[GreenKeys] Era of TTY's

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 13:48:38 +0300

I can attest that in 1978-79, at least in North Carolina, that
the AP had numerous Model 15 and Model 20 printers,
and six level tape punchers in use. I worked on them, so
I know they were still around.

It was my understanding that the AP basic wire service
"membership" called for the M15/M20 printer and the
subscriber had to pay extra for the Extel.  At least that
was my understanding in NC.  The radio and TV
stations, subscribing to the "radio" wire got the M15 and
the newspapers got the M-20 and tape punch, if they
needed it.  There was a TV station operation or two in
the state that subscribed to the "newspaper" wire, and
since it was six-level, they had a M-20 printer.

At the time, there were a handful of newspapers that
actually had a direct computer input to their electronic
typesetting equipment, and so the only AP equipment on
site was a  modem unit.  I guess it really wasn't a
modem, it was a demod unit. I seem to recall there may
have been a paper or two that used the slow speed wire
with the Lenkurt demod tone convertor unit.  Some of the
papers were on the high speed newspaper wire, and
because the service was mixed, that is, the combined
newspaper service was there, but member papers had
different levels of subscription service, so these demod units
were selective, that is, they outputted data only when the
particular news segment was coded to match the demod unit.

Perhaps other states were being handled differently, and
I could imagine that the AP, if they were doing a gradual
conversion over to Extel printers, they might have been doing
a state at a time.  All of the TTY parts were still coming out
of  the AP Parts Dept, at East Brunswick, NJ, so if there was
a transfer of  parts from the converted states, they were going
directly back to East Brunswick. I do recall that New Brunswick
would occasionally send out a note to the field asking for some
old parts that could be refurbished, and not to keep (horde) the parts
at the bureaus.  I cannot verify the parts procurement by the
AP, but I did get the impression that is what happened, and
I also seem to recall seeing, every now and then, a parts
package with a then NSN, which indicated that the part was
either packaged for the military or had actually been bought
as surplus supplies.  Some of the parts that East Brunswick was
sending out in that time frame were used but considered serviceable.

I was also told that some parts were being manufactured new for
the AP, specifically the main shaft clutch parts.

My unofficial memory in regards to the Model 28s in
AP wire service was that the machines simply could not
handle the 24/7 operation required by the wire services.  A
little too maintenance intensive was the impression that I got.

I also seem to recall that there were some experiments with
OkiData printers, which were becoming cheap enough that I
don't think they repaired them, unless it was something that
could be fixed in rapid fashion.

So, that now brings up the question, what is being used by the
AP and UPI for printers these days?   I am thinking more about
what is used in smaller radio station operations.  Have they simply gone
to the PC concept and all is done electronically?  I am guessing that
almost all larger organizations are using totally electronic systems,
where they have the luxury of being able to work at terminals, but
the old "rip and read" style of small market radio, wonder what they
are doing?  I recall that when my home town station finally went
big time, and got a state news network and a national news network,
they gave up the AP wire membership.  Cost too much for what
they were actually getting, and they found other ways to get what
they were missing, mostly weather and farm market information.

73
Sheldon
WA4MZZ

"George B. Hutchison" wrote:

> Jack - - -
>
> I don't believe there were too many 28's in news service in the 60's.
> Stick with the model 15.
>
> 15's were going strong for both UPI and AP into at least the early 70's
> when Extels began to take the place of the 15's.  And the Extels were used
> because teletype discontinued support of the 15. I think the AP got the
> remaining 15 parts inventory from Teletype for a million dollars.
>
> What say, Sheldon???
>
> 73,
>
> George, W7KSJ
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 8:36 AM
> Subject: [GreenKeys] Era of TTY's
>
> > I have been contacted by a movie production company in
> > New York City to supply a TTY that would be appropriate for
> > the early 1960's. I have no problem with knowing that
> > the 28's were around then, but am not sure about the 33's.
> > Would a 33 be an appropriate machine to depict for an early 1960's
> > office? I am assuming they want something that's going to
> > receive some kind of "news" message. I'm leaning to the 28...
> >
> > What say, gang?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jack WA2HWJ
> >
> > NNNN
> > _______________________________________________
> > GreenKeys mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
>
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