[GreenKeys] (no subject)

[tony j. podrasky]

Lee Mushel wrote:
> I knew that I couldn't be the only nut case!   
> 

Vell, Lee - kumm and tell Dr. Von Brown-en-house-en about dis
obs-sess-ion wid dis ARE-DEE-DEE-WHY stuff.

Deed you haff a hoppy child-hood?

Ver your momma and poppa goot to you?

:-)

I sure do wish I knew how to encourage "demand" but when I sat a
> young man down in front of the 28 KSR, explained things like line feed 
> and carriage return to him he still had nothing more than an amused 
> smile on his face. 

OK - now you asked for it: I'm gonna have to give you the 5-minute story
about me...  :-)

I joined Air Force MARS in the mid-60's. I was 15 Y.O. at the time.

One day I got invited to the NET-CONTROL's shack to see his installation.
He was a loveable old geezer, tucked away in his garage, with more
equipment than I had ever seen! In those days, if you were "IN" with
the guy running "The Depot", you could get ANYTHING!

There were 2 rather strange things I'd never seen before: they were on little
tables (well - one was on a BIG table), and looked like some kind of a
typewriter on steroids.

I asked him: "what are THESE THINGS?". He said "they are Teletype
machines." OK - now I knew as much as I did before I asked the question. :-)

I said: "Huh?". He said: "Teletype machines. They allow you to send and
receive type-written messages. This one is called a Model 15, and that one
is called a Model 19 - although some people call it a Model 15-ASR."

OK........ so.... so what?

He fired-up the local loop, sat me down at the 15 and he sat down at the 19.
He typed a couple of words - like "WA2EAA DE W2XXX". I tell yah, it was like
introducing FIRE to a caveman! He had me type back. Then, he cut a tape and
set it - and explained why there is a PERFORATOR / REPERFORATOR / TRANSMITTER
DISTRIBUTER, etc. After a few go-arounds, he sent me the RTTY pic "girl in a 
glass". Now, "GIAG" is NOTHING compared to what Don WA6PIR produced with his
Playboy centerfolds - but just about ANYTHING will excite a 15 YO.  :-)

Then he took the covers off and let me watch the things send and receive.

That's the most power drug I've ever been exposed to - and there is no
known antidote to Teletype machines!

I picked-up an old 15 from my local War-Surplus store, built the T.U that
was in one of the ARRL HANDBOOKS, and got on the air.

I've been hooked on RTTY since then!

And, as I said in a previous post, I'd give up all my ham radio "state of
the art" junk for the fun I had with my first 15, T.U. using (and I can't
recall the EXACT term - but it is something like "television tuner coils),
and the group we used to have on 20 meters with W9EE. Saturday morning, from
about 9:00am - 12:00 noon.

UE,
W6ESE - ex-WA2EAA
NNNNZCZC

-- 
Tony J. Podrasky | Imbesi's Law:
                  |   In order for something to become clean,
                  |   something else must become dirty;
                  |   But - you can get everything dirty
                  |   without getting anything clean.