Greetings to all.
We start this month’s letter off with last month’s VAQP back on March 16th and 17th. I hope everyone remembered to put our club down on their logs when they submitted them. If you haven’t yet submitted your logs, you have until April 15th, 2024.
A $1.00 donation to help defray the costs of printing and mailing is encouraged.
Submit log entries by online portal or mail to:
The VA QSO Party
Call Box 599
Sterling, VA 20167
or e-mail them to: vqp@verizon.net.
If you have problems, please send an email to vqp@arrl.net.
Speaking of April 15th, Tax Day this year is April 15th. No extra time this year.
Make sure your rich Uncle Sam receives his proper documentation from you on time.
Back on March 19th, the presentation at our monthly meeting was by David, KD4DEE, who talked to us about “CERT – Community Emergency Reaction Team”. It was both enlightening and well received.
Thank you, David.
It also seems that we at the OVH have our own “Emergency Reaction Team”. Also occurring in March, we had our own emergency. I had received a phone call from NOVEC stating that there were “several loose cables dangling from our antennas”.
Our Emergency Responders this time were: Byron, AK4XR; Gil, KM4OZH and John, KG4NXT.
These 3 immediately went to the site, and with the help of a tone generator provided by Byron, determined that the cables identified by NOVEC were indeed ours, but were not in use. Our team recovered those cables from the shack, a small struggle in its own right. We were told by NOVEC that the cables at the top of the structure would be recovered by NOVEC at no cost to us – saving OVH thousands of dollars in tower climber fees.
Thank you NOVEC, and a big thank you to our own CERT – Byron, Gil & John.
With one quarter of April done, the big event this month seems to “The Eclipse”.
While the eclipse was both entertaining and educational for adults and children alike, Amateur Radio was there in a myriad of ways. Our operators participated in scientific experiments and helped local communities deal with the crush of one-time visitors. We were prepared to assist with overloaded infrastructure such as highways and phone services.
According to the ARRL website:
“ …. EmComm, Emergency communications groups, including those affiliated with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®), will be active in the areas near totality. National Weather Service (NWS) offices are closely watching weather patterns in and around the eclipse path for any severe weather that could impact watchers and increase traffic.
…. ARRL partnered with Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI), a NASA citizen science project. NASA, in conjunction with the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), a collection of radars located at sites around the world, bounced radio waves off of the ionosphere and analyzed the returning signals. Their data will reveal changes in the ionosphere’s density, temperature, and location ….”
Very impressive, if you ask me.
Saturday, April 13th, has lots going on that one day.
Thawfest II at Ruckersville, Virginia – OVH has a table. If you can, you could head down there and devote some time supporting OVH’s table.
Hamfest at Ruckersville, Virginia 22973. Admission $10
Ruckersville Elementary School
105 Progress Place
Ruckersville, VA 22968
talk-in 145.470 tone 151.4 negative offset
Website: https://thawfest.net
Also, our monthly breakfast returns this Saturday, April 13th at 8:00 AM. Normally a favorite of mine, but I will not be attending this month, as I will be at our VE Session. We do get together every Saturday before our monthly meetings at a table or two in the back of Yorkshire Restaurant for some good food and good conversation.
Yorkshire Restaurant
7537 Centreville Rd.
Manassas, VA 20111
(703) 368-4905
Menu: https://www.yorkshirerestaurantmanassas.com/menu/
Lastly on this date, we have scheduled OVH’s own VE Session for April 13th, 2024. We will be at:
Lord of Life Lutheran Church
CLIFTON CAMPUS
13421 Twin Lakes Dr.
Clifton, VA 20124
Our next monthly meeting Tuesday, April 16th
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
Buckhall VFD Hall
7190 Yates Ford Road
Manassas, VA 20111
Allen Graves, AG4VA, is schedule to give a talk about “SOTA – Summits on the Air”.
The Virginia QSO Party Award Presentations with Gordon Miller, NQ4K, is expected to take place at our Tailgate Party (in lieu of a Hamfest). More details when they become available.
Speaking of our Hamfest, we’re replacing it with a Tailgate Party once again for 2024. The date is June 1st. Planning is well underway, as is 2024 Field Day planning. Both committees could use some extra help. If you have the time and inclination, we’d love to see you there.
Looking to the slightly further future, the SOWW (7th Annual) Warrior Bike Ride is happening again. The event will be on September 7th this year, and numerous volunteers will be needed for this very large event. If you are able to help, please save the date. Additional information on the event and where to sign up will be passed along when I get it.
Also, a reminder to check in to the OVH’s Thursday night VHF/UHF repeater net at 8 PM.
The details for that are on the OVH’s web site: https://w4ovh.net
Questions, comments and/or war stories can be directed to my e-mail: KN4DD@arrl.net
73,
Ken / KN4DD