The LARG Radio News

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

	President	Norm Styer - AI2C	(540)338-2584
	Vice-President	Ray Houff - K4AJA	(540)338-7297
	Secretary	Nancy Dluehosh - KE4RTP	(703)771-9284
	Treasurer	Dale Cabaniss -KD4LSL	(540)338-3521
	Editor	John Unger -W4AU	(540)338-4620
	Training	Paul Dluehosh -N4PD	(703)771-9284

January Club Meeting Reports

A lot was accomplished at the first LARG meeting of 1999. First, take a look at the top of the Newsletter and see your new club officers for 1999. We are fortunate to have such strong and enthusiastic group of individuals who have volunteered to lead the club this year. A Field Day Committee, led by Gary, NC4S, was established, and their first task will be to pin down a suitable site for this year’s event. The club also formed a LARG Contest Committee, whose first charge was to devise a club-wide contest for our members to enjoy in 1999; contact the members of that committee, John, W4AU, Tom, WB9RXJ, or Temp, W4HZV, if you have some ideas we might use. Our longest standing committee, the Balloon Committee, has reported new progress and is now tentatively planning an April launch of the first LARG space craft. Contact Tom, WB3AKD, if you are interested in helping out with this project. Following the meeting many of the members adjourned to the Loudoun Valley High School parking lot where we divided up the 2000’ of 9913 coax that Bob, W4POF, had obtained for club members at an extremely low price. New antennas will be sprouting all over Loudoun County!

February Club Meeting Plans

Our February meeting will be unique in a variety of ways. First, The El Rancho Plus restaurant can no longer accommodate us and open on Saturday morning just for our club meetings, so we have had to seek a new meeting place. Norm, AI2C, has made arrangements to hold the February meeting at the Beautiful South restaurant, which is located at the junction of route 704, north, and business route 7 on the east end of Hamilton. Second, due to the fact that the third Saturday of February coincides with ARRL CW DX contest, the club voted to move the next meeting to February 13. Finally, the February meeting time will be changed from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. We will be able to order brunch items (omelets -> sandwiches) from their menu and will have an area to ourselves. We hope that we all will be able to cope with so many changes happening at once! The best news about the February meeting is that our guest speaker will be John Kanode, N4MM, the ARRL Director for the Roanoke Division. John has a lot of ham radio news to tell us about, including the proposals for new license requirements and structure and new DXCC countries. Don’t miss this meeting!!

Club News & Events

The date of our March meeting, March 20, is also the starting date for the Virginia QSO Party. There will not be any conflict because the QSO Party doesn't begin until 1300 local time. As you should know by now, LARG was just edged out of first place in the club competition last year by the Central Virginia Contest Club. This year we will do better! We had 22 LARG members participating last year, and we would like to have even more participation in 1999. Contact John, W4AU, Norm, AI2C, or Paul, N4PD, if you have any questions about this event or if you would like to learn more about using logging software to help you in the QSO Party.

Norm, AI2C, is still collecting scores from last year’s 10-meter Trophy Count club contest; so get your results to him ASAP. Remember, there are four separate awards you may qualify for.

We’ve received 1999 dues from 30 members so far. If you haven’t paid your dues for this year yet, send them to the address on this Newsletter, and, yes, it still costs only $12.00 per year to be part of the finest group of amateur radio operators in western Loudoun County! Beginning with this issue, we are sending about 15 copies of the Newsletter via email rather than hard copy through the U.S. mail. This not only saves the club a few bucks, but also gets the newsletter to you faster. We need to remind you that, thanks to Pete, KF4HCW, the Newsletter is also available from the LARG www site at: http://www.microneil.com/k4lrg/

FOR SALE: PK232,MBX with pactor TNC..$170.00.with manual.. Jack W0PLX. Tele. #252-447-3977..

Calendar of Events:
Every Sunday 8:00PM	Club Radio Net, 147.480 MHz simplex
Every Third Saturday 10:00AM	Club Meeting, Beautiful South, Hamilton, Va.
Weekday Mornings and Evenings	Commuter Net, 147.480 MHz Simplex