Club News

VP’s Corner

by
By Robert Havasy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21953854

As we enter the new year, I’m reminded of a quote my faculty adviser kept posted on his wall: “We are surrounded by insurmountable opportunity.” Opportunities abound at OVH. Here are some of them for the coming year. How about a position on the OVH leadership team? We’ll put together the slate this month with voting to follow in February.         Unfortunately, it looks like the ongoing pandemic will curtail our traditional outdoor activities for a while. No worries. Ham radio also excels as an indoor sport.     I still have some sets of antenna books from the club lending library to be checked out (Thanks Art!). Winter weather may not be the best for putting up HF antennas. What about that new VHF design you’ve … Read more >>

Pinkie’s Corner

by

Hello everyone! Pinkie here! It’s been a long time since I wrote to my fellow “hams”. I have missed  everyone! Our activities have been limited this year as we all weather the COVID crisis. I sensed that Jeff was experiencing a little  too much cabin fever being cooped in his basement workshop (right), so I sent him outside with Peaches to watch for Santa! Peaches finally complained that she was freezing, and so they came inside! (Peaches was so disappointed that she didn’t see Santa!) Hmm … I needed a project to keep Jeff from going claustrophobic in the Bat Cave. Aha! Where’s that vacuum cleaner that needed fixing? Uh oh … I should  have been warned  when I saw his fascination with the news about the guy in the … Read more >>

OVH Holiday Party

by

We had our annual OVH holiday party at Yorkshire restaurant on Dec 6.   Because of the virus, we wore masks when not eating.  In addition. the restaurant had blocked off every other table to help with social distancing.  We had the usual ham, turkey and venison chili for the main dish.  This year the venison was provided by Gil, KM4OZH, who had shot a 10 point buck.   There were a number of side dishes and desserts brought by OVH members. As usual, we also collected toys for tots.  Several members that could not attend provided toys including Gene, N4HFN; Wayne, N4HCR; Sandy, KM4OZH; Ray, KM4EKR and Al, KB4BHB.   We had two marines come to eat dinner and collect the toys for the toys for tots programs. There was a brief … Read more >>

Update : OVH Laptops will be used by shelter kids for classes

by
"The Other Ken", KN4DD, delivering the OVH laptops

On October 27th, OVH once again stepped up for the community and donated 9 more computers. This brings our total to 20 usable computers donated. We are not counting the 4 donated laptops that were unusable and gifted to eAsset Solutions Computer and Electronics Recycling of Falls Church. A reminder: 11 laptops were donated by OVH to Gracing Spaces (https://www.gracingspaces.com) on August 31. They, in turn, presented those computers to Fairfax County Social Services for use by the children in their shelters. With regard to this round, seven of those nine computers were laptops. We would like to recognize Art, W1CRO; Butch, W4HJL; AL, KB4BHB; and John, KG4NXT for those laptops. The remaining two computers were Windows 10 desktop machines. Theresa, KG4TVM “re-gifted” these two machines after acquiring them from … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

by
Thanksgiving on Combat Outpost Cherkatah Khowst Province, Afghanistan (U.S. Army)

The approaching holiday season and year’s end are traditionally a time for reflection and giving thanks for our many blessings. This Veteran’s Day, lets take a moment to express thanks to our veterans – the young ones who are in harm’s way today defending our freedoms, and those who have gone before, sometimes giving all.   American servicemembers have a proud history of being able to adapt, innovate, and overcome during the most challenging of circumstances. This Veteran’s Day I’ll cover a fascinating but little known part of that history – radios built by front line combatants and prisoners of war eager for the latest war news. Known collectively as “Foxhole Radios” their circuits embody a unique combination of clever innovation and elegance. (“Foxhole” refers to the fighting holes used … Read more >>

Antenna Party for Butch, W4HJL

by
tower near the ground with Al KB4HB, Bob W4HJF, George K4GVT and Gil KM4OZH supervising

On October 20, 2020,  the OVH had an antenna party for Butch, W4HJL.   Butch has a crank down tower at his house.   On the agenda:  1) replace the rotor because control box no longer displayed direction; 2) some of the beam elements were not in same plane as the rest – straighten them; 3) add a 6 meter beam to the antenna.    The crew consisted of Gil, KM4OZH;  George, K4GVT;   George’s brother in law, Tom Schweinfurth, Dick, WN7S; Al, KB4BHB;  Bob, W4HJF and John, KG4NXT.    Butch, W4HJL, cooked us all a fine lunch.    The replacement rotor did not have mounting holes in the right place so the decision was to field repair the old rotor and grease it up.   The field repair was handled most ably by … Read more >>

Scouts On The Air

by
Ken KN4DD sets up a 2 meter contact for a scout

On Saturday, October 17, OVH ran Jamboree-on-the-Air (or JOTA) at Camp Snyder in Haymarket, VA.  One of our members , ROB (W4FSK) was our liaison with the scout camp and was also in charge of the camp that day.  We had a troop of boys, a second one of girls and a third troop of Muslim boys. Rob estimates the OVH volunteers worked with about 50 scouts and their leaders, just at Camp Snyder. The scouts that made contacts were given signed contact cards that they can then use for partial credit for several merit badges. John (KG4NXT) brought his IC-7610 so we could have a digital station and both Al, (KB4BHB) and “The Other Ken” (KN4DD) brought their 2 meter mobile stations. The digital station ran FT8 and worked … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

by

Cooler temperatures of fall will soon be here and, along with them, the beginning of the holiday season. I’m sure your family, like mine, has some holiday traditions which have been passed down over the years. We carry them on, not necessarily for practical reasons, but as a means of bonding and connecting with past generations. Learning to communicate using Morse code or “CW” is one such tradition in the amateur radio community. I’m happy to see several of our new hams accepting the challenge. Here are some interesting Morse factoids to encourage you in your studies. Q.  Why do hams call it CW? A.  CW stands for Continuous Wave, meaning a sine wave produced by an electronic oscillator. The first radio signals from spark transmitters were known as “damped … Read more >>