[GreenKeys] Intro -- new to the list but not to RTTY

[Jim Sheldon]

Hi all -- Been an RTTY enthusiast/operator since I was first licensed in 1963.  I was in the Army, stationed in Northern Japan at the time.  Over the 3 years I was there I got to work with a whole bunch of older Teletype Corp. Model 14, 15, 19 and there ancillary equipment.  I was operating the base MARS station during the big earthquake that tore up Anchorage, Alaska back then and because of our location, propagation wise, we handled most of the MARS health & welfare between Elmendorf AFB and the U.S.  We had one unique piece of equipment that we called the "Coke Machine".  Not sure what company made it but it was a stack of typing reperforators and transmitter/distributors.  Receivers were Collins R-390A's and the transmitters were OLD (even then) BC-610's that ran about 400 watts out.  We did have one huge 5KW CW/RTTY transmitter (don't remember the number but it used a pair of 833 triodes in push/pull).  We were set up to receive & transmit simultaneously on several frequencies and picked up the traffic from Elmendorf on 8.080 MHz, re-transmitting it to AF Headquarters in Hawaii on 14.832 MHz.  The typing reperfs were punching tape and when it got long enough, we fed the tape into the T/D's for re-transmission.  We also were communicating directly with Hawaii on 13.995 MHz using another BC-610 and Model 15 so if they got a garbled message, we could stop the tape and either back it up or break the bad msg out and feed it into the T/D on the "order wire" re-running it until they got it.

Haven't had to do anything anywhere near that hectic in the years since, but we really wound up with a sense of accomplishment and a lot of thank-you letters from the Army, Air Force and the recipients of the messages.  Amazing that the mechanical machines ran better then than some of the electronic stuff we use today - LOL.

Jim - W0EB
Park City, KS

Retired Army Sergeant
Retired Master Electrician