|
Stories IX Stories X
|
stevetuba.co.uk
Stories VIII
and How I became a legend in my own mind. A work in progress.
HQ Keesler Technical Traning Center (ATC): SPECIAL ORDER AB-116, 9 January 1964 ASSIGNMENT: The following named airmen, (A2C) (CAFSC 30434) are relieved from assignment pipeline stu, indicated Sch Sq, ATC, this stn; assigned Bases indicated. Orders, Faxed Form 7 & amendments mailed to Units of Assignment....blah blah blah... The above preamble pertained to orders sending 10 of us to various bases around the continental U.S. I was going to Cut Bank AFS, Montana. My buddy John R. Dewit along with James L. Abbott of Ohio were going to the 781st Radar Squadron, Custer AFS, Michigan. How lucky can you get?...John R....Roger, was from Grand Rapids! Home was just 75 miles away! Anyway... Roger was one of four guys I'd kept in touch with after leaving Keesler. He even called me one night from Custer AFS while I was at Cut Bank AFS. Their's was a GAT-GAR site as I recall. The (R)eceivers and (T)ransmitters were in seperate locations...not together as we had at Cut Bank (GATR)...nor did they have the FRT-49/GKA-5. One of the other guys I corresponded with was John M. Johnson of West Virginia...Diamond(?)...Carbon(?). He was stateside also...but he was on different set of orders and since I don't have his letters at hand...I can't say where. I think that he was stationed with Rightmer of Texas...fellow Ropes. So...there we have it...we're all in the states for our first tours of duty. Time passes and we all rotate out at various times to new assignments. I go to Kadena Okinawa, while Roger, John M. and Rightmer end up in the Philipines...Clark AB. I seem to remember getting a call from there too. Now for the mystery...or was it a case of Brovo Sierra?
To be continued...as more data becomes available
Random Notes: Seattle WA, USA, sometime in the early 80's. The day I got "busted" by...Tektronix...Or... A lament over a Tektronix coffee mug. I was by this time the proud owner of a Radio Shack TRS-80 computer. It had very limited graphics capability, but it was a start. I knew that there were computers out there that had much better graphics and I dearly wanted something better. The surplus market in Seattle was amazingly good. There were a number of companies dealing in surplus electronics covering a broad range. Radar Electric, Western Surplus, United Products, Boeing, just to name a few. I frequented them all...regularly, constantly on the lookout for a "deal". I had an insatiable appetite for test equipment and at the time, computer related gear...as it became available. One day...there it was! A Tektronix 4050. A micro processor based computer terminal...all mine for the paltry sum of $1300. That it was over twice what I'd paid for the "Trash 80"...was not of concern. I was familiar with the 4050 in as much as I could gleen from the Tektronix catalogs. From memory...I knew that it was quit expensive...and I later worked out the catalog price as configured...at over $8600...needless to say...I bought it. Once home, I fired it up and it seemed operational...having passed the self test. Over the next week or so...I played around with it...not really knowing what to expect. I was by this time conversant with BASIC...the computer language as per the TRS-80. I don't remember the exact sequence of events...but after typing in a few letter on the keyboard...things began to happen. Certain key combinations generated error messages! WOW...The 4050 didn't like what I'd typed...great news! The error messages meant that my typed "command" was not correct in some way...but it was a COMMAND none the less. It was now a matter of typing every letter combination I could think of...and see if it generated an error message. Amazingly...I soon had a growing list of commands. Somewhere along the line...I ordered a set of manuals and all became clear. Interestingly I'd found most of the "command set" by trial and error...I was quite pleased with myself. Some time later I interfaced the Tek 4050 to the TRS-80...and was able to take advantage of the greater graphics capabilities of the 4050. Great fun...it was. There was a little problem...though. The keyboard was flaky! Damn! This was not a major problem when used as an output device for the 80...but, I got it into my head that I wanted to use the 4050 as my main terminal for connection to the Internet (Compuserve at the time)...and in that role...the keyboard had to work properly. I trouble shot it...a number of times...and it kept coming back to the keyboard itself. I shelved the project. Months pass...when I again attacked the problem...with the same result. Nothing for it! I called Tektronix and after talking to a tech, ordered a new keyboard. I think that they had the part in stock...and it was just a matter of going down to South Center to get it. As I think about it now, I'm not sure why I took the 4050 along. It seems that there was something about the cost of installing it. Anyway...I show up and quite soon I'm removing the old keyboard. At one point, someone wants to pull the serial number and notices that the external tag was missing...as I recall. A bit later someone else shows up and we do it all over again, except this time he looks for the serial number hidden inside the unit. He finds it and disappears. The first "checker" had been a female. I just finish putting in the new keyboard and have it all buttoned up...when... The gal and two big guys show up. They took up karate stances in anticipation of what might happen next. They had a look on their faces that said something along the lines of..."damn...we are so clever...". Kidding about the karate! Anyway...the gal did all the talking. I was busted! Good thing I was in a good mood. It turned out the they'd run a check of the serial number...and found that it had been stolen...in Utah! I spent the next 4-5 hour with the local Sheriff...who happened to look like the guy Cannon...from the TV series...except this guy had a huge mustache. It was a bit funny dealing with mister Sheriff in as much as this was a high tech crime. He'd been briefed by the Tek personnel...so that when I told him how much I'd paid for it...he thought it was incredulous...read as...I should have suspected it as stolen. I went on to explain that...Hey(!)...I was used to paying 10 cents on the dollar...for surplus...hence I paid...high. In the end I gave my statement etc...done deal...I was in the clear. Finished with the Sheriff...I retold my story to the Tek types that had time to listen and was given a nice Tektronix coffee mug...for my willing cooperation...blah blah...etc. We got to chatting about the current state of high res graphics...and was cordially given a tour of their demo room...taking my mug with me. The graphic displays were fantastic...by the standards of the day. Done deal...and I'm out the door. It was not until I got home that I realized that I'd forgotten the mug! Epilog: It was about a month later that I got my money back from the outfit I'd bought the 4050 from. So...in a sense I'd gotten a chance to play with a Tek 4050 for about a year...for free...though I really would like to have had the mug...too. So...if there is a Tektronix rep out there...what do you say?
Dateline: The Brooklyn (ave) House, Seattle WA. ~1990 The day the earth stood still... Not the film! "Gort...Klatu, Barata, Nicktoo..." A number of years earlier we'd scored a pair of long lead, quartz crystal temperature sensors designed for a dual channel HP quartz digital thermometer. This piece of equipment was originally made by Dymec, a subsidiary of HP...Hewlett-Packard. I knew about this equipment from having scoured the pages of old HP catalogs. I recognized the sensors and the OM bought them in the tradition of any good surplus scrounger, knowing that someday...you'd find "the other half". Well... Years pass...like maybe ten! It was at Boeing Surplus, where one day I came across a 2801A...with no sensors. Buying a 2801A without the sensors would be, in my mind, a total waste of money...BUT I had the sensors! After getting it to the OM's and locating the sensors, it was soon apparent that the unit worked just fine. As was my practice at the time, I located and ordered a manual. A week later it arrived and I was able to go through the various checks etc. Satisfied for now, I took it home to my place. I had a 19 inch rack in my computer/radio/satellite earth station room and after rearranging a few things soon had the thermometer mounted in the rack. I ran the lead of one sensor outside while the other one stayed indoors. The 2801A was an extraordinary piece of equipment. Dual channel, which meant that you could not only take reading from two different places, you could take differential readings also. Another amazing feature was it's resolution. GADS! It was capable of reading to one ten thousandths of a degree! Or if you will, one tenth of a thousandths. I was mostly interested in the outdoor temp, so I would normally leave it on that channel. It was great fun to watch the temperature changing...no really! To use the highest resolution meant that the readings would update every ten seconds which was ok...but I preferred a faster updated time and hence set the resolution to one thousandths of a degree, which took just a second. This was great! So it was that one of the first things I'd look at in the morning was to note the temperature on the orange Nixie tube display of the 2801A, which was left on and monitoring 24/7. Over time I made a few interesting observations, which would have been impossible lacking high resolution. One thing I noted was that on a "normal" morning...the temperature would rise at about a thousandths of a degree per second. ("Normal" being an average day with a slight breeze perhaps.) I confirmed this over months. BUT... On this particular morning, I did the usual by noting the temp and carrying on with my morning ritual, knowing that I'd take another final look just before leaving the house for work which at this time meant crossing Lake Washington via the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. A sad aspect of digital equipment is that they tend to fail in strange ways. A "stuck" display would be an indication of trouble in River City. The point being that while it is displaying something, is it right i.e. the current temp...or what? Hence it pays to keep this in mind at all times. Where was I? Oh yes...It was my habit to watch the display for a few seconds just to make sure that it was in fact updating and to note the rate of change. I went about my business. Later... It was time to go...so back to the "High Resolution Temperature Monitoring Station" (HRTMS for short.) and take a last look. GADS! Double GADS! The damn thing has died on me! The display was stuck. Sample after sample, there was no change in the displayed reading. NONE. There was nothing for it...I had to leave for work, and did. I didn't relish the idea of having to troubleshoot the 2801A when I returned from work, and drove off in a bitter mood. I drove in a trance as was my practice, until I hit the west high rise of the floating bridge, where I soon got my first view of the lake. This was, most always, an uplifting event. Water to the north, water to the south. On stormy days, the winds would drive waves over the bridge, making for an exciting crossing. BUT...on this morning it was just the exact extreme opposite. There was not the slightest breeze...none whatsoever. The lake was like a mirror...all of it. A bell went off. THAT explained it...there was no wind...hence no chance in temperature. Well...well...well....very interesting...I thought. Sure enough, at home after work, I found the display...changing just fine. It was interesting to note that it was possible to have such still air as to not show a change of temperature, at least to one thousandths of a degree.
Dateline: Seattle WA. ~1961-62 ish What ever happened to...the Little Pink Zebra? We had scored a BC-348, a WWII vintage aircraft radio receiver, a year or two before. The first thing we did was to build a power supply into the receiver. The power supply was to occupy the space that was normally taken up by a dynamotor. It was set up in our basement and hooked up to a random length of wire that acted as the antenna. It was great fun to 'scan the band(s)', which I would do whenever I had free time...or the mood just struck me to do so. On a semi regular basis, I would take a listen to the 80 meter ham band, some time after getting home from school. Most school days there was a gathering of young people about my age or a bit older from all over the state (Washington). I liked to listen to what they had to say...for the hour or so that they'd be on the air. There were a number of regulars, including a few girls. One girl stood out from the bunch. She was a charming charater...with a voice to match. I don't remember her name, but she was located (QHT) in the town of Twisp (Washington). Twisp! What a name! It was many years later that I looked up Twisp on a map. It's very small and romantically isolated in eastern Washington...up in the foothills of the Rockie Mountains. I remember thinking about the girl living in a remote town, talking to the 'outside world'...on her radio and what it was like growing up in 'small town USA'. Amateur radio operators (hams) are licenced and are given 'call signs'. Washington State, along with Oregon and Idaho all had a '7' prefex...'K7'. Of all the call signs I ever heard, hers was the one that I've never forgotten. It was/is common to announce your call sign using phonetics. Some hams use the standard phonetics...Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...etc. While others would make up their own phonetics, depending on the last three letters of their call sign, into something more memorable. Well...the girl from Twisp Washinton had a memorable call sign. It was...K7LPZ and she would identify herself as, "K...7...Little...Pink...Zebra". By the time I got out of the military, four years later, the 'crowd' was gone. The LPZ would be in her 60's by now. I do wonder about her now and then. I did a search of call signs recently, and not unexpectedly...the call sign K7LPZ has been reassigned to someone else. When, or the reason why, she let her call sign laps...I don't know. The possibilities are numerous and potentially poignant. So...wherever you are...LPZ...I wish you well and I will remember those day so long ago...hearing you sign off as...the...Little Pink Zebra. See Below.
0500hrs GMT, 29 June 2004. I've just received news that the OM (John Tuba Sr.) had died at 1845hrs PDT on the 28th, in Seattle, Washington at the age 86. An era has passed...More to follow...
John Tuba...March 19, 1918-June 28, 2004 Photo: Circa 1942, Hungarian Air Force. 1130hrs GMT, 6 September 2004. I've been back for eleven days after having spent over 50 days in Seattle. As of now, I don't have all my thoughts and feelings in focus, though I did make mental notes. I shall write, as stories come to mind, in no particular order.
Follow up on the LPZ story... 6 September 2004: One of the things I did, once I'd arrived at the Dose House in Seattle, was to locate an old Amature (ham) Radio Call Book. I knew where to look, and headed down into the basement. It was right where I'd last seen it and proceeded to thumb through it looking for the K7LPZ call sign. Donna...Yes!..Donna G. Brewer...Star Rte, Twisp WA.
The Dose House story... 6 September 2004: I now have in my possession copies of all the Deeds for the previous owners of the Dose House property back to 1905. My gratitude to Alan Krell, world traveler and photographer, with a book coming soon, for his kindness in getting the copies for me. The names and dates on the Deeds are most interesting. Some myths have been eliminated...though there are some remaining questions. Details to follow.
Bill Bayless...a real friend. 6 September 2004: "...Name the time and place...and I'll be there..." Bill Bayless...said those words to me over the phone about a week after my arrival in Seattle. Gads! More later...
Continued: Stories IX
Copyright © Steve Tuba 2003-2008. Photography Copyright © Steve Tuba 1999-2008.
|
War
stories