Another tour of duty through the highs and lows of rural telecom Over a year ago, Chuck and I made the trip to examine a new type of central office being crafted by a company in Richardson, Texas. A month ago, the first production Taqua switch to be subject to an REA field trial was installed at Ibapah, Utah. In a 19" rack, it measures 25" deep and 23" high. 640 lines. Each 32-subscriber line card has two T1s. Each card is a complete switch (no common cards). If any card fails, the entire lot of lines and associated trunks switch to a standby card. Taqua is nervous. In asking staff of the Utah Public Service Commission if they would come out and see this new office, I got a retort by the current boss, Ingo Hennington: "Art, how come none of the stuff you use - we've never heard of?" I replied, "That's 'cause I am always 10 years ahead of everybody else!" I guess I should have told them that Northern is halting new development of the DMS-10. Hmm... Wonder if they will buy Taqua boxes to take their place? Ingo allowed he would come out and look at the Taqua. Brave guy, Ingo. He still tells tales of flying with me in that little plane "with pliers holding the instrument panel and holes where instruments used to be." We were in a hurry to deliver a stop order to a US West construction crew that started that morning to plow a toll cable through my Beehive telco's territory. Landed on a skinny road near the job. One of my guys hauled us to the US West construction crew. Ingo said, "Guys, that's a no-no. Stop." They were not happy, but dropped the reel, loaded the Cat and convoyed away. We followed. Just past where the plane was parked, the crew decided, was a good place for revenge. Parked to prevent our takeoff. Lunch break. Eat. Then drove away. We, too, departed. The BLM book Every Bureau of Land Management field office has two books. Free. The management plan and the NEPA process handbook. Get. Read. There are lots of items that are discretionary. See if those on your project can be bypassed. Take disputes personally to the state director. We did. Don't know if it does any good. D.C. transport There are three airports available to our nation's capital. National is close to town, with very convenient Metro subway stations. If time is not of the essence, a two-leg flight is preferred over non-stop flights that must use Dulles - an hour away from the city with $30 transport costs. The third alternative is Baltimore (BWI). There is an Amtrak rail station at the airport. Every half-hour they leave for the 30 minute ride ($27) to the downtown Washington station. From there, a five-buck taxi completes your journey. Visiting the FCC Last time I was in Washington, I decided to go see the FCC's new digs. Seems like they were at 1919 M St. forever. After years of hassle, they moved to a building in a project called the Portals. It's a couple of blocks beyond the Department of Agriculture building (where RUS lives), away from the Mall. If driving, be aware the Portals' underground garage is very expensive. Do call ahead. The old days of walking into the FCC do not exist. The palace guard is Nixon awesome. Maybe that's why no one has a window. All offices are inside isles between rooms and outer windows. Ask for a tour through the conference room. Big. Has a wonderful view of the river and boats. Legislative visit At the turn of the last century, there was serious talk in Washington to abolish Nevada. It had not enough people. Not so today, even if US 6, across its middle, is the most lonesome highway in America. The legislature meets each year; by statute, they don't get paid for more than 60 days a year. Other states take note. To keep Nevada's elected aware of how we in the boondocks are doing, we telco folk go to Carson City to sit with legislators once each year. That April day it took 2.5 hours in the Cessna to get to the capital city. The first two hours, we passed over exactly five dwellings.   Copyright 2001 by A. W. Brothers and Americas Network magazine. All rights reserved.   © Beehive Telephone Co.