OVH Field Day Best in 20 Years

Bill AF4LL on sideband

For our 2022 Field Day, we claimed 5,266 points. As a reference, we claimed 2,648 in 2012 and 2,526 in 2021. We had terrific operators including Bill, AF4LL; Wayne, AG4ZZ; Ron, K3FR; Byron, AK4XR; Don, WA2SWX; Jim, KM4SXM; Mark, WA4KFZ and John, KG4NXT. We also had a super under 18 YL operator – Sarah Peart. She made 19 FT8 contacts. Cat, KM4PBD and Byron, AK4XR held a fox hunt. Cat made an expert field repair of the Fox and hid it on one of the signs in the park baseball field. Gil, KM4OZH was the first to find the fox and won the fox hunt. We had a very unusual antenna mount. Byron brought his cherry picker and Gil made an antenna rotator for it. This was used for the … Read more >>

President’s Letter for June 2022

Well, despite a couple of really hot days in the beginning, June temperatures so far, are about average. We certainly couldn’t have asked for better weather for our Manassas Hamfest.  It was beautiful and with low humidity, too. It was our first full blown Hamfest since the beginning of the pandemic. You might remember that last year we did a Tailgate Party, in lieu of a Hamfest. We did it that way due to the Covid restrictions in place at that time. Outdoor space was all we could rent. So with the pandemic winding down & $5/gallon gasoline prices, we held our first post Covid Hamfest, and I call it a success. Our team was headed up once again by Don, WA2SWX. We were once again back in the Manassas … Read more >>

2022 Hamfest Recap

June 4th, – Manassas Hamfest. A beautiful sunrise. No humidity. The temperature just right for a spring day. OVH volunteers started arriving around 5 AM. Our doors opened at 6 AM for the vendors & general admission was 30 minutes later. After a 2 year hiatus, we were ready. Boy, were we ready. OVH members came out in droves to support us. What a tremendous amount of support. And this didn’t happen by accident. As usual, Theresa, KG4TVM, was the Head Talent Wrangler, the Chief Cajoler in Charge. After weeks of prompting, all of her efforts were paid back in spades. A veritable army of volunteers. Dr. Bob Heil was to be our featured speaker. However, due to the load on the Manassas Park Community Center’s wi-fi infrastucture by the … Read more >>

President’s Letter for May 2022

It’s hot. It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s dry. Repeat. Often. Last winter’s schizophrenic weather just seems to go on and on. On the plus side, we certainly aren’t experiencing the drought the folks out west are experiencing. I am proud to report that The Ole Virginia Hams has selected 2 STEM students for the 2022 Steve Frick Scholarship. Additionally, I am very pleased to announce that for the first time ever, we have two young women as our STEM student scholarship winners. These young people will be present @ the beginning of our May 17th meeting for the award presentation. On May 8th, OVH supported our second Run, Bike, and Swim Mini Tri of 2022. Officially called “The Tri It Now – Ladies Choice”, there were also a number of … Read more >>

The OVH Supports “The Tri It Now – Ladies Choice”

On May 8th, The Ole Virginia Hams supported the “The Tri It Now – Ladies Choice”, our second Run, Bike, and Swim Mini Tri of the 2022 season. Ladies Choice participants ran the gamut from tweens on up. The Tri It Now events are relatively easy and short events on a Sunday at The Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center, Manassas. The course consists of: Run 1.5 miles – Bike 4 miles – Swim 250 yards. It’s a great way for our Technician Class members to get involved as the only things needed are a Handy Talkie (HT) and a desire to serve for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. Weather wise, it was not a good weekend, with the official rain tally at 2.02 inches in total @ … Read more >>

OVH supports Serve Our Willing Warriors (SOWW) and receives an award

Willing Warriors Bike Event 2021 Certificate

VP – OVH On Saturday, September 11th, members of the Ole Virginia Hams supported the 4th Annual Warrior Ride. The date for this ride was chosen to honor the fallen, survivors and heroes of that fateful day. I am pleased to report, “Mission Accomplished”! It was a beautiful day for a bike ride. While it got to 79° in the afternoon, the morning ride was cooler, with no humidity. Additionally, the variable clouds all day kept the riders cool and in the shade while the day wore on.                 That is not to say the day was without its challenges. 3 separate bike rides, a 13 miler, half metric (~30 miles) & full metric (~60 miles), all using the same starting route. The … Read more >>

OVH Field Day 2021

VP – OVH Field day, like Gaul, is divided into three parts ( – with apologies to Julius Caesar) 1) setup 2) field day operation and 3) tear down and submitting the log files. The Setup June 25, 2021 was the day before the first day of Field Day. It was also “Setup Day”. As in some past years, we had a team out to shoot pull line in the trees which become support for field day antennas.  Most years we do this with easy-ups and home made easy-up consisting of a sling shot and a fishing reel & weight. This year, we also had a drone dropping lines (George, K4GVT) and a very effective pneumatic launcher made by Jeff, K9VEG. There was no rain and the lines went up. … Read more >>

Pinkie’s Corner

Hello everyone! Pinkie here! It’s been a long time since I wrote to my fellow “hams”. I have missed  everyone! Our activities have been limited this year as we all weather the COVID crisis. I sensed that Jeff was experiencing a little  too much cabin fever being cooped in his basement workshop (right), so I sent him outside with Peaches to watch for Santa! Peaches finally complained that she was freezing, and so they came inside! (Peaches was so disappointed that she didn’t see Santa!) Hmm … I needed a project to keep Jeff from going claustrophobic in the Bat Cave. Aha! Where’s that vacuum cleaner that needed fixing? Uh oh … I should  have been warned  when I saw his fascination with the news about the guy in the … Read more >>