[GreenKeys] Bert Prall

[Nick England]

2008 Obituaryhttp://
porterloring.tributes.com/obituary/show/Bert-Apperson-Prall-102527214

Nick

On Fri, Sep 6, 2019 at 11:56 AM Ralph Irish <w8roi at wowway.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Gang
>
> It seems to me that I've seen the name, "Burt Prall" mentioned on G/K a
time or two in recent years.
> Burt held a WA9 call and was  VERY  active with TTY and  RTTY all over
the Chicago area.  He was
> involved in Civil Defense, had  DIRECT LINES  from his house to several
airports, police stations
> and I don't know what else.
>
> The one time I visited him, he pointed out a "6 x 50" telephone
'punch-down block' in his garage that
> terminated a 25 pair cable directly from his closest Central Office.  He
said that a second one was on
> order, since all of the first group were in use and more were needed.
The 'exit cable' went out of sight
> and ended up on the 3rd floor for Burt to connect here and there.
>
> His 'shack' and all of his TTY gear was on the 3rd floor of his home.
AND, there was an attic above
> that with more 'stuff ' in storage.  The fellow that traveled to Chicago
with me was invited to stick his
> head up above the top stair for a look.  He was amazed at what he saw.
>
> Burt had a flock of active 28 machines running at all times.  Direct
feeds from various Weather sources,
> and 're-feeds' to Civil Defense posts and other places.
>
> As a joke, he had programmed one of his answerback drums to read:
>
>             'YESITSTILLWORKS!'
>
> when activated.  This machine was running at 100 WPM and zapped off that
message in a flash.  I think
> that it only  ENDED with the CR/LF/LTRS  which left one or two spaces
unused.
>
> I would dearly love to exchange notes with anyone else who ever had the
pleasure of seeing his 3rd Floor.
> Lots of receivers and TUs and many items that were quite foreign to me.
>
> In his later life, Burt got involved with a computer company that made
early 'mini computers'.  Not sure of
> which company it was.
>
> I don't see Burt mentioned in Wikipedia, so there is an opportunity for
someone who knew him well to
> preserve Burt's place in history.
>
> 73,
>
> Ralph - W8ROI
>
>
> ________________________________
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