Club News

VP’s Corner

by

VP’s Corner Jeff Fuller WB6UIE Well done to Byron, AK4XR, and his team for a very successful Field Day. We had a good turnout, the weather was nice, and the food superb. If you’re interested in getting involved with amateur radio public service activities, upcoming events like the Mini Triathlons are a great place to get your feet wet. Keep an eye out for Andy’s posts for more info.  For those with more experience, the Prince William Half Marathon and Marine Corps Marathon will be here soon. Polos are here!  For those who were part of our second order, I’ll have your OVH club polo at the next meeting.  If you would like a polo but weren’t on the list, I’ll also have a number of basic (no name or … Read more >>

W4OVH Eclipsepedition 2017

by

Eclipsepedition 2017 I am mounting an Eclipsepedition August 21 to Lexington SC.  Special Event Call Sign W4E has been requested. The center of Solar Eclipse Totality passes directly over Lexington.  Eclipse QSO Party, HF Operation will be from a Public Parks or School. Planned Operation is from 11:00am to 4;06 EDST, details to follow. Checking Travel Velocity, I found a Limited number of budget Hotels in the Columbia Lexington area. Aiken SC currently has the best availability of Business Class rooms and Suites. I booked a room at the Aiken Hampton Inn for $84.  Aiken is only 45 miles from the Eclipse Totality Center. Planned operation is on 20 meters and 40 meters. I provide the rigs and antennas.,  I encourage everyone travel to Lexington SC to witness the 2017 … Read more >>

W4OVH in the 13 Colonies Special Event

by

13 Colonies Special Event 1300 UTC on July 1 until 0400 UTC on July 7 OVH was well represented in the 13 Colonies special event.    I probably do not have a complete listing but wanted to recognize those who I know about.  The object of the  13 Colonies special event is to contact designated stations in each of the original 13 colonies.   Each State has it own special 1 by 1 call – Virginia was K2B. I believe the following stations had a “Clean sweep” : Al, KB4BHB,  Byron, AK4XR,  Terry,  KC4DV, and Gil, KM4OZH.   Other club members participating were John , KG4NXT,  David, KK4ZUU,  Kevin , KX4KU, and Wayne N7QLK.   Some of the members were actively sharing spots on the difficult to work stations. Our own David, KK4ZUU, was one … Read more >>

Field Day Interference Signal Hunting

by

2017 W4OVH Field Day On Saturday night of 2017 Field day,   Gil , KM4OZH ,  and John , KG4NXT,  noticed severe buzzing interference on 80 M phone. We could only make out a few strong stations. Some of the other operators had noticed it on 20M CW and 20 M phone.  We started to hunt for the interference.  We tried turning off computers one by one.  We turned off the hf rigs one by one.   We turned out the lights one by one. We turned off one generator and then the other.   We still had the interference. Some one suggested we check the lights in the bathroom which were a good 250 feet away.   Byron, AK4XR, found an electrical panel at the bathroom which controlled the pavilion as well as the bathroom.    … Read more >>

W4OVH Member Wins a Virginia QSO Plaque

by

Congratulations to David Morris, KK4ZUU David Morris, KK4ZUU ,  was the first OVH member to win a Virginia QSO Plaque. David and his son  won the High Multiple Operator Single Transmitter plaque plaque in VAQP this year and they only operated on Saturday! 2017 Virginia QSO Party Awards Ceremony Apparently it’s the first time anyone from OVH has won a plaque from the VAQP effort per the sponsor’s statistics (2006-2017) here: 2017 Virginia QSO Party Awards Brief OVH did better for log submissions in 2017, 15 logs vs 11 in 2016. David wants to mobile OPS next year with my son (and his license) and we can get more people involved from the club. 73, John Heartney KG4NXT

W4OVH Field Day 2017

by

Another Successful Field Day… A successful 2017 OVH / ARRL Field Day event took place at the Pavilion at the Nokesville Community Park, 12560 Aden Road, Nokesville, Virginia on Saturday / Sunday June 24/25, 2017 attended by many OVH members with family members and other visitors. An excellent technical training program about coaxial cables, SWR and designing and implementing matching networks was presented by Ken / KE2N.

Tri-It-Now Kids Event and Manassas-Mini-Tri

by

Tri-It-Now Freedom Center Triathlon Event Road Course Safety Last week Sunday, members of W4OVH met at 0630 in the morning to provide the Freedom Center Tri-It-Now events scheduled for that morning with Amateur Radio volunteers to provide road course safety and participate safety for all who participated in the multiple events. Ole Virginia Ham members have extensive experience in event support communications, event course marshal and communications support and event course participant safety support for events like the Manassas Freedom Center Tri-It-Now triathlon events, the Manassas Half-Marathon, the Marine Corp Marathon organization which holds a multitude of race events in addition to its full Marathon, and the Old Dominion Endurance Ride 25/50/100 mile events. An OVH member is assigned as the lead to coordinate with your event staff and write … Read more >>

The 2017 Harry Vorhauer Scholarship OVH Scholarship Award

by

Theresa / KG4TVM, Butch / W4HJL and Bob / K4HJF served on the OVH’s Scholarship Award Committee this year and went through the many scholarship applications received. At the end, the Committee selected Marina Kun as the Awardee and she received a scholarship check of $1,000 at the May 15th OVH Meeting.  She was accompanied to the meeting by her very proud father and Jitin Krishman, one of her teachers. Marina Kun has an impressive background of accomplishment and achievements to date: Patriot High School class rank 4 of 677 also attended the Governor’s School in Manassas, GPA 4.523, Accepted to University of Virginia, plans to enter the Computer Science Program to become a software developer.  Her high school activities; Math & National Honor Societies; Red Cross Volunteer; Participated in the VCU High School Programming Contest; Participant in the Prince William County Science Fair and … Read more >>