Club News

Gil, KM4OZH PLACES 2ND IN NATIONAL CONTEST

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The ARRL September VHF contest was from Sept 8 to 11 this year. Our Gil, KM4OZH participated in the Limited Rover class; which mean he was mobile and that he had 4 bands to work with – 50 MHz,  144 MHz,  220 MHz and 440 MHz. Gil spends a lot of time getting his car ready for the contest and he is always refining things. This year, Gil and his adult ham son, Jordan, created an automatic antenna switching system based on an Arduino. When Gil changed bands on his radio, the correct antenna was automatically selected. Here is a photo of the breadboarded antenna switching system  before being installed in the car. Gil always plans his route, including sleep time. He is on the road for two days. Gil … Read more >>

FT8 at 35,000 feet

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wa2swx does FT8 from an airplane

Don, WA2SWX, did some FT8 while flying to Ecuador. He connected via the internet to his home station in Centreville. Here is his description: “FT-8 at 35,000 feet somewhere over Mexico or Central America. The nerd’s version of the mile high club.” Here is the screen shot: This is legal under part 97 US Station: o FCC Rules: Part 97.109 Station control …“Any station may be remotely controlled.” o FCC Rules Part 97.213 Telecommand of an amateur station: …has some simple requirements, including a 3 minute time-out on the transmitter in the event of malfunction. 4 US Station, with Operator outside of US: Operator must be “licensed” by a US License, bilateral, reciprocal, IARP agreement or CEPT T/R 61-01. The call sign used must always indicate the location of the … Read more >>

President’s Letter for September, 2023

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Greetings Everyone, Once again, it’s half past September. After a short cool period last month, September heat came roaring back with a vengeance. Depending where you were in the greater Washington DC area, you experienced three to five days of back to back record-breaking heat paired with less than normal rainfall so far. The good news, if you will allow me, Hurricane Season (which ends December 1st) has been mild for the US this year, with only one storm hitting the mainland so far. And as always, I hope for a mild winter. Our flurry of activities is winding down too. Off of the top of my head, we have the last Tri-It-Now event in October, the Manassas Christmas parade on December 2nd and our annual OVH Christmas Party left … Read more >>

President’s Letter for August 2023

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Hello Everyone, With September only a few weeks away, I am reminded that while Hurricane Season officially starts on June 1st , here in the Mid-Atlantic region it unofficially begins in September. Now would be a good time to check your emergency communications equipment, supplies, including batteries. It would also be a good time to verify the integrity of both your antenna(s) and the guy wires. Over the years, the Ole Virginia Hams have had several members completely fry their equipment due to lightning strikes. So, I think it would also be good to review your safe grounding & isolation setups. While depriving you of a good story, it’ll save you a lot of money and (setup) aggravation later on.   Cat’s, KM4PBD head injury Back at the end of … Read more >>

13 Colonies Certificates begin to arrive

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The 13 Colonies event runs in early July and consists of contacting special event stations in each of the original 13 colonies. Contacting all 13 constitutes a “SWEEP”. There are three bonus stations: Liberty bell in Philadelphia; England and France. Many OVH members participated including AL, KB4BHB; Duane, KK4BZ; Jay, NQ4T; Bill, N4SV and John, KG4NXT. Click the small image to get a much bigger view of the certificate.

K3FR will activate rare grids

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Ron, K3FR explains as follows: A week from now I will be off on the first leg of my three week journey to the west coast and back. Here are the slides I talked about at the FARA club meeting last week. I will be hitting 25 states, 80 plus grids, while visiting family in Michigan, Washington and Oregon. I’ll be stopping at a lot of sightseeing spots and points of interest. I’ll be carrying two cameras and my Icom IC-7100. I intend to activate 6 meters and 2 meters from the rarer grids beginning on my third day. Hope some of you get to connect with me. 73, Ron, K3FR __________________________ Click on the picture to get a link to download powerpoint slides of his journey Ron’s slides of … Read more >>

Member Spotlight – OVH’s own Gavin Saul, KK4MXT in the news.

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We have seen the Saul family at our monthly meetings on many occasions. While it is common to see wives trail in after the husbands, and sometimes husbands following wives in, it is rare for us to have the whole family come in.  Robert, KK4MXU (or “dad” as Gavin might say), Gavin, KK4MXT, mom Kirsten & sister Katie all have been spotted at Buckhall VFD at one time or another. This is due in part to their affinity with the Ole Virginia Hams (Kristen ran the kids 4H event at our Hamfest for several years when we were still at the fairgrounds and is still is very active with the 4H.) and in part because Robert is an officer at the Buckhall VFD and they live just down the street … Read more >>

President’s Letter for July 2023

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Greetings All, I want to jump right in as this month’s presentation is very important. Opioid abuse really has become rampant in today’s society and has even affected relatives of our OVH membership. As such, at this meeting, we will be stepping away from our normal format of ham related topics. Our monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 18th, will feature a presentation by Jim Wooller, BA, QMHP-A, CPRS – Behavioral Health & Wellness Specialist for Prince William County who will give a presentation on Narcan. Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan among others, is a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids. It is used to counter decreased breathing in opioid overdose. The training is about 40 minutes long and everyone who attends will receive Naloxone … Read more >>