[GreenKeys] Looking for an ASR-33 Teletype

[Harold Hallikainen]

On Sun, January 30, 2022 4:56 pm, Hill Haven Telco wrote:
> Im looking for an ASR-33 Teletype,  I have an altair replica kit i want to
> build and i want to use the ASR to load software from paper tape.   Plus
> it
> will  fit wonderfully in my small Step By Step Telephone exchange in my
> spare room.   Also looking for bell dataphone stuff too.    Im Located in
> Michigan
>
> Thanks



Good luck! A friend had the Altair when it first came out. He had an
optical tape reader that I thought was very clever. You pulled the tape
through by hand. Photodiodes were under each data hole AND the sprocket
feed hole. Since the sprocket feed hole is smaller than the data holes and
centered between the data holes, the sensor on the sprocket feed hole gave
a strobe pulse at the middle of the time the data was valid. Really
clever!

Your home step by step telephone system sounds fun! I built one in my
garage when in high school. I got a bunch of old Strowger switches being
discarded by Pacific Telephone. I also got a ringing generator, dial tone
generator, cam driven switches for ringing, busy, etc., and a bunch of
other stuff. I just used the switches as connectors instead of selectors,
so I just had two digit dialing to phones around the neighborhood. I ran
one wire lines using surplus field wire through trees. I also did not make
a line finder, instead just having one selector per phone. I still
remember (more than 50 years) using the A relays for loop current
detection and B slow release relays to separate dial pulses from on-hook.

Good luck on the 33. Let us know how your projects go.

Harold
https://w6iwi.org