Early in the morning of Thanksgiving Day, OVH did communications support for the Manassas Turkey Trot, which is a 5k race event. We provided communications. The OVH members helping where Wayne, N7QLK (lead); Ken, KN4DD; Theresa, KG4TVM and John, KG4NXT. The race went smoothly. We did notice a large number of participants whose philosophy was ” Walk, don’t run”. Nevertheless, we all got home in plenty of time for Thankgiving dinner.
On November 19, 2022, OVH sponsored a VE session at a Centreville Library. Byron, AK4XR had secured the space. The VEs assisting were John, KG4NXT; Al, KB4BHB; Ken, KN4DD; Luther, WA3FMO; James, KQ4CAX, and Mark, WA4KFZ. Theresa, KG4TVM assisted with registration and ID checking. She also prepared a handout which included a club application and the steps to follow to check on the application and pay the new $35 FCC fee. We had 7 applicants and all passed. We have 5 new technicians and 2 new Generals.
The certificates from The Annual 13 Colonies Special Event are arriving. If you get all 13 colonies, it is called a “CLEAN SWEEP”. There are also bonus stations for the Liberty Bell, a station in England and a station in France. Known club members participating include Al, KB4BHB; Wayne, N7QLK; Ken, KE2N; Byron, AK4XR; Jim, KM4SXM and John, KG4NXT. Click on the small image of the certificate to see it bigger.
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 >>
Duane, KK4BZ won first place in Virginia and the entire US in the recent ARRL 10 Meter Contest. Duane was mixed mode QRP in single operator division. Duane is the first OVH member to get a first place in this ARRL contest. Congratulations, Duane. Click on the image of the Award to make it bigger.
Our old President, Jay, NQ4T got a contact with BG0CAB on 20 M FT8. Jay was using a wire antenna and was not using an amp. The contact has been confirmed in LOTW (Logbook of the World) as seen in the photo. Click the photo to see it bigger. CONGRATULATIONS Jay.
George, K4GVT has been an engineer for years and recently retired from Cisco. George found himself bored and took on some part time work from a Fortune 500 company that we can not name. This company manufactures chips. These chips start out as silicon wafers and then are processed into chips. The manufacturing process is quite delicate and the wafers are never touched by humans as they process down the assembly line – moved by a track system. George was told that track system was often stopping at one point in the plant. The unintended stopping point was near machines that generate plasma. George knew that the plasma was generated in a chamber using kilowatts of RF. The company has a RF sniffer and it was not registering a problem. … Read more >>
On January 29th and 30th, OVH operated winter field day at Shenandoah River state park. The operators were Don, WA2SWX; Ron, K3FR; Gil, KM4OZH and John, KG4NXT. Several OVH members were on the air to work us as the contest started. We worked George, K4GVT and Al, KB4BHB. Butch, W4HJL and Wayne, N7QLK gave us calls but we were unable to hear them although they could hear us. We made phone, CW and digital contacts. The winter field day rules prohibit FT8 so we used PSK31 for over 40 digital contacts. OVH member Elizabeth, KG4NXV and her family flew in from Washington state. Baby Ben was a big hit with all. The Washington area had a snow event, but the roads remained passable. Don and John put up a 134 … Read more >>