1985 [PDF] - Yosemite

IBy Mike Welch, SecretarF-Treasurerthis new era will be marked by the continuing advancement ofYosemite Park and Curry Company continually strives to offer technology, by thoughtful changes which will enable us to serveour guests the benefits of modern technology, despite our remote cur guests better, and by the same spirit of cooperation whichlocation. After man years spent searching for a hotel system characterized the era just ended. As the future becomes the present,let’s look with pride on past accomplishments, but at thewhich would adequately address Yosemite’s unique needs, thelong-awaited front office system is finally on-line!same time, use the past as a building block to achieve even moreThe most recent chapter of the story began in early 1983 when in the future.IBM announced that it was abouto release its first hotel softwarepackage written for the System 38 computer. Our Data ProcessingManager, Clint Damm, temporarily moved to Los Angeles Yosemite Air Waveswhere he worked with MCA data processing personnel for severalmonths to assess whether or not the system would meet YPCCo’sBy Jason Krauseneeds. After this review, it was determined that the software would Many employees in Yosemite take televis’on and radio forneed significant modification to accommodate 5 separate front granted. Most of us grew up in an environment where TV anddesks.radio were as much a part of our lives as eating and sleeping,A detailed proposal was then preparedescribing not only softwarechanges that would be needed, but the hundreds of pieces entertainment, and a way to keep abreast of the on-going changesTV and radio provide us with a source for educational enrichment.of equipment to run the software; terminals, printers, disk drives, in the world around us. However, without receivers, amplifiers,generators, modems, cables, air conditioners and more, The front combiners, filters, translators and other peripheral equipment providedby Yosemite Park and Curry Company, the ability to receivedesks had to be redesigned taking special care to retain thehistoric appearance at Wawona and the Ahwannee. A state-ofthe-artcomputeroom also had to be designed.television reception would be nonexistent in both Yosemite Valleyany radio signal in Yosemite Valley would cease to exist, andIn October 1983, we aske~ MCA, our corporate parent, to approvethe project. MCA reviewed the project thoroughly, then ap-Yosemite Park and Curry Company maintains receMng trans-and Wawona,oroved it.ator stations for both the Yosemite Valley and Wawona communities.Receiver and translator stations for the Valley are locatedOne of the advantages to a computerized hotel system is thatreservation terminals can be located anywhere there is a telephone.Through an earlier agreement with the National Park Ser-Wawona community is ocated approximately 500 feet belowon Sentinel Dome and Glacier Point, A translator station for thevice, Reservations relocated to Fresno, affording those employeesWawonaPoint. Yosemite Park and Curry Company has beensuffering from "Big City Withdrawal" the opportunity to work for operating the receiver and translator equipment on Sentinel andCurry Co. while living in a city environment.Glacier Point as a community service since the early 1960’s, andJanuary 20, 1984, was Inauguration Day. The switch was in 1983, took over the Wawona operations from the Wawona CommunityTranslator Associatior~.thrown, sparks flew, machinery hummed, telephone lines crackledand the first guest was booked using the new system. At that time, Phil Marshel, AT&T Systems Techniciarl, and Mark Rugglero,we faced the somewhat daunting task of transferring 20,000 reservationsfrom the old system to the new. The two computers did to work on broadcast equipment, are paid by Yosemite Park andYPCCo. Fire and Alarm Technician, both licensed by the FCCnot understand each other very well and human translators had Curry Company to keep this complex communications equipmentto coax them to cooperate, Some reservations rattled around insidethe computers for awhile, but after much effort, everyone the receiver station on Sentinel are first amplified, filtered, com-in working order. "FM radio and TV signals that are received atwas eventually found.bined, and then transmitted to the translator station at GlacierBeginning in July, 1984, the front desks came on-line an~ the Point," says Mark. "The signal is then rebroadcast from theroom racks started coming down, The racks, along with the translator station to Yosemite Valley at one watt (maximum broadcastingpower outage allowed by FCC)."mechanical posting machines with their broken gears and cogs,had become badly obsolete. Each front desk can now tell what "We can’t just arbitrarily select TV and radio stations of ouris available at all the hotels, the housekeeping department can choosing,’ states Phil. "First we must have written permissionquickly update changes in room status, and last-minute or walkinreservations can be loaded directly into the system. radio station in the Valley, and each TV station in both the Valleyfrom the station and then FCC licensing is required. For eachEnhancements and improvements will continue to be made. and Wawona areas, about three thousan dollars worth of equipmentis required. Then the receivers and translators have to beEfforts to make the system faster and easier to use are now underway,but don’t worry about hiking into a High Sierra Camp somedayand finding a blinking green screen. In respect to the notion frequency, All of this has to be done prior to the initial operationcalibrated to both the incoming signal, and the rebroadcastingthat guests visit the high country for a respite from modern of an incoming station."technology, information in the high country will not move any fasterthan a mule can walk.continued on next page