Jay Moore, NQ4T, has his antenna blown down in the windstorms of last spring and was unable to participate in the 13 colonies contest. Since then, he has put up a doublet and is back on the air with a vengeance. With 100 watts from an IC-7300, he has worked Oman on FT8 and Moscow on phone. Here is the link for a recording of his Moscow QSO. http://w4ovh.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/rz3ah.mp3 This is a picture of his new antenna.
To those of you who, although new to both our hobby and the club, have already volunteered for ARES, TriItNow, and several other public service events, a hearty Welcome Aboard! By now you’re no doubt familiar with the yellow mesh ARES vests. They’re great for making you nice and visible to race participants and traffic while you’re out there with your HT. But .. where are the pockets? Where will you put your gear should you deploy in support of a real emergency? Here’s one solution. It’s a rugged vest with MOLLE loops from Canadian company Duty Apparel. Their compatible MOLLE pouches are ideal for your HT, water, and other gear from your ARES go kit (right). The rear panel needed for ARES ID (top right) is easily added either … Read more >>
The 13 Colonies special event is a contest for hams to contact special event stations in each of the 13 colonies. Appropriately, the contest ran from July 1 to July 7 , which includes Independence Day. Each state has a special 1 by 1 call. For example, Virginia was K2B. The idea is to contact all 13 stations for a ‘sweep’. The contest is on all bands and all modes. This was the 10th year the contest has run. For the Olde Virginia Hams, the first known sweep was by Gil KM4OZH, who finished his in two days. Other OVH members participating were Al, KB4BHB, Wayne , N7QLK, John, KG4NXT, and David, KK4ZUU. If any one was missed, contact KG4NXT and we will correct the web article. We should … Read more >>
Congratulations to the OVH team for another successful Field Day. In true ham spirit, you braved thunderstorms and torrential rains along with high winds which sent your tent tumbling. And, as if that weren’t enough, you added a fox hunt to the activities and managed to fit in a briefing for a couple of ARRL VIPs. Well done! Of course Field Day is more than just a chance to enjoy some outdoor contesting. It’s good training for our role in supporting disaster communications. Some of us still get kidding from friends and family when we tell them about this role. After all, everybody has a cell phone now, so nobody needs ham radio. But just how resilient is all that modern hardware? Well … here’s some fodder from recent events … Read more >>
As field day approached, all eyes were on the weather forecasts and the forecasts were not good. On Friday, the rain let up about 1 pm but started again when we gathered at the park to slingshot lines for the antennas. We proceeded and got all the lines shot with the loss of only two weights, The rain actually helped a bit here because the school kids at the site stayed under the pavilion which made it safe for some of the near shots. As we gathered Saturday morning for setup, the rain held off for a time. We had another challenge since Bill South, N4SV, had always setup and configured the logging computers and no one else had. Byron, AK4XR, took the task on and had them all … Read more >>
W4OVH Members We will again have Field Day at Nokesville Community Park on June 23 and 24 2018 at the Nokesville Community Park. All of the details including a map to the Nokesville Community Park Pavillion is on our calendar event at – http://w4ovh.net/event/arrl-field-day-2/ Setup starts 9:00 am on Saturday, June 23th Potluck dinner on June 24th at 5:00 pm – bring something and enjoy a great dinner Fox hunt follows Potluck dinner – bring your HT – some yagis will be available or bring your own Various events : Shoot lines for antennas – at park on Friday June 22 at 3 pm. Call KG4NXT at 703-789-6449 if you are coming. Field Day setup – at park on Saturday June 23 at 9 am. We could use your help. Operations … Read more >>
On June 3rd, 2018 the Ole Virginia Hams had their 44th annual hamfest at the Prince Williams Fairgrounds. Although the weather was less than agreeable we had a good vendor turnout with 38 vendors who rented 80 tables necessitating us to even place a couple of additional vendors in the building housing the program sessions. Sandy KM4JUS did a wonderful job in managing a very dynamic situation. Additionally, we had 51 tailgaters and a gate attendance of approximately 345 brave individuals undaunted by the weather. A big thank you goes out to Theresa KG4TVM and all others for managing the club table out in the rain and cold. Theresa and her team managed not only the table but prize drawings and announcements as well. In addition, Jeff Fuller WB6UIE ran interesting … Read more >>
I’ll begin this month’s column with a thank you to Hamfest Chair Don, WA2SWX, and his team of volunteers. They worked tirelessly to fill the vendor hall, provide a top notch series of drawing prizes, and schedule some interesting presentations like the wireless weather station by OVH member W4KRL(http://www.w4krl.com). Those who helped carry those big wooden tables during setup and cleanup can testify that there was also quite a bit of physical labor involved. Unfortunately this year there was one obstacle we couldn’t clear – the weather. Pouring rain most of the day really put a damper on attendance and resulting revenue. We’ll hope for better luck next year. Recruiting is up with several new members joining the club over the last two months. Some, like myself, started hamming as … Read more >>