[GreenKeys] W2BFD Information??

[Merz Donald S]

I did not see any answers to this, so let me fill in the little that I know.
John Williams, W2BFD was without question the father of ham RTTY. The first
ham RTTY QSO took place on 2 meters between W2BFD and W2AUF in 1946. W2BFD
assumed a leadership position in disseminating information about ham RTTY
through a series of bulletins which he punched on paper tape and printed on
a local loop to 6 Teletype machines as  a means of duplication! These were
circulated to several hundred interested hams under the name of the "ARTS
Bulletin". ARTS apparently stood for the Amateur Radio Teletype Society and
BFD claimed to be its secretary. The trick was that it was a society of one
in 1946 and actually didn't exist! BFD was ARTS.

However, W2BFD took the lead in cajoling various NYC businesses to pass
retired TTY machines on to hams for experimental use. My understanding is
that he succeeded in procuring at least 50 machines for NYC and surrounding
area hams. So a club actually was growing up around BFD but it was not
called ARTS. It was called The Amateur Radioteletype and VHF Society. Note
that Radioteletype is all one word.

In 1948, W2NSD Wayne Green became involved with publication of the ARTS
bulletins. Apparently, both he and BFD published Bulletins under the ARTS
name simultaneously for about 3 years. But in 1951, Wayne took over. Later,
the BFD-published Bulletins became known as "ARTS Series-1" and the NSD
Bulletins published from '48 to '51 became known as "ARTS Series 2." The
1951 and later Bulletins are known as "Series 3." Wayne's Bulletins kept the
ARTS name but separated the words "Radio" and "Teletype." 

In 1948, there were only several hundred RTTY-capable ham stations in the
USA. But then in the same year, QST published the "History of Ham RTTY" and
that started the huge expansion of RTTY into the mainstream of ham radio.
W1AW made its first RTTY QSO in 1949. And the rest is, as they say, history.
Wayne left ARTS in 1955 to take up editorship of CQ magazine. He immediately
hired W2BFD to start and edit an RTTY column. And, in 1952, a guy named
Merrill Swan W6AEE began publishing an RTTY Bulletin for the RTTY Society of
Southern California.

Now, back to W2BFD and his Bulletins. It looks like there were about 90
Bulletins in Series 1. I know nothing about Series 2 or 3. Bulletin number 1
was published on October 15th, 1946 apparently after BFD had a bunch of hams
over at his house talking about ham RTTY. BFD not only mailed the bulletins
to interested hams, he also broadcast the punched tapes every Sunday evening
at 8PM. BFD apparently originated the acronym "RTTY" in Bulletin Number 1.
Here is an excerpt from that Bulletin (all in caps for obvious reasons):

THE STANDARDS EMPLOYED BY W2BFD ARE BEING ADOPTED FOR OUR GROUP. THESE ARE
AS FOLLOWS:-

AFSK MARK FREQUENCY SHALL BE 2125 CYCLES (MODULATED AS NEARLY 100% AS
POSSIBLE).

AFSK SPACE FREQUENCY SHALL BE 2925 CYCLES (DITTO).

FSK SHIFT SHALL BE 850 CYCLES, WITH THE MARK THE HIGHER OF THE TWO
FREQUENCIES IN ORDINARY COMMUNICATION.

...so you get the idea of the basic level at which the NYC ARTS group was
working in 1946. By the end of 1946, ARTS had 30 teleprinter-equiped
members, all in the NYC area.

The original W2BFD RTTY converter blueprints and specifications and
"considerable reading matter" was published by ARTS as ARTS data package
ARTT-6002. ARTS had many packages of technical information available by
1957. The last one I am aware of is ARTT-6056 which covers machine
modifications for "Sequential Selection"--a stunt box.

But a huge piece of ham RTTY history has been lost as far as I know. I have
never been able to find ANY of the ARTT data packages. And the only
Bulletins I have been able to find were in a 1957 ARTS reprint of the
earliest ARTS Bulletins. Those are my primary source of all of this early
information.

Where did it all go? I advertised in the AWA OTB looking for this stuff and
got zero replies. I have also posted this want previously on this list. So
please be on the lookout for any ARTS Bulletins or ARTT data packages. You
may find the only copy left in existence. It's our last link with W2BFD.

73, Don Merz, N3RHT



-----Original Message-----
From: Jack [mailto:wa2hwj@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 7:17 PM
To: greenkeys@mailman.qth.net
Subject: [GreenKeys] W2BFD Information??


I would really like to get a copy of the schematic for the 1950's
vintage terminal unit/converter designed by John Williams, W2BFD.

As far as I can tell, it was the first real Ham RTTY terminal unit
developed after WW II and W2BFD was a major influence in
getting Hams onto RTTY on the VHF bands at the time. In fact,
I would like to learn a little more about W2BFD in general.

The TU used octal tubes, probably 6SN7's and 6SL7's, home made
filters and lots of relays. Any help would be appreciated.

73,
Jack WA2HWJ

NNNN



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