Ken "The Other Ken" Brant

Hello Everyone, I’d like to start with another apology for the short President’s Letter. My wife’s and my medical issues persist, but I am told by the doctors that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel. We are close to the end of our adventures. Our 2025 Tailgate Party (in lieu of Hamfest) was back on June 7th  : this year we had a confluence of poor weather. It was humid and we had a persistent light rain and wind, the combination of which kept attendance down significantly. As such, the club’s take was down compared to recent years, however we still managed to turn a profit. Our 2 club photographers, George, K4GVT and Rosalie, KN4ZLY, have once again provided us with many memories. OVH Tailgate … Read more >>

Hello Everyone, Please let me apologize for the brevity of this month’s President’s Letter’s up front. My wife’s and my medical issues came all at once and have been keeping us quite busy. I am hoping to get back to normal in June. Our next OVH Monthly Breakfast get together will be on May 17th @ 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT Yorkshire Restaurant 7537 Centreville Rd Manassas VA 20111 (703) 368-4905 We usually have 4 to 10 people that show up. I hope you can find the time to go. The next regular OVH will be held on Tuesday, May 20st, at 7:30 PM in the training room at the Buckhall VFD. W4OVH Monthly Meeting – 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT Buckhall VFD Hall 7190 Yates Ford Road … Read more >>

Greetings to all. I would like to start this month’s letter off with the 2024 September VHF Contest results. This contest ran September 14 – 16, 2024. I’d like to recognize OVH’s own Vice President, Gil, KM4OZH, for placing second in his category, “Limited Rover” with 13,986 points. He is now “Officially Famous” with his listing in the current issue (April, 2025) of QST, pages 76 & 77. Next up is last month’s VAQP back on March 15th and 16th. Gil had plenty of (mis) adventures with this one, including a deer vs. car contest. If you can get him to tell the story, it is a good one and he tells it well. I am not sure I would have been as sanguine as he was. I do hope … Read more >>

Greetings All, In February, we held our annual club officer elections during our monthly meeting. I’d like to thank everyone who braved the bad weather to participate. In a clean sweep, your entire officer cadre was reelected. John, KG4NXT; Jeff, K9VEG; Gil, KM4OZH and I (Ken, KN4DD) were returned to our positions as Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and President, respectively, Because of that bad weather, our featured speaker, Gordon, NQ4K, was not able to give his Virginia QSO party briefing. In his stead, John, KG4NXT was able to find us a video last minute. His video was “Parachuting into POTA”. While interesting, I don’t think many of our OVH members will be rushing out to try this one. The most common comment, and thus the lesson learned from this video, … Read more >>

Greetings to all, A quick reminder: Because of the President’s Day holiday, this month’s meeting will be on WEDNESDAY, February 19th, and NOT Tuesday. Congratulations to OVH Member Jeff, WB4TT, who leads in the January VHF contest. The January VHF contest was held January 18th to 20th. You can get more information in John Heartney’s article, immediately below this article. When warmer and more seasonal weather returns, that would be a good time while we still have “see through trees” to get out there and check those antennas. Better now (and easier) than when the foliage returns. My own end fed antenna needed to be resecured to a tree just a couple of weeks ago. A big tip of the hat to John, KG4NXT, on that one. It’s once again … Read more >>

Happy New Year to All, A quick reminder: Because of the MLK holiday, this month’s meeting will be on WEDNESDAY, January 22nd, and NOT Tuesday. Thank you to everyone to donated gifts to Toys 4 Tots. I am told we collected more toys than ever before. Thank you also to everyone who came out to our annual Holiday Party. Thanks too, to the Heartney’s for hosting us and providing us with the turkey and ham. A huge thank you especially to Theresa, KG4TVM, who, after finding out that the Yorkshire Restaurant would not be hosting us this year, stepped back in at near last minute to turn out another excellent Holiday Party for our club. If you took part in the annual ARRL Straight Key Night (SKN) on New Year’s … Read more >>