100 year anniversary weekend in Trondheim

This past weekend was a very special one for our club. We celebrated 100 years as a ham radio club with over 170 former and current members, as well as specially invited guests attending. We have been looking forward to this weekend for many years with a lot of preparations over the last two years for many of us.

It all started Friday morning, marking our presence in the city by hoisting special-made anniversary flags on top of Studentersamfundet and in the river Nidelva just outside. In the evening, we had our traditional waffle night at the club venue and people were there from 18:00 o’clock in the evening, to 06:00 o’clock in the morning!

Saturday began with a tour of both Samfundet and our antenna park on the roof for those who wanted to see all the secret rooms and small spaces of this strange building. Simultaneously, we had a small barbecue in the park right outside, of course, with some radio equipment and antennas to check the conditions on the bands this sunny afternoon.

The weekend’s main event was decidedly the centennial banquet on Saturday evening. The banquet had over 170 participants gathering in the largest venue at Samfundet for dinner, toasts, live music and a special light show in the form of a large sign spelling out LA100K, our anniversary call sign for the year. All the attendees also got a copy of an anniversary book that we’ve been working on for the past two years, detailing the club’s history for the past 100 years.

The toastmasters for the evening LB0VG and LB9WI kept a tight, yet enjoyable schedule for the evening with planned and unplanned toasts lined up. The toasts came from members from a variety of different decades of the club. The first one out was LA7SG, who joined ARK back in 1958, being the oldest member of the evening. The other toasts were held by LB4JE, LA2KNA, LB2RH, LA5GKA, LA8AEA, LB5FJ, LB5NI, Miriam, and representatives from Sikring (one of the volunteer groups at Samfundet) and Omega Verksted / LA1OHM (student maker space at NTNU). Omega Verksted also gave us a present, which was received on stage by our chairman LB5FJ.

The weekend ended with some casual ham radio operating on Sunday afternoon so the visiting members could try out our new equipment and maybe get a QSO using the anniversary call sign. Sunday evening we met on the roof to lower the flags and indicate the end of an amazing centennial weekend.

All in all, the weekend was a blast, and it seemed like all of the invited guests had a very pleasant time at ARK and Studentersamfundet. Thank you to everyone who attended the events this weekend, and a special thanks to LB9WI, LB0VG, everyone who gave a toast, and all of those who helped make this weekend happen.