Sunshine Corner

SUNSHINE CORNER – October 2023 Happy Birthday wishes to our club members celebrating this October month: Chris, KN4IJF; Ray, KM4EKR; Rob, KC4VDN; Phil, AC4PLl and Richard Eisenhart, No Call.  Hope you all have wonderful birthdays with lots of candles! Congratulations Corner:  Kudos to Gil, KM4OZH, our National Competitor as a rover in ARRL’s September VHF Contest. Little birdie told me that he was running up to Pennsylvania and down to southern Virginia to collect multiplier grids. So, with OVH’s outpouring, he achieved a personal best claimed score of 11,319.    WAHOO!!!!!!! Help Needed:   Volunteers in the VA/DC/MD area to assist with the “X-STEM NOVA” event on Friday, October 20, presented by the USA Science and Engineering Festival.  The event is being held at the National Conference Center near Leesburg, VA.  We’re … Read more >>

President’s Letter for October, 2023

Hello All, Fall-like weather …. finally! September came in like a (temperature) lion, and then took its own sweet time moderating. But here we are in October, and we are once again with seasonal temperatures. While not a fan of the “s” word (snow), I am looking forward to the cooler seasons and the smaller electric bills. However, I am not yet thinking of the upcoming gas bills. Heavy sigh. Earlier this year, I was once again invited to be part of the 2023 Warrior Bike Ride Executive Planning Committee. This year’s kickoff meeting was back on February 1st. A tremendous amount of planning, work & three county coordination went into a one-day event. It is always a privilege and a pleasure to work with men & women who are … Read more >>

Introduction to Greencube and the S.A.T. Controller

The amateur radio and amateur satellite hobby has been a popular and innovative niche for many years. When I started in amateur radio in the 1980s, packet was a very popular digital mode for terrestrial communications, with growing amateur satellite packet options. That continues today, but many hams are more familiar with packet use in popular applications such as APRS. Since then, there has been a large global deployment of digital-repeaters globally and especially in the US, supporting the packet digital hobby and increased satellite-packet options. Today, the terrestrial packet hobby coexists with other advanced forms of digital HF and VHF communications such as VARAC and Winlink. And short satellite packet contacts of several minutes have been normal. What has been missing in the US, are longer dwell satellite contact … Read more >>

Gil, KM4OZH PLACES 2ND IN NATIONAL CONTEST

The ARRL September VHF contest was from Sept 8 to 11 this year. Our Gil, KM4OZH participated in the Limited Rover class; which mean he was mobile and that he had 4 bands to work with – 50 MHz,  144 MHz,  220 MHz and 440 MHz. Gil spends a lot of time getting his car ready for the contest and he is always refining things. This year, Gil and his adult ham son, Jordan, created an automatic antenna switching system based on an Arduino. When Gil changed bands on his radio, the correct antenna was automatically selected. Here is a photo of the breadboarded antenna switching system  before being installed in the car. Gil always plans his route, including sleep time. He is on the road for two days. Gil … Read more >>

FT8 at 35,000 feet

wa2swx does FT8 from an airplane

Don, WA2SWX, did some FT8 while flying to Ecuador. He connected via the internet to his home station in Centreville. Here is his description: “FT-8 at 35,000 feet somewhere over Mexico or Central America. The nerd’s version of the mile high club.” Here is the screen shot: This is legal under part 97 US Station: o FCC Rules: Part 97.109 Station control …“Any station may be remotely controlled.” o FCC Rules Part 97.213 Telecommand of an amateur station: …has some simple requirements, including a 3 minute time-out on the transmitter in the event of malfunction. 4 US Station, with Operator outside of US: Operator must be “licensed” by a US License, bilateral, reciprocal, IARP agreement or CEPT T/R 61-01. The call sign used must always indicate the location of the … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner

SUNSHINE CORNER – September 2023 Happy Birthday wishes to our club members celebrating this September – Gus, N4MLE; Scott, WB6EFW; Al, KB4BHB; Jim, WE4JJ; Kyle, No Call Sign; Maury, W4HYB; Luis, KQ4GBC; Ron, N4RDZ; Mark, WA4KFZ;  Lori, KC0EWN and Bill, AF4LL. Hope you all have wonderful birthdays with lots of candles!   Special Happy Birthday to Chick, KC1PIA whose 90th birthday was at the end of August. Special Happy Birthday to Al, KB4BHB who had his 90thbirthday September. This is really awesome. Glad you are smiling. I hope you got lots of gifts and fun stuff. Congratulations Corner:  Many thanks to the OVH volunteers who helped the Willing Warriors community with their 6th Annual Warrior Bike Ride back on September 9. Also, a big shout out for all the OVH … Read more >>

President’s Letter for September, 2023

Greetings Everyone, Once again, it’s half past September. After a short cool period last month, September heat came roaring back with a vengeance. Depending where you were in the greater Washington DC area, you experienced three to five days of back to back record-breaking heat paired with less than normal rainfall so far. The good news, if you will allow me, Hurricane Season (which ends December 1st) has been mild for the US this year, with only one storm hitting the mainland so far. And as always, I hope for a mild winter. Our flurry of activities is winding down too. Off of the top of my head, we have the last Tri-It-Now event in October, the Manassas Christmas parade on December 2nd and our annual OVH Christmas Party left … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner

SUNSHINE CORNER – August 2023 Happy Birthday wishes to our club members celebrating this August: Ken, KD4VA; John, KK4TCE; Karl, W4KRL; STU, W4PR; Ronnell, KK4ZNR; Chick, KC1PIA; Vern, K0LVS; Duane, KK4BZ and  Raymond, KK4AQR. Hope you all have wonderful birthdays with lots of candles! August OVH Meeting: If you want to know more about the OVH, please attend one of our meetings that are held on the third Tuesday of the month. Our next scheduled meeting will be Tuesday 08-15-2023 at 7:30 PM at the Buckhall Volunteer Fire Department, 7190 Yates Ford Road, Manassas, VA 20111. You are welcome to attend without obligation. From the parking lot, you will see a wing wall projecting from the building with signage that reads “Training Room”. The single door to the room where … Read more >>