KN4DD

July’s Roundup – One breakfast, two Tri-It-Now events & 13 Colonies

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VP – OVH July has been another busy month for the Ole Virginia Hams: OVH supported two Tri-It-Now events, one on July 4th and the other on July 27th. On July 17th, we saw the return of the OVH Breakfast. Last in this month’s roundup is the 13th Annual 13 Colonies Special Event. ***************************************************************************** The Return of the OVH Breakfast July 17th saw the return of The Ole Virginia Hams Breakfast @ Yorkshire Restaurant. Originally started by Former President Byron, AK4XR, this was the first OVH Breakfast since 3/14/20. It was good to see everyone again in person. We all had a nice time before breaking up and getting into our day. The OVH Breakfasts are held on the Saturday before our Monthly Meeting @ 8 AM, so the next … Read more >>

OVH Field Day 2021

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VP – OVH Field day, like Gaul, is divided into three parts ( – with apologies to Julius Caesar) 1) setup 2) field day operation and 3) tear down and submitting the log files. The Setup June 25, 2021 was the day before the first day of Field Day. It was also “Setup Day”. As in some past years, we had a team out to shoot pull line in the trees which become support for field day antennas.  Most years we do this with easy-ups and home made easy-up consisting of a sling shot and a fishing reel & weight. This year, we also had a drone dropping lines (George, K4GVT) and a very effective pneumatic launcher made by Jeff, K9VEG. There was no rain and the lines went up. … Read more >>

OVH Supports The Manassas Mini Tri

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Rear panel added.

VP – OVH Sunday, June 27th, 2021 marked the return of the Manassas Mini Tri, and once again the Ole Virginia Hams provided communications support and acted as spotters. Andy, KJ4MTP was our coordinator at the event, which was held once again at The Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center, Manassas, VA. Scheduled to start at 8:15 AM, Andy wanted us there no later than 7:30 AM for our assignments and actual positioning. To get us there on time, Andy bribed us with donuts, but to be fair, he made us bring our own coffee. Oh well. We did not have a full compliment however, so some Check Points went unmanned. Be that as it may, the Prince William County Police provided a very robust presence. There were five patrol cars … Read more >>

Update : OVH Laptops will be used by shelter kids for classes

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"The Other Ken", KN4DD, delivering the OVH laptops

On October 27th, OVH once again stepped up for the community and donated 9 more computers. This brings our total to 20 usable computers donated. We are not counting the 4 donated laptops that were unusable and gifted to eAsset Solutions Computer and Electronics Recycling of Falls Church. A reminder: 11 laptops were donated by OVH to Gracing Spaces (https://www.gracingspaces.com) on August 31. They, in turn, presented those computers to Fairfax County Social Services for use by the children in their shelters. With regard to this round, seven of those nine computers were laptops. We would like to recognize Art, W1CRO; Butch, W4HJL; AL, KB4BHB; and John, KG4NXT for those laptops. The remaining two computers were Windows 10 desktop machines. Theresa, KG4TVM “re-gifted” these two machines after acquiring them from … Read more >>

OVH Laptops will be used by shelter kids for classes

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2 of the Gracing Spaces volunteers taking delivery of the OVH laptops

The year 2020 has been one strange year. There’ve been times when I thought “up” must be “down” and “left” must be “right”. This is the only way I (“The Other Ken” – KN4DD) could explain to myself how a mostly respiratory disease could cause toilet paper, frozen pizza and bread yeast shortages. And, as I would soon find out, laptop shortages. When I received a broadcast email from John (KG4NXT) back on August 22, asking for ideas on what to do with newly retired XP laptops, I didn’t think I could help. At first, all I could offer was this: maybe some recycler would offer money for the scrap. And so, with the trap set, John sprung it. Would you look into this please? Based on what turned out … Read more >>