[GreenKeys] Survey

[WA3FRP at aol.com]

I got my novice license (WN3AYY) in 1964 and operated CW only thanks to the  
next door neighbor who taught me Morse code. He had been a Morse operator on 
the  USS Missouri during WW II.  School and other distractions (girls) caused 
me  to lapse my license.  Walked into the Club station at the University of  
Pennsylvania (W3ABT) in February 1966 where there was a Collins 75S-3B and a  
Christmas Tree array of Yagi antennas for 10M, 15M, and 20M at about 130 ft.  
After hearing Macao on 20M SSB that morning, I decided that ham radio was for me 
 and got my General (WA3FRP) in July 1966.

In 1967, we found an unused Teletype Model 19 in an Engineering Lab at  Penn 
that had been donated by Bell of Pennsylvania.  After asking who the  Teletype 
belonged to and not getting any solid answers, we relocated it to  the Club 
station and put it to work. I never got back on CW or SSB after that.  We got 
W3ABT on the air in as many contests as we could and received a couple of  top 
ten finishes, the best being a fourth place in CARTG in 1970.  We also  got 
Worked All Continents - RTTY number #106, the first college / university  
station to do so. 
 
After Penn (1969), I worked for Western Union Telegraph in the Telex  
Department and eventually got to manage all Telex operations in New Jersey,  
Pennsylvania, and Delaware.  I found an open slot in a Model 28 class and  spent a 
week learning how to pull a M28 apart and put it back together with 80+  points 
of range and no strange noises. That knowledge is still very useful  today!  
 
Changed jobs in 1985 when Telex was being displaced by business fax and ran  
a nationwide data network for SEI Investments for a few years. Changed jobs  
again and joined SMS in 1990 where I ran a data network of 600,000 miles of WAN 
 which got acquired by Siemens Medical in 2000.  Retired in 2004 and got  
back to RTTY using my old gear from 1970.

I'm running a 1959  Collins T-440/FRT-24 as my transmitter. See the April 
2008 issue of CQ Magazine  for details and a picture. My receiver is a 1962 
Collins designed  R-390A/URR.  There are three teleprinters in the shack.  The 
oldest in  a "mouse" M28 KSR.  I have two M28 ASRs, one a Western Union Telex 
machine,  that remains geared for 50 baud and the other a Western Union private 
line  machines with an under the dome reperf that is geared for 45.45 baud. My 
TU is  the ST-6 build from a HAL kit in 1970 and still functioning perfectly 
although I  did have to replace an electrolytic cap in the autostart circuit 
last year, the  first component failure in 37 years. 
 
I've worked over 2,000 QSOs on RTTY since 2004 with 212 DXCC countries  
worked, all 40 CQ zones worked and all 50 US States worked. I've also worked 67  
European countries for the DARC WAE RTTY award. It is still fun running into old 
 DX contacts from 35+ years ago...ON4BK...ZS6BBK...W3KV...K1LPS...VE9DX have 
all  been heard or worked.
 
Always fun to work RTTY where the Op has or used to have a "heavy  metal" 
station. Occasionally, I'll work a station with a teleprinter,  mostly via a 
sked. If anyone is looking for a "real" RTTY QSO, they can contact  me on or off 
the list.  I am QRV 40M through 15M and have a collection of  RTTY ART that I'd 
be happy to share during a QSO.
 
73 Russ WA3FRP 




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