Welcome to the PVRC’s Southwest Virginia Chapter page.
I’m Rick, NØYY, Chair of the SWVA Chapter. We represent 22 members of PVRC located in the remote southwest corner of Virginia. Our members are comprised of past leaders of ARRL, members of global multi-operator contest stations, educators, artisans, engineers, working family members, and retirees. We actively engage in contests, QSO parties, DXing, and other facets of our magnificent hobby, Being a bit distant from the membership core has been helped by the Zoom meetings being held by other Chapters and other dedicated events like the periodic Galactic Lunches.Our Goals and Objectives
- Broaden our knowledge of PVRC and the other Chapters
- Mentor and support each other operationally and technically
- Improve our skills and performance
- And make sure to Have Fun
| Southwest Virginia Chapter (SWVA) |
|---|
| Date: 10/8/2025 | Chapter Chair – NØYY Rick Heinrich | |
| Chapter Members Attending: NØYY – Rick N6DW – Dana W4YE – Buddy W2RU – Bud AG2N – Bette |
Visiting PVRC Members: KB3Z – Mark W4VIC – Vic AA3S – Doug N3MN |
New Member Candidates: None |
| Announcements |
| Big contests highlight the time till the next meeting: MAKROTHEN RTTY Worked All Germany CQWW DX SSB ARRL SS CW WAE RTTY |
| Highlights |
| NØYY received the RTTY Roundup Plaque for SO(A) AB LP Roanoke Division |
| Other News |
| Around the Room |
| KB3Z has Piper TTS up and running and used it in the CQP. It was great to hear him discuss the eas of swithing between CW and SSB and having programmed function keys for both modes. IT only took him a few hours to get it done. W2RU reported that W4CB is still trying to get trees cleared so that they can get towers and antennas put together. N6DW talked about the CQP from a California perspective as he was out west for the QSO Party. |
| Date: 9/10/2025 | Chapter Chair – NØYY Rick Heinrich | |
| Chapter Members Attending: NØYY – Rick N6DW – Dana W4YE – Buddy |
Visiting PVRC Members: KB3Z – Mark W4VIC – Vic |
New Member Candidates: None |
| Announcements |
| The contest season is heating up. Here is a list of upcoming contests: – WAE SSB – ARRL September VHF – CQWW RTTY – CA QSO Party Check the 5M Calendar for details! |
| Highlights |
| W2RU received the 30M Endorsement for the 5M Award NØYY received the 5M Award KB3Z received the 5M Award + WAZ Plaque |
| Other News |
| VE7CC Cluster has been down – there are many other CC Clusters that can be used. |
| Around the Room |
| – NØYY did a walk-thru of the PVRC website with a focus on Chapter Happenings, References including Useful Links and Presentations, and the Photo Tab – Several members participated in a discussion of the evolving AI Voice capabilities. Of note was the inclusion of the work done by OH2XX using Piper as the AI Text-to-Speech (TTS) capabilities. The level of maturity has been recognized by N1MM+ now including a step-by-step description (prepared by VE3KI) of how to download and setup Piper for contest use. – NØYY and KB3Z discussed alternatives to station automation. Mark described using a BCD device to select antennas automatically. Rick described a more involved approach that uses both BCD but also direct CAT control providing frequency-based relay control of tuning networks – There was also discussion about Digi Contesting and the lack of consistency in exchanges. There are inconsistent exchanges of Grid Square info and an expectation of Signal Reports in the contest exchanges. One point is that many may not realize that there are contest specific exchanges in the Advanced Tab in WSJT-X which do not require Signal Reports. Part of the issue is that many participants are using standard FT8/FT4 exchanges and are anticipating certain elements to be exchanged and if not provided (per the contest specific exchange) then there are multiple repeats. – W4VIC raised the issue of discrepancies of grid square info exchanged that appeared to be inconsistent with LoTW expectations. Make sure your logging program is set to use what is received as opposed to LoTW data which may not be current. – There were also discussions related to SO2R and how it can be used to increase rate. This led to some discussion about visual cues from spectrum and waterfall displays vs “old school” auditory cues from listening to the pileup as it evolves. It was agreed that CWT and other Sprints were great practice for improving accuracy and rate. |
| Date: 7/9/2025 | Chapter Chair – NØYY Rick Heinrich | |
| Chapter Members Attending N3KN – Kay N6DW – Dana W4YE – Buddy |
Visiting PVRC Members: KB3Z – Mark N3MN – John |
New Member Candidates: None |
| Announcements |
| Highlights |
| Other News |
| Around the Room |
| The group discussed CWT as a training and on-the-air activity Some discussion about the upcoming IARU contest 13 Colonies event participation W4YE – JY1 King of Jordan – some discussion and Buddy offered a story related to working the King on 2M FM when he was in DC There was also some memorial discussion about Tripp – N4NTO and his passing |
| Date: 6/11/2025 | Chapter Chair – NØYY Rick Heinrich | |
| Chapter Members Attending NØYY – Rick N3KN – Kay N6DW – Dana W2RU – Bud AG2N – Bette |
Visiting PVRC Members: KB3Z – Mark N3MN – John W4VIC – Vic KØOO – Pat |
New Member Candidates: None |
| Announcements |
| Final 5M Contest of the 2024-2026 Season – ARRL June VHF Contest (June 14 – June 16) W3LPL Open House and BBQ is June 21 |
| Highlights |
| W4YE has a new TA33 up to replace the quad he lost during the ice and wind storm this past season. Good scores in the ARRL Digi Contest from KB3Z, N3KN, NØYY, and N6DW – well done all! |
| Other News |
| Around the Room |
| KB3Z – Mark – Enjoyed Dayton – this was his first visit. Got to meet many PVRC-ers face-to-face. Attended the Contest Dinner. Discussed possible solutions for the broken QSOs in the ARRL DIgi Contest KØOO – Pat – Did some cheerleading for the ARRL June VHF contest. Discussed 7Q8 being on the air and ready for the VHF contest. W2RU – Bud – Discussed repairing an apparent pinhole failure in hard line. Was successful with the repair. N6DW – Dana – offered some suggestions for resolving the “signal report” recycle in the ARRL Digi Contest. He found success inserting “free text signal report” in one of the canned exchanges. Now to find a way to automate the exchange. NØYY – Rick – Provided some additional detail regarding station design and monitor positioning. Also discussed the “clean workspace” motivation with no wires on the work surface. W4VIC – Vic – Discussed some aspects of his station layout supporting several radios and interfaces. A lot of accessories keep the layout busy! |
| Date: 5/14/2025 | Chapter Chair – NØYY Rick Heinrich (Meeting notes provided by Kay-N3KN) | |
| Chapter Members Attending: N3KN – Kay W2RU – Bud N6DW – Dana |
Visiting PVRC Members: KB3Z – Mark N3MN – John W4VIC – Vic |
New Member Candidates: None |
| Announcements |
| Highlights |
| The NØYY tower is now populated! All the planned hardware is in the sky – now to finish the cabling. |
| Other News |
| Around the Room |
| Hamvention — getting to Dayton, traveling tips in the area, why it’s worthwhile to go. The 13 Colonies operating event (N3MN, W2RU, and N3KN will be among the K2B ops) The ups & downs of running a frequency with a pile-up. Baseball, in light of the recent restoration of Hall of Fame eligibility for Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson. |
| Date: 4/9/2025 | Chapter Chair – NØYY Rick Heinrich | |
| Chapter Members Attending: NØYY – Rick N3KN – Kay W2RU – Bud AG2N – Bette |
Visiting PVRC Members: KB3Z – Mark N3MN – John |
New Member Candidates: None |
| Announcements |
| The new PVRC website is live! NØYY is scheduled for antennas to be installed April 23rd. Hope the weather cooperates! |
| Highlights |
| We did a walk-thru of the new PVRC website. Positive comments were received. |
| Other News |
| Around the Room |
| There were comments about the motivational aspects of the Contest Scoreboard. KB3Z commented that he has been a target for others chasing him during different events. KB3Z – Mark is migrating from N3FJP to DXLab – it’s still a work in progress. He has linked the LoTW info and is still working details. He’s got about 30 days with his new Flex 8400M and it is fully integrated into the station N3KN – Kay continues to participate in QSO parties and got involved with the Georgia State POTA event. N3MN – John reported that Buddy, W4YE has ordered a Mosely TA-33 to replace his ice and wind damaged quad. John also attended the RARSFest this past weekend. W2RU – Bud reported on the W4CB tower loss. Insurance response has been slow. Work to get chainsaw work done on the offending tree is pending. The 40-2CD and A3S are total losses. Work continues to get help to remove the tower. |
| Date: 3/12/2025 | Chapter Chair – NØYY Rick Heinrich | |
| Chapter Members Attending: NØYY – Rick N3KN – Kay W2RU – Bud |
Visiting PVRC Members: N3MN – John KB3Z – Mark |
New Member Candidates: None |
| Announcements |
| None |
| Highlights |
| KB3Z completed 8-Band DXCC with 2 confirmations on 12M putting him over 100 entities. |
| Other News |
| W2RU – Bud reported that W4CB lost a tower when strong winds brought down a large tree on a tower guy. Insurance review is ongoing. |
| Around the Room |
| There was a discussion about how technology has impacted operator skill sets – specifically, visual vs aural queues. The widespread use of spectrum and waterfall displays for decision making as opposed to the more traditional approach of listening and making operational decisions. More monitor real estate is becoming necessary! KB3Z continues to work on integrating HamRacer (a synthesized voice keyer and logging program) with N1MM+ NØYY is nearing the installation of antennas on his tower – stay tuned! NØYY and KB3Z are attending Dayton this year |