The December 4th meeting of the L.A.R.G. was held at The Leesburg Police Station on Plaza St., Leesburg at 8:30 A.M. The meeting was called to order by Norm Styer, AI2C, president. There were 20 members in attendance.

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and a welcome to all newcomers. The Treasurer's Report was given by Dale Cabaniss, KD4LSL. He reported a balance of $460.15. The Secretary's Report was read and accepted.

OLD BUSINESS

Training Committee

Paul, N4PD, chairman of the Training Committee said the General training class just ended with three of the students from the class having passed the General Class written test. Paul also announced his resignation from his position as chairman after three years.

Balloon Committee

Tom Dawson, WB3AKD, chairman of the Balloon Committee, said the transmitters will be ready in January. Right now the committee is planning 3 different launches: a plain launch, a particulate launch and a photographic launch. A mid-January launch is scheduled for the plain launch. Paulson is working on the controller. Gary Quinn, NC4S, and Tom Carney, WB9RXJ, are working on other things. The particulate project has been pushed back at this time while the photographic project has been pushed into the foreground with Bob Bee, W4POF, working on this project. If a photographic launch is scheduled, the club will need to purchase a 600-gram balloon to do this.

Tom said he is open to suggestions for future launches but says it takes a minimum of 6 months to get a payload together. Norm suggested we use a higher frequency, such as 1296 MHz, for our next launch.

Attenuators

The club will meet at Dennis's (KF4TJI's) after the January meeting to assemble attenuators.

Constitution Committee

No vote was taken on the proposed changes to the constitution because a quorum of members was not present.

K4LRG Website

Paul, N4PD, has contacted Pete for an access code to the web site so both he and Pete can make changes to the website.

Newsletter

John, W4AU, reported that he now has 40 hard-copy newsletters to send, down substantially from before, as so many members now receive their copy on e-mail.

Contest Committee

In the Pennsylvania QSO Party Bill Buchholz, K8SYH, John Unger, W4AU, had clean sweeps. Next weekend is the 10 M Contest. We came in third in this contest last year.

Gary, NC4S, suggested a "mystery fox" club contest for one year starting in February. More details will follow.

JOTA: Jamboree on the Air

Norm, AI2C, gave a report about the recent Boy Scout JOTA which our club participated in. He thanked those involved: Larry, KG4CGR, Dennis, KF4TJI, Bob, W4POF, Tom NA4MA, and Paul, N4PD.

First Night Leesburg

Paul, N4PD, showed the First Night Leesburg poster and said the call buttons the club used last year on First Night were still good. He asked how many were planning on coming to First Night and asked that those coming bring earphones and call buttons if they still had them.

Nominating Committee

The nominating committee said they have a new slate of officers and they will announce them in the newsletter and voting will take place at the January meeting.

Upcoming Events

The Christmas Party will be held on December 9, 1999 at the Laurel Brigade Inn at 6:30 P.M.

Appropriations

Money was approved for a mailbox for next year.

Club Presentation

Norm gave an emergency preparedness presentation.

The next meeting of the LARG will be held on Saturday, January 15, 2000 at the Leesburg Police Station.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nancy Dluehosh, KE4RTP, Secretary

January 15, 2000

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