[GreenKeys] WRU key code

Wed Oct 2 08:36:06 EDT 2019

Hi Ralph!

Thanks for sharing the video.  It's been a while but I believe that the red
"Here is" keyboard key is an electrical switch that operates the solenoid.

Also, what does the answerback "say"?  The original coding should give a
clue as to the business that operated that Model 28.

Thanks 73
Russ WA3FRP
iTelex 834328 WUTMPAM CHIL

On Tue, Oct 1, 2019 at 4:59 PM Ralph Irish <w8roi at wowway.com> wrote:

> I am attaching a 'so-so quality' video of my Answerback in operation.
> Most will recognize the machine
> as a Model 28.  This is a 'mod kit' I added to a standard 28 keyboard, not
> out of any TELEX or TWX system.
>
> When I launch it it fills my screen and the only way I can make it run is
> with my SPACE bar.  Don't know
> how others will be running it.  After the rotor stops, the camera backs
> away to show the location of the device
> in the keyboard.
>
> The red keytop in the top row is  NOT  connected to the A/B device.  I
> never found the rest of the parts needed
> to make it work that way.  When it runs, it is from my finger poking the
> armature of the 'trip solenoid' which is
> just out of sight.  It has two wires coming from the solenoid, but I never
> connected them to anything useful.
> One of these days, though!
>
> Not 'Hollywood quality' but it works.
>
> 73,
>
> Ralph - W8ROI
>
> -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
>
> *From: *"Russ Miller" <wa3frp at gmail.com>
> *To: *"Steve Garrison" <steve.n4tty at gmail.com>
> *Cc: *"Greenkeys" <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
> *Sent: *Tuesday, October 1, 2019 2:55:54 PM
> *Subject: *Re: [GreenKeys] WRU key code
>
> Speaking specifically about the Teletype Model 28 Telex machine.  First,
> this was a rare item in the North American Telex networks. I doubt if any
> exist today, except for the machine that I use on the iTelex network here
> in Pennsylvania.  Most Telex machines were Teletype Model 32ASRs.  There
> were some Siemens T100 and T1000 machines.  There were also some Extel
> machines. But, a Teletype Model 28 on Telex was rare, even in the 1960s,
> 70s and 80s.
>
> Getting to the Teletype Model 28 as a Telex machine.  The keyboard is
> shown in the attached picture.  The Keyboard reflects the modified ITA2
> standard used on the Telex network in Canada and the United States.  FIGS D
> was a German "iron cross".  The same was true for the Model 28 Typebox.
>  There are other differences. Note that FIGS V is ; and not =.  Note that
> FIGS Z is " and not +.  FIGS F, G and H are undefined in ITA2 but the North
> American Telex Network defined these as $, & and #.
>
> The Model 28ASR Telex Stunt Box uses a clever way to block the local
> answerback (Teletype LABD500) from being triggered when FIGS D is sent to a
> distant machine while, at the same time, allowing an incoming FIGS D to
> start the answerback message.
>
> There is a CCITT ITA2 standard but there are many modifications based on
> user requirements.  Remember that lots of Model 28 machines were used in
> Private Wire service on point to point or point to multipoint using
> dedicated WAN lines.
>
> Russ WA3FRP
> iTelex 834328 WUTMPAM CHIL
>
> On Tue, Oct 1, 2019 at 1:50 PM <steve.n4tty at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Paul,
>>
>>
>>
>> As Paul, W2TTY, indicates the 28s you’ve seen with “WRU” as the FIGS
>> character on the “D” key was used in Telex communications.  The “$” on the
>> FIGS “D” key was a standard communications setup (not Telex).  I have a “$”
>> FIGS “D” key on all my 28s.  But I used them on the iTelex service from
>> Henning and the guys in Germany.  If the other end type their “WRU” key the
>> software on the iTelex board that sits on my intranet router sends back an
>> “ANSWER BACK” message that is programmed right now as “30083 N4TTY” which I
>> can change if I so desire on the iTelex board.  The iTelex board sends that
>> ANSWER BACK sting back to the other end and also send it to my 28 so I can
>> see what is happening.  Most Telex machines also had another key called the
>> “HERE IS” key that also sent the same string of characters if you were
>> initiating the ANSWER BACK instead of wait or expecting a “WRU.”
>>
>>
>>
>> There was a drum with 12 or 13 (or so) blades that had each of the
>> characters in the answerback string encoded on them.  I’ve never actually
>> seen an ANSWER BACK mechanism on a 28, but would imagine that the reception
>> of the FIGS D sequence would trip the mechanism and cause the string to be
>> sent over the loop, which may have caused it to print locally as well as at
>> the other end.  And if the operator pressed the HERE IS key the same think
>> would happen.  I’m also guessing that the reception od the FIGS D
>> suppressed printing until the ANSWER BACK drum kicked into action.  That
>> way if you had a normal comms type box you probably would not see the “$.”
>>
>>
>>
>> Others feel free to jump in and help me out here, as I’m definitely not
>> an expert on the matter.
>>
>>
>>
>> I can say that if I send an apostrophe from my keyboard they (real Telex
>> machines) hear the bell on their end.  And if I send the BELL character
>> they see an apostrophe.  And in reverse, if they send an apostrophe I hear
>> my bell and if they send their bell I see an apostrophe.   A little
>> disconcerting until you get used to it.  I tend to shy away from the
>> apostrophe and the bell unless I really need them.  And for new iTelex
>> users, especially across the pond, I find I have to sometimes explain this
>> difference.
>>
>>
>>
>> Steve G./N4TTY
>>
>> iTelex  #: 30083
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net <
>> greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net> *On Behalf Of *ad7i
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 1, 2019 12:31 PM
>> *To:* greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
>> *Subject:* [GreenKeys] WRU key code
>>
>>
>>
>> I know that for ITA2 TTYs that the WRU command is FIGS-D.  In looking at
>> photos of what I presume to be USA Model 28 keyboards most have the D key
>> marked "$ over D" (FIGS-D prints as $) but I have seen a few USA Model 28
>> with the D key marked as "WRU over D".
>>
>>
>>
>> In the USA was it typical for those TTY systems that made use of
>> WRU/Answerback that FIGS-D was always used as the WRU command?  In the USA
>> if a WRU command was received by a TTY would that received FIGS-D result in
>> the "$" character being printed on the paper in addition to triggering the
>> Answerback generator (if one was installed), or was FIGS-D a "command only,
>> no key printed" type of thing?
>>
>>
>>
>> thanks,
>>
>>
>>
>> Paul, ad7i
>>
>>
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