Amateur Radio From Loudoun County VA

The next LARG Club meeting will be on February 17, 2001, in the Conference-Training Room at the Leesburg Police Station on Plaza Street at 8:30 a.m. The facility is located on Plaza Street between East Market Street and Edwards Ferry Road. Talk-In is on 147.480 MHz. You can join other LARG members for breakfast (~7:30) before the meeting at the Bob Evans Restaurant located in the Leesburg Corner Shopping Center.

January Club Meeting - Election of new club officers! Check the top of this Newsletter for the names of your new club officers, who were elected at the January meeting. Our past President, Ray, K4AJA, was given a standing ovation as he stepped down after a successful year leading the club. Tom, WB3AKD, brought the handsome patches that he had made to commemorate the successful launch and recovery of high altitude balloon Flight 2000A. These patches are truly handsome and you can get your very own from Tom for $5.00. Tom also reported that the balloon committee submitted an proposal for a stabilizer in a high altitude balloon in a competition to win a Unix processor - more at the February meeting.

February Meeting Notes - We will discuss our plans for the upcoming Virginia QSO Party, which will take place the weekend of March 17-18. With all of our newly-upgraded members being able to operate in the HF bands, we stand our best chance ever of winning the club category in the QSO Party. Norm, AI2C, will explain the rules and formulate some plans for mobile operations, etc., he will also have a sign-up sheet so we can get an idea of who will be participating for the Club this year. Remember, you should be able to increase your score from last year!

Committees - The Field Day Committee has had a couple of meetings already and has made tentative plans for the layout and operation of our 5A (5 HF stations plus VHF/UHF) entry for this year. Basically, we will have band- and mode-dedicated stations designed to optimize band openings and maximize our opportunities to keep QSO rates high. Gary, NC4S, will talk about the details of our preliminary plans at the February meeting.

Contest Season -NEW for VA QSO Party this year is that each of Virginia's Independent Cities counts as a multiplier (as well as Virginia counties, states, and DX, as in the past - see complete rules, below). For your convenience, we're attaching check lists for the county and independent city multipliers. Don't forget to get on the air for the VA QSO Party - GO LARG!!! The CW portion of the ARRL DX Contest will be the weekend of February 17-18. The Contest runs for 48 hours from 0000Z on 2/17 to 2400Z on 2/18. Lots of activity, and a great way to get DXCC Award (work 100 different countries) in one weekend! The SSB portion of this contest is March 3-4, same time period. Work still continues on the LARG Club Contest for 2001 - stay tuned for details...

Club News - Send me something to put in here, please! Gossip, embarrassing stories, interesting QSO's, new equipment acquired, hamfest finds, etc., etc. Your editor will try to fit it in the Newsletter...

Calendar of Events:

The 2001 Virginia QSO Party

2001 Virginia QSO Party Rules
Sponsored by the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club, Call Box 599, Sterling VA, 20167.

Object To promote amateur radio activity in the 95 Virginia Counties and 42 Independent Cities.
Dates March 17 - 19, 2001. Contest times are from 1800 UTC on Saturday March 17 through 0200 UTC on Monday March 19. Entries

Submit logs, summary and dupe sheets (for greater than 200 QSO's) by April 15,2001 to the VA QSO Party, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167. Include SASE or email address for summary of contest results. A $1.00 donation to help defray the costs of printing and mailing is encouraged. Contest Rules

Work fixed stations once per band/mode. Out-of-State stations work Virginia stations only. No cross-mode or repeater QSO's. Work Virginia mobiles in each county or independent city from which they operate. Mobiles or fixed stations on county or independent city lines count as one QSO and as many county/independent city multipliers as they offer. Multipliers are only counted once. Contacting the same County, Independent City, State, Province or Country using a different band or mode counts only as a new QSO, not as a new multiplier. Virginia mobiles receive a bonus of 100 additional points for each Virginia county/independent city from which they log a valid QSO. For award purposes fixed and Mobile operation will be considered separately. Submit separate logs for Fixed and Mobile operation. Spotting nets, DX clusters, etc., may be used to locate other stations - no self spotting permitted. All operators must observe the limits of their operator's license. Multiple operator stations should indicate all operators by name and call sign.

Follow standard ARRL contest guidelines. Logs, Summary and Dupe sheets - paper or electronic are required. Summary sheet should include name, mailing address, call sign, number of counties/cities in which operated, license class, club name and a signed statement that all contest rules and regulations have been observed. Dupe sheets by band and mode are required for 200 or more QSO's. For Club Competition (minimum of 3 valid club entries), be sure to indicate club name on summary sheet and log. Contestants using computer logging and reporting software are required to verify scoring and duping to ensure contest rules have been followed. Scoring

QSO's count 1 point per Phone, 2 points per CW, and 3 points per contact made with a Virginia mobile (Phone or CW). Virginia fixed stations multiply QSO points by the total number of Virginia counties, Virginia independent cities, U. S. States, Canadian Provinces and DX countries. No extra DX multiplier for U.S.(including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada. Virginia mobiles, add to your Virginia fixed station score 100 bonus points for each Virginia county or independent city from which you log a valid mobile QSO. Outside of Virginia, multiply QSO points by the total number of Virginia Counties (95) and Independent cities (42) worked to obtain final score. All stations add 500 bonus points for a contact with K4NVA the club call of the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club. Exchange

Exchange QSO number and QTH (Virginia County or Independent City for VA stations; State, Province or DX Country for others). Virginia mobile stations log QSO's by Virginia Independent City or County of operation. Identify all QSO's with band/mode, sequential QSO number sent/received and date/time of contact in UTC. Please follow standard contest practices by making and responding to "CQ Virginia QSO Party" calls. Multiple Transmitter stations may maintain sequential QSO numbers independently for each transmitter. Frequencies

160 meters and up, except no WARC band QSO's permitted. Suggested frequencies: CW--1805 KHz and 50 KHz up from band edge on others. PHONE --1845, 3860, 7260, 14270, 21370 and 28370 KHz. Novice/Tech Plus--10 KHz up from the edge of the CW band and 28370 KHz on PHONE. VHF -- 50.125, 144.200 (CW & SSB), 146.580 and 223.50 MHZ. UHF--446.00 MHZ. All frequencies plus or minus QRM and nets. No Repeater or cross-mode QSO's. Information

Additional information may be obtained by mail at VA QSO Party, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167 from the SPARC website www.qsl.net/sterling or by contacting [email protected]. Operator Categories

Single Operator - One person performs all operating and only one transmitter may be on the air at a time

Mobile - Single or Multiple individuals operating Mobile under a single call sign with only one transmitter on the air at a time. A mobile station is self-contained and capable of legal motion(land, water or air) while operating. Motion is optional, and discouraged, during operation. Club - Minimum of three valid contest entries each indicating club affiliation. Single Operator / Multi Transmitter - One operator with one or more transmitters on the air at one time. Multi Operator / Multi Transmitter - Two or more operators with two or more transmitters on the air at one time.

Expedition - One or more operators of a single transmitter station that moves between two or more Virginia locations during the course of the contest. All equipment, power supplies and antennas must be transported to each operating site.

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