Greetings All,
The month of August is the halfway point of this, my last term as your Club President.
I have enjoyed serving, both as Vice President (one term) and President (four terms) of the Old Virginia Hams Amateur Radio Club. But with what appears to be increasing medical issues, it is clear it will soon be time to step aside and make way for new blood and new ideas.
Accordingly, I am planning on finishing my term in February with our standard election cycle and not running for any club officer position after that. Additionally, I will be surrendering my duties as “A / V Guy” (audio/visual guy) at that time as well.
We are a 60+ year old club made up of over 100 members. With 6 months notice until the next election, I am asking you to use that time to mull over your plans for the next year and to have at least one of you step up for service.
With September only a few weeks away, I am reminded that while Hurricane Season officially starts on June 1st , here in the Mid-Atlantic region it unofficially begins for us in September. Now would be a good time to check your emergency communications equipment, supplies, including batteries. It would also be a good time to verify the integrity of both your antenna(s) and the guy wires.
Monthly Breakfast
You don’t have to wait until our in-person meetings to see everyone again; you can come out Saturday, August 16th at 8:00 AM for our monthly breakfast. Pioneered by Byron, AK4XR, we get together every Saturday before our meetings at a table or two in the back of Yorkshire Restaurant for some good food and good conversation.
Yorkshire Restaurant
7537 Centreville Rd
Manassas, VA 20111
(703) 368-4905
We hope to see you there.
Monthly Meeting
Our next monthly meeting Tuesday, August 19th
OVH Monthly Meeting
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
Buckhall VFD Hall
7190 Yates Ford Road
Manassas VA 20111
Our presentation will be by our own George Tarnovsky, K4GVT, who will talk about Rocky Road Down Satellite Smartcard Hacking.
George has requested that we do NOT post his slide set on our website due to sensitive material and we will, of course, honor his request.
What this means to you is that if this interests you, that you HAVE to attend in person. If you are not there, you will miss out.
The Warrior Bike Ride
The OVH is supporting the 8th Annual Warrior Ride on September 6th, which is only about a month away. We will need about 24 volunteer spotters in total to man this 60-mile bike ride. I know this is a lot of volunteers, but this is a very worthwhile charity and we really need the help. And a big thank you to those of you who have already volunteered and registered.
This will be largely a mobile 50-watt radio event using both the W4OVH repeater and the Bluemont repeater. Some locations will be able to operate using hand-held radios, but that is only in very few locations very close to The Farm Brewery, which is the start/stop point.
The event will be that Saturday morning from 0600 – 0800 starting (depending on your location through about 1400-1500 (2 – 3PM ending time). For additional information, please see Andy Gamponia, KJ4MTP’s Reflector posting of July 21st 2025.
Go to https://www.bikereg.com/volunteers-warrior-ride and register.
If you are interested , please contact Andy/KJ4MT via e-mail @ andy@gamponia.com
Also, a reminder to check in to the OVH’s Thursday night VHF/UHF repeater net at 8 PM.
The details for that are on the OVH’s web site: https://w4ovh.net
This is a great way to stay in touch.
Questions, comments or war stories can be directed to my e-mail: KN4DD@arrl.net
73, Ken / KN4DD