davidb@pacer.com (David Barts) (07/16/90)
In the late 70's or early 80's, I was on a family trip to Santa Barbara, and we stopped at a rest area along Interstate 40 in the Mojave Desert. The telephone at the rest area looked like a normal Western Electric pay phone, except that it had no dial mechanism and there was a wooden box with a hand-crank magneto mounted beneath the phone. The instruction sheet for the phone was either typed or handwritten and said to announce that you were calling from "Fenner Roadside Box Number 4", after successfully ringing up the operator. (It has been about ten years, so I may not have remembered the name 100% correctly.) It was a cool December afternoon, and the wind was howling across the desert. This must have induced considerable static charges in the phone line, because the phone was ringing almost constantly. Picking up the receiver did not stop the ringing, and the only thing I could hear on the line was a very LOUD, harsh static. I was unable to raise the operator by cranking the magneto, presumably because the static was also causing false ringing on her end and she was deliberately ignoring rings on that line until the wind died down and the static went away. It has been over five years since I have been on that stretch of I-40, and I have never been to the Fenner rest area other than that one time. It would be interesting to hear what has happened to the public phone service there. Perhaps John Higdon has a story or two to tell about the phone service in this area. David Barts Pacer Corporation, Bothell, WA davidb@pacer.uucp ...!uunet!pilchuck!pacer!davidb
joe@icjapan.info.com (Joe Talbot) (07/21/90)
In article <9810@accuvax.nwu.edu> davidb@pacer.com (David Barts) writes: >The telephone at the rest area looked like a normal Western Electric >pay phone, except that it had no dial mechanism and there was a >wooden box with a hand-crank magneto mounted beneath the phone. >The instruction sheet for the phone was either typed or handwritten >and said to announce that you were calling from "Fenner Roadside Box >Number 4", after successfully ringing up the operator. (It has been >about ten years, so I may not have remembered the name 100% >correctly.) The "Fenner roadside rest stop" phones were Fenner #1 and #2. They finally went away last year and became very unreliable Baker phone numbers. It was part of Pac*Bells project to eliminate toll stations. The projest involves the construction and use of many new microwave sites and disital carrier. Here's a summary of what happened to the toll stations: Amargosa #1,3,5, - were converted to something dial (probably Baker.) Halloran Springs/Summit - were changed to Baker numbers. Ludlow - Baker numbers (out of service all the time, the whole town dies for days at a time. The service comes from a van parked near town with a dish on the roof and a fence around it. Odd.) Amboy - Baker numbers (frequent outages). Essex, Saltus - Baker numbers. Lanfair Valley - Baker numbers. Fenner - Baker numbers. Chiriaco Summit - GTE numbers from Desert Center (on Pac*Bell carrier and lines. Imagine paying for Pac*Bell service and getting GTE piped in. Frightening!) Some just turned into charge a calls (so they wouldn't have to collect the coins I'll bet). With the restriction being done IN THE SET! Smart pay phones! On POTS (plain olde telephone service) lines. Amazing. Those of us who frequent the desert are pleased that cellular service is coming even to the most remote area due to the heavy traffic on I-15 and I-40. The landline service isn't reliable enough yet. Joe Talbot "What am I doing here?" Voice Mail 011-813-222-8429
neg@nrc.com (Neal Goldsmith) (07/24/90)
In article <9986@accuvax.nwu.edu> joe@icjapan.info.com (Joe Talbot) writes: >Ludlow - Baker numbers (out of service all the time, the whole town >dies for days at a time. The service comes from a van parked near town >with a dish on the roof and a fence around it. Odd.) If I remember correctly, this Van is/was used because all of the copper wire feeding the town was stolen on SEVERAL occasions, this took the town out for extended periods of time. They finally put in a Microwave arrangment to eliminate the wire all together. It seems that the remote locations of the poles made the wire easy to steal. Neal E. Goldsmith Network Research Corp Internet: neg@nrc.com 1620 Federal Ave #2 America Online: NEG1 Los Angeles, CA 90025 (213)479-6436