New Directions Radio
(Page 4 of 6)
May/June 1974
By Copthorne Macdonald
I also met Bob Wallace who's working with the OPEN information network in Seattle and designing a minicomputer system to help meet community needs in that area. (Bob can be reached at 4740 University Way N.E., Seattle, Washington 98105.)
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The best thing of all in Berkeley, though, was finally getting to see Howard and Elly, Carter Rose (WA6DGV) and George Thompson (W6FY). No communication medium can approach really being together . . . but then again, if it hadn't been for the radio putting us in touch in the first place, we'd never have found one another at all.
GEORGE AND BETTY ON KELLY HILL
The first ham I met after getting my license in 1951 was George Cummings. We were both living in northern Illinois at the time, but soon parted ways. While I was doing my go-to-college and climbthe-corporate-ladder things in the 50's and early 60's, George and Betty had opted for the mountains of Colorado. Homesteading was the dream, but with the economic pressures on their growing family it always seemed a bit beyond reach . . . and George worked in the mines, repaired TV's, toted mail and did a variety of other things to put food on the table.
Last fall it happened for the Cummingses: the final break with job and all, heading off to their land in northeastern Washington just south of the British Columbia border and building a house on their hilltop during the rainiest autumn in many years. (Some day, I hope, they'll put the whole story into a book. Betty has already written an article describing the way they built their $200 house out of mill end 2 X 4's and 2 X 6's.)
Since I had to get from California to Minnesota by some route, I thought, "Why not make a surprise visit to George and Betty on Kelly Hill?" I'll spare you the details of getting topo maps in Spokane, discovering that Kelly Hill covers a good 15-square-mile area, finding the Cummingses' rural route box and hiking in the three miles from the county road. (I kept following kids' footprints, feeling like a wilderness hunter stalking game.) I finally reached the family's handcrafted house, and (as I had hoped) seeing me in the doorway freaked them out. I spent a beautiful three days with them, trying my inept hand at cutting wood, grinding wheat, turning over sod, hauling water and other homesteading chores. The wound-down pace—coupled with physical exercise that really accomplished something-sure felt good.
As you might expect, radio is a tool the Cummings family have integrated smoothly into their new life. The only power source at present is a 12-volt battery charged periodically by a small gasoline engine, so George's transmitter power is limited. His station, WØQPO/7, uses a 5-watt Argonaut which is too weak-at least when using voice—to get through the background interference levels usually present on evenings and weekends. (it is adequate, though, for his midday 75-meter voice schedules twice a week with Norris Hyde [VE7AIC]. Norris is a most interesting chap who has been homesteading for 20 years near Sicamous, B.C., 'about 160 miles north of George. He and I had exchanged letters, but hadn't gotten together on the air until I participated in one of the regular sessions while at George's and Betty's.)
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