A Visit to Camp Shohola
Greeley, Pa.
I went up to camp while on a trip to the Deleware Water Gap . While there, I stopped by and visited with Tom Gibson , WA3HWY and checked out what is new (and old) with the Communications and Technology Center.
The picture above is one of the camper cabins and is the last one in which I was a counselor in 1985. This cabin also housed the radio station in 1972.



I donated a Kenwood TS-120s to the club ham station WB3DGR to supplement their TS-520 and Yeasu FTDX-400. The station is capable of operating all band and modes. There are now eight radios in the shack connected to seven antennaes on the roof. Hopefully, many campers will have their first contacts using that radio!
Good 'ol WCSR is still running! Tom built both the AM and FM stations by hand. The Collins model H12 broadcast console was constructed in 1936 and is a certified operating antique. It is the oldest continuously operating broadcast console in the world and more than 3200 campers have learned how to operate a broadcast console sitting in front of it.!
Tom built a camp-wide manually operated phone system in the 1977, added a Strowger Switching System in 1981, an A1A key system in 1983 and the computer interface in 1992. Here he is demonstrating how to use the first console where phone connections were made by switching lines together manually by an operator (usually the campers operating the radio station.) Many of the camp phones are still routed through the old manual switching system which is still fully operational.
The phone system is a fully operational Strowger switching system using switching technology developed in the early 1900's. The switch on the shelf was constructed from salvaged parts from an AT&T switch dismantled in 1975. The switch on the floor was constructed in 1979 by Rick Walsh and won a first place prize at the Antique Telephone Collectors Convention in Hartford, Connecticut in 1980. The single switch on the shelf was built in 1908 and is used to intercept calls in progress.

The picture shows Jane making a call to check the time and weather.
Here's a closer view of the Strowger switching system built by Rick Walsh in 1979. The system is completely self contained with ring generators, dial tone and busy tone generators, power supplies and fuse panels. There is also a rack of eight batteries which can operate the system for days in the event of a power failure, (which is not uncommon in the mountains.) There are 107 telephone throught the camp connected to the switch by more than 35 miles of copper wire.
The camp system is interfaced to the outside world through a PC which records the number, length and time of all outgoing calls. The computer also routes long distance calls through three different carriers for the lowest rates. It even provides call accounting with account codes for LD access.
Tom prints a 10 page directory every year for the 270+ users of the system. The directory even includes a Yellow Page and a map of camp. For more information about Tom, his family and his many interests, please visit Tom's Website.
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