software Development Department

The recent terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC brought out the best in Amateur Radio. For those who could not be there physically to help, ARRLWeb was their source for information and inspiration. Since 1995 when ARRL first went on line, members have been able to keep up with Amateur Radio developments through the convenience of their home computers. The Web/Software Development Department is the technical group in HQ that creates and maintains this electronic information system.

ARRL communicates to its members: in print--through QST, the official publication of the League; by radio--via W1AW Bulletins; by e-mail--The ARRL Letter, and on the Internet--via ARRL Audio News and ARRLWeb. ARRL Audio News is also available via telephone. Web/Software Development staff participates in all of these activities.

Recently, the Electronics Publishing Branch was renamed the Web/Software Development Department to reflect a shifting of responsibilities. ARRLWeb enhancement and software development will be the prime interests of the Web/Software Development Department. Production Department staff now routinely handles ARRL's CD-ROM products.

ARRL's first venture with the Web was in 1995 when Dave Newkirk, W9VES, put us on line and became our first Webmaster. From the beginning, the purpose of the site was to present a wide variety of topics of interest to hams. Some items were of vital importance, others were items that could affect the future of Amateur Radio, and still others were of general interest or just for fun. The formula is the same today.

Technical Information Service, a function of the ARRL Lab, put their information on the Internet early on. Members could, and still can, find information on almost any topic of interest to hams by reading the TIS pages. Today there are more than 4000 documents posted on ARRLWeb.

Visitors to ARRLWeb were treated to a completely new look beginning October 2, 2000. The new design offers easier navigation and quick access to the most popular pages. In addition to the search engine and site index, there's now a drop-down menu system with links to nearly 100 of ARRLWeb's most popular features. If that seems like a lot of links, remember that there are about 6000 pages and downloadable files available on the site. We served about 31 GB of data in 1996, our first full year of operation. We serve that much data in a week now. ARRLWeb receives about 12 million "hits" per month.

Software seems to be a necessity in almost all of the league's activities. ARRL has, for some time, been creating its own specialized programs. The Volunteer Examiner Department sends its testing data to the FCC by computer, using ARRL-designed software. Past issues of QST, QEX, NCJ and Ham Radio Magazine are available on CD disks that include a viewer program created by ARRL. The Web site hosts dozens of specialized Web application programs.

One example of a Web-based application is the generation of printable certificates. On ARRLWeb, members can get a customized membership certificate and card, Section Managers can get customized field appointments and certificates, and graduates of the Certification and Continuing Education Program can get customized graduation certificates.

A Dynamic Medium

A person interested in learning about Amateur Radio and visiting the site for the first time will find a link, Learn About Amateur Radio leading to a page that reads "This page contains some of the sights and sounds of Amateur Radio." One is invited to listen to an astronaut talking to students via Amateur Radio. The next link takes one to a CW transmission in progress. Although the audio capability is seldom used in conjunction with Web stories, it is available.

ARRL Audio News is comprised of news highlights taken from The ARRL Letter, and is available in RealAudio format and via telephone.

W1AW bulletins are available via e-mail. ARRL Members can register on the members-only area of ARRLWeb and select the categories of bulletins they wish to receive.

Amateurs are now able to use the Logbook of the World program to automate confirmation of QSOs for awards. The Web/Software Development Department will add even more services and more interactivity--dynamic and static. Products and services now under development will be routinely passed down to other departments to administer.

The overriding philosophy of Web development at ARRL is that the site be accessible to as many people as possible. Can you find what you want on ARRLWeb? Is the information there? Over the years members' input has been responsible for changes in the content of ARRLWeb. We welcome your suggestions, too. Send them to webmaster@arrl.org.