[GreenKeys] Teletypewriter on Display

Sun Jan 15 19:51:57 EST 2012

Steve,

Thanks for sharing your experience!   But as I read your description I was greatly saddened.   You see, as much as I enjoyed your description and as much as I would like to do something similar I fear I am now beyond the point where I could move a machine to a location, set it up, monitor the activity and then get it back into the shack.   That 74th birthday simply prevents this.   Surely "real" RTTY is one of the best facets of ham radio to demonstrate since it not only has "parts that move" but you also simultaneously generate something that can be given to the observer as a souvenir.  And this is a lot easier than most people might think!  You wouldn't even have to use precious oiled paper tape.   A recording into the terminal unit would do just fine.

73

Lee   K9WRU
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Steve Garrison 
  To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 10:36 AM
  Subject: [GreenKeys] Teletypewriter on Display

  Gentleman and Ladies (do we have some ladies in our group?),

  I wanted to relate to you an interesting event in which I took part yesterday.  The event was a TechFest put on annually by a local amateur radio club in the Atlanta area.   The TechFest is not quite what you would call a HamFest, but they do have a outdoor boneyard for those that want to tailgate with their treasures.  There is also a chili cook-off with hot dogs and hamburgers to go along with the chili. The main purpose of TechFest is for local groups to show off a particular aspect of amateur radio in which they have an interest and some expertise.  The idea is to have a place for others to come and see a particular aspect of amateur radio that they may have an interest in but didn't know where to start.  And the best part of the whole thing is that it is free.  There is no admission, they just ask for donations to help offset the costs.  I think they just about break even.

  This year, the club that I represent, the Alford Memorial Radio Club of Stone Mountain, had a display that was listed in the TechFest information flyers as "The Original Text Machines, RTTY before computers."  I had the Kleinschmidt TT-483 that was featured on the YouTube video I post several weeks ago on display printing copy from ITTY and HeavyMetal.  The display was an overwhelming success.  We had folks stacked 3 and 4 deep waiting to get up to the front to get a close-up look at "TINKERBELL" in action (the name comes from the fact this machine was taken out of service around 1985 from Tinker AFB in Oklahoma).  Besides the hams that had fond memories of the machines in their "shacks" of yesteryear, there were several that wanted to get with me after the event to possibly join the GreenKeys list and get their machines, that have sat idle for many years, back in service.  Several said they had machines they would like to find new homes for and you may see more on this soon (anyone ready to make a trip to Atlanta?).

  And the most amazing thing about the display was the young kids!  They, for the most part, where absolutely mesmerized.  There must have been at least a dozen of them that stood around and watched wide-eyed at the big mechanical machine printing on paper.  And they were asking very well thought out questions about its operation as well.  There were two young men that must have come by at least 4 or 5 times to watch it in operation.  And when I did some RTTY Art, I wound up giving them the copy to take home.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning and I was Santa Claus giving them a wondrous present as they raced off to show it to their parents.

  The most asked question was "Where do you find paper?" and second was "Where do you find ribbons?" along with where do you find parts and what happens when it breaks down.

  Many visitors to the display were past military who remembered the machine from their service days, one had even attended school at Kleinschmidt in Chicago on the machine.  More than a few said they had fond memories of tearing copy off of a teletypewriter in the newsrooms of newspapers or radio and TV stations they had worked in when younger.  One lady remarked that she was one of the ones sitting in front of the keyboard of a machine eight hours a day typing in the messages that got sent to "who knows where."

  The event was just over 4 hours in length and I talked nonstop about teletype for the entire event.  My voice was just about gone as there never was a time when we didn't have a line waiting to see the machine, hear the clatter, and smell the oil!  One younger lady on the sponsoring club's staff asked me if I had some plastic to put down under the table for the machine after someone had quipped about all the oil "dripping" off of the machine.  I assured her she had no worries about me ruining the carpet (this was a first class venue).  All in all it was it was a fun and enjoyable day.

  Hope I didn't ramble too much, but wanted to share!

  Steve G./N4TTY

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