Carpe Diem!
(Seize the Day!)

5CCG (5th MOB):
My USAF radar shop

Hobby & Fun

Airplanes and Rockets:
My personal hobby website

Equine Kingdom:
My daughter Sally's horse riding business website - lots of info

Doggy Dynasty:
My son-in-law's dog training business

Letter to National Park Service re Horn Antenna Preservation

Thanks to Arthur Haspoja's note in the "Letters" feature of the October 2010 "Sky & Telescope," I learned that the National Park Service is allowing the Horn Antenna to deteriorate at its home on the old Bell Labs grounds (now owned by Lucent).

Below is the letter I wrote to request that action be taken to preserve this important part of science history. Please consider sending a letter of your own.

To: Mr. Edson Beall, edson_beall@nps.gov

November 18, 2010

Greetings Mr. Beall:

I recently read a letter in "Sky & Telescope," written by a fellow amateur astronomer (Arthur Haspoja) who visited the Horn Antenna located at the old Bell Labs site in Holmdel, NJ. He found it to be in a pathetic state of disrepair. It would be a shame to let such an important part of science history decompose into a rusted heap of metal.

With all the taxpayer's money being spent to wasteful ends (bridges to nowhere, et al), it is not unreasonable to expect that the Horn Antenna at least be given a fresh coat of paint on occasion.

Your effort to arrange for a proper schedule of maintenance for the Horn Antenna would be greatly appreciated. If you will let me know when the project is complete, I will be glad to publicize it on my engineering website, RFCafe.com (typically 7,000-8,000 visitors per day).

Thank-you very much.

For more information and a lot of detailed pictures of the dilapidated condition of the Homdel antenna,, please visit the Fort Bend Astronomy Club's website. A thumbnail of one of the photos is shown at the right.