[CW] 2012 Visit to KPH Last Commercial Radiotelegraph CW Station

[sbjohnston at aol.com]

"abqcooks at aol.com" wrote:
>But don't expect a friendly warm welcome from the head guy...  
>Won't waste my gas to go back and be treated like dirt.  
 I had a very positive experience - I was much more warmly welcomed at KPH than at any of the ham clubs I've visited as a newcomer. 

 My visit on Saturday started at the transmitter site breakfast gathering, then I looked around the transmitter, rack room, and shop.  Then the group split up - some headed out to do antenna system repairs, and others to each site for the day's operations.  I drove up to the receive site and was shown around and watched operations for a while, chatting with the Chief Operator Richard RD as he ran KPH and KSM, and the amateur operating K6KPH.  I was offered and accepted the opportunity to sit the circuit for an hour or so as I mentioned in an earlier email.  

If I lived in that area I'd join the group and pitch in with repairs and operations.  I live in Wisconsin, though...

Which site did you visit?  The fellow in charge of the transmitter site when I was on-site seemed a very quiet, keep-to-himself type. That might seem unwelcoming I suppose.  

 I wasn't a complete stranger so maybe that changed my experience - I've known one of the guys, Bill RK, from our many years working for the same broadcast company (but at opposite ends of the country).  But I was a stranger to everyone else.

At the receive site I watched the operators interact with drop-in visitors (complete strangers) all afternoon - they were welcomed and given a tour with interpretation (since most were not radio people, just general tourists visiting the park).  I did not observe any negativity or impatience with those visitors. 

It amused me that some of the younger visitors were more interested in the dial telephone on the wall than anything else.  It was a novelty they could relate to I guess.


Steve 
AmateurExtra WD8DASRadioTelegraphT000000001RadioTelephonePG1912457
sbjohnston at aol.com
http://www.wd8das.net/
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