Sunshine Corner – August 2026

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SUNSHINE CORNER – August 2026   Sending Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members:  Ken, KD4VA; Andy, KJ4MTP; John, KK4TCE; Karl, W4KRL; Stu, W4PR; Chick, KC1PIA; Duane, KK4BZ; and Raymond, KK4AQR. I just recently went through our membership list and compared it to the birthday list I have.  There are quite a few members who I don’t have birthday months for. So, if you don’t see your name listed in your birthday month, please let me know at kg4tvm@hotmail.com John, KG4NXT and I traveled to Berryville for their Hamfest on August 2nd.  As we pulled in the sky opened up on us for about 20 minutes. There were already a large number of tailgaters set up and they had tables in 3 buildings with a nice crowd by 8:15 … Read more >>

President’s Letter – August 2026

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President’s Letter August 2026 August started with the Berryville Hamfest. There was a fairly good turnout despite the rain. Theresa, KG4TVM and I saw a number of OVH club members including Rob, KR4EEV; Byron, AK4XR; and Mark, WA4KFZ. See the photograph below. We will have an OVH VE session on August 15, 2026. Setup will begin at 8:00 am and the exam session will start at 8:30 am. The location is Chantilly Regional Library, 4000 Stringfellow Rd, Chantilly, VA 20151. There will be a memorial service for Ken Brant’s wife Paula, on Saturday August 15, 2026, at 1:00 pm. The memorial will be held at the Lord of Life Lutheran Church, 5114 Twinbrook Rd. Fairfax, VA 22032. All OVH members are welcome to attend the memorial. We have the Willing … Read more >>

President’s Letter – July 2026

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President’s Letter July 2026 The OVH had a great June with a successful Hamfest and successful Field day the next weekend. Theresa, KG4TVM, chaired our successful Hamfest; we have not had a Hamfest in several years and instead having tailgates. We had good attendance, good table sales and good outside tailgate participation. Importantly, we made enough money to get us through 2026. A huge thanks to all who made this possible. We approached Field Day with a dreadful weather forecast. However, we had very little rain on Saturday and only a shower on Sunday which quit in time for us to take down the antenna without being soaked. George, K4GVT, setup his satellite system and made 13 or so contacts. One negative was that our balloon launch was cancelled because … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner – July 2026

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SUNSHINE CORNER – JULY 2026   Sending Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members:  Jack KN4HHQ, Steve KM4WVP, Philip KI4WGC, Jeff KM4FTK, Bruce KN4TS, George K4GVT, Jim KB0HSA, Sandy KM4JUS, Rosalie KN4ZLY, Jeff K9VEG, Luther WA3FMO, Stephen KO4GQR, William WB4KLC. I just recently went thru our membership list and compared it to the birthday list I have.  There are quite a few members who I don’t have birthday months for.  So, if you don’t see your name listed in your birthday month, please let me know at kg4tvm@hotmail.com Condolences to Ken KN4DD, his wife Paula passed away this month. Her final resting place is in New Jersey.   Please keep Ken in your thoughts and prayers, he is still having issues with his knee and needs another surgery. Condolences to … Read more >>

Field Day 2026

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The weather forecast predicted rain all day Saturday and Sunday. However, it did not rain on Saturday and we only got a few hours of rain on Sunday. Although we had no rain on Saturday it was very cloudy and we had to cancel the the balloon launch because the radio package would pick up cloud moisture.  Also, with the clouds, we did not put up solar panels. We had a lot of OVH members turn out: Theresa, KG4TVM; Byron, AK4XR; George, K4GVT; Wayne, AG4ZZ; Gene, N4HFW; Jay NQ4T; John, KG4NXT;  Butch, W4HJL; Paul, W4ZB; Lillian, KK4WX; Gil, KM4OZH; Mark, WA4KFZ; Scott, KR4BNF and Bruce, KN4GDX. We had many guests this year and the most distinguished guest was George Stewart who is the new Gainesville supervisor. He also visited Heritage … Read more >>

Sunshine Corner – June 2026

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Sending Happy Birthday wishes to the following club members: Jan, KE4TMW; Edward, KQ4DPP; Jim, KM4SXM; Sean, KQ4FRQ; Robert, W4PHX; Seth, WA4FZY; Wayne, AG4ZZ; Gene, N4HFW; Bob, K4HJF; Nick, no callsign; Daniela, KQ4IKQ; Noah, KQ4IDI; David, KQ4BDS; Dana, KM4TTP; Ron, K3FR and William, KO4QDL. Well, I can now say KG4NXT and I have been to Hamvention in May! What a crazy, but very organized event; it was massive. Even though we were in Ohio, we still ran into several OVH club members and had a great time! Congratulations to all the graduates over the last month. I know several club members including myself have graduates this year and we wish the best to all of them! Safe travels to Ron, K3FR, as he has moved to Johnson City, Tennessee. We will … Read more >>

President’s Letter – June 2026

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Welcome to June. This is the most important month of the year for the Ole Virginia Hams. We start with our Hamfest on June 20th. This is a bigger lift than the tailgates we have had in previous years. We host the Virginia QSO party and have free tables for ARRL and SKYWARN and a room for VE testing. This is our only fundraiser and we need to fund our repeater, internet and equipment insurance, liability insurance as well as provide for any needed equipment repairs or replacement. This is an all hands on deck event. If you have not already volunteered, contact Chair Theresa at kg4tvm@hotmail.com The week after that, we have our field day at Nokesville park. George, K4GVT, has his satellite set up working again. He has … Read more >>

OVH POTA activation

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Rob KR4EEV, John KG4NXT and Bruce KN4GDX operating digital

On the last day of May, Theresa, KG4TVM, called for a OVH club POTA activation at Manassas National Battlefield Park. There is only one area for POTA at the park, the Groveton Road picnic area. It has a shelter and bathrooms but the trees are puny. We used a hot spot provided by Byron, AK4XR, for spotting ourselves, using the POTA app on the web and for uploading the digital log. We had excellent weather and band conditions. We put up a vertical and George’s big ears antenna. OVH members attending were Theresa, KG4TVM; George, K4GVT; Bruce, KG4GDX; Rob, KR4EEV; Ken, KD4VA, and John, KG4NXT. George set up a sideband station and John set up a digital station. John and Rob made 16 contacts and George made 15. A good … Read more >>