Sunshine Corner

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SUNSHINE CORNER – May 2025 Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members: John, KM4VCJ; David, KG4GIY; Bill, WA4FIC; Carl, KK4ZYX; Robert, KQ4PSE; Craig, WA3UFY; Roberto, KM4RIE; Susan, K3SSP; Bruce, KN4GDX; Don, WA2SWX; Jim, WI4EE; John, KG4NXT; Kenneth, KI4EOH and Lynn, KX4HR.  Hope you have a great year ahead! Sending get-well wishes to Art, W1CRO: he had to spend some time in the hospital.  Hope he is back on his feet soon! Ken, KN4DD, is recovering from his second knee replacement. We hope to see him moving around better, soon. Happy Mother’s Day to all our moms, hope you had a special day to celebrate. Final planning meeting for Tailgate and Field Day will be a combination meeting for both events on Tuesday, May 27th.  The meeting will be at … Read more >>

Gil, KM4OVH, wins VAQP Rover Plaque despite deer attack

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Bent Antenna Mast and grill damage

Gil, KM4OVH, is a national competitor in the ARRL VHF contest and a past statewide Plaque winner in the Virginia QSO Party (VAQP). The VAQP starts at 10 AM on Saturday and runs until midnight and then runs 8 AM to 8 PM on Sunday. Gil always plans his route in detail ahead of time to maximize his multipliers. Byron, AK4XR, has been understudying Gil and following in a separate vehicle. For Gil and Byron, things went as planned on Saturday. The plan was to grab some sleep at Gil’s family farm and to continue the planned route on Sunday at 8 AM. As they drove at 1 AM on Sunday with Gil in the lead, A DEER APPEARED in the left part of the road. Gil applied the brakes … Read more >>

President’s Letter for May 2025

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Hello Everyone, Please let me apologize for the brevity of this month’s President’s Letter’s up front. My wife’s and my medical issues came all at once and have been keeping us quite busy. I am hoping to get back to normal in June. Our next OVH Monthly Breakfast get together will be on May 17th @ 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Yorkshire Restaurant 7537 Centreville Rd Manassas VA 20111 (703) 368-4905 We usually have 4 to 10 people that show up. I hope you can find the time to go. The next regular OVH will be held on Tuesday, May 20st, at 7:30 PM in the training room at the Buckhall VFD. W4OVH Monthly Meeting – 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT Buckhall VFD Hall 7190 Yates Ford Road … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner

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SUNSHINE CORNER – March 2025 Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members: Harry KC9TXL, Harry KN4IJY, Brian KK4CBS, Gene KN4JMB, Gil KM4OZH, Paul N4PD, Joe KI4OHR, Lillian KK4MXY, David KI4AZX, Everett KJ4OLF, Paul W4ZB, David KD4DEE, Mark KN4OGC and Paul KO4UOO. Hope you have a great year ahead!         Condolences to the family of Ken WB4ZOH. Ken passed away at the beginning of April after being in hospice care for some time. Ken was a long time member of the OVH and was the net control of the Thursday Night Net for several years. Per Ken’s wishes there will not be a service. Thawfest III is Saturday, April 12th at the Madison High School off of Rt 29 about an hour south of Manassas. John KG4NXT … Read more >>

YOU can help with Meteor scatter experiments

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Our own Bruce KN4GDX is supporting the effort and has an article published in hamSCI ( Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation). You can help with a HF or 6M radio with wsjt-x. You can help even without transmitting. Here is an excerpt : hamSCI is preparing for a series of meteor scatter (MS) experiments later this year. The target storms will be peaking on August 11-12 (Perseids) and December 12-13 (Geminids). Preparation and testing are underway now. This is a combination ‘special event’ and a contest to generate contact data during meteor scatter events using 10 meters and 6 meters. Operating Guidelines are under development. This month’s Lyrids shower (peaking April 21-22) is an excellent time to set up your equipment and join with other operators preparing for the events … Read more >>

OVH Parks on the air or POTA

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Both spring and Don, WA2SWX, arrived recently. Don retired and moved to Ecuador last year with his wife Edith. He was back here for a brief visit. It was time to POTA again and the OVH was invited. We set up at Conway Robinson State Park, which has a shelter and lots of tall trees for antennas. We had a nice pile up on 20 Meters on FT8 despite Conway Robinson having been activated 216 times. OVH members attending were: Theresa, KG4TVM; Gene, N4HFW; James, KQ4CAX; Ken, KE2N and John, KG4NXT. Al, KB4BHB, contacted us as a Hunter on 2 meters. Heritage Hunt and Woodbridge Wireless have expressed interest in doing club POTA events. Say tuned.

President’s Letter for April 2025

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Greetings to all. I would like to start this month’s letter off with the 2024 September VHF Contest results. This contest ran September 14 – 16, 2024. I’d like to recognize OVH’s own Vice President, Gil, KM4OZH, for placing second in his category, “Limited Rover” with 13,986 points. He is now “Officially Famous” with his listing in the current issue (April, 2025) of QST, pages 76 & 77. Next up is last month’s VAQP back on March 15th and 16th. Gil had plenty of (mis) adventures with this one, including a deer vs. car contest. If you can get him to tell the story, it is a good one and he tells it well. I am not sure I would have been as sanguine as he was. I do hope … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner

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SUNSHINE CORNER – March 2025 Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members: Fred, N3KVV; Noel, NW5N; Scott, KM4FTD; Gary, K4MRL; Jeff, N1SN; Michael, KO4BCN; David, KO4HIR and Michael, KO4HBU. Hope you have a great year ahead! Condolences to Al, KB4BHB – his younger brother passed away in February. Get well wishes to Vicki, YL of Wayne, N7QLK, who had to spend some time in the hospital in February. John, KG4NXT and I attended the Vienna Winterfest on March 9th. Handed out a bunch of flyers for our Tailgate Party event. They had a great turnout for this hamfest! On Saturday, March 8th, the Heritage Hunt Hams had their very first VE Session. This was held after sponsoring classes for interested individuals. The turnout for the classes was incredible; people … Read more >>