President’s Letter for October 2025

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I guess everyone knows by now that our Club President Ken KN4DD has had issues from his recent knee replacement. Complications have caused Ken’s resignation as President. He will be missed, having done an excellent job the past few years. Thanks Ken. To that end it is my responsibility, as vice president, to step up and temporarily assume his duties. For me these are big shoes to fill, so here goes starting with this letter. .John and Theresa have been in Ecuador for some weeks visiting Don, known as WA2SWX, at his new home. John and Don did some POTA work at different locations, and among many other contacts worked KE2N, N7QLK and W4RKU on 10m FT8. Be sure to check out Theresa’s Sunshine Corner for details on their Ecuador … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner

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SUNSHINE CORNER – OCTOBER 2025 Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members: Ray KM4EKR, Rob KC4VDN, Phil AI5TD, Chris KN4IJF, Bruce WD4PAC, Eric KO4MBI and David KY4MM Special thanks to Ken KN4DD for working as our club President since 2022. Ken is stepping down due to some serious medical issues. Please send him your thoughts and prayers for his full recovery. Congratulations to George K4GVT on finally retiring for good!!! Let’s see what George will get into with all his spare time! The OVH Club Trailer will be in the Manassas Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 6th, 2025. We are looking for someone to pull the trailer thru the parade and also people to help decorate the trailer. Please reach out to me if you are interested or have … Read more >>

President’s Letter for September 2025

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Hello All, A reminder that September is National Preparedness Month. So, while the weather is warm and mostly dry, now would be a good time to inspect any tree-supported antennas or get a new one up. Left on our 2025 To-Do List, we have the Manassas Christmas parade on December 6th at 10 AM and our annual OVH Christmas Party. Preparations have begun. Back on September 6th the Ole Virginia Hams supported the SOWW 8th Annual Bike Ride. It was ~93° and nice. And the rain waited until the evening. A big thank you to new member, Jerry, KR4EZZ, who not only attended his first Bike Ride as a spotter, he wrote his first article as a contributor for our webpage, “My First Willing Warrior Ride”, immediately below this article. … Read more >>

My First Willing Warrior Ride

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The following is from Jerry, KR4EZZ, who was helping with the (8th annual SOWW) Warrior Ride for the first time: Click on the picture to see the whole article and a slideshow at the end. I was not going to go to the brewery first and just go to my station, as the schedule had me down to be there at 9:15. But, I decided it might be nice to see things start. At the brewery, I was told the station (Evergreen Country Club) was set up ahead of time and they were waiting for me. So, I took off. Got there and saw a tent, with two EMTs (Great Falls FD) and two nurses (from UVA Hospital, Haymarket on Heathcote Blvd. and from Prince William) sitting underneath. A bit … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner

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SUNSHINE CORNER – AUGUST 2025 Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members:  Andy, KJ4MTP; Ken, KD4VA; John, KK4TCE; Karl, W4KRL; Stu, W4PR; Joseph, KO4TUX; Ronnell, KK4ZUR; Chick, KC1PIA; Duane, KK4BZ and Raymond, KK4AQR. Congratulations to Wayne, N7QLK, and wife Vicki on the birth of their first grandchild.  Megan (Daughter) and Alexander (Son-in-Law) gave birth to a bouncing baby boy they have named Adam. Their daughter Lauren is also pregnant and will be due very soon. WOW, it will be like having twins in the house! Can’t wait to see pictures of everyone! Congratulations to our friends at the Shenandoah Valley ARC on their successful Berryville Hamfest. John, KG4NXT, and I were able to meet up with several OVH members on a beautiful Sunday morning in Clarke County. Thanks to … Read more >>

My First Meteor Scatter Contacts

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Pskreporter shows KG4NXT heard in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts

I was first licensed in 1964 and just got my first Meteor Scatter contact. Thanks to Bruce, KN4GDX and Rich, K1HTV, for their help. Most radio skip occurs when our signal bounces off of an ionized layer of the ionosphere. That layer has been ionized by the sun. For meteor scatter, the ionization is provided by a meteor that is burning up in the atmosphere. That means the ionization is not up there for long as that meteor burns up. On the evening of August 10, 2025, I made my first meteor contacts. I used the MSK144 mode of WSJT-X on 6 meters – 50.260 MHz bouncing off of the Perseid meteors. Here is Rich’s description of MSK144: “The Perseid meteor shower is a 24 hour a day shower. Unlike … Read more >>

President’s Letter for August 2025

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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 … Read more >>

Berryville Hamfest 2025

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Bill AF4LL and Dana

This year the Berryville Hamfest was better than ever. For the first time, the ARRL State Convention was held at the hamfest. The tailgate area almost ran out of parking. There were odd things for sale as well as most radios ever made. John, KG4NXT, got a Waffle House t-shirt from 2019 that had a graphic of a Waffle House with the words “Proudly Serving Ham Radio Operators”. We had a lot of active and in-active OVH members attending: Bill, AF4LL; Mark, WA4KFZ; John, KK4TCE; Ed, KK4PHP; Karl, W4KRL; David, KD4DEE; Gil, KM4OZH; Ron, K3FR; John, KG4NXT and Theresa, KG4TVM. Click on the picture to get a slide show of pictures from the hamfest.