The meeting was called to order by Bill Buchholz, K8SYH, at 8:38am.

Bill welcomed visitors and new members.

A motion to approve minutes as posted on the Reflector passed.

The Treasurer's report was also posted on the Reflector

• All Field Day and Balloon expenses are paid up.
• $2,500 in the bank with $393.84 in Balloon Fund.
• Two new members since the last report.
• The Treasure's Report passed.

Emergency Service/Public Service – Tom Dawson

• EOC meeting

     o Cable has been pulled for ham stations
     o ICOM 706 for HF / 2810 for VHF/UHF provided for operations
     o Next task is terminating cables and install equip.
     o Work parties will be starting soon
     o Discussion about MOU with State EOC and liability coverage
     o Credentials for Emergency Services discussed. Checking to see if County can issue ID cards for operators.

• Reston Bike Ride, August 24 – Gary NC4S

     o Next meeting tomorrow at Reston Library
     o Only have three rest stops this year and have changed the route.
     o Need more sag riders and net control operators
     o On-air meeting tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evening.

• Marine Corps Marathon, Oct 26 – Rick AI1V

     o Now taking volunteers online
     o Great opportunity to see a big operation

Balloon Committee

• Recent balloon launch

     o We had a flight of 75,000 ft and the balloon was retrieved.
     o The flight was successful!

• Future activities

     o Denny, KF4TJI, suggested having an antenna "shootout" to determine accuracy.
     o Tom suggested doing this at Summit Point, putting a payload up on a mountain and check bearings.

Interference Committee – no report

Training Committee – Steve Reed, KW4H

• The September Class is coming soon

     o 9-10 volunteers are now working on this
     o Food available and there will be a charge to
     o 20 students are now confirmed. We should expect more after Labor Day
     o We can handle up to 100 students at the VFW facility.

• First instructors' meeting will be held this coming Thursday at 7pm at the VFW Hall. We will use the same basic material as last time.

Field Day 2008 Report – Gary Quinn, NC4S

• This was a great Field Day in terms of fun and performance.

• Goals were set for the club were reached

     o Safety – no injuries were reported
     o New skills were learned
     o Fun - When we got to the site, we had unexpected problems and were able to turn things around
     o Asked for 3,300 QSO's

        Wanted phone to double performance – 804 to 1, 913
        Score better than 12,000
        Top ten in Country
        Second in category
        QSO total was 4,299
        Score 15,020
        There is a good chance we made both goals for top ten and second in category.

• GREAT JOB, L.A.R.G.!!!

• Special recognition Certificates were distributed

     o Jeff Slusher – for working with the County toward gaining permission
     o Randy Sly for public relations and publicity
     o Recognition of stations captains – Rick, KR9D; John, W4AU; Frank, K0BRA were present. Also recognized – Norm, AI2C.
     o Anna, daughter of KU1T contributed 36 of your 68 contacts at the GOTA station.
     o Charlie, K4LJH and Mary for exceptional work in food service.
     o BA Buchholz, for providing Sunday morning breakfast
     o John Unger, W4AU, for above and beyond the call of duty.
     o Dodson, AJ4EY, for setting up the GOTA station and setting a new standard for excellence in Amateur Radio education. He also held a special training class on soldering which gave us extra points.

• John Westerman, WB5ODJ, has already volunteered his site for next year. Discussion about what to do with Banshee Reeks

Contest Committee – John Unger, W4AU

• Please remember that contest season is just over the Horizon
• Worked All Europe was last weekend.
• October – LARG is planning another operation for the PA QSO party

OLD BUSINESS

DARG Repeater Report – Frank Gentges, K0BRA

• We still have a new antenna and feedline to put up at the site. Possibly, this fall will be a good time to replace equipment.

• We have a backup repeater in the works. The original repeater is quite old.

Club Organization

Jay Ives, KI4TXP, will be presenting a report on 501.c.3 status at the September meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

Holiday Party

• Meg announced that, due to personal schedule, she will not be able to give leadership to the Holiday Party this year.

Reston 440 Repeater Activity

• Rick, AI1V, talked about the 440 repeater in Reston.

• He is requesting that this repeater activity be added to the club for insurance purposes.

• Motion to issue certificate of insurance was moved by Rick, KR9D and seconded by Gary Quinn, NC4S. Motion passed unanimously.

Our program for the day did not show up.

Meeting adjourned 9:35am by the President.



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A reminder to all about Holy Trinity's inclement weather policy: if Loudoun County Schools are closed (or would be if it were a school day), all activities at the church are cancelled – this includes outside groups. This policy allows for parking lot clearing so snow is not packed down; and it is also a safety issue.