With the event filled months behind us, we slide into the slower days of summer and a sweltering heat wave. HF propagation is at its worst in many years. If the low sunspot blues have you down, check out six meters. There have been a number of afternoon sporadic E openings as far as the midwest and southern Florida. Time for a virtual cool down as we explore the exceptional contributions of a young ham named Art to several polar expeditions and to the field of HF radio communications. Born in 1909, Art took an early interest in emerging wireless technology. Licensed at the age of 14, he assembled his own station in the attic of his family’s midwestern home. Art first gained the attention of polar explorers during the … Read more >>
On Sunday, September 29, the OVH will again be running communications for the 4th Annual Prince William Half Marathon. Last year, the race had 1400 runners and an additional 500 runners for an included 5K race. The OVH had 18 members participating. The event can be done either with a 2 meter handheld or with a mobile. Loaners are available. Please save the date and volunteer to Wayne Phillips , N7QLK at (571) 237-0520 or at w99phi@gmail.com.
Over the 4th of July week, many club members participated in the 13 colonies special event. The object was to work some or all of the 13 colonies special event stations. Our own David Morris, KK4ZUU, was one of the Virginia operators with call K2B. There were bonus stations for the Liberty Bell (WM3PEN) and England ( GB13COL) click the image for a bigger picture.
June was quite a busy month for the club. In a span of two weeks we managed to cover the Warrior Bike charity event, Hamfest, Field Day, and a MiniTri – flawlessly. Well done Team OVH! In addition to celebrating our nation’s independence, this July marks another important anniversary – the 50th anniversary of man’s first landing on the moon. As a youngster I can remember being awestruck by those first TV pictures from the moon. It wasn’t until a few years later while pursuing a technical degree that I began to appreciate just how daunting a task the communications link design for the Apollo missions was. Among the challenges: – A path loss of over 200db ruled out the VHF communications used on earlier missions. A special S-Band (2GHz)radio … Read more >>
After decades at the fairgrounds, we moved the hamfest to the Manassas Park Community Center and to a new date – June 15. After a lot of hard work and some weather luck, it was a big success. Special thanks to the parking crew headed by Jim O’Rourke, KM4SXM, and the food crew headed by Phii, AC4PL.
Continue reading for pictures by Pinkie and Cat, KM4PBD:
At the 2019 OVH field day, Cat, KM4PBD, ran the fox hunt as the educational activity. Cat was the fox hunt winner in 2018. There were five 440 M yagis available which had been constructed by Gil, KM4OZH. Each of the yagis was put to use by fox hunters. One of the fox hunters was our guest Lee J. Carter, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 50th District.
The fox hunters started from the park pavillion and their first job was to find Cat, who then gave them the fox’s frequency. The fox hunt was won by young James Morris, who is the son of David Morris, KK4ZUU.
George, K4GVT, used his drone to drop antenna lines for field day.Video by DAVID KK4ZUU
June is shaping up to be a busy month for club activities. We’ll have Hamfest, Field Day, and the Warrior Bike for the SOWW veterans charity. Speaking of veterans, this month also marks another milestone, the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing at Normandy. Imagine what it must to have been like to maintain radio communications during the utter chaos as the first waves hit the beaches. Lets take a look at two radios which played an important role in bringing tactical comms to D-Day. U.S. ground forces found themselves on the eve of WWII with large HF manual Morse radios for headquarters elements, but nothing portable enough for the company or squad level. After several R&D efforts, the winning bid went to Galvin Industries, a manufacturer of car and … Read more >>