[GreenKeys] GNT Model 2206 Baudot to Morse Converter

[Richard Dillman]

Gents:

Press and weather broadcasts were traditional services of KPH.  We continue that service today.  But the method by which those broadcasts were keyed changed over time.  

At one point the copy was received at the station via teletype and recorded on the 5 level punched paper tape we are all familiar with.  But the keying heads for Morse transmission used paper tape punched with the two level Wheatstone code.  Obviously, conversion from Baudot to Wheatstone was needed.  This was done electromechanically by dedicated converters.  Last weekend we received one of those converters, a Great Northern Telegraph Works (GNT) Model 2206.  While made in Copenhagen, it was manufactured for the US Navy Bureau of Ships.  It is a truly impressive machine that accomplishes the conversion with what seems an amazing number of levers, cams and gears.  Please see photos at:

https://goo.gl/photos/8r1YTaUyAWZGuurT6

Note: I uploaded the photos in full resolution (meaning large files) so you can zoom in on the details.  

The Baudot tape is fed into a reader at one side of the front panel.  The punched Wheatstone tape comes out a hole at the other side of the panel.  Mechanical magic happens between the two.  Or I should say *used* to happen between the two.  As the photos will reveal, a lot of cleaning and restoration will be required before this marvel sings again.

If by some slight chance anyone has any data on the GNT 2206 we would very much like to hear from you!

Interestingly, the KPH SITOR terminals from the late 1980s use readers and punches made by GNT!

Regards,

RD

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Richard Dillman
Maritime Radio Historical Society
http://www.radiomarine.org
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