John Heartney 
Regretfully, Art W1CRO has passed. His widow Hajia is selling his equipment which had accumulated over his lifetime.
There is a lot of stuff. The link for the pictures:
https://www.k4gvt.com/w1cro/index.html
The sale is on Saturday April 25 at 8:30 am to noon at 12212 Woodlark Ct, Manassas.
President’s Letter – April 2026 Welcome to spring ! As it gets warmer, we get closer to our two big events of the OVH year: Hamfest and Field day. As you all know, Hamfest is our only fund raiser and we got bills to pay. For the first time, we are having Hamfest at Colgan High School which has loads of parking. We are having a combined Hamfest and Field day planning meeting on Monday April 27 at Hog Shack 10470 Dumfries Road, Manassas, VA at 6 pm. Please come and help us with these events. We have been working on publicizing our hamfest by distributing flyers at the Middle Peninsula hamfest, the Vienna Hamfest and Thawfest Hamfest. Here is George K4GVT at our table at Junk in the Trunk: … Read more >>
OVH went to Winterfest which is also know as the Vienna hamfest. They again had it at the Oakton high school and all tables were sold out. Unlike other hamfests, this is a BYOC event where you have to bring your own chairs. OVH had a table and distributed flyers to our upcoming hamfest in June. George K4GVT distributed flyers in the tailgate area and also in the inside. Theresa KG4TVM also distributed flyers inside. There were a number of OVH members including Bill AF4LL, Jim KM4SXM, Gil KM4OZH, Bruce KG4DGX and Karl W4KRL. This is probably the last time we will see Bill since he has taken a job in Kentucky. He has helped a lot with contacts on field day. The food prices were impressive – $4 for … Read more >>
On Feb 7, 2026, Theresa, KG4TVM, and John, KG4NXT, went to the Middle Peninsula Hamfest in Gloucester, Virginia. The weather was very cold and we had swirling snow that seriously obstructed our vision. We had a table and our primary purpose was to distribute OVH tailgate flyers, which we did. Ron, K3FR, attended too and had an IC-7100 with original box and manuals for sale. Ron got an offer but did not take it. We will be happy to take any other consignment items to Winterfest. We do not charge a consignment fee. Someone gave John a low power Dentron tuner. Scott KE4WMF is a VHF limited rover contestant like Gil KM4OZH. Scott parked his car with antenna farm in full bloom. He also gave a presentation on the evolution … Read more >>
The 2025 OVH Holiday Party was held at the Heartney house. We had out of town OVH members attend: Wayne N7QLK and wife Vicki came from Ocala, Florida on the Amtrak Auto Train. This was a surprise appearance. Ray KM4EKR and Sandy KM4JUS came from Leesville, South Carolina. Other OVH members include Gil, KM4OZH, Byon AK4XR and wife Jane, Jay NQ4T, Jeff WB6UIE, Pinky KN4ZLY, Gus N4MLE, Alex KQ4MIG and wife, Ken KE2N, Luther WA3FMO, Ken KE2N , Greg KM4CCG, John KG4NXT, Theresa KG4TVM. Pinky was our photographer. It was a potluck with Theresa providing ham and turkey. There were so many desserts that we had to put them on two tables. There was a brief business meeting where we voted in Scott KN4BNF and Ken KN4DD was awarded the … Read more >>
On Thanksgiving Day 2025, OVH provided communications support for the Turkey trot race at the George Mason campus in Manassas. Operators were Theresa KG4TVM, David KG4GIY, Duane KK4BZ and John KG4NXT. Duane ran in the race and provided support from his positions. The rest of us were along University to ensure safety. The trot had its greatest turnout ever. They had 2000 people register for the two races. OVH provide support for the longer race which include off campus streets. The police blocked the roads for the duration of the trot. Click the image for more pictures.
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 >>
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.