The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1924-08-14
Radio In Camp

eStfy Service at IumDledOWn MI
When | attempt to tell you what
radio means to me. up here in the big
woods. in my little log cabin on the
side of old Tumbledown Mountain,
| am afraid. | can only let you see
a very small effort at telling, as ra-
do is my greatest companion, except
one. my faithful friend and com
pahion, my dog, "Patsey' is my great
est joy But next to Patsey. my ra-
do is where | look for pleasure OF
course | have fine trout fishing in
the Big Spencer Stream and many
trails and walks through the woods.
But when night falls, then the radio
has its great place. ! am living in
small log cabin, way up on the side
of Tumbledown Mountain am a
Waterman at the Tumbledown Mt for
est fire station, and have been up
here since 1914. II. of course, is a
very pleasant and agreeable place.
deep in the forest or | wouldn't have
J stayed up here so many seasons.
like it. | love the woods and have
lived in the woods practically all my
life. But | started out to tell you
what radio does for me. For instance.
tonight 1t is raining very hard. 1t
is eight-thirty p. m. l am listening
to the great Philharmonic Orchestra
of New York, broadcasting through
WGY Schenectady and WIZ. New
York The music is very clear and
loud 1t is beautiful beyond des-
cription 1t fills my cabin and the
music is free from static. During
the spring and summer there has not
been one single evening that l have
not been able to get stations. In all
| have picked up seyenty-six stations
received all of the broadcastng
teyenings) OF both the Republican
and Democratic conventions The
reception of both was very fine. |
get everything from jazz and prize
fights to the Philharmonic Orchestra
Personally although, | enjoy jazz mu-
sic and dancing, I can get along
o. X. with less jazz and more lectures
and more serious orchestra work but
the jazz is o. X and | like it. 1t
is music. and good music too, in
spite of the fact that some people
] think it is just noise. Perhaps you
would like to know what | use for
receiver way up here on the noun
tain that gives me such good results
Well. | will say 1t is a four tube
three circuit. regenerative. | use W.
! G. twelve tubes. have home
made loud speaker. | have loud
speaker unit. so called and | have
"a large horn made OF birch bark.
similar to the large bark horns our
old Maine guides used to use for call
ing moose. | covered this horn all
over on the outside with cheese cloth
and pasted ii on. 1t makes a very
efficient horn and absolutely free
| from any vibrations or metallic
noise. The reception and amplifica-
ton is as good as any one could ask
for. and | wish you could hear the
music from that great orchestra right
now.
Yes. radio means a great thing to
me up here, for the greatest reason
that | love music. next reason | am
alone. except for Patsey. No, | will
take a little of that statement back.
as | have tame deer, and several
red squirrels. that are altogether too
tame. The squirrels are really pests,
but | haven't the heart or courage
to kill the little busy bodies.
just simply keep things in the food
/ line out of their way. except what
/ feed them. and let them go where
they please. | have many cartridges
around me in the mountain. The
little fellows are all large enough now
to fly and there are large focks of
them. | also have bears up here
and a couple of moose have been
travelling the old tote road, that goes
out to Skinner all summer. There
were fresh tracks OF these moose in
the road only yesterday Perhaps
some of your readers have contem-
plated going on a trip somewhere into
the woods. If you are only going for
a short trip. say three or four days
or week. don't take your radio as
Won will find too much to do without
it, but if you are going to take a
real trip and are going to he gone a
couple of weeks or a month. by all
means take the radio along. Getting
the nations news hot of the bat" is
worthwhile, besides all the enjoyment
you will get during the evenings from
concerts and many different pro-
grams Perhaps you are afraid you
cannot get results in the summer
time That idea is DOGGY it is not
true that static is so bad that recep-
ton is impossible. As | said be-
fore, | have received programs every
night all the spring and summer, and
the most of them have been clear and
free from much static. use seven
strand. silyered antennae one hundred
feet long, including the lead in. Let's
hear from others who have enjoyed
radio in the woods this summer.