The LARG Radio News

The Loudoun Amateur Radio Group, P.O. Box 1004, Purcellville, VA 20134

	President	Gary Quinn (NC4S)	(540)882-3017
	Vice-President	Norm Styer (AI2C)	(540)338-2584
	Secretary	Nancy Dluehosh (KE4RTP)	(703)771-9284
	Treasurer	Dale Cabaniss (KD4LSL)	(540)338-3521
	Editor	John Unger (W4AU)	(540)338-4620

March Club Meeting Report

We set a modern-day record of sorts at the March meeting with 22 people present; I'm sure that Tony appreciated the business, since he is not normally open Saturday mornings. LARG finally has it's very own QSL cards for K4LRG, thanks to Dennis, KF4TJI. Everyone who attended the March meeting was rewarded with their own copy of this nicely designed card. Keeper of the QSL cards will be Gary, NC4S, who, by the way, is also the trustee for the K4LRG club callsign. Temp, W4HZV, provided the club with an interesting demonstration of HF digital packet amateur communication using his equipment and Wes's, WA4TSC, mobil antenna outside in Tony's parking lot! Temp successfully hooked up with an HF email site in Indiana without once having to speak into a mic or touch a key. It was all done from the computer's keyboard!

April Club Meeting Notes

We will be discussing the arrangements for this year's Field Day activities. We have again gotten permission from the town of Leesburg to use Ida Lee Park, as we have for the past 4 years. Tentative plans are for participating in the 3A category as we did last year, but we need to discuss this and other plans in the light of recent changes in the Field Day rules. We will also have a short "debrief" of our participation in the recent VA QSO Party, both individually and as a club entry. Participants will be asked to tell about one or two things that they did "right" in the contest and one or two other things that they didn't do or did "wrong". This process should help make our efforts next year even better.

Club News

Included with this month's Newsletter is a copy of the 1998 LARG Club Membership listing, which includes paid up members and new hams and those regulars who we think will come across with their dues before the year is out. The small "x" in front of each name shows who has paid up their dues through March.

Congratulations to John, W4AU, his score of 1,274,102 and 934 QSO's earned him 8th place in the coveted "Top Ten" box for the U.S. in the Tribander/single element category of the CW portion of the 1997 CQ WPX contest.

A NEW CONTEST: Now that this Newsletter has an editor, it needs a name. Communicate your ideas for a name to the editor sometime before the May club meeting, where the club officers will figure out some equitable way to choose a winner (note: the editor's vote counts extra :-)...).

Events

The 1998 edition of the VA QSO Party is history. LARG had a fantastic turnout and will turn in a very competitive score in the Club category. As this edition of the Newsletter is going to press, we aren't sure of the final Club score, but it looks like it will be between 270,000 and 300,000 points; a huge leap from last year's LARG score of about 48,000, which landed us in third place in the state. We had a total of 21 LARG hams participating this year, and our combined score has a good chance to put us in the number one spot for Virginia Clubs! Some high points were the 12 Virginia counties put on the air as mults by Dennis, K4TJI, while Tom, WB3AKD, combined HF/VHF roving activities over what must have been most of the northwestern part of the state; also Bob, W4POF, amassed what is probably the best number of QSO's per watt record by hard work both fixed and mobile with his 3-watt HT; low points were both Norm, AI2C, and John, W4AU, neglecting to turn their beams south for a while to get a few valuable South American mults. The best outcome still has to be that we had over 50% of the club membership taking part in the contest!

For Sale / Wanted

This is a new section of the Newsletter. The ground rules are simple: the ads are only for members of LARG; don't list something for a "friend"; and no commercial advertising. If an ad is too long, it may (will) be edited by the editor (after all, what is an "editor" for...).

Sorry, folks, nothing to list this month... Clean out those attics!!!