November 2014
The Beaver State Net meets daily at 5:30 p.m. on 3920 kHz
BSN Web Page: http://www.k6ugs.com/BSN.htm
Don, KK7TN, Net Manager
[email protected]
Claire, N7CM, Assistant Net Manager
[email protected]
Vern, K6UGS, Web Page Master.
[email protected]
Net Statistics for July, August,
and September 2014
Month
July
August
September
Checkins
552
576
566
Traffic
146
126
98
Cheval Lake
Health and Welfare
Jon's brother wrapping
Jon's leg
Last August, Jon, KD7FAU, who frequently
checks into the BSN, was injured in a fall while
backpacking in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. He
shared his story with Alice, K7RQZ.
Jon broke his leg when he, his brother, and
Jon's friend Troy, KD7NDM were in vicinity of
Cheval Lake. They did not consider it an
emergency so the party spent the next four
days deciding what to do. Jon even checked
into the BSN a few times but did not mention
that he had broken his leg because he did not
want to worry anyone. Finally it was decided
that Troy would hike out and get the makings
for a leg cast. On the way out Troy met a U.S.
Forest Service ranger. The ranger did not see
the incident in the same way Jon and his party
did and contacted search and rescue.
Two helpful nurses arrived the next day and
fitted Jon with a temporary walking cast. Since
the nurses could not get the pack animals to
where Jon was, he had to hobble up a hill for
about 1,000 feet elevation gain. There Jon
unwillingly got on a mule for the nine mile ride
to the trailhead. Since then he has been at
home recovering and looking forward to getting
back to work. We all wish Jon well.
They dined on King Bolete mushrooms
Humor
"Lexophile" is a word used to describe those
that have a love for words, such as "you can
tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish", or "to
write with a broken pencil is pointless." A
competition to see who can come up with the
best lexophiles is held every year in an
undisclosed location.
This year's winning
submission is posted at the very end.
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When fish are in schools, they
sometimes take debate.
A thief who stole a calendar got twelve
months.
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles
U.C.L.A.
The batteries were given out free of
charge.
A dentist and a manicurist married.
They fought tooth and nail.
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A will is a dead giveaway.
With her marriage, she got a new name
and a dress.
A boiled egg is hard to beat.
When you've seen one shopping center
you've seen a mall.
Police were called to a day care center
where a three-year-old was resisting a
rest.
Did you hear about the fellow whose
whole left side was cut off? He's all
right now.
A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two
tired.
When a clock is hungry it goes back four
seconds.
The guy who fell onto an upholstery
machine is now fully recovered.
He had a photographic memory which
was never developed.
When she saw her first strands of grey
hair she thought she'd dye.
Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's
the point of it.
And the cream of the wretched crop.
Those who get too big for their pants will
be exposed in the end.
Seated L to R – Scott, W7IZ; Alice, K7RQZ, and Karen,
N7YBS.
Standing L to R – Ben, N7OGM; Don, KK7TN; Kathy,
N7YBN; John, K7AGB; Paul, AA7PT, Arlie, W7DAN; and
Betty, N7DRP. Not shown – Lois, and AnnaKay who
took the picture. Also not shown are the four legged
attendees -- Natasha and Max.
Courtesy of Scott Gray, W7IZ
BSN Rendezvous and Picnic
August 9—10
This year's picnic at Alice's was not as well
attended as many previous ones but it was as
enjoyable as ever. Thanks again to Alice for
hosting it.
This year's finale cake
I’mmmm baaack!
Well at least I’m back via this newsletter
Dave, N7YSS
Janice and I are becoming acclimated to our
new surroundings here in eastern Washington.
We are located in Evans which is about fifteen
miles north of Colville. We are about five miles
from Lake Roosevelt. What a beautiful ride on
HWY 25 around the lake from our place over to
Kettle Falls. Roosevelt Lake is the reservoir
formed by the Grand Coulee Dam on the
Columbia River. We are just about centrally
located between Kettle Falls and Colville
(about seven to eight miles from either place)
and thirty miles south of the Canadian border.
Kettle Falls has about 1,640 people and one
grouch, as they say. Colville is the county seat
of Stevens County and has a population of
around 5,000.
What an adventure it's been! We have gone
from nothing but land, and sleeping in our cars
to a four bay insulated outbuilding housing a
travel trailer in the four months that we have
been here.
We didn’t even have electricity for the first
month. The construction guys were using their
gasoline generator for their power, but we were
“left in the dark” after they left for the day.
Finally got power hooked up, but couldn’t use it
until the inspector came. Sure was nice being
able to plug stuff into sockets in the wall,
instead of running a long extension cord to the
breaker box.
We still don’t have running water except for the
trailer which we have to manually fill every day
or so after a “water run” to the machine at
Walmart. Thank goodness for Walmart and
that machine! So, at least we have running
cold and hot water in the trailer and can
actually take a hot shower without having to
trek up to the gas station showers twelve miles
away. Even those showers were a real luxury
during our early time here. May be awhile until
we get a pump into the well and have power
hooked up to it. We do have septic system
installed including a dump station inside the
barn for the trailer commode. That is much
better than having to go outside to the
outhouse and especially nice when temps get
way down.
Most days have been rather warm to hot and
dry, with nights being cool to cold and crisp.
The night sky is awesome with a “million” stars.
I can see why the ancients were in awe. Last
couple of days we actually had rain showers
and it was refreshing for us. Much more like
we’re used to coming from the west side of
cascades. It is normally very dry here, and the
dirt is like powder, but the coming snow will
take care of that. Except for snowy days, it
should be sunny, but cold.
We have no wired phone, as the phone
company wanted $1,500 to dig the trench
nearly a mile to the house from the road. Cell
phones are godsends. I told Century Link that
I wanted to transfer my phone and Internet
service from Hockinson over here to Evans.
They informed me that they could transfer the
phone, but they have no Internet coverage out
here. That sure was a wakeup call! They said,
“Well Dave, my friend, that’s the price we pay
for living in paradise!” Fortunately there is
Internet over radio here and we have a direct
shot to their antenna overlooking the valley. Its
working almost, or nearly the same as what we
had before, so I’m delighted. Price is excellent
too, much better than the little dish. Now, we
don’t have TV, unless we go with the little dish,
but I’m not too hip on that idea. Thus, we have
been without TV for the time we’ve been here.
We've been getting all the news and
entertainment from Internet.
I have been
downloading movies to watch on the tablet, so
it's really not been that bad. Probably do us
good to go without TV, but that’s a whole
'nuther conversation!
On the subject of ham radio, I have not been
on the air at all, as all of my radios are packed
away who knows where in the other part of the
barn.
The boxes are really jam packed,
otherwise they all would never have fit. Good
thing we decided to have the larger barn built
to begin with! I did have a QRP rig in the car
and did turn it on the BSN frequency, but noise
was very high. I decided to try again another
night and the darned rig would not come on, so
I’ll probably have to send it to ICOM. Even my
test equipment is packed, so could not check
to see if radio was getting power. Fuses
looked OK. Anyway, I probably have too much
other stuff going on what with building the
house and doing some of my own contracting.
They are just finishing up on the foundation
What Happened to Tunnels’ AM
Antenna?
JOSEPH ROSE, The Oregonian, May 2, 2014
Q: Not to date myself, but I remember when
the Vista Ridge tunnels were built to
connect the Sunset Highway to downtown
Portland. Back then, there was a bit of an
uproar because the project included
funding for running a cable suspended
from the ceiling that would allow for the
unimpeded broadcasting of AM radio
signals when you drove through the
tunnels. The cables are there, but they don’t
seem to function any longer. Any idea why?
A: With the Portland Trail Blazers playing
cliffhanger basketball on the AM radio dial
these days, there’s a good chance drivers
stuck in traffic might miss some last-second
heroics in Oregon’s busiest tunnels.
Digging the foundation
Pouring concrete for the
foundation
and getting ready to start framing. Next the
plumber will come and then the electrician and
a host of other amenities that will go into
making this a real home. You can see the
pictures of our progress so far.
Another view of foundation
and barn in back
My new “toy” for moving
snow, etc.
I do miss you all and kudos to Kris, WA7PHI,
for taking over as NCS for me. One of these
days, hopefully, you will again hear me on the
net.
I’d sure like to hear from you guys and gals, so
you can always drop an email.
73/88 Dave, [email protected]
Imagine: “A second on the clock. Blazers down
by two. Aldridge goes for three from behind the
arc and it’s... kurchhh fuzzz zeee weeee
kurchhh.” Boom shaka laka!
I tried — really, I did — but I can’t seem to find
a definitive answer to your question. My best
guess: People just forgot about, or gave up on,
what is now a dusty piece of transistor
technology.
Back in 1969 and 1970, when Southwest
Portland’s Vista Ridge tunnels opened, AM
radio was king. So it made sense for the
Oregon Department of Transportation to pay
$8,000 ($47,400 in 2014 dollars) to install a
long radio antenna to allow radio reception
inside.
According to a June 21, 1972, article in The
Oregonian, the antenna went out of
commission less than a year after it was fired
up. “Fortunately, it was still under warranty,”
ODOT engineer Larry Rullen told the
newspaper at the time.
A transistor unit in the circuit board located in
“the attic”
— the space above the tunnels
— had failed.
Rullen promised that it would be back in
service within a week. As far as I can tell, that
was the last time anything was said publicly
about the antenna.
Rullen and most of his colleagues from the
period have passed away, apparently taking
institutional knowledge of the antenna with
them.
Don Hamilton, an ODOT spokesman,
attempted to track down information about the
defunct antenna but came up with no answers.
By now, the warranty has definitely expired.
The antenna and circuit board are still there.
“But clearly it’s not working right now,”
Hamilton said. “Maybe there was no motivation
to get it started again.”
Of course, that’s not to say people have
stopped listening to AM/FM radio. In April, a
Pew Research study showed radio is still
popular because of cars. Indeed, 91 percent
of Americans over the age of 12 still listen to
the radio at least on a weekly basis. And
people listening in their cars still makes up 44
percent of the radio audience.
Is there anyone out there who can help me find
out what happened to the Vista Ridge Tunnels
antenna?
Newsletter Submittals
Please send items for the newsletter to the Net
Manager. Deadline for the February edition is
January 15th. Your items for inclusion in the
newsletter are coveted.