European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                High tech phone link for navajos Navajo communications Chinle service area manager Cecil Jones checks an Ultra phone digital radio Telephone unit. The units provide sparsely populated areas with otherwise unallowable Telephone service. By Mel Reisner associated press navajos Dis Naim of Community Irvin re has Lony Given tits loan Industry Whoso trademark is poles stretching to the horizon where people live clone together the traditional Telephone system works Lino but when they arc scattered most companies can t justify Iho Cost said Francis Mike general manager of Navajo communications co at Chinle Ariz. Navajos Don t live in Large clusters. They live Miles  for Suzio Randall. Hinl meant a 12-mile trek irom her Home in Nazlini to Chinle every iwo to three weeks Lor the past 21 years to Call her daughters in Denver and fort Defiance followed by a 12-mile return trip the old Days arid Iho new now meet at the 79 year old Randall s one room House sheepskins dry in a Shade House out front hugging the Back Wall looking like a giant mushroom beside an inverted Carrot Are a satellite dish and transceiver Lor Ultra phone. A system that is bringing Telephone service to the navajos using radio instead of cables Lor about one eighth Tho Cost International Mobile machines corp of Philadelphia began working on what would become Ullin phone in 1981. Us first installation was in september 1986. Lor Mountain Bell in Iho Douglas wyo., area last november the Federal communications commission decided that Tho time had come Lor radio to improve Rural phone service organized a Basic Exchange telecommunications radio service and allocated frequency channels toil. Twenty companies or groups Are investigating or have installed Ultra phone irom St. Lawrence county. N.y., to the sparsely populated Southwest Mike said Navajo communications introduced in m november on the 25,000-Square-mile reservation a West Virginia sized area that is Homo to 175.000 people. Now demand exceeds Supply he said. Navajos Are up on technology. They All have television and now they d like phones. They re coming in Here and saying. We want Telephone service now " the key to Ultra phone is digital radio technology using an encoder to convert voices into the computer or binary Lann ago Lor transmission As a radio signal beamed to a lower atop a Mesa me Miles from Chinle the signal is relayed to destination where it is decoded by a transceiver. Users Converse Over Standard telephones Tho  is in the Means not Tho end the signal covers a Circle with a radius of 37v2 Miles so customers have the Benefit of being Able to make a 75 mile local Call. Bills run $15 to $23 per month Tor Basic service Mike said. That presents a unique Challenge for Cecil Jones Navajo communications Chinle service area manager whose Job runs the Gamut irom marketing to helping customers make out checks to pay Lor the service. I have to sit Down and explain what a Telephone Bill is he said. It s very educational Lor us really something we need to do As a person. The other thing is to explain to them the capabilities of the equipment the difference Between a local Call and Long  Navajo communications has invested about $750,000 in the system which currently has about 100 customers of 460 possible. Jones estimated in would Cost at least $6 million to run wires into Tho same clusters of dwellings. The company plans to cover most of the reservation most of northeastern Arizona and parts of Utah and now Mexico with installations in its three other service areas based in window Rock tuba City and Shiprock n m. Ultra phone is the Only digital system on the Market said imm spokeswoman Marcia Bexley. It oilers improved transmission Quality and the ability to time Divide a radio Channel to allow four simultaneous conversations. The big thing is spectrum efficiency. To make the most out of Iho radio spectrum Bexley said. It relates to the Cost because in radio channels Are the Cost said imm regional director Kris Shelton in Denver who added that Tho digital format ensures privacy. With a Norma Mobile radio you can sit with a broadcast scanner and listen in with digital All you Hoar is a hissing sound but spectrum efficiency signal splitting and Security Aren t the important things to Suzie Randall i really like the service and it s a communication i have with my kids she said in Navajo translated by Jones. The Only problem she said is neighbors who have no phones turning up with increasing frequency to make Calls. Ertilia Bombeck attention Sisters of America i want you to hear it from me first. I have just sold out on my feel Are a pair of running shoes that Cost More than the monthly payment on our first House and i Don t even run nor do i intend to All the reasons i wore heels no longer exist for me forget the fat Ankles. Forget about looking tall forget about trying to entwine one leg around the other like Poison Oak climbing a tree trunk just to look sexy i m going to be com Comfort can t say the word yet but it will come. I am like the kid at a College commencement i addressed last year who approached the platform on crutches and As soon As they gave him his degree. Page 16 the stars and stripes threw them into the air and shouted i can walk i have loll that majority of women who vow to Wear uncomfortable shoes because they look Good the transformation takes a bit of getting used to my husband said Tho other Day. What s wrong with you9" nothing i said i m not wearing heels and i m Shorter " "shorter1 you could walk under the Coffee table i thought Short women were supposed to Wear heels to make them Loox taller " Woody Allen wears sneakers and no one worries about his height i said thai s because men never play the game women play to countered. Unknowingly he had put his linger on the problem. Men have always dressed com comfor. It in come. Think about it. Would a Man Wear. Saturday september 23,1989 anything with a Zipper that he could t reach of course not. Unlike women they would never got married because they could t dress themselves. You Don t see a Man sitting around All night in pain because a Label made out of a double Edge razor Blade digs into his neck every Lime to moves his head. Only women do that. Men have labels that Are unflappable. And More important you Don t see men in a theater fishing around with their Teet to find their shoes so hey can put them on before the lights come up Desirree. You can snicker at my sneakers All you want but i feel Good about myself. I feel secure enough not to care about what other people think but about How i feel. I m not afraid to to make history. Tomorrow is Tho test. I go outside in them. C Erma Jombock 1989