[GreenKeys] Under 40?! Call out for age...

[Jeffrey D Angus]

Time for some history I suppose. I turned 62 back in October.

In 1967, there was only two ways to get an amateur radio license.
1. Novice Class, simple theory and a 5 WPM Morse code test.
2. General Class, more advanced theory and a 13 WPM code test.

To me, I had no choice, Novice it was, and the code was never that
easy for me. I can still slog my way through a QSO at about 10 WPM.
But in a word, "painful."

In 1971, Ed Jay, the owner of Signal One in Gardena where I was
working as a technician walks up to me and says, "Our sales brochure
says that the CX/7-A will do RTTY. Here's a Model 15, make it happen."
<http://rigreference.com/img/rigs/62/3969/signal-one-cx-7.jpg>
Of course, nobody told me anything about 60 mA loops, terminal
units, Frequency Shift Keying etc. But I managed to figure it out and
make it all work for "the man."

I was hooked.
I managed to get my code speed up to about 15 WPM so I could pass
my General and Advanced license upgrade. I never got good enough
to do the required 21 WPM for Extra class. When the FCC dropped
the Extra code requirement to 5 WPM prior to dropping it completely,
I finally upgraded to Extra. Of course, the old timers refer to me as
"Extra Lite" because I didn't pass their precious 21 WPM code test.

With a Teletype machine, I could type at 30 WPM with the Model 15,
or faster with the 19, since the tape punch wasn't constrained to
every other rotation of the main shaft. And, obviously, I could copy
at 60 WPM. I was in heaven.

Back in the '80s, I acquired a Model 32 Telex machine. Surprise, it's
running at 66 WPM. Now while it could copy 60 WPM code, it wasn't
pretty or reliable. My first taste of incompatibility. I ended up
writing a program in BASIC on the Commodore C64 to make a "glass" TTY.

Then of course, the Kantronics KAM and AEA PK-232 hit the market.
In addition to Packet radio, they also supported RTTY. And, there were
various software packages available for the Commodore C64 and the
"new" IBM PC for running RTTY with the old standard terminal units.

Pretty much from 1985 or so up through 2000 I was heavily involved
in Packet radio. But by then the internet "The new CB of the '90s" had
taken hold and packet radio sort of fell by the way side.

Of course, now there's a plethora of various digital modes. The most
popular at this time is PSK31.

While running the repair shop in Inglewood, I came across the Lorenz
Lo-15b machine that I have now. Having a Governed motor at least
made it "not horrible" to switch speeds down to the standard 60 WPM
that RTTY uses.

Henning, on the Green Keys mailing list, brought up the i-Telex network
that several people had designed to be able to use their old TTY gear to
talk to one another. First via modems running 2400 baud link speeds,
and now via the internet. Which eliminated the costs of direct dialing.

One minor detail. i-Telex assumes you're running 66 WPM instead of
the RTTY standard of 60 WPM. So, you can see where this whole
"changing speeds back and forth" issue came up.

Especially, since I also have a HAL ST-8000A modem and would like to
do RTTY again.

So there we have it. I've been playing with keyboards now for the
past 45 years. And just to remind myself of my "roots," I make it a
point to make at least one contact New Year's Eve on CW for SKN.
(Straight Key Night)

-- 
Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi
http://www.foxsmercantile.com