[GreenKeys] Bert Prall, Teletyper 'extrordinaire'

[Ralph Irish]

I wonder if there is anyone on GreenKeys who knew or remembered Bert Prall?

He lived in a Chicago suburb when I met him, and lived in a three story house, (with a storage attic,
no less!)  His third floor was full of Model 28 Teletypes and he had many of them connected to 
different autostart systems, and some were in contact with O'Hare and Midway airports, and he also
had a direct link to the closest area Sheriff's office.  

He showed us a pair of TELCO 6 x 50 blocks which were full from two 25-pair cables run to his house by
Illinois Bell.  He had a second such cable on order.  No telling where those would terminate.

Bert had a WA9 ham call at that time, and I have long since forgotten what it was.  I didn't get the
impression that he was particularly active 'on the air', but there was only that one visit to his home.

If there is anyone who knew him well, they could do good for the GreenKeys group to maybe tell us a
bit more about his Teletype activities.  Any attempt I might make would certainly make me sound like a
madman!  It was one of those things that had to be seen to be believed, I guess.  Or, loses something
in the retelling.

What would make it even better would be some photographs of that third floor.

For now,

Ralph - W8ROI
GreenKeys


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