Presidents Letter

Presidents Letter: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family members. I wanted to get that in first! And please don’t forget to renew your OVH membership for 2019 now! Use the form at the end of this Newsletter or do it online at w4ovh.net.   Speaking of forgetting, every time I try to get on the air with the “new” FT8 mode, I have to try to remember what I did last time which didn’t work. One of these days I’ll get it working; and now I see that a new FT8 version has come out so I will have to download that and get up to speed with it. The recent, big FT8 contest with a lot of FT8 activity on HF provided a good incentive … Read more >>

Awards given at OVH Holiday Party

Ellis getting Award

At the popular OVH holiday party,  the club gave out several awards.  There were several people getting awards who did not make the party.  These awards will be given out at the January meeting.   Awards given at the party were: Steve Frick N4OGR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Al Dugas KB4BHB LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Jay Moore NQT4 CERTIFICATE OF  RECOGNITION Wayne Phillips N7QLK HALF MARATHON CHAIRMAN shirt (custom embroidered) Don Meyerhoff WA2SWX Large bottle of Ginger Wine for taking on Treasurer and Hamfest Chair John Heartney KG4NXT VE shirt for being VE liaison Yorkshire Restaurant Certificate of Appreciation There were also lots of toys for tots donated.      

OVH Trailer gets a tarp

OVH Trailer Tarp

As we know,  the sun bleaches things.  The OVH trailer and its decals are no exception.  Therefore, we now have a reflective 9 mil tarp over the trailer.  It should also reduce the heat in the trailer. The tarp was donated by John , KG4NXT.   The tarp was installed by John , KG4NXT, and Al, KB4BHB.   AL, KB4BHB paid for the installation supplies.

Repeater upgrades

Ken attaches N connector to hardline

The 2 meter repeater had become very noisy several times after we have had a lot of rain.    After testing for noise in the repeater shack, the technical committee decided the noise source was between the antenna and the outside of the repeater shack.   Ken , KE2N, decided we should replace the generic LMR 400 coax with hardline. On December 3, 2018,  an OVH team replaced the coax to both the 2 Meter and 440  antennas with 7/8 inch hardline.   This hardline has a loss of only  .7 db per 100 feet at 440 MHZ.   Our climber was Byron AK4XR.   Ken directed the operation and   Gil , KMK4OZH and John KG4NXT assisted.    We are hopeful that the noise will not return.     In addition, the repeater receiver should … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

Canteen Radio

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. Amateurs have a proud history of contributions during our nation’s conflicts. This Veteran’s Day I’ll cover a fascinating but little known part of that history – radios built by American and Allied prisoners of war. For a moment, imagine yourself as a WWII POW. You’re injured, on short rations, and living in primitive conditions. How will you find parts for even a basic receiver? And, of course, the design will be yours (no references or … Read more >>

Help Fund The Club With Amazon Smile

amazon smile logo

Our Treasurer Don, WA2SWX, has found a painless way to help the club: Amazon Smile.  When setup, Amazon will donate a percentage of your purchases to OVH.  There are two steps: 1) Add the OVH as your charity on your amazon account ; 2) When buying,  buy on smile.amazon.com instead of www.amazon.com. Adding OVH as your Amazon Charity Click to add OVH as Amazon Smile Charity Getting your Amazon purchase to count and make a contribution There are several ways to get your purchase to count. The first is to simply get into amazon with the following URL http://smile.amazon.com    One you succeed, you can make a bookmark and use that.  If you go to www.amazon.com, your purchase  will not count.   You can tell that you are in Smile because your  Amazon  … Read more >>

JOTA – Jamboree on the air

Camp Synder JOTA tent 1

On Saturday Oct 20,  OVH members assisted with JOTA at Camp Snyder in Haymarket. On site members were Al, KB4BHB, Wayne, N7QLK, Megan Phillips (no call yet),  Don, WA2SWX,  Ron, N4RDZ (visiting from Seattle),  Theresa, KG4TVM, Bruce, KN4GDX and John , KG4NXT.  We also had club members contact our JOTA site and talk to our scouts on the air including David, KG4GIY, Charlie , W4YGI (using our repeater’s internet link from Lake Anna) ,  Ogre,  N4OGR, and Jan, KE4TMW. At our next regular meeting,  Rob, W4SFK , will present  a JOTA report in more detail. If   JOTA participant was missed, please contact  John , KG4NXT, and a correction will be made.

VP’s Corner

Pumpkin

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.     The amateur radio family has its own set of traditions. Some, like QSO procedures, we use regularly regardless of operating mode. Others, like Morse code, seem at risk of fading away into the sunset. Many years ago, a Morse code test was part of every amateur radio license exam. General and higher license exams were administered at FCC district offices. I can still remember that crisp fall day many years ago, crammed into a room full of applicants with my 13 year old hands shaking … Read more >>