I just heard on the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast that special event station K7G will be QRV this weekend from Astoria, Oregon to commemorate the 25th anniversary of The Goonies. Man, does this bring back some fond memories. The Goonies was one of those pop culture memes that really impacted me as a kid. Here was a movie about a bunch of ordinary kids from a small town (in Oregon no less…my stomping grounds!) who stumble upon the clues to an improbable treasure, go alone on a fantastic adventure because they believe in this crazy idea, dodge doom and destruction numerous times, seemingly fail but then manage to save the day at the end. Not to mention that it had pirates, hidden treasure, mobsters, and a mutant. How could I, a boy just a few years younger than the main characters, not like this movie? Being the chubby kid in my group of friends, I certainly could relate to Chunk, but I also envied Data and all of the cool gadgets he brought along for their quest. No doubt that wise-ass Mouth also reminded me of a few of my close friends. I still enjoy watching the movie when I catch it on TV, although it’s funny that I don’t remember it being quite as cheesy when I first viewed it as a kid.

The Goonies still seems to be very popular, with fans making the trip to Astoria to visit many of the familiar settings from the film. If you ever come to my neck of the woods, you should take some time to visit Astoria, even if you don’t care for The Goonies. It’s a neat little small town with quite a bit of charm and is only a few miles from one of my favorite locations in the entire world, the Oregon Coast. I’m going to give a listen to 40 meters to see if I can snag them this weekend. It’s pretty close to Beaverton, but my antenna is low enough that I’m sure I have some energy going straight up and down on 40. I bet they’re going to have a great QSL for this one.