Radio Event

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 >>

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 >>

Hello Everyone, The last few days in this, the first full week of June certainly has been different. The Canadian wildfires combined with an unusually low jet stream for this time of year has given us days of very bad air quality. In fact, the Washington, DC area reached the worst air quality in the world on Thursday, June 8th. We even had our first ever “Code Purple” day. And yet, in this bad luck, I think I see some good luck. We have just completed a successful Tailgate Party. If that bad air from those wildfires had reached us days earlier, I don’t think we would have had a successful Tailgate Party. The turnout would have been much lower, if any at all. So, I choose to be thankful … Read more >>

Hello Everyone, I would like to jump right in this time. After a 2 year transition, the FCC implemented its new RF Exposure program. Ron, K3FR, reminded us at our last meeting on April 18th, that the rules phase-in would begin on May 3rd. As of this writing, that phase-in occurred about one week ago. Ron informed us that on pages 64 thru 66 in the May 2023 issue of QST magazine, there is an excellent article detailing this event. He also reminded us that on page 65, the ARRL provided a link to an ARRL RF Exposure calculator tool that is free. http://arrl.org/rf-exposure-calculator The article also states there is a simple method that many hams would like, but cautioned it might be too conservative for other hams, and the … Read more >>

Greetings to all. April 3rd, 2023 was the 50th Anniversary of the cell phone. Inventor Martin Cooper of Motorola used the first portable handset … to make the first cell phone call … to his rival at Bell Labs. Way to rub it in, Marty. From 1973 until now, there has been an incredible proliferation of these devices. It seems like everyone has one and many have more than one. Yet, when I ask my students, most of whom are middle aged, “How many radio circuits are in an average smartphone?” their guesses are all over the map. There are five, if you don’t know: The phone itself is the first one; wi-fi; Bluetooth; GPS and near-field communication (NFC – although you may know it as “Google Pay” or “Samsung … Read more >>

Greetings to all. Well, we had our annual club officer elections at our meeting last month. I’d like to thank everyone who participated. I am reminded of a line from a song by The Who from years ago. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. John, KG4NXT; Don, WA2SWX and I (Ken, KN4DD) are returning to our positions as Secretary, Treasurer and President, respectively, I want to give a big thank you to Tony, KM4KLB for his service as Vice President. The new addition to our cadre of officers is Gil, KM4OZH. Gil has been active with the OVH since 2015 and has been behind the scenes in many activities. Most recently and perhaps most importantly, Gil has joined our Technical Committee. So please give a big welcome … Read more >>

I hope you all are enjoying the recent spring like weather. I know I have. I also know that everything costs something, so I won’t be surprised if the bill comes due in the form of actual winter weather. Just the same, I wouldn’t mind if our recent weather stays around for the rest of the season. Speaking of spring like weather, now would be a good time while we still have “see through trees” to get out there and check those antennas. Better now (and easier) than when the foliage returns. I was informed of the results from the June 2022 ARRL VHF contests after I had published the January President’s Letter.  So, even though this is a bit late, I want to congratulate two of our own, Gil, … Read more >>

Happy New Year to All, I heard what I thought was a great story this week. It is the kind of story that you hope is true. It seems that back in the late 1800s or early 1900s there was a telegrapher’s job opening, and a man went down to the office to apply. When the man got there however, there were about seven applicants ahead of him. Unconcerned, he took his seat to wait his turn. It was a busy office with a lot of office noise, and this being the past, lots of heavy clicking and clacking from the telegraph equipment. After a few moments, this man got up from his seat, and strode purposefully into the back office whereupon the door closed. This, of course, upset the … Read more >>