John Heartney

2024 Turkey Trot

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On a wet and cool Thanksgiving morning, the Ole Virginia Hams once again provided communications support for the 5k portion of the Prince William Turkey Trot (5k) & Mashed Potato Mile.  Their motto:  Trot, Eat, Sleep. It had rained all night but stopped by morning, leaving us cool, damp and cloudy in time for the foot races.  The race itself went off without incident. It started @ 8:30 AM & was over for us by 9:15 AM. Much like Halloween, many participants were in costume. We had a few cowboys. We had several parents pushing a baby carriage in the race.  We had both children & adults in tutus. And what Turkey Trot would be complete without so many people in turkey costumes – a full furry brown pajama suit, … Read more >>

Our Gil, KM4OZH, places second nationwide in VHF / UHF !

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Gil, KM4OZH, always competes seriously in the ARRL VHF/UHF contests. This September, he achieved a personal best and placed 2nd in raw scores in the Limited Rover category. In this category, he had to be mobile and was limited to the 6M, 2M, 220 MHz and 440 MHz bands. On the road he mostly operated FT8 and mostly FM on his return to Manassas. At one point, Gil was about to quit. He was in a new grid and needed to change his grid in the WSJT-X program for FT8. He kept typing in the new grid number, but nothing changed. He put out a call for help on the Warrenton repeater and got no help. He then got in touch with Ron, K3FR, and Ron was able to reach … Read more >>

Hams help Serve Our Willing Warriors (SOWW) 2024

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By John Heartney, as told to “The Other Ken”, KN4DD Willing Warriors is a privately-funded 501 (c)(3) charitable organization offering cost-free getaways from the hospital environment where Warriors and their families can come to relax, spend quality time together, and reconnect.  Their programs include more than 40+ cost-free educational and recreational activities, including seminars that address the issues of dealing with PTS and TBI. The big SOWW fund raiser is their Annual Warrior Bike Ride. This event is based out of The Farm Brewery at Broad Run, where the event both begins & ends. Local hams (called spotters) provide communication across the race courses spanning Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties. Last Saturday, September 7th, was a beautiful day for a bike ride with a daily high of only 74° … Read more >>

13 Colonies Certificates begin to arrive

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The 13 Colonies Event runs in early July and consists of contacting special event stations in each of the original 13 colonies. Contacting all 13 constitutes a “SWEEP”. There are three bonus stations: England, France and Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Many OVH members participated. Click the small image to get a much bigger view of the certificate.

OVH repeaters get new AC

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Gil KM4OZH and Byron AK4XR remove the old outside AC unit

As was mentioned at the last OVH meeting, the AC at our Mt. Pone site failed. One of the CPUs reported a temp of 65 degrees Celsius which is 149 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat is the enemy of electronics. Byron, AK4XR, visited the site and traced the problem to the control board of the outside unit or compressor. He could not determine if the motor was OK or not. At the meeting, he recommended replacing both the inside and outside units. Jeff, K9VEG, moved to replace both units and this motion was passed on July 16. Byron ordered the units and installed them on July 19 with help from Gil, KM4OZH and John, KG4NXT. The new units are now running at the shack at Mt. Pone and cooling all of our … Read more >>

New OVH Warthog

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On April 26, James, KQ4CAX, received the POTA Rover Warthog award from Parks on the Air. He earned this by activating 5 parks in a single UTC day.   His Parks were:   Prince William Forest Park, VA (U.S. National Park Service) Leesylvania State Park, VA Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service – VA, MD, DE, DC, PA, NY) Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, MD (U.S. National Park Service) and lastly, The Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service – RI, MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, DC, VA – A 680-mile series of roads used in 1781 by the Continental Army from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia.). Some of these parks were co-located.  John, KG4NXT, is also a POTA … Read more >>

Thawfest II

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OVH had a table at Thawfest II in Ruckersville, Virginia on April 13, 2024. The first priority was to distribute OVH Tailgate flyers for our Tailgate Party on June 1. Theresa, KG4TVM, was able to distribute all but 5 of the flyers we brought, so that was a success. The second priority was to sell the TS-950SD HF radio and the SM-230 monitor that Bob Zaepfel, K4HJF, had donated to the club. We had brought them to two previous hamfests, but they did not sell. At Thawfest, we WERE able to to sell them. Jeff, K9VEG, also put one of his radios on the table and was able to sell it. Other OVH members at Thawfest included Bruce, KN4GDX; John, KG4NXT; Ron, K3FR and Woody, N4MQ.

OVH trailer moves to new home

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New home with Gil KM4OZH

Our OVH trailer has spent a number of years parked in the City of Manassas Electric Utility yard. We recently received a phone call saying we had to move our trailer. The city was clearing out all non-city property to make room to store transformers for the new data centers being built. As we now needed a new place for the trailer, Gil, KM4OZH, volunteered to take it for a while. THANKS GIL. James, KQ4CAX, volunteered his truck to haul the trailer. On Saturday, April 5, James, Al, KB4BHB and John, KG4NXT, moved the trailer to Gil’s home. Backing into Gil’s place is never easy, but it got done. The trailer is now parked at Gil’s home. Click on the photo on the left to expand the article for more … Read more >>