The meeting was called to order at 8:33 a.m. EST by LARG President Jay, KI4TXP. There were 32 attendees present. Please double-click here for the attendance roster.

Minutes from the June meeting were approved as posted.

Jay, KI4TXP, presented the posted treasurer report. The Treasurer's report was approved as presented/posted.

The following guests/new members were present:

Bill Robbins - KJ4VTH, Paul Gerhardt – K3PG and Kenneth Silberman, KB3LLA.

Committee Reports

YL: Carol, KF4TJJ, and Nancy, N1NCY, reminded everyone there would be a YL presentation as part of the August meeting. Flyers were available to be taken to any interested spouses/YLs.

Public Service:

Gary, NC4S discussed the Reston Bike Ride, 22 August 2010. Support operations will be from 0600 to 1700. Net Control for the Bike Ride will be in Hamilton. Gary is looking for someone to take up organizing the Bike Ride for next year. Gary is also looking for operators for Ashburn and Net Control and SAG Riders with APRS. The number of support stations has been reduced from 5 to 3 (Hamilton, Reston, and Ashburn).

Jay, KI4TXP discussed the upcoming Leesburg Air Show. The scheduled date is 23 October 2010, with a rain date of 24 October 2010. Currently it is expected that 15 operators will be required in various roles. More information will be forthcoming.

Tom Carney, WB9RXJ, reported that Fairfax ARES is looking for operators to support the Marine Corps Marathon on 31 October 2010. Information is available at the National Capital Amateur Council web site (http://www.ncacdc.com/) and the Marine Corps Marathon web site (http://www.marinemarathon.com/).

Training: Jay Greeley, KI4UTB, indicated he had been fielding inquires regarding running license training for Boy Scouts in the September-October time frame. In order to accommodate the largest number of scouts, a Friday evening/Saturday day class in October would probably be best. The increased interest in amateur radio by the scouts is because 4 merit badges have been brought back having to do with communications, radio, and signaling.

Public Relations: Jay Greeley, KI4UTB, reported that Field Day got good press coverage. Jay is looking into the possibility of getting a Boy Scout to coordinate the press coverage for next years Field Day.

Interference: Paul, N4PD reported that there were no interference issues to report.

Contesting:

John, W4AU, discussed the slow nature of contesting in the summer months, but did indicate that some contests were ongoing or would be going in the coming months:

- NCJ North America QSO Party (NAQP) RTTY July 17-18, 2010.

- Maryland-DC QSO Party (http://mdcqsoparty.w3vpr.org/) 14-15 August 2010

- VHF QSO Party 11-13 September 2010

- Worked All Europe DX Contest (WAEDC) (http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/waedxc.htm)

- CW: 13-14 August 2010
- SSB: 10-11 September 2010
- RTTY: 12-13 November 2010

John also discussed the World Radio Team Contest, which was held in Russia this time by 50 international teams. Each team is given as identical setups as possible, so that the operators are the distinguishing factor. More information is available at (http://www.wrtc2010.ru/) and (http://www.wrtc.info/).

Awards:

Norm, AI2C, indicated that the awards committee (AI2C, W4AU, KF4TJI, and AI1V) was considering 3 possible awards:

- To encourage people to work LARG members, an award called the "Hunt" could be created for working 100 LARG members. Looking for help on the certificate graphics to make look good.

- An award for working K4LRG 25 times

- An award for new LARG members working other members.

Website:

Norm, AI2C, indicated that there continues to be a backlog of updates: Spring Training Report, Virginia QSO Party 2010, Manassas Campaign Report, and Field Day 2010. The weekly LARG net control station reports and 2010 net rosters on the Announcement Page are being updated several times a week.

Priority remains with Field Day. Photographs have been received from KJ4NXG, KJ4KEI, and KF4TJI. Several others have promised to send photographs including K4FW and K4RWK. All photographs are welcome. A total of 300 are being examined. Photo credit will remain within photo image file name published on K4LRG.ORG. Norm noted that it was great to see Pete McNeil - KF4HCW, our Internet Site Provider, at Field Day.

Legislation Affairs:

Rick, AI1V lead a discussion on a FCC rule change proposed that would allow amateurs to participate in Non-Government-Sponsored Drills by Employers.

"In a Report and Order (R&O) released Wednesday, (R&O http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-124A1.pdf) July 14, the FCC stated that under new guidelines, amateurs employed by non-governmental agencies, such as hospitals, may participate and operate in drills sponsored by their employer. Specifically, the FCC will now permit Amateur Radio operators "to transmit messages, under certain limited circumstances, during either government-sponsored or non-government sponsored emergency and disaster preparedness drills, regardless of whether the operators are employees of entities participating in the drill." More information is expected to be posted on the ARRL Web site (www.arrl.org) and is also available on the FCC website (http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/).

Programs:

Luther, K5NOB, gave an update on the upcoming programs:

August – Presentation on being a YL.

September – Mr. Riley Hollingsworth will speak.

October – Jeff, KE5APC will give a presentation on EchoLink.

Repeater Status:

Leesburg Repeater (146.700 MHz - WA4TXE Repeater): Dave Boltson, WA4TXE, reported on the status of the 146.700 repeater. A change has been made in the cross-channel setup with the addition of an 77.0 Hz PL tone on the output. This is to improve the cross band performance relative to when the carrier drops. Also, there is work underway to move the Sterling remote repeater to the Sterling water tower.

Dulles Repeater (145.310 MHz - W4DLS Repeater): Frank Gentges, K0BRA, briefed that the repeater is showing good sensitivity. There is an apparent intermittent problem of a 60 Hz buzz on the repeater that has not been isolated. The problem may be thermal and will have to be watched.

Field Day:

Rick, AI1V provided some preliminary statistics for our 2010 Field Day:

- 23 Operators
- CW QSOs: 2,255
- SSB QSOs: 1,505
- DIG QSOs: 1
o Total QSOs: 3,761

Points: 6,017 X 2 = 12,034 ~ 13,000 with various Bonuses

Old Business: Jay Greeley, KI4UTB, indicated that the agreement with VFW was still being worked.

New Business:

Jay, KI4TXP, announced that Marcia Brown, KJ4GYH, had agreed to oversee the preparation for the LARG 2010 Holiday Party. Motion was made and approved to again hold the party at the Hamilton Safety Center and the selected date was Saturday, 11 December 2010. John, W4AU called during the discussion and reserved the facility. An additional motion was passed setting the cost per person at $10.

Support to Reston bike Ride: - See the Public Service section in these minutes.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:44 a.m. EST.

After the formal close of the meeting, Luther, K5NOB, introduced Kenneth Silberman, KB3LLA, who gave an overview talk on Handiham. More information on Handiham is available at: http://www.handiham.org/

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.