Bloghorn

I just got back from a weekend in Odessa, New York, where I joined our comrades from the 3rd Rifle Division in what was probably the most fun tactical I’ve been at in a long time. I even got to sleep for once! I’m posting the pictures I have below, more to come probably.

Last weekend was the 100th anniversary event for the Penn State Amateur Radio Club. We sent out a press release to every newspaper in the area, and they all ran at least part of it. Well, everyone except the Daily Collegian, who never even returned my emails. You’d think that something as interesting as the 100th anniversary of a club on campus would warrant some space in their paper, but I guess they had more important things to report on.

Preliminary news articles and full press release here.

We started out on Saturday morning by opening up the station for visitors, while running our special event station. In terms of visitors, we had people from NASA and all around the local area, as well as Penn State professors and students. They all seemed very interested in what we were doing, and a few were even brave enough to get on the air. For the event, we used both the HF yagi antenna we already had on the roof, as well as a new inverted V that Professor Breakall set up just for the event.

HF Yagi and mount point for the inverted V

Inverted V

The special event station, K3PSU, got around 200 contacts over the course of the weekend, averaging 100 per day. Each one will be receiving a special QSL card we’re having made up. Here’s the prototype that the designer came up with:

Front of the 100th QSL card

Back of the QSL card

On Sunday, we had our foxhunt. I served as the fox, and was tasked with hiding somewhere on campus for the EE class and some other residents that decided to join in on the fun to find. I decided that the upper quad in West Halls was the perfect location, so I set up my folding chair and settled in for the afternoon. It took about 20 minutes for Professor Breakall to find me, and then another half hour or so for everyone else to make it there.

All in all, an excellent weekend. QSL cards should be printed soon, and then sent out as soon as the station logs are completed.

So yesterday afternoon, Rob calls me on his cell phone. He’s walking back from class, and asks if I want to put on my uniform and come for a walk to go bother some roaming preacher that has taken up shop near the HUB. Having nothing better to do on a Thursday afternoon, I agree.

By the time we get down there, the LGBTA crowd had already accumulated and was doing their usual shtick, chanting and arguing with the preacher. A preacher which, by the way, was preaching the usual “if you have sex before marriage, are gay, or don’t believe in Christ, you’re going to Hell” speech. So Rob and I, dressed in full Soviet battle dress, and Rob with his Soviet flag, move behind the preacher and just stand there. We don’t say a single word, just listen and watch as the LGBTA people start cracking up, and the preacher becomes completely speechless. He just kinda stared at us for a while, as if he couldn’t come up with a reason that we’re going to Hell as well, and then walked away.

It was a pretty hilarious scene. About 10 people, rainbow flags and Soviet flags flying, surrounding the preacher while tours of prospective students walked by and the normal HUB traffic stared at us, usually laughing as they passed by.

The Daily Collegian was there to do a story on it, which brings the number of times I’ve been in the paper this year alone to around 5. Good times…

There are only 2 more days of preperation before the 100th anniversary party this weekend. Everything is scheduled, and most of the work is done, but I’m still worried that not enough people have heard about it.

The Newswire story came out today, “Penn State Amateur Radio celebrates 100 years of transmission,” but the Collegian has yet to get back to me. Again.

And now on top of that, the T-Shirt company I was going to use has bailed on us. So we won’t have the shirts ready in time.

Here’s the press release that was sent out:

The Penn State Amateur Radio Club will be celebrating its 100th year of continuous operation this coming Saturday and Sunday, the 18th and 19th of April.

The Amateur Radio Club was founded in 1909 in the Electrical Engineering building, and was among the first radio stations to begin operating. That same winter, an ice storm destroyed the telegraph lines along the main railroad that serviced State College and Altoona. To restore service, the Penn State Amateur Radio Club was asked to step in and provide emergency communications support until the lines could be repaired. The railroad was so grateful for their service that they donated a brand new antenna to the station, and helped it become one of the most technologically advanced stations in the country.

The Amateur Radio Club at Penn State has provided emergency communications support for central Pennsylvania since its inception, as well as provided communications support for various scientific expeditions, including the Kon-Tiki expedition and various explorations of the South Pole. In addition, the members of the club have contacted numerous locations such as the international space station and space shuttle, and every land mass on Earth to converse with the inhabitants about topics of mutual interest.

To celebrate their anniversary, the Amateur Radio Club will be holding an Open Station Day on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19 from 10 AM until 6 PM. All members of the general public are encouraged to come to the radio station at the top of the stairs in the Wagner building on campus to see the station, and even get on the air if they wish. The Amateur Radio Club members will be operating a “Special Station” with the callsign K3PSU and talking to people all around the world. In addition, the Amateur Radio Club will be holding a Foxhunt on Sunday, August 19th at 2 PM, which is an exercise in finding a hidden transmitter using radio direction finding techniques. No experience or licenses are necessary for any of the activities, as a licensed operator will be nearby at all times to assist.

For more information, contact Nick Leghorn at either *******@***.*** or (***) ***-****

After talking with some of the goons in TFR (I know, never a good idea) I got the idea to apply for a Federal Firearms License. In the continuing quest to collect as many licenses as possible, adding one that doesn’t actually require any work other than a $30 check every 3 years doesn’t seem that bad, especially compared to the Amateur Radio licensing process.

The Federal Firearms License class 03 (the “Curios and Relics” license) enables the bearer to skip background checks, get around blocks states erect to interstate purchase of firearms, and allows me to sell any firearms I have on hand without requiring the buyer to go through a check themselves. The only catch is that the firearms must either be a rifle older than 50 years, or on an approved list the BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, otherwise known as the Bureau of Fun Stuff) publishes. And since the BATFE isn’t too punctual on sending out forms people request, another goon was kind enough to send me an extra.

FFL03 form, thanks to G43

There’s actually two copies in that packet. One copy of the paperwork goes to the ATF, the other gets mailed to my CLEO (Chief Law Enforcement Officer). I guess the idea is that he can stop the application from going through if he feels that I’m a horrible person. Anyway, the license requires that I be 21 years old to apply. But I got the paperwork well before my 21st birthday, so i sat on it for about a month and a half. And then, at 12:05 AM on my birthday, I slipped it in the mail.

Happy birthday to me...

It took almost 2 months for the paperwork to be processed, the extensive background checks run, and the license printed. But last weekend, it came in the mail.

This envelope could only be one thing...

It's pretty!

And now, the license is hanging on my dorm room wall, next to my Ham license, and my expired Class E NY driver’s license. I get the feeling it won’t be the last new license I get to hang on my wall.