The meeting was called to order at 8:35 A.M. EST by LARG President Jay Ives, KI4TXP. There were 42 attendees present. Please double-click for pdf of attendance roster.

Minutes from the November 2010 meeting (There was no December 2010 Meeting) were approved without change.

Jeff, KE5APC, presented the posted treasurer report. The report included a summary of the 2010 Holiday Party expenses. The Treasurer's report was approved as presented/posted.

The following guests/new members were present:

New Member, Brian Bacon – KJ4ZTP.

Committee Reports

Public Service: Tom Dawson - WB3AKD indicated that he will be stepping down as the ARES EC. Tom thanked Jay – KI4TXP for his support in coordinating several Public Service events this past year. Jay asked anyone interested in the ARES EC position to talk to either Tom or Gary Quinn – NC4S.

Gary Quinn, NC4S indicated that he still has some T-shirts from the Reston Bike Ride to be picked up. Gary indicated if they were not picked up he would donate them to the LARG for possible use as Door Prizes at the next holiday party.

Jay, KI4TXP reported that there were approximately 18 LARG members who supported First Night Leesburg on New Year's Eve. Jay also reminded members that the Leesburg Air Show is currently scheduled for 1 October 2011. There is no activity expected for the LARG until related to planning for the event until approximately July.

Balloon: Tom - WB3AKD, indicated he was still working on a synthesizer for the payload.

Rick Miller, AI1V, indicated he would be giving an overview of our balloon activities to a San Diego, California HAM group which is interested in balloon launching.

Interference: Rick, AI1V, indicated there was nothing to report.

Training: No Report.

Contesting: John - W4AU indicated that there are several upcoming contests. This weekend there is the North American QSO Party (NAQP) - SSB: 1800Z January 15 to 0600Z January 16, 2011. Also there is the Virginia QSO Party (VAQP) upcoming, held during the 3rd full weekend in March, 1800 UTC on Saturday, 19 March 2011 through 0100 UTC on Monday, 21 March 2011. The Contest Committee is proposing to hold 1-3 training sessions to help prepare for the VAQP. More information will be published on the Reflector.

Paul Dluehosh, N4PD, mentioned that the LARG fielded a team for the North American QSO Party, CW Mode on January 8-9, 2011. The members were Paul – N4PD, John – W4AU, Gary, NC4S, and Rick, AI1V.

A motion was made that the LARG should sponsor a $40 plaque for the VAQP with the Contest Committee to determine the best award to sponsor. The motion passed unanimously.

Carol Boehler, KF4TJJ, queried the membership as to who might be operating mobile in the upcoming VAQP.

The Contest Committee is looking to become more formal as well as expanding its membership. All interested parties were asked to contact John – W4AU.

Website: Norm, AI2C, indicated that some email addresses were bouncing and asked members to check a list he had to verify correct email addresses. Also, Norm proposed adding Net Reports to the website and adding Net Activity tracking.

Awards: Norm, AI2C, indicated that the awards committee is still considering how to proceed. The current idea is for 2 awards, 1 for inside Virginia and 1 for outside. The awards committee is still looking for help designing the awards.

Legislation Affairs: Rick, AI1V indicated there are 5 Bills moving through Richmond. All are in committee at this time.

Programs: No Report

Repeater Status:

Dulles Repeater (145.310 MHz - W4DLS Repeater): Frank Gentges – K0BRA indicated that he wasn't aware of any issues. Gary – NC4S indicated he thought the repeater was acting as if it was "deaf" and that on-air meetings had moved away from the Dulles repeater due to the apparent receiver problem. Frank indicated that a trip to the repeater was probably in order for diagnostics and he would try and schedule it.

Leesburg Repeater (146.700 MHz - WA4TXE Repeater): Dave Boltson - WA4TXE, reminded everyone about the new 145.17 Charlestown frequency. Dave said to use the new frequency to program a non standard split with 145.17 Receive and 146.10 Transmit.

Old Business

Denny Boehler, KF4TJI, reminded attendees that he had once again produced a LARG calendar for 2011 and that they were $5 each, with all proceeds going to the club. He also thanked everyone who supplied pictures for the calendar.

New Business

Carol, KF4TJJ, Reminded the membership about the YL Convention to be held July 21-24, 2011 in Quincy, MA. YL members are also selling raffle tickets to support YL scholarships for $1 each.

Jeff, KE5APC, indicated that several of the awarded door prizes from the 2010 Holiday Party were turned back to the club. He is planning on a message on the Reflector to solicit ideas about how best to distribute such items.

Election of new LARG Officers for 2011 was held. The Nominating Committee nominees were:

President: Luther Guise – K5NOB
Vice President: Bryan Stephens – KG4UPR
Treasurer: Jeff Slusher – KE5APC
Secretary: Doug Johnson – KJ4BRN

All votes cast were for the nominees with no write-in candidates.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:47 A.M. EST.

After the formal close of the meeting, Frank Gentges – K0BRA and Bill Fenn – N4TS gave a presentation on surface mount construction techniques.

Respectfully submitted, Dodson B. Brown, AJ4EY, LARG Secretary

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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.