My summer job with the SP was connected to both the microwave system and TOPS in a small way.

My first summer I worked on the 9th floor of 65 Market in the communications department handling some of the minor drafting on a microwave line running east from LA. I also did traffic surveys in BD, the telegraph office. BD was a sea of Teletypes.

The next summer was in the Taylor Yard radio shop doing basic repair work.

From then on it was the radio shop at the foot of 7th in Oakland. There we built the switching system between the two mainframe computers for TOPS at 65 Market St. I found a minor flaw in the design. Someone didn't realize that normally closed reed relays of the day were polarized. Got a few attaboys and a raise. Modern reed relays don't have that limitation.

One day I overheard the foreman talking with the supervisor about the shortage of qualified people with commercial radiotelephone licenses. I had one. That was good for a humongous raise. The guy sitting at the next bench was driving a 911, paying off a house and supporting a wife and two kids.

Well that took care of my college finances. Made my father happy. One down, four to go.

After graduation I had to take a pay cut to work in my field. Took about five years to catch up to where I had been.