for July 16, 2005
The meeting was called to order at 8:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 16, 2005, by President Carol - KF4TJJ, who then lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance with 32 people in attendance.
Visitors and new members: Warren - AG4EQ and David - KI4JSA were recognized and welcomed by the club.
The June 2005 minutes were read by Secretary David - K4ARP and approved.
The Treasurer's report was read by Gary - NC4S and approved as presented.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Balloon Committee: Tom - WB4AKD No July launch. Denny: KF4TJI is working on the ATV payload and Tom is working on the instrument payload. Tom is looking for a new supplier for the balloon envelope, or looking into the possibility of the club making their own. Next possible balloon launch would be this fall. Tom also tabled the idea of having a Fox Hunt after the August meeting. It would be fun and improve balloon retrieval skills.
Training: Denny: KF4TJI reported that Technician Class is now up to 4 students. There will be another technician class this fall on Friday evenings starting September 16th through November 18th with students already enrolled. Denny would like to thank the club members that have supported the training and Merc - N4TGA for arranging the training room. A General Class is in the planning stages for next spring.
Emergency Services / Public Services: Tom - WB4AKD reminded everyone to listen to the NVTN / Skywarn repeaters a few days before and during any major weather events, such as hurricanes, for EOC traffic. During actual or impending emergencies, monitor 145.31 MHz N4FSC Repeater near Dulles for ARES OPS/ADMIN 146.70 MHz WA4TXE Repeater Leesburg ARES OPS 147.48 Simplex ARES OPS 3947 MHz Old Dominion Emergency Net /ARES OPS Reston Bike Ride August 28th. Planning is underway with Net Control to be located at Gary - NC4S's house, 6 rest stops, 3 Red Cross SAGs, Patrol Bikes on the W & OD Trail and Ham SAGs at the end of the day. There will be a staging area in Leesburg at the Raflo Park to ferry riders back to the Reston Town Center. The operations plan and routes are posted on www.k4larg.org. APRS for the event is being coordinated by Dave - KE4S who plans on installing three temporary Digi's to help provide coverage for the route and requests all SAGs & Bikes to have APRS Trackers if possible. Biker Steve Green would like to barrow a tracker if anyone has a spare.
Tom - WB4AKD has asked that Loudoun County be included for the ARES VA Veterans Patch for participants in the 911 Pentagon and/or Hurricane Isabel events.
H.R. 691. David - K4ARP read the letter received from Congressman Wolf in response to the clubs letter to him supporting H.R. 691. Field Day 2005 - June 25 & 26: Boyd - N5CTI (Field Day Captain) declared the event a success. Banshee Reeks was once again a great site. Special thanks went out to Charlie - K4LJH (Food Captain) for the great food; and to Jacob - K4STK, Dominic - KI4BCR and all the VHF/UHF operators for their great efforts and high score. Gary - NC4S reviewed the club's overall past scores for field day and noted that the number of 5A entries was declining.
FAR: Bill - WF1L and Dick - W2YE had nothing to report, as it is to FAR to drive to go to the meetings. Please support AutoCall by subscribing.
Club Web Site: Norm - AI2C is working on organizing a link on the ARRL web site to give us a national audience. A round of applause rose from the members in recognition to the great job that Norm does on the club's web site. David - K4ARP asked if it was possible to put up a Virtual Trophy page on the club web site to display all the awards to the club and its members. On that note, Larry - K3HE mentioned that the Rust Library has a glass show case that can be used for a public club display.
Interference Committee: Mark - W3ZI brought up an ARRL letter to the FCC reconsidering BPL after a report from the UK. Boyd - N5CI also noted that all BPL technologies are not bad and that the ARRL does support some of them.
Loudoun Amateur Radio Week. Carol - KF4TJJ once again thanked Randy - W4XJ and David - K4ARP for their work on the Loudoun Amateur Radio Week proclamation and noted that there were some more copies of the certificate available if anyone else would like one. Contest Committee: Nothing to report.
OLD BUSINESS
Venture Crew: BA and Bill - K8SYH were not in attendance.
NEW BUSINESS
Constitution. Carol - KF4TJJ led a discussion on the club's constitution to allow for amendments. It appears that the wording in the constitution would only allow for amendments during the January meeting when there is a majority of members physically present to vote. Having more flexibility in making amendments would make it easier to change by-laws, membership categories, etc. Carol suggested that the club form a Amendment Committee to look into this matter, which Bill - W2YE then volunteered to chair.
Sunday Night 2-Meter Net. Carol - KF4TJJ thanked all the members who have been hosting Net Control for the Sunday Night On Air Meetings. See Carol to sign up for future dates.
Larry - K3HE led a discussion on the starting time for the Sunday Night On Air Meetings. A motion was made and passed to extent the start time of the net to 8:30pm (2030hrs) until the switch from EDT to EST this fall. Upcoming events: BRATS July 24th, various area hamfests, Reston Bike Ride August 28th and the Red Cross Ride for the Red October 1st.
Don - KU4WE is having a moving sale. Denny - KF4TGI brought in some of Don's equipment for members to view and provided a list of other equipment available for purchase. Proceeds will be donated to the club.
Gary - NC4S had the entire 2001 year of QST magazines to give away.
August 20th meeting: There will be another event at the church at 11:00am and the club will need to have the room available by that time.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:45am.
David T. Mullins - K4ARP, Secretary LARG
NNNN