Amateur Radio From Loudoun County VA

NOTE: There will no club meeting in December!!

Instead, we will be having the 3rd Annual LARG Holiday Dinner on Thursday, December 7.

November Club Meeting - Despite the fact that many LARG members were attending the ARES training session (see below), we had a big turnout for the last formal club meeting of 2000, with over 20 in attendance. Our President, Ray, K4AJA, appointed a nominating committee for next year's officers. The chair will be John, W4AU, and the committee also includes Mark, N3GMW, and Paul, N4PD. This committee will be considering names for officers during the next few weeks, so contact any one of them if you have someone in mind or want to serve as a club officer yourself. A new slate of officers will be presented for voting at the January 2001 club meeting.

Tom, NA4MA, and Angie, KG4AVR, demonstrated their fox (an balloon) hunting equipment and showed how they used it to be the first to locate and recover our last balloon instrument package. John, W4AU, gave a short "show and tell" featuring a Deluxe model Vibroplex bug that he had obtained from another ham via the internet using Ebay's on-line auction. John also talked about the pros and cons of Ebay and about buying used ham gear over the internet in general.

ARES Training - The following report from the ARES training session held on November 18 is from Eric, KD5CTJ. The key speakers present were: Lynn Gahagan, AF4CD Tony Amato, KR4UQ Fred Vincent, Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) John Kanode, N4MM and Ed Harris, KE4SKY . The ARES Training session was held at the Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown, VA.

Starting at around 9:15AM, various topics were covered. Starting the session was Lynn, AF4CD and after introducing the speakers, the floor was passed to Fred Vincent of VDEM. The role of ARES/RACES was explained and how important it is in the Incident Command Structure at VDEM. Tales of Amateur Radio success were told and how important it is that the local Emergency Managers become familiar with the service that Amateur Radio provides in times of need. ARES/RACES has the support of Richmond. Then the video on Hurricane Floyd was presented, whereby the role of Amateur Radio was explained and how the community was greatly benefited. This video which is available to local ARES EC's was tailored for the local Emergency Managers to view. Registration on the statewide database is of utmost importance as this will provide hams acting in conjunction with an ARES/RACES activation some protection under the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997. It also provides a centralized database on our capabilities and contact information in times of activation.

The main focus on the training then came from Ed, KE4SKY. Ed did a fantastic job at presenting the material. The topics ranged from NTS and the importance of standard message formats to a basic overview of packet. The importance of qualified and trained Net control operators was explained and procedures during Nets, as well as basic equipment and the importance of batteries. Keeping the batteries charged, exercised and sized appropriately for 24 hour operations. Since there was so much material that needed to be covered and not enough time, some of the following web sites are a great source of information. The session ended at approximately 1630.

Contest Season - Remember, it is not too late to make plan to get on the air for the ARRL 10-meter contest, 0000Z December 9 to 2400Z December 10. You can operate CW, SSB, or both. For more information on rules, times, club entries, etc., see QST or contact Norm, AI2C, or John, W4AU. Get on the air and be part of or LARG club entry for this contest!

Club News - Our club President, Ray, K4AJA, suffered a fall at home and broke his shoulder. He is presently in Loudoun Hospital but expects to be home again soon. He's got some AM gear to set up and get on the air, so we expect him to up and around before long. Charlie, K4LJH, will be having some major surgery in mid-December, so our thoughts and prayers are with him. In the meantime, Charlie will be firing up his 1930's vintage transmitter and making QSO's in the annual Antique Wireless contest over the next couple of weekends. Gary, NC4S, reports since he did not get any volunteers to help with operating during the last three months of the LARG 2000 2-meter Contest, that those contestants who participated in the contest the first part of the year should submit their logs to him now. Gary will then announce the winners of the contest and give out the prizes at the first meeting in January.

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