John Heartney 
For our cancelled March meeting, Jim Stanley was scheduled to give us a briefing on the Virginia Defense Force. Jim is a Major in the VDF and is also KM4BID. We hope to be able to reschedule his presentation at some time in the future. In the meantime, Jim has sent us his briefing slides. Click here to view the VDF slides
On March 14, 2020, OVH held a VE session. We had a host of people from Maryland and Arlington because several other VE sessions had been cancelled. We had 17 candidates and they earned 10 new technician , 1 new general and 3 new extra licenses. One fellow went from no license to Extra. Three candidates did not earn a new license. The VEs assisting were John, KG4NXT; Al, KB4BHB; Chick, KC1PIA; Luther, WA3FMO; Steve, N4OGR; Steve, KB4OF; Mark , WA4KFZ; George, K4GVT; Byron, AK4XR; and Ray , KM4EKR.
Many of us never have seen our Mt. Pone repeater site which hosts our 2M FM, 440 Fusion, our internet link to comcast and our 5 gig internet connection to the other OVH site, NOVEC. Ken, KE2N, has some picture for us of the Mt. Pont equipment including antennas and the shack complete with labels. Click here for repeater pictures
Our technical committee has installed a new repeater at NOVEC. This is a replacement of the oldest OVH repeater and will give us lots more connectivity for the 224.66 machine. It is now linking to the 146.97 repeater during the Thursday night net instead of the 442.200 repeater. Ken, KE2N, gave us a presentation at the February OVH meeting.
Click here for a more details on the new 224 repeater.
OVH had a table at Frostfest 2020. We handed out Manassas hamfest flyers and there were only 4 left at the end of Frostfest. Theresa, KG4NXT, and Don, WA2SWX, also gave each vendor a flyer. Theresa chatted up the vendors to try to get them to our hamfest. John, KG4NXT, sat on his butt and handed out flyers and answered questions at the OVH table. Other OVH members seen at Frostfest were Stu, W4PR, Ray, KMK4EKR, Sandy, KM4JUS, Ken, KD4VA , Kevin KX4KU and Mark, WA4KFZ.
The online magazine Prince William Living ran an article entitled “Ole Virginia Hams: Supporting Our Community Through Amateur Radio” on November 30, 2019. The article contained many favorable references to the Ole Virginia Hams and ARES. Many of the quotes were provided by Jeff Fuller, WB6UIE, who worked with the magazine on the article. The article can be found at https://princewilliamliving.com/ole-virginia-hams-supporting-our-community-through-amateur-radio/
Our own Gil Thompson, KM4OZH, came in second as a Limited Rover in our Roanoke division. The Roanoke division consists of the states of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition, Gil came in fifth in the Southeast Region which consists of Delta, Roanoke and Southeast Divisions of the ARRL. You can find him listed as KM4OZH/R on page 80 of the December 2019 QST. A Limited Rover is limited to the lowest four bands – 6M, 2M , 220 and 440. In addition, a Limited Rover has the same power limits as the single operator low power category: 200 watts on 6M and 2M and 100 watts on 220 and 440. Gil also operated in the September VHF contest and expects to place high in that … Read more >>
On October 19, OVH supported the JOTA event at Camp Snyder in Haymarket. Modes included: DStar, 2 meter FM, FT8, HF SSB and QRP SSB on a loop. Scouts contacted Germany, France, Portugal and Belgium as well as many stations in the U.S. We also had an oscilloscope on display and morse code keys with sound for the scouts. Duane, KK4BZ, was on horseback in the battle field and worked many of our scouts on 2 meters. We do not get a lot of horseback mobiles ! Scout Leader Rob, W4FSK, is a member of our club and was our sponsor at Camp Snyder. We got a scout lunch of hot dogs and baked beans. Participants included Rob, W4FSK; Al, KB4BHB; Don, WA2SWX; Duane, KK4BZ; Theresa , KG4TVM; Cat , … Read more >>