Club News

President’s Letter for May 2022

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It’s hot. It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s dry. Repeat. Often. Last winter’s schizophrenic weather just seems to go on and on. On the plus side, we certainly aren’t experiencing the drought the folks out west are experiencing. I am proud to report that The Ole Virginia Hams has selected 2 STEM students for the 2022 Steve Frick Scholarship. Additionally, I am very pleased to announce that for the first time ever, we have two young women as our STEM student scholarship winners. These young people will be present @ the beginning of our May 17th meeting for the award presentation. On May 8th, OVH supported our second Run, Bike, and Swim Mini Tri of 2022. Officially called “The Tri It Now – Ladies Choice”, there were also a number of … Read more >>

The OVH Supports “The Tri It Now – Ladies Choice”

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On May 8th, The Ole Virginia Hams supported the “The Tri It Now – Ladies Choice”, our second Run, Bike, and Swim Mini Tri of the 2022 season. Ladies Choice participants ran the gamut from tweens on up. The Tri It Now events are relatively easy and short events on a Sunday at The Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center, Manassas. The course consists of: Run 1.5 miles – Bike 4 miles – Swim 250 yards. It’s a great way for our Technician Class members to get involved as the only things needed are a Handy Talkie (HT) and a desire to serve for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. Weather wise, it was not a good weekend, with the official rain tally at 2.02 inches in total @ … Read more >>

Jay NQ4T has China contact on FT8

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Logbook of the world confirmation of Jay's China contact

Our old President, Jay, NQ4T  got a contact with BG0CAB on 20 M  FT8.   Jay was using a wire antenna and was not using an amp.   The contact has been confirmed in LOTW (Logbook of the World)  as seen in the photo.  Click the photo to see it bigger.  CONGRATULATIONS Jay.

OVH Member Fixes Fortune 500 Company problem with Aluminum Foil

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George K4GVT with spectrum Analyzer and aluminum foil hat

George, K4GVT has been an engineer for years and recently retired from Cisco. George found himself bored and took on some part time work from a Fortune 500 company that we can not name. This company manufactures chips. These chips start out as silicon wafers and then are processed into chips. The manufacturing process is quite delicate and the wafers are never touched by humans as they process down the assembly line – moved by a track system. George was told that track system was often stopping at one point in the plant. The unintended stopping point was near machines that generate plasma. George knew that the plasma was generated in a chamber using kilowatts of RF. The company has a RF sniffer and it was not registering a problem. … Read more >>

Winter Field Day 2022

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Ron K3FR operating

On January 29th and 30th, OVH operated winter field day at Shenandoah River state park. The operators were Don, WA2SWX;  Ron, K3FR; Gil, KM4OZH and John, KG4NXT. Several OVH members were on the air to work us as the contest started. We worked George, K4GVT and Al, KB4BHB. Butch, W4HJL and Wayne, N7QLK gave us calls but we were unable to hear them although they could hear us. We made phone, CW and digital contacts. The winter field day rules prohibit FT8 so we used PSK31 for over 40 digital contacts. OVH member Elizabeth, KG4NXV and her family flew in from Washington state. Baby Ben was a big hit with all. The Washington area had a snow event, but the roads remained passable. Don and John put up a 134 … Read more >>

Member Spotlight – Mark Baker KO4MBN

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In January 2021, Mark Baker was not a ham. In December 2021, Mark is KO4MBN with a General ticket and has worked all 50 states and over 100 countries. Mark got his Tech ticket in February 2021. He joined the OVH in April 2021 and passed his General exam at an OVH VE session in October 2021. Zero to sixty in ham radio. Mark lives in Bristow, VA and is a Captain and Paramedic with the DC Fire Department. He has a number of other hobbies. He is an amateur astronomer. He does astrophotography and also landscape and nature photography. He is a pistol and rifle target shooter. He has three sets of dusty golf clubs as well as some bowling ball in the closet. Mark’s first exposure to radio … Read more >>

OVH Holiday Party 2021

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Lynn, KX4HC, Norma, John KG4NXT, Theresa KG4TVM, Don WA2SWX, Edith, Julie, Bill AF4LL

On Sunday December 12, we had our annual OVH Holiday party organized by Theresa, KG4TVM at the Yorkshire Restaurant. We had an excellent Club turnout with over 35 attendees. No tables were empty in our section of the restaurant. We had a renewed emphasis on the potluck part of the dinner with many wonderful dishes. Al, KB4BHB and Wayne, N7QLK worried that they would not be able to provide venison for the dinner. However, they suddenly were lucky and harvested two deer and then there was plenty of venison for the chili. Gil, KM4OZH made lemon cake which was so popular that Gil did not get a taste. Gil has previously made lemon cake for the Fauquier Club’s party and did not get to taste his own cake there either. … Read more >>

Local (OVH) Boy Makes Good

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Michael, KO4HBU, Unity High School - Member Spotlight

VP OVH OK, so Michael, KO4HBU, is not a boy. He is in fact, a Prince William County Public Schools science teacher. He is also a new ham and a new Ole Virginia Hams member. He was licensed at OVH’s VE Session @ the Nokesville Park on 8/15/20. All of us with children and grandchildren know that raising them and teaching them is difficult. But when you add-in teaching them during the age of COVID, and all of those inherent problems, this becomes much more formidable. We are talking about Michael, not just because he teaches physics, chemistry, biology, and earth sciences at Unity Reed High. We are also talking about what may very well be his greatest accomplishment in 2021. Michael was able to win a $5,000 grant from … Read more >>