[GreenKeys] What brought you here?

Tue Apr 7 19:10:38 EDT 2020

What wonderful stories! I’ll add mine to the original post from Jeff.  But first…. GREAT IDEA JEFF!!  I wish that some of the silent keys were still around to chime in as I would like to hear their stories as well.

Part 1:
My first contact with a teletype was a model 33 in 1975. I was in 8th grade and my mathematics teacher showed it to me and we connected to a remote computer somewhere. I was hooked.  

I grew up in a remote area of New Jersey and nobody heard of Altair or Apple or Microsoft or anything like that. Nobody could afford the emerging “personal” computers.  In the 1970s all we had was our teletype in High School and a physics professor who promoted the idea of computer programming. Aside from various programming assignments (all of which were saved to punch tape), we burned up ungodly amounts of paper playing Star Trek. I loved the model 33 from the start for this reason. Again, never heard of an Altair until 30 years later.

Part 2:
And teletypes ended there until July 2004 when Wayne Durkee was selling a 33 ASR teletype Jones & Lamson Stored Program Tape Editor (which I still have). It was a modified 33 ASR which had a rudimentary computer in its base and you could enter commands and punch a tape which would then be used to control other machinery (CNC). IT was cool as hell. 

Over the next few years Wayne helped me find a few more model 33s and even a model 32. I would have to credit Wayne for getting me into ham radio because he told me about RTTY with the model 32, set my 32 up for 60WPM, gave me an ST-6 and gave me my first radio (Kenwood TS-520s), which I also have to this day and it still works. By this time I had learned of the Altair 8800 and wanted to recreate my computer based teletype experience from the 1970s by hooking a model 33 to an Altair and later to a PDP-8.

So I have Wayne to thank for a great deal of the beginning of my story.

Wayne wrote me this in June 2007:

Using your 32 for RTTY is a great idea.  However, its like driving an antique car.  There are lots better ways to do RTTY, like on a computer.  There are a few diehards using Model 15, 28 and 32's on RTTY.  They belong to an organization called Greenkeys.  About 300 members.  Internet mailbox to exchange info.  

As you are studying for your General license, you can look into the details of RTTY.  It will be part of the test.  

I would be glad to work over your 32 some time and I have the 60 wpm gears.  We can discuss the details later. 

So I have Wayne to thank for a great deal of the beginning of my story.

Part 3:
So now I had learned that there were other teletypes besides the model 32 and 33 and I began following greenkeys and looking for them.  I was fascinated by the various models and things took off. I found a model 28KSR in Fort Colins, which I bought and still have to this day. I found a model 35 in Colorado from a generous man named Brian.

And then I met Jack Hart. Jack lived about 12 hours away from me but was willing to be a mentor and share his knowledge and pass along a few machines here and there. He was a true legend when it came to teletypes and he had great stories to tell. By now I had a couple of model 28 KSRs and model 15s and various TUs. Eventually I found two model 19s and a 28ASR and I learned that if you wait long enough you can eventually get machine for free.

Part 4:
I was looking for a way to contribute. And I had met and gotten to know George Hutchison. He is also a legend in teletypes and still amazes me with what he knows and remembers. He remembers part numbers! I thought ITTY was amazing and George introduced me to Bill Bytheway (an outstaning programmer, one of the best I have ever met) who had created the programs that drive ITTY. At some point George indicated he probably would not run ITTY forever and I asked if I could continue it for him. He said yes and helped me get it going in Arvada. When George finally retired from ITTY it was my show. I’ve put my own spin to it and it is the best way that I know to contribute to our community.

Part 5:
I learned a great deal about ITTY and had it set up in Arvada when I asked George about the content behind it. That’s when I met Tom Tillson. Wow. Another Teletype expert. Tom really knows the early machines and in some ways knows more about how ITTY works than I do. He is a real partner in providing the ITTY service and it would not exist without him. I provide the technical infrastructure and Tom operates the whole thing every day. I rarely touch it, it’s all Tom.

Part 6:
I met Henning and got to know him and learned there are teleprinters other than Teletype and learned about the incredible products made by Siemens and something called TELEX (and i-Telex). Henning introduced me to a whole new aspect to our hobby. One these days I’ll get off my but and get that 32 working again AND get that Lorenz working, Henning. 

And that gets us to today. I have nowhere near the experience and knowledge that many of you do, but I am thrilled to be part of your community and I appreciate learning from all of you. I am humble and so very excited to be here.

So again to recognize those people who were behind this very aspect part of my life:

Part 1: Mr. Tinerello (math teacher) and Mr. Kota (physics teacher)
Part 2: Wayne Durkee
Part 3: Jack Hart
Part 4: George Hutchison
Part 5: Tom Tillson
Part 6: Henning Treumann
Part 7: To be discovered

Paul
W2TTY
i-Telex: 80003

ITTY:  		HTTP://INTERNET-TTY.NET:8000/ITTY
ITTY100:  	HTTP://INTERNET-TTY.NET:8010/ITTY100
AUTOSTART:  HTTP://INTERNET-TTY.NET:8030/AUTOSTART
EUROPE: 	HTTP://INTERNET-TTY.NET:8040/EUROPE

> On Apr 7, 2020, at 11:44 AM, Jeff G <jeffg at junknet.net> wrote:
> 
> I'm sure this has been done in the past, but figured I'd ask as I'm a bit of a newb here and it would give me something to read. What got you into Teletypes, and ultimately to Greenkeys? Can be a simple answer or a short story!
> 
> For me...I always had an interest in them, and I'm into vintage computing amongst many many many other hobbies. I acquired a Teletype Model 32 and HAL ST-6 last year, and its been a learning experience to learn about the history, how they work, current loops, baudot, etc. I'd love to get a 33 some day, and (hopefully) have lines on a couple older models as well now, as I LOVE the old/steampunk/electromechanical aspect of them, and have several older items displayed in my living room, like an Edison cylinder player (Edison Triumph). That said I'm probably a youngin at 42.
> 
> I'm also a new-ish ham (licensed in 2016) and definitely want to try RTTY, outside of a contest. Also just before the s--- hit the fan, I started volunteering on the Battleship NJ and aimed to help them get some of their TTY stuff going again.
> 
> Jeff KC3GJX
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