Sunshine Corner January

SUNSHINE CORNER Welcome to 2018! Starting the year off with a birthday are the following club members:  Justin KJ4LAS, Elizabeth KG4NXV, Chuck W4XP, John WA1STU, Ken KE2N, Ed WD4AVU and Woody N4MQ.  Best wishes to you all for a great year ahead! Many thanks to those that attended our Holiday Party in December and showed up with donations for the Toys for Tots campaign, your support for the kids is amazing. Sad end to the year with two of our club members passing away. Milt N4SN passed on December 20th  and Tom KB1FLK passed away on December 21st.  We will miss them both, please keep their families in your thoughts.  A card from the club and flowers were sent to both services. ARES training is on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

VP’s Corner Jeff Fuller WB6UIE This month we’ll explore what has become one of amateur radio’s hottest high tech topics – Software Defined Radio, or SDR. SDR works by sampling the radio frequency spectrum and turning those samples into a stream of bits.  Sounds simple, but it takes quite a bit of computing horsepower to do so in real time.  Seems like just a few years ago in grad school when this was a computer exercise (submitted on punched cards) and actual SDR was just a pipe dream. Today, with the addition of a digitizer and software, you can have your own SDR running on a PC.  Here’s a short You Tube video covering SDR basics You can listen to a variety of SDRs from around the world via http://websdr.org/  Cascade your sound card’s output to Fldigi to demodulate digital … Read more >>

Lifetime Achievement Awards – W1CRO and W4HJL

During the Year End Party, Lifetime Achievement Awards were shown to everyone that go to Art, W1CRO, and Butch, W4HJL, still very active with the club (both are OVH Directors).  Because neither was able to attend the party on December 10th, We took the party to them! On Tuesday night, December 12th, Bob, W4HJF, Terry, KC4DV, Paul, W4ZB, Ray, KM4EKR, Sandy, KM4JUS, John, KG4NXT and Theresa, KG4TVM all drove over to visit Butch, recuperating at home to deliver his award.  It was great to see him at home after his recent adventures in the hospital.  On Wednesday, December 13th, Terry, Ray, Sandy, John and Theresa drove to Arthur’s home to visit and deliver his award.  It was wonderful to Arthur and Joyce too. Butch and Art’s participation, leadership, expertise, friendship, etc. … Read more >>

OVH 2017 Christmas / Holiday Party

W4OVH’s annual year end Christmas / Holiday party was held on Sunday, December 10th at the Yorkshire restaurant in Manassas.   The turnout was wonderful, the donations to Toys For Tots was outstanding, and the fellowship amazing! The food – well just WOW on that.  No one there went away hungry. OVH wants to thank its members for their donations to Toys For Tots.  Thanks to the United States Marine Corp for sending two of their best to attend, Sgt. Tucker Renckert and Lance Corporal Sydney Ally, and they did not leave our party hungry! Pinky, OVH’s mascot attended the party too and she has some words of her own!  (see separate  post). Also during the Year End party, Lifetime Achievement Awards were shown to everyone that go to Butch, W4HJL, … Read more >>

OVH Supports Manassas Christmas Parade

Saturday, December 2nd was a grey, cold day in Manassas but the energy was electric. The 72nd annual Greater Manassas Christmas Parade kicked off at 10 am. OVH club members came out to provide radio communications along the parade route. Also the club trailer was entered in the parade as a participant. Terry KC4DV pulled the trailer thru the parade with his truck. BUT before he could do that, we had to decorate! The Saturday prior to the parade Terry, Ray, Sandy, John and myself went to the utility yard to hang the Christmas lights on the trailer. Then the morning of the parade Terry, Rosalie and I finish decorating in the staging area. Pinky road shotgun in the truck during the parade waving the entire time. Seeing all the … Read more >>

Presidents Letter

Presidents Letter: Greetings one and all, I hope everyone is getting into the holiday season in their own way. For those who missed the holiday party, we had a lot of fun. We had a good turnout. First of all, I want to say thanks to Theresa, KG4TVM, for once again putting on a great event. The food was great and the company even better. Thanks to Sgt Tucker Renckert and Lance Corporal Sydney Ally coming on behalf of Toys-For-Tots. Thank you for your service. Just to stop all of the rumors, yes it is true that Pinkie the Pig does exists. From random sighting to appearing in the Manassas parade, it became clear that the myth is a reality. To reinforce this, Pinkie surprised us at the party. What … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner December

SUNSHINE CORNER Happy end of the year birthday wishes to David KK4ZUU, Tony KM4KLB, David KJ4EPF, Ed KK4PHP, Jay KM4JOJ, Dianne KI4FVV, Bill N4SV, Kelly, Byron AK4XR, Thomas KB1FLK. Great news Butch W4HJL is home! He is still recuperating but things are looking so much better. Condolences to Wayne N7QLK and his family on the passing of Wayne’s father. The annual Holiday Party was held on Sunday, December 10th at the Yorkshire Restaurant. Turnout was wonderful, the donations to Toys For Tots was outstanding, fellowship amazing! The food well just WOW on that. Thank you very much for your donations and for attending, having the club members come out is what makes this event so great. Special thanks to Yorkshire Restaurant for allowing us to come in and have our party, … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

VP’s Corner Jeff Fuller WB6UIE The holiday season is a time for gathering with family and friends, celebrating our many blessings, and of course exchanging gifts. As I think back over the years, I’m thankful for the many gifts I’ve received from amateur radio – a chance to expand my technical skills, volunteer opportunities within the local community, and of the course the many friends I’ve made. I was first licensed back in the prehistoric era of the 1960s. Back then all telephones had wires and a rotary dial, there was no Internet, and computers were mainframes that needed punched cards for input. I remember running into quite a few young hams about my age as I made my first QSOs. Without today’s social media sites like Facebook, how did … Read more >>