(Editor)

Message From One of the Directors

Greetings to All OVH Members:

The summer has come and gone. Fall is almost here and the year will be gone before we know it.

Well done, to Art, for getting the 440 Repeater up and running. I know he has spent many hours on this

endeavor. A special thanks to George, KE2AM, for his engineering support on this 440 project.

This month’s meeting on September 18^th, will include voting on new members, gathering support for J.O.T.A., the Boys Scouts annual Jamboree on the Air, (which will take place in October) and a grab bag of parts and pieces of electronic equipment available for "adoption." Some club members are still working on building QRP equipment just for fun.

Come to the meeting and get together with other hams in the area and find out what Ole Virginia Hams has on the "burner" for the next few months of the year.

W4HJL

Butch Blasdell

On Friday morning of the 4th of July weekend, I took my QRP station (Norcal40, Emtech tuner, Norcal QRP dipole, MFJ paddles and battery; all of which fit into my undersized motorcycle bag) with me to Gettysburg National Park, and set up an operating station on Little Round Top. It took only 10 minutes to set up the station on a stone wall about 60 feet from the famous 20th of Maine's monument. During the next hour, I made four CW contacts reaching operators in PA, MI and MD with only 3 ½ watts. I think the most interesting was the groundwave QSO with W3MNE, who was 35 miles to the southeast of me. I had fun time expressing to the other operators that I was located at that exact location where Joshua Chamberlain made his well known bayonet charge to save the Union on the 2nd day of the 3 day battle. (Guess I should have picked up a few Civil War postcards to be used as QSLs.) After I finished transmitting, it took only 8 minutes to place everything back into my bag, and off I went to ride around the remainder of the battlefield.

Another pretty site that has seen my QRP station was Old Towne Manassas. I think we have all driven passed the single red caboose train car located in the park at the center of the town, but how many of you have ever stopped there? On a late Sunday morning, both Ruth KU4WH and I met to set up a dipole between a tree and a sign in that very park, running the feed line into the gazebo that's located across from the caboose. (For photos of the caboose and gazebo, see: http://www.casa-pw.org/pictures.htm. The two of us then proceeded to make several CW contacts via our 40M and 20MQRP rigs, while sitting in the gazebo located along Old Towne's main drag Center Street. I think it only took 10 minutes to set up, and another 10 minutes to pack everything up after we were all through. While QRP operators seem to constantly harp on the low power aspect of their QRP rigs, I think the real benefit is that these stations are easily carried, quick to set up, inexpensive, and thus great to set up for short term use where you would not otherwise drag your Dxing/Contesting station to. The antennas and feed line may be very flexible insulated wire, whose ends may easily be tossed into a tree for elevation. No stiff/bare copper wire (for the dipole), no coaxial cable (for the feed line), and no slingshot (for the tossing) is desirable, let alone necessary. My rig, tuner and battery are individually very small, as no single element is larger than the size of two fists adjacent to one another. The cost of my equipment was minimal ($120 rig, $50 tuner, $1 antenna, free battery), and I've seen less expensive rigs out there than mine.

SUNSHINE CORNER

Happy Birthday to our Ham friends born in September: Mary Lu, KB4EFP and Gus, N4MLE.

Welcome to our new members, Andy WB4ZIG, Dan AE4HS and Mike N3MA! We hope you enjoy our club, as we do.

Welcome too, to Susan KG4JBD, who hasn’t been voted in yet, but will be at our September meeting, I’m sure! Nice to have another YL in the group.

Be watchful as the kids go back to school and enjoy the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Be sure to fit in some Ham activities!

73 de Jan KE4TMW

I wish to thank those that have helped me with chores I am at risk in attempting. Especially in light of an article in the July issue of QST (copied below). Thanks also to those that could not but wanted to give a hand.

73 and good dx

Harry, W4PVA