Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club – Since 1948 – Winchester, Virginia 

  73rd Annual BERRYVILLE HAMFEST and ARRL Virginia State Convention were great!
Update and pictures. See you next year August 3!

W4RKC Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club Winchester, Virginia

Volunteers Needed – April 19-20 – Old Dominion Rides – No Frills Equine Race

Mar 9, 2024

Outdoor Ready – 2 Meter Capable Radio Amateurs needed – registration required – April 19-20, 2024

WHAT: Volunteer Ham Radio Spotters needed for course coverage for the NO Frills Equestrian Race. Race Sponsor: Old Dominion Equestrian Endurance Organization, Inc.

WHEN: April 19-20 2024

EQUIPMENT NEEDED:  2m HT with extra battery and/ or a 2m mobile in a vehicle. 

CONTACT To Help: KE4RL, Randy Lilly, randylilly2 [at] gmail.com

MORE INFO: https://www.OldDominionRides.com

Background: 

•The Old Dominion Equestrian Endurance Organization (ODEEO, a 501(c)3 organization) will kick off the endurance ride season with the No Frills Race on April 19-20 2024.

•Equestrian Races of 30 and 55 miles will start each day, Friday and Saturday, from Base Camp in Star Tannery, VA. The course follows trails in the GW National Forest on both sides of the border with West Virginia. Due to the mountainous terrain, ham radio spotters are stationed throughout the trail and at checkpoints to monitor the progress of the competitors and inform ride management.

•Communications are maintained primarily through local 2m repeaters. Southwest Virginia AUXCOMM provides an organized backbone and net control functions.

•Additional licensed amateur operators are needed to supplement or fill outlying stations.

•Equipment needed is just a 2m HT or a mobile in a vehicle.

•Options ARE available if you want to bring more. (P.S. Great time to activate a POTA!)

•If you have a few hours either day, (or would like to camp with us the entire weekend!) and would enjoy watching some world class equestrians and their horses course through scenic trails, please contact Randy Lilly, KE4RL, radio team administrator for the No Frills Ride: randylilly2 [at] gmail.com

 

 

Youth on the Air Camp – July 16 – 21 – Ottawa Canada

Jul 14, 2023

From Amateur Radio Newsline – 14 July 2023 https://www.arnewsline.org/

Young amateurs in the Americas are getting ready for an out-of-this-world experience at the Youth on the Air camp in Ontario, Canada between July 16th and the 21st: The campers have a scheduled contact with the International Space Station on Tuesday, July 18. Meanwhile, they’ll also get to experience the thrill of being chased by callsign hunters by activating VE3YOTA. They go on the air starting Sunday July 16th and don’t go QRT until Friday July 21st. There’s also a satellite station for them to operate and they’ll be on the air to experience contact with the birds on Wednesday July 19th.

Parks on the Air activity is expected to play a big role for the kids too: Fifteen QRP stations will be on the air on Tuesday, July 18th from 1900 UTC to 2100 UTC and Thursday July 20th from 1300 UTC to 1600 UTC. They will activate a two-for-one POTA location, the Central Experimental Farm National Historic Site, VE-5095, and the Rideau Canal National Historic Site, VE-4882.

Don’t forget to catch the opening day ceremonies via their webstream on Sunday July 16th at 2100 UTC, featuring keynote speaker Phil McBride, VA3QR, president of the Radio Amateurs of Canada.

 

More information: https://youthontheair.org/ottawa2023/

Parks on the Air https://parksontheair.org

YOTA POTA activations July 18 1900 UTC – July 20 1300 UTC

VE-4882 Rideau Canal National Historic Site

VE-5095 Experimental Farm National Historic Site

Youth Nets:

http://www.arrl.org/youth-nets

YARC – Young Amateurs Radio Club 

https://yarc.world/

Join YARC on their Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/yarc

 

KQ4IGV Annabel – How POTA created a new ham!

Jul 12, 2023

Cross posted from QRZ: https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/general-kq4igv-annabel-hiraldo-charges-ahead-with-parks-on-the-air.871923/

Annabel Hiraldo had participated in over 700 Parks on the Air activations with her husband, David Lama HI8D, long before she was a licensed ham radio operator. Although she didn’t initially understand the lure of ham radio, she loved being in the outdoors, helping where she could and keeping David’s logs in order. But as Annabel began to recognize voices and callsigns, especially those that continually answered David’s CQ’s, she knew that this was a community, and hobby, that she wanted to be part of. Once she decided to get her license, Annabel passed her Technician and then General license exams in short order. Now Annabel is on a mission to learn more, including CW, pass her Amateur Extra exam, and to open up a path to ham radio for more women. Annabel’s story is one that many of us will relate to – the draw of the connectivity and unique community that defines ham radio.

Amateur Radio is not just for OM [Old Men], it’s for YL’s [Young Ladies] and XYL’s [Married Ladies] also. 

YL 33: The First Female Ham Radio Operators, and their Awesome Legacy
https://www.themarysue.com/female-ham-radio-operators/

Sisterhood of Amateur Radio  http://www.soar-yls.com/

Women Radio Operators of Maine https://womenradiooperatorsofmaine.org/

Young Ladies Radio League https://ylrl.net/

YL International Side Band System https://ylsystem.org

 

Noted YL’s
KM4BUN Audrey https://www.arnewsline.org/2022-yhoty
OH7BG / R1BIG Raisa Skrynnikova https://raisa.blog
WX6SWW Dr Tamitha Skov https://www.qrz.com/db/WX6SWW

 

Find out more about Parks on the Air    https//parksontheair.com/ 

 

Are you local to Winchester, Virginia?  Come and get your license with us at our next test session: https://winchesterhamtest.com