[GreenKeys] What brought you here?

[Nick]

Good idea Jeff  -  here is my story :

I went to our clubs Tech-Fest (a get together of nerds and propeller heads) about five years ago and there was a guy with his teletype machine. By the way, I earned my amateur radio license about a year prior to Tech-Fest and the only knowledge I had at that particular time about electronics, electricity, etc was zero, zip, zilch, niente !!!

I just couldn't get my eyes off his TTY machine, a beautiful 28KSR. I started talking to this guy (Steve, N4TTY) and my fascination grew even more. I was hocked in an instant.
At that time, Steve was President of the Alford Memorial Radio Club just one county over from my location and he became my mentor. He also helped me to get another 28KSR running here at my home QTH and I started restoring TTY equipment (not bad for an accountant, right?) Most of my restored teletype machines went to Paul Heller, W2TTY in Colorado.
I sold some other machines and equipment over time here and there to get the money back I invested and now I'm down to two 28KSR's (one in a typical metal cabinet and one I converted to a tabletop model with a beautiful acrylic case I fabricated), a 28 TD and a printing tape perforator I acquired last year from Nick England in NC.
And of course that beautiful Siemens machine which goes to the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (samsat.org) after the virus crises are behind us.

That's pretty much it.

Can't wait to hear other people's stories.

Alright guys, eat good 🍰🍦🍺   😉
..... and stay healthy !!!!!

Nick  -  N0NCQ
20 miles NNE of Atlanta

PS: maybe we can start something else here: pictures of our TTY fleets

HOW ABOUT THAT ???




Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device



-------- Original message --------
From: Jeff G <jeffg at junknet.net>
Date: 4/7/20 1:45 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [GreenKeys] What brought you here?

I'm sure this has been done in the past, but figured I'd ask as I'm a bit of a newb here and it would give me something to read. What got you into Teletypes, and ultimately to Greenkeys? Can be a simple answer or a short story!

For me...I always had an interest in them, and I'm into vintage computing amongst many many many other hobbies. I acquired a Teletype Model 32 and HAL ST-6 last year, and its been a learning experience to learn about the history, how they work, current loops, baudot, etc. I'd love to get a 33 some day, and (hopefully) have lines on a couple older models as well now, as I LOVE the old/steampunk/electromechanical aspect of them, and have several older items displayed in my living room, like an Edison cylinder player (Edison Triumph). That said I'm probably a youngin at 42.

I'm also a new-ish ham (licensed in 2016) and definitely want to try RTTY, outside of a contest. Also just before the s--- hit the fan, I started volunteering on the Battleship NJ and aimed to help them get some of their TTY stuff going again.

Jeff KC3GJX
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