Sunshine Corner

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Happy birthday to John KI4OWH, Justin KJ4LAS, Elizabeth KG4NXV, Chuck W4XP, John WA1STU, Ken KE2N, Ed WD4AVU, Ken KN4HHO and Woody N4MQ, hope you all have a great year! Thank you again to everyone that contributed to the Toys For Tots at the party, I dropped off a whole carload of toys at the fire department on my way home from the party. Please keep Fred N3KVV (Paul W4ZB is his brother) in your thoughts, he is recovering from a very serious car accident in December. 2019 is looking to be even busier with many activities. Please stay tuned to a new CW net and Saturday morning meetings to discuss ham radio! Hamfest meetings are well under way, contact Don WA2SWX and let him know how you … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

Happy New Year

As we enter the new year, I’m reminded  of a quote my faculty adviser kept posted on his wall: “We are surrounded by insurmountable opportunity.” Opportunities abound at OVH for programs, projects, and people. Based on your inputs, here are some ideas for programs and projects. I’ve added a couple of threads (links) to tug on for each so you can explore them further online. (1) Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) http://www.arrl.org/direction-finding http://www.homingin.com/ (2) Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) http://www.arrl.org/aprs-mode (3) Digital Modes http://wb8nut.com/digital/ (4) Morse Code http://www.arrl.org/learning-morse-code Jeff, K9VEG, has established a weekly CW net for those interested in polishing their skills. See the OVH reflector for details. (5) 6 and 10 meter FM and Digital Anyone interested in exploring the acres of unused RF spectrum there for mobile,portable, … Read more >>

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.      

Sunshine Corner

Sunshine Corner

Wishing these club members a happy year-end birthday to David KK4ZUU, Tony KM4KLB, Ed KK4PHP, Jay KM4JOJ, Dianne KI4FVV, Bill N4SV, Kelly, Byron AK4XR, Charles WA1FFX, George N4XSL. Thank you to everyone that attended the club party and for their generous donations for Toys 4 Tots.  More on this in January! As we end 2018, I would like to wish everyone a happy Holiday and a peaceful year to come! 73, Theresa kg4tvm@hotmail.com 703-257-3566

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 >>