Club News

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 >>

Christmas Parade 2021

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The Ole Virginia Hams supported the 2021 Christmas Parade in two ways. First, our trailer was decorated and became a float in the parade. Second, the club provided communications support for the event. Theresa, KG4TVM spearheaded the float effort.  She noticed the deadline and filed the paperwork – we got in the parade at no cost. Theresa, Ron, K3FR;  John, KG4NXT and Andrea, KI4SXM helped with the lights and decorations. Finally Gene, KN4JMB  pulled the trailer in the parade with his truck which was also decorated. Gene also helped decorate the trailer and the truck. George, K4GVT was our liaison for communications support with the parade.  We gathered for breakfast before the parade. The OVH members working the parade were John, KG4NXT; Theresa, KG4TVM; George, K4GVT; Ken, KN4DD; Dick, KM4UXE; … Read more >>

2021 Turkey Trot

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Ken's (KE2N) Award

VP – OVH November 25th, Thanksgiving morning was another beautiful day for a race. A 5k race to be specific. While a cloudy day, it was an above average 60° with low humidity. Perfect.   First off, and most importantly: Congratulations to our own Ken (KE2N) who not only participated in the race, he placed 2nd in his category. As he told me later, “ …. a post retirement personal best.”       Way to go, Ken! Ken’s (KE2N) Award Next up, what a difference race management makes. Our own Wayne (N7QLK) took the lead here, but he was frequently thwarted by the race’s management. Wayne organized his team of spotters – Wayne, N7QLK; Al, KB4BHB; Ken, KN4DD; Theresa, KG4TVM & John, KG4NXT only then to have the race’s … Read more >>

June VHF Contests – 2 OVH Winners – Compare & Contrast

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VHF Contest logo

VP – OVH This last June 12th thru 14th saw the ARRL June VHF Contests. The contest began 1800 UTC Saturday and ended 0259 UTC Monday. The Ole Virginia Hams fielded two of the winners, Gil, KM4OZH and Ron, K3FR. Both are Amateur Extras and “of a certain age”. Both started contesting almost immediately after licensing. While similar in their passions for both amateur radio and contesting, their approach is significantly different. Ron is well seasoned, having acquired his novice license in 1959. For this contest he used mostly FT8. By comparison then, Gil is a relative newcomer, getting licensed just 6 years ago. Gil used SSB/phone. Gil, KM4OZH : Gil, KM4OZH, was first licensed in 2015. And as previously stated, gravitated to contesting shortly thereafter. He really enjoys roving … Read more >>

OVH supports the last Tri-It-Now event of the 2021 season

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Tri It Now Races

On Sunday, October 17th, OVH supported the last Tri-It-Now event of the season, the “Tune Up Tri”. We have been very fortunate this year in that it was another beautiful day for a race. While the afternoon was cloudy & windy, the morning was a cool 60°, fair, with low humidity. In short, perfect. Before the race began, we had a small meeting and presentation. Our own Andy Gamponia, KJ4MTP, who is our liaison to both SOWW (Serve Our Willing Warriors) and the Tri-It-Now events had a task to do. Back on October 1st, (or, 5 articles before this one) SOWW presented the Ole Virginia Hams with an electronic copy of a Certificate of Appreciation. On this pleasant, sunny morning I had the pleasure of receiving on behalf of OVH, … Read more >>

Jamboree on the Air 2021

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JOTA group picture

On October 16, 2021, OVH went to Camp Snyder to support JOTA. The club members supporting were Theresa, KG4TVM; Wayne, N7QLK; Ken, KN4DD; Bruce, KN4GDX; Andrea, KI4SXM; Rob, W4FSK; Mike, KO4BCN; Don, WA2SWX and Ron, K3FR. Diana, KO4QJR was also there to help us. On the day before, John , Bruce and Al, KB4BHB set up antennas for the event. Although not physically present, we heard club member Bill, AF4LL talking to scouts on 2 meter FM. We had a wide variety of stations. Don had DStar. Ken ran 2 meter FM. Bruce had a digital voice station. John ran FT8. We did not have as many scouts as we would have liked. We started with good weather but a storm front was approaching around noon and we secured at … Read more >>

OVH VE Exam

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VE Examiners October 2021

The OVH Volunteer Examiners held an exam session in Nokesville Community Park on October 2nd, where we have Field Day. We had 10 applicants and subsequently, 11 new licenses. We have 7 new Techs and 3 new Generals. One fellow passed both Tech and General. One fellow did not pass his upgrade test. The OVH Volunteer Examiners were Al, KB4BHB; “The Other Ken”, KN4DD; George, K4GVT; Ray, KM4EKR and John, KG4NXT. Theresa, KG4TVM was a great help with checking people in and organizing the returns. John planned to upload the results electronically, but it turns out that the link is “non public” and the ARRL VEC office was not answering the phone on Saturday. Therefore, John had the results in the mail by 1 PM on the day of the … Read more >>