John Heartney

President’s Letter October 2026 At our next OVH meeting on October 20, we will have an Emergency Communications presentation by Bruce KN4GDX. The main purpose of the presentation is to introduce members to the recently created R3Emcomm Digital Communications group (R3EC); and to discuss the technical focus of the group which includes HF and VHF digital messaging and FM voice nets. R3EC is focused on regional readiness and training on digital techniques, as well as national digital communications among Emcomm groups. R3EC includes BBS and File access services on both HF and VHF. R3EC members have access via HF across Eastern US and via VHF from NoVA and parts of Maryland to the Charlottesville area. Training is provided through several knowledgeable digital communications veterans and is also supported through the … Read more >>

The 13 Colonies event occurs in early July each year. The object is to work special event stations in each of the 13 original colonies. For example, the commonwealth of Virginia is designated K2B. If you work them all, you have what is called a “Clean sweep”. There are also three bonus stations, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, a station in Great Britain and a station in France. This year, the certificate was much better than in previous years and included a bright gold seal. To see an example of the certificate, click the small image. This year, Don, WA2SWX/HC4DA , got a sweep from Ecuador. We did not submit his log until July 21 but his certificate arrived 2 months ahead of Johns, KG4NXT. Other OVH club members known … Read more >>

On Sunday, September 20, OVH activated Sky Meadows State park. There was rain in the forecast but it did not rain on us. We set up on a hill with lots of tall pine trees. We shot a 40m halfwave end fed antenna into the pines. Mark, WA4KFZ registered on the POTA website and did his first activation. He had well over 16 POTA contacts on 40m and only needed 10 to have a successful activation. Since then, Mark has done some POTA hunting. Thanks to Theresa, KG4TVM for cooking a delicious hot dog lunch. Bruce, KN4GDX brought a nice salad and Mark brought chips. If you click into the small picture, you will see a couple more pictures.  

President’s Letter September 2026 At the September OVH meeting, George, K4GVT, will again present his vehicle FOB attack presentation. He has presented it to the police here in Manassas. Bring your friends and neighbors and see if your vehicle could be at risk. Here is George’s description: “Most of us have keyless entry systems for our vehicles. In this presentation, I will focus on a critical flaw that exists in most modern-day vehicles. During many years working with the automotive industry, this flaw was discovered, yet today it still exists. After the presentation we will have live demonstrations. This presentation is to alert all regarding this serious weakness and show you preventative methods to avoid the protentional issue. “ We now have three 93-year-olds in the club. Bob, KQ4PSA; Chick, KC1PIA … Read more >>

President’s Letter August 2026 August started with the Berryville Hamfest. There was a fairly good turnout despite the rain. Theresa, KG4TVM and I saw a number of OVH club members including Rob, KR4EEV; Byron, AK4XR; and Mark, WA4KFZ. See the photograph below. We will have an OVH VE session on August 15, 2026. Setup will begin at 8:00 am and the exam session will start at 8:30 am. The location is Chantilly Regional Library, 4000 Stringfellow Rd, Chantilly, VA 20151. There will be a memorial service for Ken Brant’s wife Paula, on Saturday August 15, 2026, at 1:00 pm. The memorial will be held at the Lord of Life Lutheran Church, 5114 Twinbrook Rd. Fairfax, VA 22032. All OVH members are welcome to attend the memorial. We have the Willing … Read more >>

President’s Letter July 2026 The OVH had a great June with a successful Hamfest and successful Field day the next weekend. Theresa, KG4TVM, chaired our successful Hamfest; we have not had a Hamfest in several years and instead having tailgates. We had good attendance, good table sales and good outside tailgate participation. Importantly, we made enough money to get us through 2026. A huge thanks to all who made this possible. We approached Field Day with a dreadful weather forecast. However, we had very little rain on Saturday and only a shower on Sunday which quit in time for us to take down the antenna without being soaked. George, K4GVT, setup his satellite system and made 13 or so contacts. One negative was that our balloon launch was cancelled because … Read more >>

The weather forecast predicted rain all day Saturday and Sunday. However, it did not rain on Saturday and we only got a few hours of rain on Sunday. Although we had no rain on Saturday it was very cloudy and we had to cancel the the balloon launch because the radio package would pick up cloud moisture.  Also, with the clouds, we did not put up solar panels. We had a lot of OVH members turn out: Theresa, KG4TVM; Byron, AK4XR; George, K4GVT; Wayne, AG4ZZ; Gene, N4HFW; Jay NQ4T; John, KG4NXT;  Butch, W4HJL; Paul, W4ZB; Lillian, KK4WX; Gil, KM4OZH; Mark, WA4KFZ; Scott, KR4BNF and Bruce, KN4GDX. We had many guests this year and the most distinguished guest was George Stewart who is the new Gainesville supervisor. He also visited Heritage … Read more >>