The meeting was called to order by President Henry Weidman, K2BFY, at 8:38 am, Saturday, March 8, 2014, at the Leesburg Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at 605 West Market Street, Leesburg, VA. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag to the United States Of America was recited.

Attendance:

1. DENNIS BOEHER KF4TJI
2. CAROL BOEHLER KF4TJJ
3. RICK MILER AI1V
4. DAVE PUTMAN KE4S
5. DICK MAYLOTT W2YE
6. RICK DENNY KR9D
7. DAN DUBRAY KI4RSD
8. DON BAUCOM K4YND
9. KEN SULLIVAN KJ4GYL
10. BOS RODRIGUEZ KJ4NXG
11. MERC SKAGGS N4TGA
12. TIM RUMFOORD KK5WXK
13. MIKE W0DYNSKI K2LEK
14. JUDITH WODYNSKI K4LEK
15. PAUL DLUEHOSH N4PD
16. NANCY DLUEHOSH N4NCY
17. JOHN WESTERMAN W5ODJ
18. DAVID WEND LAND KE4OKY
19. BUD JOHNSON KK4ULA
20. NORM STYER AI2C
21. BEN PACKARD N3FQ
22. STEVE BLANKENSHIP AG4SO
23. BRYAN STEPHENS KG4UPR
24. JEFF CRAWFORD. K0ZR
25. MIKE LONNEKE W0YR
26. FRANK GENTGES K0BRA
27. BEN PEARSON KD7UIY
28. TODD PEPPE KK4MBK
29. LUTHER GUISE K5NOB
30. MELVIN CARPENTER
31. WADE ROBERT KK4WXG
32. BILL ROBBINS KJ4VTH
33. SHANNON KLEE KK4NMR
34. GARY QUINN NC4S

NOTES:

Meeting start March 8, 2014 08:38

Visitors

Tim - KK4WSK
Steve - AG4SO
WADE - KK4WXG

CONTESTING

Mike W0YR - Using K4VV for VA QSO party. Come join in on the fun and use your own Call sign!

NC4S for W4AU - Contesting update - Big contest next weekend is the VA QSO party! Last year came close to 50,000 points of beating #1 and #2 (our nemesis). Let's do it this year. If you have any questions many people can help. Only counts to the club if log files are submitted. N1MM has the fewest errors so it's a good program to use. Cabrilla format is used for form submission. If you are going to use N1MM, remember each county has an abbreviation, open up the band map window choose other and it will list all the county information. Update via the web. Many cities are not in the county list any more. You can go out to VAQP web site and print off the county list. Make sure that you use the proper abbreviation for the county or is probably won't be counted. Starts Saturday morning 1400 UTC (10am to 10pm) then again Sunday from 8am to 8pm. Working Europeans and Russians get good multipliers. The Russians are looking for two things (599 or 59 and a serial number). Don't confuse them with the same exchange in the USA. Boehler's are going mobile again this year.

Mobile stations for VAQP; how to log. use /CTY (county) on the call (e.g., W5ODJ/PRW). There is a lot of confusion on this but the general thinking. /M is the rule on the call. If you are mobile let people know up front so they know how to log.

There was a distinction between "expedition" and "mobile". Expedition used stationary external antenna and mobile is in a system that is "capable of being moved".

On the Russians, if they give you a set of characters for their serial just change it to a number, generally 001, in your own log. Just work them.

Bonus station is K4NVA is worth an extra 500 points. Only need to work once for the extra points. HF only contact. Doesn't work on 2m/440 for bonus.

146.580 is preferred frequency for calling local. Also 223.5 (See official rules)

Anyone with a ham license can get on 10meters! You can get the 500 points using this band.

Chair contest winner: 019; Ken Sullivan

Door prize contest winner: #139, #143 (David Wend), #145 (Shannon Klee)

Boefeng Radio class is being held today.

April Meeting 19 April - Tommy Sheedy will talk about Android software

Field Day June 28, 29

August Reston Bike Ride (please consider volunteering)

September Lovettsville Oktoberfest (please consider volunteering)

Carole YLRL Scholarship Fund. If anyone wants to buy see her afterwards.

Field Day update (David Wend) - We need more people to come out (especially those who are newly licensed). Sort of "competitive" but really it's about fun. Setup and operation spots needed. Breakdown turns out to be pretty exciting too. New thoughts about antenna placement/setup for this year. Suggestions to go from 5A to maybe 7A. Will have a meeting very soon to discuss further. Captain slots are needed. Captains are responsible for their station, recruiting, equipment, etc. It's a leadership position that is really needed to make the event fun and run smooth. Co-captains positions are available too. Just participate. This year the Field Day is on June 28-29. Start setting up on Thursday before Field Day (rule change). Venue for the event will probably at the home of John Westerman, W5ODJ. The committee will decide the final venue.

Last year results:

#1 in Virginia
#1 in class in the nation
#5 over all in the nation
[there is room for improvement] :-)

Ben KD7UIY - HamFinder Android Software update

Applications in general:

• Repeater book - finds close repeaters; filter by band or features; updatable by users
• Ham test prep - Contains all questions for 3 US Amateur Radio tests. Tool he personally used to get General, Amateur and Extra licenses.
• Ham radio HF activity widget - Shows which bands are active, how far QSOs are happening.
• EchoLink - Connect to Echo Link devices via android
• Ham Radio Tools - Simple tools to assist with Amateur Radio lookups. Antenna design formulas. Simple logging features.

"Ham Finder" Application

• Finds your QTH, including county, state, grid square, etc.
• Contains a logging feature.
• Works offline in the USA
• Works anywhere with an Internet connection
• Inspiration

• Virginia QSO party 2014 - On Skyline Drive it's really hard to know what county you are in.
• My phone has a GPS, why can't it know?
• Free features

• Determines county, state, country, dxcc and grid square
• Adjustable GPS position update frequency
• Logs key fields (Call, freq/band, mode, etc)
• Automatically logs location information
• specify a manual location
• maps all your QTHs with logged content
• Paid features

• Export ADIF

• Offline maps for all USA counties, all counts in world
• Ad free
• Planned features

• Support for counties outside of USA
• Incude more counties as supported
• Automatically upload contacts to LOTW, including the correct information.
• Contest specific upgrades gift you the contests.
• Development

• Native Android code
• Java for program, XML for layouts
• Contains about 100 java subroutines
• Lots of hours of development
• Starting Android programming

• learn java or similar language
• Android developer site contains great resources.
• Download Android SDK, Eclipse. Instructions included at above
• Coursera classes - ask Ben for links. See the web site for the latest information on this.
• We need some hams to work the Boefeng students on the air today.

New business - NC4S - Tom Dawson donated stuff in his barn. Found a buyer for the equipment. Donated $80 to the club.

Meeting ended March 8, 2014 09:50

Regards, John Westerman, W5ODJ, Secretary