John Heartney

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 >>

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.

On Saturday March 8, 2025, our sister club, the Heritage Hunt Hams, had their first VE session. They had conducted an in-person class for Technician Class operator license with 15 people finishing. Some of them tested immediately but some did not. The Heritage Hunt Hams decided to hold their first VE session and asked for some OVH assistance. John, KG4NXT and Theresa, KG4TVM helped register the session and helped run the session. The Heritage Hunt VEs were Chris, K4XMS; Allen, KC4ZA; Tim, K6SLK and Stephen, KI4SA. Don, W2SBI helped although he is not a VE. The session went smoothly, however one candidate left his jacket and his study book at the test site. The book did not have his name on it but it has his FRN, so we matched … Read more >>

On March 9, 2025, the OVH had a table at the Vienna Wireless Club’s Winterfest. They gave us a table for free with the understanding that the OVH would give them a free space at the OVH Tailgate Party. The table was manned by Theresa, KG4TVM and John, KG4NXT. The main purpose of our table was to distribute flyers for our June 7th Tailgate Party. We also had an Elecraft KS3 for sale, which generated a lot of interest but did not sell in the end. Winterfest was well attended and all inside tables were sold, although a few vendors did not show up. Woodbridge Wireless had a table with lots of things for sale. Also, there was some respectable tailgating outside despite the somewhat brisk temperatures. Theresa distributed tailgate … Read more >>

Someone decided to pay old people for participating in group activities. ARRL got in on the action. To be eligible, you need to be: 1) an ARRL member 2) in a Medicare Advantage program that supports Grouper (in healthcare) 3) sign up.   Theresa and I are in the Kaiser Medicare Advantage program, which is supporting this program for the first time. See the check that Theresa got, below. ARRL started a partnership with this program last fall. You get $50 initially and then $20 for each 3 months that you report activity. Reporting the activity involves logging to the Grouper website and clicking a button for the month you report activity. To see if you are eligible, go to https://grouper.hellogrouper.com/ If you are eligible, join grouper at https://grouper.hellogrouper.com/create You … Read more >>

The January VHF contest was held January 18th to 20th. There was severe weather that weekend. Gil, KM4OZH, who normally competes in the Rover class, stayed off the roads. His neighbor and OVH member Jeff, WB4TT, operated FM only from his house. The log submission date was Jan 30th and ARRL has posted the raw scores. Jeff came in first in the single operator, FM only class. https://contests.arrl.org/rawscores.php?cn=janvhf Jeff is 280 points ahead of the next highest score, so we expect he will remain on top as the scores are audited. Additionally, Jeff and Gil recently added another tower (below) which tilts down using torque from an electric drill.  

On Feb 1, 2025, Theresa, KG4TVM, and John, KG4NXT, went to the Middle Peninsula Hamfest in Gloucester, Virginia. We had a table and our primary purpose was to distribute OVH tailgate flyers, which we did. Ron, K3FR, attended too. We also asked for consignments to make the table more interesting. Ron, K3FR, provided us with a chrome Bencher key and a Brother inkjet printer. We were able to sell the Bencher key. The printer is still for sale at $25. Ken, KE2N, provided us with an Elecraft KX3 which generated a lot of interest but did not sell at $1,600.00. We will be taking the printer and KX3 to Vienna Winterfest unless we are able to sell them first. We will be happy to take any other consignment items to … Read more >>