[GreenKeys] percentage of machines running vs use of electronics to view RTTY?

[Wa3frp]

Hi Ed, 

I have three Model 28 machines, two ASR and a KSR that I use almost daily on HF radio in the Amateur Radio Service.

The first ASR is geared at 45.45 baud for regular ham radio - this is my workhorse machine.

The second ASR is geared at 50 baud and came to me from Western Union Telex service. I use this TTY to copy the weather traffic from the northern German station, DDK9, at 10100.8 kHz.  This station is running a 450 Hz shift and is running in reverse with unshift on space disabled.  

The third Model 28 was originally obtained via NCARTS, an original "mouse" machine from 1970.  This has been modified with a three speed gearshift and is used for occasional 74.2 baud Amateur Radio service. Yes, it does happen as there is a 100 WPM contest run by BARTG, the British Teletype Group and very occasionally a DX RTTY contact.  My last 100 WPM RTTY contact outside of a contest was back in the spring when I was able to work Alain TR8CA in Gabon in west Africa on 10M. 

Just to let you know the number of Amateur Radio stations on the air, I've worked 259 countries in total and over 100 countries on 10M, 12M, 15M, 17M, 20M, 30M and 40M, all since 2004. Awards are still isued by a number of the national RTTY organizations and you can see my list of RTTY awards at http://www.qrz.com/db/WA3FRP

At present, I am also using MMTTY for contests as it is difficult to handle the exchanges vai keyboard or paper tape over an entire contest weekend. And, logging a couple of hundred contest contacts takes a lot of time post-contest.

I haven't had problem with characters piling up at the right hand margin in my contacts with others using electronics since I've added auto carriage return and line feed plus non-overline to each of my machines. This is via standard mod kits for the Model 28s.

I have used a number of sources for paper in the past but not the original yellow paper.  Most recently, I have been used recycled paper which is off-white.  Looking around, you will find a number of sources for white or off-white paper including:

http://www.discountofficeitems.com/technology/office-machines-electronics/office-machine-accessories/calculator-register-rolls/perfection-teletype-rolls/p22427.html   $4.20 a roll for 36 rolls and occasional added discounts.  There is a special this weekend.

http://www.adorablesupply.com/items/~teletype-paper-rolls~/list.htm where you can get twelve rolls for $51.08 ( $4.26 a roll)

and 

http://www.bizrate.com/paper/teletype/ which gives a nice list of multiple sources on a single page

I wish that more hams were using teleprinters but even John GW4SKA in Wales has ditched his Creeds.   Oh well!

73 es DX
Russ WA3FRP


 

From:  COURYHOUSE at aol.com <COURYHOUSE at aol.com>
Subject:  [GreenKeys] percentage of machines running vs use of  electronics 
to view RTTY?
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
Date:  Thursday, January 26, 2012, 8:30 AM

Just curious,,,

What is the percentage of machines running vs use of electronics to view RTTY?

also... where can we  get cheap  yellow roll  paper for the history display 
here?

Many Thanks 

Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC



Message: 1
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:51 -0800 (PST)
From: Rokumon Cat <rokumoncat at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] percentage of machines running vs use of
	electronics to view RTTY?
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net, COURYHOUSE at aol.com
Message-ID:
	<1327622451.57704.YahooMailClassic at web120902.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Speaking strictly for myself, I only use electromechanical TTY devices. I 
"listen" to an internet TTY source called Heavy Metal that sends out AP headline 
newslets. Use an old computer to "copy" the transmissions, and a Black Box 
RS-232 to Current Loop unit to drive the TTYs. I am getting ready to start 
(hopefully sooner than later) copying ITTY (which is an internet transmission of 
user generated news that the receiving computer generates an AFSK signal to 
drive a TU with. Since I do not really like sandstate electronics, I am busy 
re-capping a TT/L-2 TU that has more tubes in it than carter had pills. 
?
There is really very little true RADIO RTTY on anymore, and by that I mean RTTY 
that has the carriage return signal at the end of every line so that the 
machines will advance lines. Without that signal, the TTY will type to the end 
of the line and then simply hammer away at the same last position on that line, 
giving you a nice hole in the paper. 
?
There are several true RTTY signals out there, but I have not copied any so far. 
Search the forum here and there is at least one weather transmission and then 
there is a very dedicated soul who is running true RTTY on the amateur bands (I 
cannot remember either source at the moment).
?
Hope this helps!
?
Joe


Russ - WA3FRP
wa3frp at aol.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20120128/386f1d52/attachment.html