AT&T Long Lines Station No. N/A		Station No. L3238
Location: 491 S 7th St. Corner of S 7th & E 14th Telephone: 922-8161 BLYTCA01	Station Type: Terminal Power Feed, Radio Terminal Facilities: L-1 (upgraded to L-3) TD-2? Status: L-3 Inactive, TD-2? Active Cables: 2, Routes: 1	Date of first visit: 4/1/2001 Date of last visit: 4/1/2001

Path	From/To	Direction (approximate)	Antenna type(s), location on tower, etc.
1	From: Unknown	SW	2 (conical reflectors)

Comments: BLYTCA01 was the eastern power feed station for the Blythe-San Bernardino segment of the El Paso-Los Angeles "A" cable, originally installed as L-1 in 1941, converted to L-3 in the '50s. There's NOT much there, indeed, just enough room inside for the necessary L-3 line bays and very little LMX-1 and 2 multiplex (all long gone now), 505-D power plants (assumed to be long gone, although San Berdoo's sat "retired in place" as late as 1996) and some TD-2 radio T/R bays (either gone or modified to "TD-45 or 90" digital 4 GHz radio. The El Paso "A" cable was NOT part of the AUTOVON network, nor was it "nuke hardened", and it carried commercial traffic only, as well as baseband video in the into the 1960s.

The LA - El Paso cable's repeater huts are a mixed bag. The original 1941 huts, spaced at 8 mile intervals for L-1, more closely resemble the 1930s "K" carrier huts. The "half huts", added during the L-1 to L-3 conversion of the 1950s, are standard-issue "L" huts used on many L-3 routes across the country...cinder block, peaked tile roof, long-disconnected AC power service entrance and an exhaust fan hung on the side. The "half hut" at Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino near the I-10 freeway marks the location where the "A" cable turned eastward towards Redlands, and was there as of three years ago, although vacant since 1985. I witnessed the coaxial cable being yanked out of the duct at this very hut in 1984, and still have a nicely dressed chunk of it sitting on my desk.

The ends of the respective San Bernardino and Blythe power loops was a hellhole of a place called Cactus City, attainable only by a WW II era access road that left me stranded in the building more than once. Cactus was a larger structure similar to the old "K" carrier huts, with a tile hip roof and block construction. Inside were 3 pilot equalization bays for each line in each direction, a hallmark of long L-3 systems prior to "improved L-3" in the early '60s. There was also line switching equipment that was accessible by a very early telemetry system called "C-1" telemetry, which used analog tones to perform various switching and restoral functions at the remote site.

Old time repeatermen of the L carrier days in Southern California will remember many times going into the hut at Cactus City to do routine maintenance or effect repairs, only to have a thunderstorm downpour make the access road impassible for several hours. Not to worry in winter, however, as the tube equipment in the hut would keep one nice and toasty! Summer, however, was another problem entirely, as "L" huts could and would easily reach 160° at times.

Commentary courtesy Bob Scarborough

Click on images to view larger images on terraserver

... about half an inch above the "g" in Sewage (01 Jul 1981)

building in the top right corner over the "7" in 267 (01 Jul 1975)

large light "colored" building just right of center (21 May 1994)