This was our very first extended Ham Radio caravan trip in September, 1971.
I recently discovered this old report that I wrote for the October 1971 RAMS News (Radio
Amateur Mobile Society). I have added
COLORADO RUN (1)
September 17-26 were the dates for our previously announced trip to Colorado to ride the Silverton. Films of this narrow-gauge railroad trip had been shown to the RAMS in the past by Lew, WA6ESA (2). We were Lew's guests on this trip which was organized by the Sacramento Model Railroad Club.
Lew and Ross, W6FRE (3), in Ross' Blazer, and Vicki, WB6PHQ, and I in our Scout, left Sacramento on Friday afternoon. In Ely Nevada (4) we caught up with the remainder of the group, seven more in three more cars (5). Communication on the trip was on 146.94 (6) with monitor receivers in all the non-Ham cars.
Traveling across central Utah Saturday on newly opened I-70, we found the scenery from the numerous viewpoints to rival many National Parks. The Grand Junction, Colorado repeater was heard well into Utah, but we did not work anyone until we were coming into town since we did not have their odd input frequency. Sunday morning we saw more interesting views and formations as we drove through Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction. We then spent the afternoon driving to Durango. We knew we were in the real high country as the percentage of four wheel drive vehicles seen increased greatly.
Monday morning we all dressed in our 1890 western outfits to ride the train. A private car,
restored to the period, had been reserved just for our group (7). (The ordinary tourists rode
the chair cars.) After leaving Durango, a great sport was watching the train nuts race us from
crossing to crossing to photograph the train. Soon we left the highway and entered a shear
canyon where much film was expended on the scenery.
On the spur of the moment, it was decided to film a western melodrama since we were all dressed
in our finest and Lew had his 16mm Bolex. The Brakeman had already told us that the other
passengers had us figured as a movie company. We filmed several scenes on the train before
pulling into Silverton. After lunch, more scenes were shot adjacent to the train in Silverton.
Those were possibly the best photographed scenes ever, since all the other passengers were busy
shooting our every move. The movie was finished on the return trip to Durango where the scenery
was enjoyed again.
The Nomad private car in 1971. Yes, that's Les. |
The Nomad in 2000 in the museum, still available for trips. |
|---|
Tuesday, we drove down to Chama, New Mexico where the gang wanted to look at some more narrow-gauge (8). (Ask Ross about the chili (9).) We had been hearing the Albuquerque repeater and I was finally able to get in from 10,000 foot Cumbres Pass just on the Colorado side on the railroad line. However, even the "mobile Ø" did not help (10) and I got no answer. Lew and Ross verified that I was being repeated on 94.
Wednesday was four wheel drive day. We left the highway at Silverton with extra passengers and made a big loop through the ghost towns of Eureka, Animas Forks, and Mineral Point, among others. Crossing the highway at Ouray, we went through Campbird and over 13,100 foot Imogene Summit on a new 4WD road and wound down the other side into Telluride. There we met the rest of our party who had driven the passenger cars and our luggage around by the highway. (11)
Thursday we drove to Moab, Utah and spent the afternoon in Arches National Monument. Ross and Lew camped that night at Dead Horse Point, overlooking Canyonlands. It's a good thing the rest of us planned on driving out for the sunset, because the intrepid campers radioed back that they couldn't fix supper until we brought them a can opener. The next morning the group broke up leaving us Hams as one group. We four wheeled (at least the road signs said 4WD) down into the bottom of Canyonlands and vowed to come back at some future date to do a better job. (12)
Friday night was spent at Green River Utah where we met K9CSL and his XYL. They were very interested in our 4WD vehicles and we gave them information on same. He is a county hunter and a member of the Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club (MARAC) with which we exchange papers. Those counties must be tough if you need 4WD. Ross worked him mobile near Ouray, Colorado on 20 after we got home.
We headed home via Capitol Reef National Monument. A sign of the success of the trip was the talk about what we would do next year. The trip was well documented. Vicki and I shot five rolls of slides and six rolls of 8mm movies. Ross shot five rolls of slides and Lew shot over 1100 feet of 16mm movie film.
- Les, W6TEE
2005 Footnotes:
(1) The RAMS called their Ham Radio caravans, "Mobile Runs". But RAMS Runs were day trips, or
Sunday drives. This "Colorado Run" was far more ambitious. Other area Hams had gone on rare
long trips, but they never continued having them. More important than this trip's destinations
was the successful format started for trips. This is considered the first in the series
because of the similar trips almost every year following with some of the same participants.
(2) Lew, WA6ESA, led just the Hams on this trip. He has led many Ham trips in the
following years. History sometimes calls these, Mt Vaca Radio Club trips, but the MVRC did not
sponsor any trips or campouts until much later, while these were Lew's personal trips, with
friends invited. This report was in the RAMS News because this would have been of interest only
to that club then, and I was the Editor. Lew never belonged to the RAMS. The rest of us,
including Mike, did. Everyone, including Lew, were and are MVRC members.
(3) Ross, more recently WØXJ, lived in Sacramento for many years, but passed away
in Kansas in 2001. He was with some of us for one more ride on this train the previous September.
(4) We stayed in motels on this trip, although Lew and Ross camped some nights. Ask Lew
about the Thermos of coffee that was broken this night. Later trips were all camping, all
motels, or a mixture as needed. We got into Ely at 2 AM, where our rooms were being held.
I was pulled over by "Jerry the Cop", a Ham who wanted to talk about radio! I could barely
talk about anything at that hour, but we met him for breakfast the next morning, and saw him
on several other trips through Ely.
(5) I only named the Hams on the trip, but Mike was along and became WA6RWR right after
the report was written. He has been on many Ham trips and campouts up to the present time. He
was a passenger in our Scout on the Wednesday 4WD trip in a later paragraph, and I like to
think that we convinced him then to get his license. But the truth is that he was a long-time
friend of Lew, and an electronics graduate of ARC, so we probably had little to do with it.
(6) In these early days of FM, one and two channel crystal-controlled mobile rigs were
common, and it was usual to simplex on 146.94, as well as have repeaters there, to save
crystals. PL was not often used, and interference with other repeaters was sometimes avoided
by using different input frequencies!
(7) The private car was and is named the Nomad. Photos are above. I don't know why I
didn't use the name in this report because we frequently refer to it by name. We have ridden
the train many times, but we never rented the Nomad again, so far.
(8) This short mention was followed by our riding the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR from
Chama the following year, and several times since. The train had already stopped running for
the year on this visit.
(9) This is another short mention that was followed by a long tradition! Eating Chama Chili
at Fosters Hotel was the inspiration for our annual Chili Party/Contest, started a couple of
years later, and continued to this day. The first few were scheduled by the RAMS, then taken
over by the MVRC.
(10) FCC rules had flip-flopped between requiring a mobile station to say "Mobile (location)"
to "Mobile (call area)" following your callsign. Albuquerque is in the 5 call area, so Ø
(Colorado, etc.) would be rarely heard on their repeater. Of course, we no longer have to say
"Mobile" anything.
(11) I didn't dream when I wrote this paragraph, how familiar these names and places would
become to us. There isn't a place mentioned that we haven't been to again and again,
frequently to show our newcomers the sights! (That could be said about this whole trip report!)
If we had half an idea about the transformation that was about to occur to the sleepy
semi-ghost town of Telluride, we would have taken lots of photos of it as it looked in 1971!
On a recent trip there, I watched a crew of carpenters building a new Victorian!
(12) We were near the start of the White Rim Trail in the Island in the Sky District
of Canyonlands. We drove the entire White Rim Trail twice, in 1984, and in 1999, taking two
days each time. Our most popular Canyonlands trip, into the Needles District, didn't start this
time. I have lost count how many times we have been there!