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copying costs. Printer is to be donated to a [!J salary as leader ofthe expedition was wooden trestles in the world. The<br />
student in north county. NashlW6HCD<br />
940-1028 Fallbrook<br />
Kenwood TS-50<br />
The Field Day crew needs to borrow<br />
a TS-50 DC cord to use on Field Day. If<br />
you have such a cord, please contact<br />
NN3Vor KE6ZLY.<br />
Selective GPS<br />
The recent decision to turn off the<br />
selective availability feature of the<br />
Global Positioning System should provide<br />
better accuracy for users of GPS<br />
units. This change is good news for<br />
boaters, hikers, private pilots and others<br />
for whom accurate navigation is a serious<br />
concern.<br />
Most ofyou already know that a GPS<br />
unit can provide infonnation on your<br />
elevation or altitude although in the past<br />
this data hasn't been particularly accurate.<br />
Today we have relatively easy access<br />
to technology like PC's, HT's, cell<br />
phones, the Internet, and highly accurate<br />
test and measurement devices for almost<br />
every imaginable need. With all these<br />
tools at our disposal we perhaps tend to<br />
be a bit technologically chauvinistic towards<br />
earlier generations who did things<br />
somewhat differently.<br />
As mentioned above, your GPS unit,<br />
supported by an incredible multi-billion<br />
dollar system of satellites can now be<br />
used to measure the altitude of your<br />
favorite mountain topping site with even<br />
greater accuracy. But how was this done<br />
by those living in the mid 1800's and how<br />
good were they at using what was then<br />
state-of- the-art technology?<br />
On August 13, 1843, John Charles<br />
Fremont's second expedition reached<br />
South Pass on the Oregon Trail in what<br />
is now the state of Wyoming. Fremont<br />
recognized the importance ofthis pass to<br />
future western expansion therefore a series<br />
of barometric readings were taken to<br />
determine its elevation for mapping purposes.<br />
The elevation of South Pass was<br />
measured as 7,490 feet by using the best<br />
barometers available which cost about<br />
$25 each. By comparison Fremont's<br />
$4 per day plus 10 cents a mile.<br />
An alternate method of measuring<br />
elevation was to measure the boiling<br />
point of water to determine barometric<br />
pressure and thus elevation. Fremont's<br />
party used for this purpose a thermometer<br />
graduated in tenths of a degree<br />
Fahrenheit. This method also would be<br />
capable ofan accuracy ofabout 65 feet.<br />
Using present day technology, the<br />
height of South Pass has been measured<br />
as 7,550 feet. This is an elevation difference<br />
of 60 feet or only 0.8 per cent<br />
from that obtained by Fremont in 1843!<br />
Fremont's men and others on later<br />
surveys were highly competent workers<br />
deserving ofour respect and admiration.<br />
They knew how to exploit the available<br />
technology to the utmost in the field<br />
under what were often very adverse<br />
conditions. 73, Ed KF6DXX<br />
Ham Classes<br />
New <strong>Amateur</strong> <strong>Radio</strong> licensing<br />
classes are starting in July at the Vista<br />
Center for the Blind All classes are held<br />
on Tuesday and Wednesday from 0830<br />
AM until 1200 noon. Technician, General<br />
and Extra will be held.<br />
All students will be required to learn<br />
the Morse alphabet. Call Larry!<br />
WA6UTQ before coming as class size<br />
is limited. 760-758-5820<br />
Train Ride<br />
The train ride on the San Diego and<br />
Arizona RR was really wonderful. I<br />
have been wanting to take this trip for<br />
almost 50 years, every since I was a boy<br />
ofl6 or so.<br />
Some of you who have not been on<br />
the San Diego Hiker reflector for long<br />
or have not been listening to the Friday<br />
evening biking net may not know what<br />
trip I am telJing ofso I will explain.<br />
The trip was on part ofthe line ofthe<br />
old San Diego and Arizona RR<br />
Sys.running from San Diego to EI Centro.<br />
The section I was on was from<br />
Ocotillo to the Goat Canyon Trestle<br />
which is said to be the longest curved<br />
railroad trestle and one of the highest<br />
SD&A RR was built in 1907 to 1912<br />
and the Goat Canyon Trestle was finished<br />
in 1933 as part ofa realignment ot<br />
the original route. The spectacular Goat<br />
Canyon Trestle is 185 ft high and 600 ft<br />
long. As you walk out to the middle and<br />
look down it looks like a lot more than<br />
185 feet down and a lot longer than 600<br />
feet.<br />
The trip I took was sponsored by the<br />
ANZA-BORREGO FOUNDATION.<br />
We started where the tracks cross the<br />
main street of Ocotillo and ended up<br />
about one half mile from the Goat<br />
Canyon Trestle. We had to walk the<br />
last half mile to the Trestle because a<br />
land slide had blocked tunnel #16.<br />
There are 21 tunnels and 17 are in<br />
the Carrizo Gorge.<br />
I call this trip a train ride even<br />
though the vehicles did not look like<br />
what we think of as a train. Some of<br />
them were hooked together to form a<br />
train with a little trailer on behind and<br />
according to Noah Webster you don't<br />
have to have a locomotive for it to be a<br />
train, just a series of cars hooked together.<br />
The little cars that were hooked<br />
together they called speeders and would<br />
haul 6 or so people each. They each<br />
had a Ford four cylinder industrial engine<br />
to power them. They had a roof<br />
but no sides on them. There were 3 of<br />
these hooked together and I rode in the<br />
middle one. The engine was not being<br />
used in the one I was in, it was just<br />
going along for the ride like me.<br />
The only other vehicle was a vintage<br />
railbus built in 1932 built by the same<br />
company that built the speeders. It had<br />
a Ford Model A engine and transmission<br />
and had been beautifully restored<br />
to like new condition. At each end of t<br />
he trip it had to be turned around. They<br />
did this by a portapower jack mounted<br />
under the bus at the ballance point.<br />
They would jack it up about 3 inches<br />
off the track and two people on each<br />
end would spin it around and then they<br />
would let it down on the track.<br />
The trip was about 20 miles each<br />
way and took about 1 hour each way<br />
and we had an hour at the trestle to look
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