VP Corner

VP’s Corner

by

VP’s Corner Jeff Fuller WB6UIE Well done to Byron, AK4XR, and his team for a very successful Field Day. We had a good turnout, the weather was nice, and the food superb. If you’re interested in getting involved with amateur radio public service activities, upcoming events like the Mini Triathlons are a great place to get your feet wet. Keep an eye out for Andy’s posts for more info.  For those with more experience, the Prince William Half Marathon and Marine Corps Marathon will be here soon. Polos are here!  For those who were part of our second order, I’ll have your OVH club polo at the next meeting.  If you would like a polo but weren’t on the list, I’ll also have a number of basic (no name or … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

by

VP’s Corner Jeff Fuller WB6UJE Congratulations to Terry, KC4DV, and his team for yet another very successful Hamfest. And many thanks to all the club members who pitched in to help with vendor setup and the myriad of other tasks needed to make the Hamfest go smoothly. After many years as the driving force behind the Manassas Hamfest, Terry has decided to take a well deserved break from the heavy lifting. We thank him for his service as he passes the baton to our new Hamfest Chairman, Don WA2SWX. OVH has been quite active in a variety of public service roles, such as the Mini Tri communications support organized by Andy KJ4MTP and David KG4GIY.  Another opportunity is headed our way on October 22nd.  The Marine Corps Marathon typically attracts thousands … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

by

VP’s Corner Jeff Fuller WB6UJE As many of you are already aware, the May meeting will be our last one at the current location.  NOVEC, who had been kind enough to lend us their conference room, needs to reclaim that space for use as a computer training lab.  I was able to reserve the Community Room at the Manassas Central Library for our June and July meetings. It’s located at 8601 Mathis Avenue, not too far from NOVEC.  Meeting time will be 7-8:30 pm based on available reservation slots. June & July Club Meeting Location The library is a good short term fix, but for a variety of reasons won’t work long term. Ray and I are busy knocking on doors of Prince William County public conference rooms, schools, churches, and … Read more >>

VP’s Corner

by

VP’s Corner Jeff Fuller WB6UJE One of the more interesting things I’ve seen during my return journey to ham radio has been the marriage of the microprocessor and the radio.  It started with frequency synthesizers.  Easy to net everybody up on one frequency and no more drifting VFOs. And them came digital modes. All those nifty error correcting codes I studied years ago in school were once limited to pencil and paper exercises, or maybe a mainframe lab or two. Now they run on a laptop computer sound card, like the one I used last month in a transatlantic QSO running five watts of PSK31. And, ham radio has joined the Internet of Things (IoT) – a variety of unmanned systems and sensors for monitoring and reporting. Want to learn … Read more >>

VP’s Corner – Jeff Fuller WB6UIE

by

I’m honored to have been elected OVH’s Vice President and I look forward to working with you and the other officers and directors in club activities and in the recruiting of new members. Like many of us, my interest in ham radio began when I was a youngster. In my case, that was over fifty years ago in junior high school. After passing our Novice exams which included a 5 wpm Morse code test, a couple of us pooled our very limited funds and managed to buy a World War II surplus ARC-5 receiver and enough parts to assemble a power supply and a 6L6 (vacuum tube) crystal oscillator. The total cost for these items was probably under $20 but that was a lot of money back then. I can still remember the smell of the solder melting as we carefully added each component. … Read more >>