New Antenna for 146.97 repeater

Byron on tippy toes but with safety harness on and attached

Our repeater committee decided to replace the 2 meter repeater antenna to fix the noise problems that have occured when there is a lot of precipitation.  Ken, KE2N, had run a separate transmit antenna and the results appear to validate the theory that the antenna was the problem. When the new antenna arrived, it was decided to do an immediate installation because of national weather service warnings of a storm the next day.   With only a few hours notice,  Ken had a team of 4 club members :  Byron, AK4XR,  Gil, KM4OZH, John,  KG4NXT,  and Ken himself.    The team arrived and installed the antenna without notable problems.   Byron ,who learned safe tower climbing in Iraq,   climbed the tower and installed the antenna with the rest of the team as … Read more >>

New W4OVH Repeater Trustee

Wayne Phillips N7QLK

Wayne Phillips, N7QLK,  is our new W4OVH repeater trustee. We thank Stu, W4PR, for his able service as our previous repeater trustee. As the repeater trustee, Wayne is the ‘chief control operator’ and can appoint and fire control operators for our repeaters. In addition, if you want to use the club call W4OVH at a special event or otherwise, you need to get Wayne’s approval. Thanks Wayne.

Virginia QSO Party presentation

Gil with 80 M mobile for VAQP

VIRGINIA QSO PARTY PRESENTATION

At our February meeting,  Jeff, WB6UIE, presented slides about the upcoming Virginia QSO party.   The slides were not so clear as projected so we are including them in this link  Presentation 
We host the QSO party awards at out hamfest.   More information on the QSO party can be found on the event calendar on this web site for March 16, 2019. Read more >>

OVH at Frostfest

Frostfest 2019

Very early on ground hog day, OVH members manned a table at Frostfest in Richmond. The purpose was to distribute hamfest flyers and spread the word of our new location at the Manassas Park Community Center and the new date of Saturday June 15. We had many takers on the flyers. Many people were happy we moved the hamfest to Saturday. In addition, Don, WA2SWX and Theresa, KG4TVM worked the vendors at hamfest. One was happy to learn that the hamfest paypal links on our website are now live and was going to purchase a table right after frostfest. The table was also manned by John , KG4NXT and Jeff, K9VE, distributed flyers on the floor. Stu, W4PR, loaned us a badly needed chair when we discovered that Frostfest tables … Read more >>

Presidents Letter

Presidents Letter: I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and is recovered from all the festivities. We tend to overdo it so if you are like my family, you were probably looking forward to going back to work or school. It being a new year I want to remind you to send in your membership dues. It completely slipped my mind and I just recently sent them in. I also wanted to mention that elections are coming up next month and you need to be a paid member to vote or to run for office. Since I am also the Field Day chairman I wanted to mention that we will be holding our planning meetings starting next month. Check on the reflector for the upcoming meeting dates. We already have our … Read more >>

Awards given at OVH Holiday Party

Ellis getting Award

At the popular OVH holiday party,  the club gave out several awards.  There were several people getting awards who did not make the party.  These awards will be given out at the January meeting.   Awards given at the party were: Steve Frick N4OGR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Al Dugas KB4BHB LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Jay Moore NQT4 CERTIFICATE OF  RECOGNITION Wayne Phillips N7QLK HALF MARATHON CHAIRMAN shirt (custom embroidered) Don Meyerhoff WA2SWX Large bottle of Ginger Wine for taking on Treasurer and Hamfest Chair John Heartney KG4NXT VE shirt for being VE liaison Yorkshire Restaurant Certificate of Appreciation There were also lots of toys for tots donated.      

OVH Trailer gets a tarp

OVH Trailer Tarp

As we know,  the sun bleaches things.  The OVH trailer and its decals are no exception.  Therefore, we now have a reflective 9 mil tarp over the trailer.  It should also reduce the heat in the trailer. The tarp was donated by John , KG4NXT.   The tarp was installed by John , KG4NXT, and Al, KB4BHB.   AL, KB4BHB paid for the installation supplies.

Repeater upgrades

Ken attaches N connector to hardline

The 2 meter repeater had become very noisy several times after we have had a lot of rain.    After testing for noise in the repeater shack, the technical committee decided the noise source was between the antenna and the outside of the repeater shack.   Ken , KE2N, decided we should replace the generic LMR 400 coax with hardline. On December 3, 2018,  an OVH team replaced the coax to both the 2 Meter and 440  antennas with 7/8 inch hardline.   This hardline has a loss of only  .7 db per 100 feet at 440 MHZ.   Our climber was Byron AK4XR.   Ken directed the operation and   Gil , KMK4OZH and John KG4NXT assisted.    We are hopeful that the noise will not return.     In addition, the repeater receiver should … Read more >>