John Heartney 
Hamvention to hams is like Mecca to Muslims. You should make the trip at least once. I had asked Theresa KG4TVM if she wanted to honeymoon at Hamvention back in 2003 but she said no. This year, it was a birthday present from her to me. We stayed at a state park cabin about 30 miles away from Hamvention at a place called Cowan Lake State Park. We arrived a day early and activated the park and nearby wildlife area for POTA. We did not park at Hamvention; we parked at the high school and took a school bus to the site. The town cancels school for Hamvention so there was plenty of parking and a number of perky high school students. Hamvention is a huge event. There were 37,924 … Read more >>
President’s Letter – May 2026 I was not at the last OVH meeting because it was election day and I am an assistant chief election officer at Buckhall UMC. I am very pleased that Jason/K4APR was able to present on his Radio Packet Network with audio/visual assistance from Byron/AK4XR. This coming May OVH meeting, we will have Scott/KE4WMF presenting. Scott is a competitor in the same class as our own Gil/KM4OZH. Scott has a car with an impressive Antenna Farm on it. Scott will be presenting on what is in his car and how it evolved. The picture below is Scott’s contest car. The Virginia QSO party has posted (not quite final) scores and Gil has 74,420 points. This puts him at the top of the Rover category and in … Read more >>
Gene/N4HFW shares a picture of his shack from the early 2000s. Gene introduced the OVH to the horizontal loop for field day and had one in his back yard fed with balanced line. In the picture, you can see both a balanced line tuner and a coax tuner. Gene has fond memories of code keys, a paddle and a straight key. They are shown above the transceiver. You also see a trusty Alpha amp on the right. For a larger picture, click on the image. If you would like your old shack picture featured, contact John/KG4NXT.
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 >>