[GreenKeys] A Little More TWX History

[Jim Cooper]

On 26 Nov 2019 at 20:46, Harold Hallikainen wrote:

>  These faxes were pretty slow, so
> using them for long distance would
> have been expensive. 

Not only were they slow, they were 
VERY messy ... the Teledeltos paper 
they used was even 'looser' grain than 
cheap newsprint, with a black carbon 
backing ...  a high voltage stylus rode 
on the front of the paper, and when the 
black signal came in the HV was applied 
to the teledeltos paper, which basically 
got the top layer blown away, showing the 
black conductive backing (it was wrapped 
around a smooth metal cylinder).  

Needless to say, lots of paper dust in the 
area as well as lots of ozone from the sparking. 

When I worked out of the Phila. area office, 
most of the surrounding WU offices had a bank 
of many of those Deskfax units.  Very crude, 
and the final image was quite crude as well. 

When the Deskfaxs were taken out of service, 
a lot of them were picked up by surplus dealers 
and for about a decade hams played with them 
similarly to teletypes, but with less satisfaction. 

w2jc (ex w2bve)