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ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up To Lately?

By Dave Hassler, K7CCC
Assistant News Editor
January 31, 2003

This feature is a monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of January.

ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist John Hennessee, N1KB, assisted members in Washington with zoning questions and in Tennessee with covenant concerns, helped with a local antenna restriction problem in New York and discussed a possible PRB-1 codification in Utah with Section Manager Mel Parkes, N5UVP.

The DXCC Branch plowed through a mountain of QSL cards, returning 23,490 cards, while 18,605 more came in.

The Contest Branch dove into logs from the height of contest season, with data entry completed for the 2002 EME contest, 160-Meter Contest, 10-Meter Phone and November Sweepstakes paper logs.

ARRL's Information Services Department, Mail Room and Development Office generated and mailed over 2800 acknowledgment letters and certificates for those who contributed to the Defense of Frequencies Fund and Diamond Club campaigns.

Distribution of the ARRL Letter continues to grow. Senior News Editor Rick Lindquist reported a new peak of 65,609 recipients with the January 17 issue.

As of January 19, the ARRL QSL Service had shipped out 90,600 cards to foreign destinations.

ARRL Emergency Communication Course Manager Dan Miller, K3UFG, added a new "Hybrid CNCS-Sponsored EmComm Class" Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file to the ARRL Web site.

ARRL Field and Regulatory Correspondent Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, certified two new Official Observers. Interference to running nets and inappropriate language has cropped up on specific frequencies on the 75 and 20 meter phone bands, Skolaut said, and interference problems near 14.275 MHz and in the Midwest with regard to 146.520 FM simplex operation are also being monitored.

The ARRL High Speed Multimedia Working Group posted a new FAQ on the ARRL web site covering background, initial approaches to the new technology, documentation and a large number of Web links.

ARRL HQ staff is preparing for distribution a new video presentation, Amateur Radio Today, that tells Amateur Radio's public service story to nonhams and focuses on emergency communications. It is narrated by former CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD. ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, introduced the video at the January Board of Director's meeting.

ARRL Education and Technology Program Coordinator Jerry Hill, KH6HU, discussed equipment needs with each of the schools in the ARRL Education and Technology Project. He teamed up with ARRL Development Director Mary Hobart, K1MMH, to attend a Newington (CT) Education Foundation lunch, and later joined F&ES Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, to talk to the president of the Connecticut Science Fair Association about sponsoring two awards for middle schoolers.

A number of ARRL HQ staffers and others spent several weeks alpha testing Logbook of the World (LotW), ARRL's secure electronic contact-confirmation system. Testers checked out a preliminary version of the LotW software, helping to ready the package for a beta test later this year.

ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Program Assistant Jerry Ellis, WS1K, posted new sessions of the Level II EmComm and Antenna Modeling classes for registration.

Five years in the planning, The ARRL Foundation announced the Goldfarb Memorial Scholarship, a full, four-year undergraduate scholarship. The new award is the result of a $1 million endowment from the late William Goldfarb, N2ITP, in memory of his parents, Albert and Dorothy Goldfarb.

Field and Educational Services Assistant Linda Mullally, KB1HSV, noted that there has been "a barrage" of requests for the new youth-oriented "Leap into Amateur Radio" brochure.

The new ARRL on-line RFI Course (EC-006) opened for registration January 27, said ARRL C-CE Program Coordinator Howard Robins, W1HSR.

Gail Iannone, Convention Program Manager, sent out letters sanctioning 43 hamfests and six conventions.

ARRL Media Relations Manager Jennifer Hagy, N1TDY, worked to make available a teen-oriented Amateur Radio video public service anouncement, originally produced by the San Francisco chapter of the International Television Association. The PSA is in Beta-SP format and is available by request.

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