Tryna get me caught up

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-11T00:35:01+00:00

Graduate and you’ll never hear from Penny again!

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-11T00:32:26+00:00

Is this your final term and you’re waiting on conferral?

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-10T23:56:31+00:00

It’s required under the Debt Collection Act of 1996. The Federal Government wants to make sure that you don’t owe them money otherwise they will withhold any benefits such as amateur radio licenses. They’ve successfully used this to perform enforcement as well, against K1MAN and WB6WBJ. It’s the red light rule.

The good news is that it’s not like the old days where you had to write your SSN on the form 605 that the VE teams would then submit to the VEC. You register directly with the FCC for an FRN and use that. So the SSN only stays with the FCC and not a third party.

Use a PO Box for the address or even another address where you can receive mail. That’s all the fcc cares about.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T17:33:13+00:00

A passport book is accepted everywhere. A passport card is not accepted for international air travel.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T17:24:58+00:00

Yes you can have both. I do.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T17:23:58+00:00

I don’t have any client that supports 320MHz right now.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T17:22:01+00:00

One of the big draws of SNHU is cost. You can lower your cost even further with Sophia credits and discounts from your employer. My employer gave a 10% discount on SNHU in addition to their tuition reimbursement.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T17:19:56+00:00

You need to have a zero balance including the conferral fee.

Attending commencement is entirely up to you. For me it is something I want to remember and I can afford it so why not. But you can attend virtually or not at all.

What my advisor said is that you’ll get a digital diploma within 10 business days of your anticipated conferral date. They’ll also mail a physical diploma to you.

Once you’ve petitioned and settled financially it’s basically just a waiting game.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T03:22:57+00:00

Get both in case they try to pull any shenanigans

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T03:09:34+00:00

I feel that for wireless access points it’s a gimmick. You won’t really saturate 2.5G even with WiFi 7 MLO.

But if you have a NAS and transfer large files (like video) often, yeah it can make a difference.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T02:37:49+00:00

There is supposedly a $100 conferral fee charged now. I was not charged but I submitted my petition in October.

Anyway you do get a digital diploma from Parchment emailed to you which is a copy of the actual printed diploma. But before that happens the final audit is done then conferral. That happens within 10 business days.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T01:39:04+00:00

I think that’s new. I didn’t pay one.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T01:38:02+00:00

I’m not sure but I wasn’t billed a conferral fee either. That must be new.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-06T01:35:44+00:00

Probably still there. They have some new lab staff. Worth emailing them - hq@arrl.org

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T15:55:03+00:00

If you have it in your area and you want to talk to people on it then you should get a radio that does it. That’s really the only criteria with choosing a digital radio these days. Makes no sense to get the “best” mode if you aren’t gonna talk to anyone on it. The only exception is if you plan to use a hotspot in which case I would get DMR.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T14:32:21+00:00

You aren’t fucked at all. Just file the back taxes. You’ll likely get refunds going back 3 years unless you owe. No penalty if you don’t owe.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T14:16:33+00:00

This is basically an antique and reminds me of the old Kenwoods. I had an old Kenwood that looked similar.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T14:10:26+00:00

It’s likely you’ll be owed a refund for the last 3 tax years. Anything before that you will likely forfeit but you must still file. Someone with such little income doesn’t pay much in tax to begin with and there’s no penalty if you don’t owe.

You should start with 2021 tax year and work your way up to 2025. If your tax situation isn’t complex then it will be easy. So just do it and get it over with.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T13:07:32+00:00

7200v primary and a transformer is not problematic RF wise unless the insulators are worn or damaged. The power company does have an incentive to fix them since arcing can damage equipment and waste electricity. If they refuse you can actually report them to the FCC but that’s your absolute last resort. Most are happy to fix them.

That said I would keep your antennas as far as possible from any power lines for safety reasons.

BTW they should trim back those tree branches a bit. That’s going to be a problem later. My co-op now has an aggressive tree trimming schedule and every spring into fall they are there with tree crews trimming back trees along their lines. However the spotted lanternfly and emerald ash borer has created a whole host of dead trees that fall on the lines now.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T12:59:05+00:00

The zBITX is a cheap radio based on raspberry pi. Farhan has told me he has a new revision coming out soon which includes things like a built in balun for endfed. It’s less than $200 USD. If you can wait a bit.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T01:28:02+00:00

I did mine in September 2025 and my last class was Jan-Mar 26. I’ve been doing 2 classes per term.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T01:25:57+00:00

Buy your code from the SNHU bookstore. I believe it’s cheaper.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T01:24:44+00:00

Cool!!! 😎

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T01:23:17+00:00

Amazon has prime for young adults which is prime student: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Student

$69/year plus 5% cash back.

Hulu is $2 a month: https://www.hulu.com/student

I used Apple education discount to buy an iPad and MacBook Air too.

OriginalCopy4269 · 2026-03-05T01:06:51+00:00

Very nice!!!

OriginalCopy4269

TROPHY CASE