Category: News

VA Metro Chapter Chair Stephen Johnson, N2FT, has shared two articles on antenna design:

A Tri-Band Parasitic, Portable Vertical Array

Designing an Amateur Radio Antenna Installation using a Tailored Commercial System Engineering Process

This year PVRC funded two $3000 scholarships: The 2025 year recipients are Caroline Kuebert, KM4VCO and Jonathan Patton, KC3PQC. Both are active Hams from families of Hams whose grandfathers are PVRC members, and we hope they will join PVRC as avid contesters once they complete their academic studies. Their Thank You letters will appear in the October Newsletter and they will also be forwarded via our email reflector.

Congratulations to both Caroline and Jonathan! We wish you well and look forward to hearing you on the bands.

W3AO’s Field Day 2025 interview on Q5, by Kevin Thomas, W1DED, is now available under Presentations on the PVRC Website. Most of you know that W3AO is PVRC’s Field Day “contest that’s not a contest” operation. This year it was a 10A + GOTA entry with 10,000+QSOs accrued.

The W3AO/PVRC Field Day operations have won every category entered for every year since 1999 – including multiple all-time, all-category QSO records which remain unbeaten to date.

Over the years, W3AO has demonstrated its contesting prowess, promoting excellence in Radiosport, exemplifying the camaraderie of a hard-working group of PVRC members, and teaching newcomers.

PVRC is the top sponsor for WRTC2026 tents. PVRC is sponsoring 2 North American team tents and one of the Youth tents for 2026, thanks to the generosity of PVRC contesters.

WRTC2026 will be held in the UK concurrent with IARU HF contest in July 2026. WRTC is the Radiosport equivalent of the Olympics, wherein 2-operator teams vie for top contester honors in the world of Ham radio every 4 years.

Our Sun’s CME gift to us made QSOs in this on the air event a challenge of patience and lucky timing on the first two days, but day 3 was quite good! All bands were useful. PVRC member locations contacted included Spain and Maine. Non-members also included from Maine and Pennsylvania where I hear that some other contest clubs may exist (hi hi). Thanks to all for participating, hope you had some fun and will do it again next year when propagation likely to be much better (couldn’t get much worse!).

As logs are received over this week and compiled next week (or so) results will appear, stay tuned.

Perhaps there is an appetite for a single Contest Club Reunion Day next year when all N.A. contest clubs join in for some friendly fun?

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PVRC Reunion On The Air 61st Anniversary was on three days from May 30 – June 2, 2025 and some other changes from previous years to how it works now!

New for 2025 was the addition of meet-and-greet Zoom meeting sessions an hour before and an hour after each day’s 3-hour contest session.

See this link for details!

The Potomac Valley Radio Club welcomes all contest clubs to compete in the NAQP Online Club Challenge. This event encourages not just rivalry between clubs, but also challenges individual club members to increase their BIC (Butt-In-Chair) time as they observe their score in real-time on the online scoreboard relative to their neighbors.

Next event (of the six per calendar year) is July 19, 2025, see NAQP general Rules

draft contents of this new.pvrc.org may not reflect the future release to operational status

Chapter Meetings – Chapters have been hosting meetings in person and on line. In a lot of cases members from other chapters have had opportunities to participate in meetings that they would normally not be able to attend. This will continue for the some chapters while others are starting to meet in person again. If you do not know when your chapter is meeting then go to the Chapter Listing page and contact the local Chapter Chairman for details on the next meeting. Click here for the PVRC Calendar.

PVRC Dues – PVRC has chosen not to implement an annual Dues requirement. We depend on the generosity of all our club members to finance our annual budget. In addition, active PVRC members are expected to participate and submit logs for at least two PVRC Club Competition contests per year. When contemplating your donation to PVRC, each member should consider the benefit you are receiving from PVRC and its many opportunities for your personal growth in our wonderful hobby, then donate accordingly. Direct donations to PVRC via Credit Card or PayPal may be made by clicking the “Donate” button above or below. Donations to PVRC are not tax deductible.

PVRC Scholarship Fund – PVRC established a Scholarship for distribution through the ARRL Foundation Scholarship. The Foundation Opens in October of each year. There are three ways to make a Tax Deductable Donation. 1 – Download the form from ARRL, Print it and submit it with your check. 2- Call the ARRL Fund Director, Regina Galuppi, and give her your credit card number (860-594-0291). 3- Send a donation to the PVRC Treasurer via Paypal, noting your donation is for the PVRC Scholarship Fund.