[GreenKeys] GreenKeys Digest, Vol 62, Issue 5

Tue Mar 3 16:40:08 EST 2009

Yep, Detroit had a panel office in the main Bell building downtown. The exchange was Exeter, and used only internally in the building. The others were #5XB until the advent of ESS. I was a teletype/ data installer/ repairman downtown servicing the stock markets and airlines reservations centers. Then the opportunity came to train as one of the 1st ESS Switchman which I undertook. The self taught school (supervised in residence) lasted 6 months quaranteened in a small cubicle reading lesson plans each day and taking tests weekly to progress further in the course. We installed several offices in the area (ESS-1 w/ signal processer). Then one day I was given the opportunity to be an apprentice building trades electrician at substantially better wages & benefits with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Bye buy Bell-never looked back-best move I ever made. Retired with a Real pension worth contributing to. Forty years did take its toll on the old body. Heavy construction is no picnic. Can't lift my 28ASR, but then, I don't know anyone else who can. Rick K8PJQ 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: greenkeys-request at mailman.qth.net 
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 11:05:55 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: GreenKeys Digest, Vol 62, Issue 5 

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Today's Topics: 

1. Re: Bletchley Park... (Dino Papas) 
2. Re: Bletchley Park... (Craig Sawyers) 
3. Re: [Radiomarine] Teletype House Call (Patrick J. Jankowiak) 
4. Re: This will take you back many years... (EDW HICKEY) 
5. Re: This will take you back many years... (Lorence Brown) 
6. Re: This will take you back many years... 
(MURRAY, WALLACE W (ATTASIAIT)) 
7. Re: ITTY (Til128 at aol.com) 
8. Re: This will take you back many years... (Jeffrey D Angus) 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Message: 1 
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 08:33:51 -0500 
From: Dino Papas <kl0s at cox.net> 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Bletchley Park... 
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Message-ID: <5F15DB7B-6173-45D9-B10D-484B07109C83 at cox.net> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed 

Although it's still in my "to read" queue there is an interesting 
volume describing Colossus: 

"Colossus - The Secrets of Bletchley Park's Codebreaking Computers" 
by Jack Copeland and others 
Oxford University Press (www.oup.com) 
ISBN: 0-19-284055-X 

73 - Dino KL0S 

On 3Mar2009, at 8:28 AM, Craig Sawyers wrote: 

>> That is fascinating! 
> 
> The very first machine, Colossus, of which ten were built for 
> Bletchley Park 
> during WWII were all destroyed (and the plans) on Churchill's orders. 
> Although an identical working replica of Colossus is now at 
> Bletchley, it is 
> not of course an original - not one single component part. In any 
> event, 
> Colossus was not a stored programme computer - is used a continous 
> loop of 
> punched paper tape to hold the cipher text passing a bank of 
> photocells at 
> 60mph. The sprocket holes were used to generate the clock signal. 
> It was 
> really much more like a maths coprocessor running a statistical 
> algorithm 
> than a general purpose programmable computer. 

------------------------------ 

Message: 2 
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 13:56:36 -0000 
From: "Craig Sawyers" <c.sawyers at tech-enterprise.com> 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Bletchley Park... 
To: <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> 
Message-ID: <3CF4EF7B41604F90939C53C005A92696 at TechEnt> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" 

> "Colossus - The Secrets of Bletchley Park's Codebreaking Computers" 
> by Jack Copeland and others 
> Oxford University Press (www.oup.com) 
> ISBN: 0-19-284055-X 

Start off with the website of the guy who spent 14 years rebuilding the 
machine, Tony Sale http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/ . 

Craig 

------------------------------ 

Message: 3 
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:13:00 -0600 
From: "Patrick J. Jankowiak" <recycler at swbell.net> 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] [Radiomarine] Teletype House Call 
To: Radiomarine-owner at yahoogroups.com 
Cc: Boatanchors <boatanchors at theporch.com>, Radiomarine 
<radiomarine at yahoogroups.com>, Greenkeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> 
Message-ID: <49AB167C.2030501 at swbell.net> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed 

Amazing! 

for anyone into TTY in north Texas, I know where a couple of Navy 
rackmount demods are along with the TTY units, if they are still there. 
Could be had for little. 

PJ 

Richard Dillman wrote: 
> When's the last time you had a house call from a Teletype repairman? Not recently, I'll wager. But that's just what we had last Saturday at KSM. 
> 
> In response to my message to the Greenkeys list George Hutchinson packed up his Teletype tools and drove down to KSM from his home in Sequim, WA. He and Rich McClung showed up at about 1pm ready for business. 
> 
> First the problem with the Model 28ASR was addressed. George quickly unlocked the keyboard (the original problem) and then spent almost two hours removing the typing unit, lubricating everything, cleaning contacts, reassembling the machine and giving it a tune up. By the end of that process it was running sweet at 60wmp and 100wpm, maintaining lock even being fed a significantly distorted signal. 
> 
> The next item was the Model 28KSR that we plan to use as one end of a land line order wire between transmitting and receiving stations. This unit worked but just barely. George looked it over and declared that the typing unit should be swapped with one from a Model 20RO we had on hand that was in great shape. The new typing unit got the usual lubrication and tune up before being placed in the 20KSR. It too now ran very sweetly at both 100wpm and 60wpm. 
> 
> Rich and I agreed that it was a real pleasure to watch a master at work. Clearly, George knows Teletypes inside and out, a skill that comes only with long experience. 
> 
> After several hours work George packed his tools and test gear saying "my work is done here." The three of us went to the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes Station for a dinner that couldn't be beat. We agreed it was a great day before parting ways. 
> 
> Naturally such an event deserves photodocumentation so here are some photos. 
> 
> --- 
> 
> George beams with anticipation at having two Model 28s to work on: 
> 
> http://www.radiomarine.org/TTY/TTY-002.jpg 
> 
> --- 
> 
> A careful adjustment is made to the perforator: 
> 
> http://www.radiomarine.org/TTY/TTY-003.jpg 
> 
> --- 
> 
> The typing unit out for lubrication and adjustment: 
> 
> http://www.radiomarine.org/TTY/TTY-005.jpg 
> 
> --- 
> 
> The Model 28RO running well: 
> 
> http://www.radiomarine.org/TTY/TTY-004.jpg 
> 
> --- 
> 
> A video of the Model 28RO being tested at 100wpm: 
> 
> http://www.radiomarine.org/TTY/TTY-008.avi 
> 
> Thanks very much to George and Rich for generously making their time and skills available to help the MRHS move toward another goal. Once we have the TTY land line link working between the two stations it will be another step back in time to the days when such links were common. When that link is inaugurated - this year we hope - we'll be communicating the way transmitting and receiving stations did in the golden years. 
> 
> VY 73, 
> 
> RD 
> 
> 
> 
> ================================= 
> Richard Dillman, W6AWO 
> Chief Operator, Coast Station KSM 
> Maritime Radio Historical Society 
> http://www.radiomarine.org 
> ================================= 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------ 
> 
> 
> The Radiomarine list brings you information about the on-the-air activities of the Maritime Radio Historical Society including stations KPH, KSM and K6KPH. For more information see our Web site at: 
> 
> http://www.radiomarine.org 
> 
> VY 73, 
> 
> MRHSYahoo! Groups Links 
> 
> <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Radiomarine/ 
> 
> <*> Your email settings: 
> Individual Email | Traditional 
> 
> <*> To change settings online go to: 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Radiomarine/join 
> (Yahoo! ID required) 
> 
> <*> To change settings via email: 
> mailto:Radiomarine-digest at yahoogroups.com 
> mailto:Radiomarine-fullfeatured at yahoogroups.com 
> 
> <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: 
> Radiomarine-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com 
> 
> <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: 
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 
> 

------------------------------ 

Message: 4 
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 09:18:41 -0800 (PST) 
From: EDW HICKEY <65cyclone at sbcglobal.net> 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] This will take you back many years... 
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net, Don Robert House <k9tty at dls.net> 
Message-ID: <785664.49954.qm at web81501.mail.mud.yahoo.com> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 

I always hated the name of our's...Berkshire.? Sounded like we were living on a train. 
? 
Next door they had Tuxedo.?? At least it sounded classy. 
? 
? 
Ed 

--- On Sun, 3/1/09, Don Robert House <k9tty at dls.net> wrote: 

From: Don Robert House <k9tty at dls.net> 
Subject: This will take you back many years... 
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Date: Sunday, March 1, 2009, 11:34 PM 

I remember I was disappointed when our number was changed from CLearbrook 3 to 
253... 

<http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject.html> 

<http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/Recommended.html> 

------------------------------ 

Message: 5 
Date: Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:02:55 -0600 
From: Lorence Brown <l_b_brown at prodigy.net> 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] This will take you back many years... 
To: Don House <k9tty at dls.net>, <comcents at bellsouth.net> 
Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Message-ID: <C5D1A59F.2AB5%l_b_brown at prodigy.net> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" 

You both have touched some dear remembrances. Aside from the Exchange names 
in Detroit (and my home town further north) I remember the mechanical 
aspects of my early days. When I started in 1967 in Michigan Bell, only a 
couple Panel Offices were left in Detroit - yeh, 11' high & 17' to the 
ceiling!! Those were the offices with the three tier Main Frames - some 
real jumper nightmares. They were in operation for a few more years after I 
started since I remember the Project Engineers talking about maintenance on 
the Panel machines - Waxing to reduce switching line noise. 
RE: Rotary switches; most of the rural (CDO - Community Dial Offices) 
were rotary in Mich. For years I only knew them as 'rotary' until I went to 
an independent office and a local switchman talked about the x-y Stroger and 
I got a history lesson. They ALL sure had a distinctive sounds. Speaking 
of sounds, I remember a 5XB office in the suburbs (Utica, MI) that around 
11:30 would go almost silent, then at 11:55 come back up with a roar of 
switching traffic noise. Very interesting. 
I started off with the company I was doing N-Carrier Impulse Noise 
measurements as management. At first it was N1, then N2 & N3 - the whole 
reason for the surveys and follow-up repairs/bonding/grounding was the 
forthcoming data network - boy, the TTY at 150 baud was a busy piece of 
machinery to me. Then 300 and then the thermal printers at 1200 - and so 
on. At one point, I managed a few programmers and we had a print station 
that had a drum printer, full width computer paper, had a row of hammers 
that would pick off the characters as they spun by. Our printer ran as a 
remote off a main-frame - the controller was a PDP-8. We ran a construction 
Budget program for the company that ran of the company's mainframe printer. 
A laser printer, would have a transparency that would 'flash' the form image 
on the paper, then print in the characters on the paper - pin feed 
continuous sheets in an oversized box (taller than normal). Would empty the 
box in around three minutes. I was impressed. This was probably back 
around the early 1980s. 
Really something when you consider we've grown up (as kids 5-12) during 
the vacuum tube days, matured (teenage 13-18) during the solid state 
evolution, and watched the data/computer revolution (20-current). What a 
marvelous time. 

Larry 

> From: Don Robert House <k9tty at dls.net> 
> Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 13:18:43 -0600 
> To: <comcents at bellsouth.net> 
> Cc: <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> 
> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] This will take you back many years... 
> 
> You can still see a panel switch at the museum of communications in 
> Seattle. 
> I missed out seeing our last one at the EDgewater CO in Chicago 
> before it was removed. 
> The switch frames were eleven (11) feet tall and the switch mechanism 
> was referred to as a "Monkey on a Stick" 
> Panel offices used a craftsman that no other type offices used. 
> "Equipment Cleaner" 
> 
> On 2 Mar 2009, at 12:35 AM, Randy or Sherry Guttery wrote: 
> 
> Don Robert House wrote: 
>> I remember I was disappointed when our number was changed from 
>> CLearbrook 3 to 253... 
> 
> I grew up in Los Angeles - which was somewhat of the "wild west" when 
> it came to phone service and phone companies. In most of the country 
> - a large city - even a region was usually served by one company - 
> usually a Bell company of AT&T. Los Angeles, on the other hand had 
> several major players - not always playing well together. Los Angeles 
> itself was (mostly) Bell / AT&T - using Western Electric equipment. 
> However - many of the surrounding communities - such as Long Beach, 
> cities of the San Gabriel Valley, etc. - were General Telephone 
> customers - mostly using equipment by Automatic Electric. That made 
> for some strange "interactions" here and there... 
> 
> In the early 1950s - within LA itself - you only had to dial 5 digits 
> - and they were listed (usually) as (something like) 7-1234. It was 
> when you called some of the suburban areas - like Long Beach, Norwalk, 
> etc. you had to use the Exchange "pre-fix". Norwalk was University, 
> Bellflower was Torrey (which you might note is NOT one of the favored 
> Bell pre-fixes - not surprising since it was GT); West Covina, La 
> Puente and the un-incorporated areas in that area were Edgewood; Both 
> University and Edgewood are on the "Bell list". 
> 
> Another interesting "thing" out of that era - was that even as mobile 
> phones and the age of digital communications were getting underway in 
> the late 1970s - calls were still being connected by hand in Bell's 
> Avalon (Santa Catalina Island) exchange via a local cord switchboard. 
> 
> Another "fallout" of the mixed equipment - I had been in a couple of 
> switch exchanges - and had never seen a rotary stepper... GT used 
> something called a panel switch in many of it exchanges - which steps 
> in the X and Y plane - rather than a half-circle like a Strowger. 
> 
> yeah - brings back a few memories! 
> -- 
> randy guttery 
> 

------------------------------ 

Message: 6 
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 16:46:09 -0500 
From: "MURRAY, WALLACE W (ATTASIAIT)" <wm3912 at att.com> 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] This will take you back many years... 
To: "Don Robert House" <k9tty at dls.net>, <comcents at bellsouth.net> 
Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Message-ID: 
<77270A09906D59429D83E0A0320D1D9FC40D59 at misout7msgusr75.ITServices.sbc.com> 

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 

FYI: 
One interesting tidbit as far as the mobile telephones were concerned 
were they easily could have been converted to IMTS or dial. However, 
the traffic engineering for the network would have required getting rid 
of half the customers. Net result, the telcos stayed manual. We had 
the same issues here in Detroit. Only the UHF system or MK was dial, 
the VHF system or MJ remained manual into the late 1970s or early 1980s. 
The operators could sort the traffic out quicker. There were regulatory 
issues as well. 

-----Original Message----- 
From: Don Robert House [mailto:k9tty at dls.net] 
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 2:19 PM 
To: comcents at bellsouth.net 
Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] This will take you back many years... 

You can still see a panel switch at the museum of communications in 
Seattle. 
I missed out seeing our last one at the EDgewater CO in Chicago before 
it was removed. 
The switch frames were eleven (11) feet tall and the switch mechanism 
was referred to as a "Monkey on a Stick" 
Panel offices used a craftsman that no other type offices used. 
"Equipment Cleaner" 

On 2 Mar 2009, at 12:35 AM, Randy or Sherry Guttery wrote: 

Don Robert House wrote: 
> I remember I was disappointed when our number was changed from 
> CLearbrook 3 to 253... 

I grew up in Los Angeles - which was somewhat of the "wild west" when it 
came to phone service and phone companies. In most of the country 
- a large city - even a region was usually served by one company - 
usually a Bell company of AT&T. Los Angeles, on the other hand had 
several major players - not always playing well together. Los Angeles 
itself was (mostly) Bell / AT&T - using Western Electric equipment. 
However - many of the surrounding communities - such as Long Beach, 
cities of the San Gabriel Valley, etc. - were General Telephone 
customers - mostly using equipment by Automatic Electric. That made for 
some strange "interactions" here and there... 

In the early 1950s - within LA itself - you only had to dial 5 digits 
- and they were listed (usually) as (something like) 7-1234. It was 
when you called some of the suburban areas - like Long Beach, Norwalk, 
etc. you had to use the Exchange "pre-fix". Norwalk was University, 
Bellflower was Torrey (which you might note is NOT one of the favored 
Bell pre-fixes - not surprising since it was GT); West Covina, La Puente 
and the un-incorporated areas in that area were Edgewood; Both 
University and Edgewood are on the "Bell list". 

Another interesting "thing" out of that era - was that even as mobile 
phones and the age of digital communications were getting underway in 
the late 1970s - calls were still being connected by hand in Bell's 
Avalon (Santa Catalina Island) exchange via a local cord switchboard. 

Another "fallout" of the mixed equipment - I had been in a couple of 
switch exchanges - and had never seen a rotary stepper... GT used 
something called a panel switch in many of it exchanges - which steps in 
the X and Y plane - rather than a half-circle like a Strowger. 

yeah - brings back a few memories! 
-- 
randy guttery 

------------------------------ 

Message: 7 
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 10:28:20 EST 
From: Til128 at aol.com 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] ITTY 
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Message-ID: <c6f.352c80fe.36dea694 at aol.com> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" 

Just as a reminder for those who have lost track, the URL for listening to 
ITTY has changed a while back. 
Please enter the following URL in your media player: 

http://65.243.191.51:8000/listen.pls 

73, 
DE: Tom Tillson 
All Things Electromechanical. 
ITTY 
GREENKEYS 
HEAVYMETAL 
LL TTY 
NNNN 

**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy 
steps! 
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%3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62) 

------------------------------ 

Message: 8 
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:06:00 -0800 
From: Jeffrey D Angus <jangus at socal.rr.com> 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] This will take you back many years... 
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
Message-ID: <49AD5568.4060402 at socal.rr.com> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed 

Lorence Brown wrote: 
> Really something when you consider we've grown up (as kids 5-12) during 
> the vacuum tube days, matured (teenage 13-18) during the solid state 
> evolution, and watched the data/computer revolution (20-current). What a 
> marvelous time. 
> 
> Larry 
> 
Pshaw... speak for yourself, some of us NEVER grew up. ;-) 
But at 56, yes, I fully understand what you're saying having done that. 

Side note: After 25 years in the aerospace industry chasing the foreskin 
of technology, I am now self employed fixing vacuum tube radios. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Jeff-1.0 
wa6fwi 

------------------------------ 

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End of GreenKeys Digest, Vol 62, Issue 5 
**************************************** 