Amatuer
radio operators, also called Ham operators, come from all walks
of life. They do often, however have in common a love for communications,
electronics and a passion for helping out in an emergency. In
fact, some have speculated that if Y2K is a disaster, the Ham
operators are the ones that will save the day.
A group of Ham operators in Washington have something else in
common: they work somewhere for a "day job" and spend
the rest of their time with Crescent Communications to bring paging
technology less densely populated areas of the state.
Robert Pensworth, for example, is originally from Tacoma, Wash-ington.
As an adult he has run a 24-hour answering service called the
Professional Telephone Exchange where he provided radio dispatch
and voice paging, as well as foreign exchange lines and a doctor's
service called the Medical Exchange. Robert has a day job as an
aviation fuel handler and outside of work he handles the operations
of Crescent Communi-cations. He has been a Ham operator since
1994.
Russell Dunham was born and raised in Arizona. He spent eight
years in the military, with time as a flight engineer in helicopters.
He works part-time with a locksmith, part time in web page design
and part time with Crescent Communications as a technical advisor,
and he has been a licensed Ham operator since 1995.
Jim Keightley, on the other hand, got his first amateur radio
license 45 years ago. After that, he joined the U.S. Navy and
was well educated in guided missile technology. He attended Granthan
College of Engineering and is also certified by the Society of
Broadcast Engineers as a broadcast technologist. He became a affiliated
with Crescent Communica-tions in 1997.
These are just three of the individuals and a thumbnail sketch
of their histories. There are many more that are currently involved
with bringing the technology of pagers where there might not be
any today. The company specializes in niche markets, researching
areas of the state that have little or no coverage, or that would
be in a bad state in the case of emergency situations. They are
constantly on the lookout for ways to improve their services and
to serve areas that may not already be covered.
Crescent Communications clients may have as few as one or as many
as 35 pagers, and they represent government offices or businesses,
the U. S. Coast Guard or even those who are expectant fathers
can acquire what is called a "baby pager," to be signaled
immediately when the blessed event is about to occur.
Crescent's paging transmitters occupy space only three feet square
by eight feet high, so they may be housed almost anywhere. The
transmitter serving the Surfside, Washington to Seaside, Oregon
area is located in Ilwaco, Washington.
Crescent's headquarters are located in Joyce, Washington, but
their paging network offers local dial-in numbers or 800 number
and a local representative to contact. Their coverage areas are
as follows: Forks to Bremerton, WA via Port Angeles and 800 telephone
numbers; Neah Bay to Port Angeles, using Neah Bay telephone numbers;
the Long Beach Peninsula to Seaside, Oregon through Long Beach
numbers; Raymond, South Bend and Frances via Raymond numbers and
Aberdeen, Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle via 800 numbers.
Other services offered include radio telephone servers from Joyce
to Twin, Washington and a two-way community repeater serving the
Long Beach Peninsula.LCB
Crescent Communications
Principals: Bob Pensworth,
and Jim Keightley
CressComm Services, Inc.
Address: P. O. Box 495 Seaview,
Washington 98644-0495
Telephone: 253/475-7958
Toll Free: 800/562-0036
Fax: 253/475-8510
e-mail: bobp@crescommservices.com
URL: www.crescommservices.com
Long Beach: Jim Keightley
Toll Free: 800/642-3969
e-mail: longbeach@crescommservices.com
Raymond & Technical: Russell Dunham
Toll Free: 800/265-0555
e-mail: npacific@crescommservices.com
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