The OVH Times is the official publication of the "Ole Virginia Hams" ARC, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of Amateur Radio. The OVH ARC meets at 8:00 PM every third Monday of the month at the NOVEC Tech Center in Gainesville. Prospective members are invited.

Local information can always be obtained, at any time, through the usage of the OVH repeaters (146.97- & 224.660- Mhz). All are welcome.

Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles and quotations in this letter, provided full credit is given to the OVH ARC, and the author of the article. Contribution of printed articles by both members and non-members is encouraged. The deadline for submissions is the 5th of each month. Submissions should be forwarded to OVH TIMES EDITOR: Steve Meade KB4OF, PO Box 1418, Manassas, VA 20108-1418, or to sameade@erols.com

Letters to the Editor and Classified Ads are accepted and welcome. Approx. Circulation - 170

The meeting was called to order at 8:03 PM by Don "Butch" Blasdell/W4HJL acting as Chair.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, all present stated their names and call signs.

Attendance: 18 Members and 1 guest

The past month's minutes and current financial status were approved by the membership.

Hamfest: Jack McDermott/N4YIC

Hamfest was a success. Some of the questions we need to ask for next year is how much do we need to earn vs. how much do we want to earn? Do we want to consider moving the date of the Hamfest because of the change of the date of the Dayton Hamfest and so we are not competing with Rochester?

We need to get the county to address the issue of "authorized" signs at the side of the road (currently it is $100 fine per sign on county property).

Changing the date may incur a penalty from the fairgrounds because we have to reserve the property so far in advance. Jack is putting together his thoughts and will present them at a future meeting for the membership's consideration.

All the prizes have been delivered to their winners.

Jack would like to thank everyone who helped out for giving up their weekend so that others could have a good time.

Butch thanked Jack for his effort in putting together another successful Hamfest.

Repeater: Butch Blasdell/W4HJL - There is a problem with the 2nd amp on 2m - Art suspects a hairline crack in solder on the board. The 440 amp is in fix mode.

License Classes: Bill Hinely/K4WRG

All classes were completed before Hamfest and initial reports are that all students obtained some form of license at the VE session. The question was raised about having a class in the fall before the fall VE session. That is being investigated.

Membership: Mary Lu Blasdell/KB4EFP - Membership for Mac McMillian of Lake Jackson was read in. His call is pending.

Field Day is 24-25 June 2000. Operation will run from 2 PM Saturday through 2 PM Sunday, with setup scheduled for early Saturday before the 2 PM kickoff. After the operational event, there will be a picnic for OVH members and participants. Antennas will include verticals, dipoles and a beam. There will be a novice station, and 2 meter, along with generator operation. We will be competing under 2A rules.

ARES: Erv Whalen/KT4DS

We are in the summer doldrums, and there are no planned events.

Art Wittem/KW4AW will chair the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.

The 146.970 MHz repeater stumbled twice in June. The Final Amplifier failed and had to be replaced just before Hamfest, and then again later in the month. Both defective units are "in the queue" for repairs.

The 224.660 MHz repeater has been operating normally with no reported problems. Although audio levels may need to be tweaked.

The 442.200 MHz repeater was locked-up once during the period for no apparent reason and would not transmit. The problem has been isolated to one of the microprocessors, but that is all that's known at this point.

The "new" GE MASTR II 442.200 MHz repeater has been repaired, mated with a brand new set of duplexers and the transmitter adjusted for 60 watts output. As soon as the receiver has been aligned, it will be installed at the NOVEC site for operation (sometime in July).

Thanks to Warren Brooks/WB4DRI, for donating a large quantity of GE MASTR II spares and boards. In addition to an "untouched" UHF exciter board, he provided over a dozen partially populated 40 watt UHF modules which became the boneyard for picking the parts needed to restore operations on our unit. Warren has indicated that there is "more to come." So, Warren, thanks again.

Tone Encode-Decode features and some improvements to the back-up power circuits for the repeater controller and telephone modem still pend finishing the schematics for construction.

73 de Jan/KE4TMW

FIELD DAY 2000

Ole Virginia Hams had a very successful Field Day and a good time was had by all. This year we had 19 participants – and more contacts than last year. (Bill will have the results on the web page very soon.) Well done to Bill/N4WJN and his 6 meter operation and Brian/KE4NFK for his 10 meter novice station contacts. A special thanks to Art/KW4AW, Jack/N4YIC, Erv/KT4DS, Milt/N4SN, Charlie/WA4YGI, Dan/KF4KKF, and Doc/W1IMX for help setting up. Some of the operators who stayed all night were: Russ/WB4HHN, Erv/KT4DS, Bill/N4WJN, Brian/KE4NFK and Butch/W4HJL. Other operators included Milt/N4SN, Doc/W1IMX, Charlie/WA2YGI on 20 meter CW and Cathy/AE4UM and Mary Lu/KB4EFP on phone. Also – thanks to Tommy/KA4AFU for keeping the generators running the whole time, as always and to Jeff/KV4AP for standing by as our Talk-In Station.

This was the first year that we used the club call, W4OVH – and it seemed to work well. There was an information booth, with a visitor sign-in log (we actually had visitors) and info packets about the club. We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and had plenty of food for dinner on Saturday and for after the "take down" on Sunday. Some of the family members joined us for a good time also.

Submitted by: Butch/W4HJL

Two Power Supplies – 13.8 and 20 Amp Variable with meter.

RG-8U Coax Cable – Connectors

Kenwood 241A 2meter/50W

Radio Shack 2meter/45W

50 Channel Scanner

Everything is in fine condition and very reasonable.

Andy Anderson/WB4ZIG

703-250-1643 or 703-978-8564 Leave Message