[GreenKeys] 2018 RTTY Roundup, and doin' it Heavy Metal

[Mark Hall]

Hello Greenkeyers!

After reading Dave Tumey's post about RTTY Roundup and the new "Heavy
Metal" contest category overlay,
I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas morning with all the batteries he can
run through, and AC adapters to boot!
When I got back into all things Teletype, this is the direction I wanted to
take with RTTY as a ham Extra class. Yeah,
I know- it's just sooo much easier to do it under glass with MMTTY or
fldigi, but there is something so fascinating about
doing it "old school'- instead of macros I would have to master paper tape
to do the same thing, and my "printer" would
be using ribbons instead of toner, paper rolls instead of sheets, and have
a nice clackety sound interspersed with the
occasional bell ring instead of the almost silent "whish and groon" of
sheet feed and ink or toner distribution.

I contacted Dave and thanked him for the inspiration, and asked him about
his setup and ASR-33. To my surprise, he
emailed me promptly back, and in the most infectious way, offered me
encouragement that I could do the same:

"Mark,

Working real TTY in the RTTY RU is a thrill that is hard to describe but
you will fully get it after you try it in January 2018!

It is hard if not impossible to compete with the glass/pc crowd, but now
with a separate overlay, everyone with a real machine has a chance at
winning a category!

Every contact is a victory!"

OK. Right about now the bull is seeing the red cape waving... here Dave
tells me about his ASR-33 and how he makes it all come
together for contesting:

"This is how I use the '33 for RTTY

Antenna-->Kenwood TS-570 (AFSK out)-->MFJ-1278 (Baudot 45.45 to ASCII
1200)-->Converter (ASCII 1200 to ASCII 110)-->Telebyte 65A (RS-232 to 20MA
Loop)-->*Teletype Model 33*-->Telebyte 65A (20MA Loop to
RS-232)-->Converter (ASCII 110 to ASCII 1200)-->MFJ-1278 (ASCII 1200 to
Baudot 45.45)-->Kenwood TS-570 (FSK in)-->Antenna

What can possibly go wrong with this simple setup?

I have done remote RTTY on many occasions, but not with a real TTY - I
remotely operate MMTTY via a remote desktop application.

take care my friend and good luck!!"

I mentioned my choice of machine- a model 19 I have to get to Oklahoma
first- the original "ASR". One of its former owners was a ham who used it
for RTTY. In the back compartment of its table, not far from its REC-33
power supply are two brackets that hold a "BUO" (a circuitboard of unknown
origin- most possibly some ancient RTTY interface!) Among its goodies is a
large cookie tin with the owner's original QSO tape, along with some other
tapes- RTTY pics, a QSO card and other things. So cool. It has a pedigree.
And I want to return it to the airwaves to what it used to do! I mentioned
several TU's I had to work with as well, and Dave offered his insights:

"For your Model 19, I would recommend any of the HAL TU's ie., ST-5000,
ST-6, ST-6000.  These will provide a direct conversion of AFSK to Loop (I
think 60MA for your rig - but not sure) and loop to AFSK.  So you only need
one box between your radio and teletype."

The bull is charging... ears tucked back, horns down, nose ring flapping...
Dave's reply offers some really great advice:

"I think you are ready to rock and roll - I would prefer the ST-6 to the
other units although your Dovetron should be easier to tune - with the
Mark/Space scope and all - I just like the HAL stuff and when the
opportunity presented itself, I was able to buy from HAL a NOS ST-5000 and
NOS ST-6000 - seems they found the units hiding in the warehouse.

Now you can think about how to create some tape Macros and run them to
speed up your QSO transaction time, get a software call logger (or write
one yourself in Visual Basic), do a time-in-motion study to optimize your
process and you are good to go!"

I think the "time-in-motion study" makes great sense. I have never pulled
"tape ape" duty, but I bet I could get pretty adept at it. At one time in
my career I had to be pretty quick with cardiac telemetry, and be able to
print and interpret ECG tapes from up to 24 patient telemetry units at any
given time. Punching tapes? OK, I'm willing to invest the time to learn.
I'm a musician and vocalist so I am already into the habit of practice and
patiently repeating until I get it down, no matter who else it drives
crazy... just kidding. So this is "doable".

Making contacts prior to the contest would also be great. While relatively
new to all this, I will be happy to coordinate with others here in the
group, and make contacts to hone our skills. We should look to each other
as a group to do this, and if I may offer a suggestion, let's keep the
moniker "Greenkeyers". That just sounds so much better than the Boiled
Owls. Or the Stewed Pigeons.
Or dang near anything else. After all, this is what we are. A bunch of folk
who love and maintain our Greenkey machines. No feathers. Maybe the rich
aroma of Teletype oil, or occasional paper cuts and ink smears...

Here in the next ten days I'm getting my aortic valve replaced during
something that's called a "TAV-R" procedure. It's neat- all done in the
heart cath lab without having to crack my hood and do it open heart. I
won't have to go on heart/lung bypass so I won't get to join the ranks of
the undead. My doc says my compression will be much better, and no more
backfiring. Probably will still burn a bit of oil from time to time
(nothing like Imperial Stouts- look like something drained out of a
crankcase anyway...) but I'll run a lot better.

I think Steve Garrison might be good with all this. Dave started it all,
and I bet a lot of y'all could teach us more than a thing or two.
What say ye?

your problem child

Mark KE5LIB


from Walt Kelly's beloved syndicated comic strip "Pogo", sung with fervor
to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat":

"Roar, or owe yogurt
Jennie Dawn Arlene!
Warily hairily, verily scarily
Lycra butter spleen!"
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