[GreenKeys] oddity on the bay

[Robert Nickels]

On 4/17/2020 11:00 AM, Jim Haynes wrote:
> That's most likely a code practice machine

The famed (or infamous?) Instructograph!   Look in the back of any old 
QST from the 50s or 60s and you'll likely find a little ad for one, for 
sale or rent.   In the summer of '65 my dad proposed that if I did 
certain chores during the summer of my 14th year, he'd rent an 
Instructograph for me as preparation for taking my General class exam 
when the FCC came to Omaha in late summer. Which I did, and which 
greatly supplemented my on-air Novice contacts where I'd loaf along at a 
comfortable 10 wpm or so speed.   (It was common for many of us to have 
to overcome a "hump" between that and the 13 wpm required, and this was 
in the days when the FCC required 65 perfect characters in a row out of 
5 minutes of Morse, no "multiple choice" content questions!)

The unit shown is motorized, I've got an earlier one around here that 
had a wind-up motor like old phonographs.   There was a little knob that 
allowed you to adjust the speed - down to where it was easy copy and 
where you could memorize the tape, for example.   But even my young self 
realized this was defeating the purpose and disciplined myself to do my 
daily practice at 15 wpm or better, and despite having the jitters from 
being in front of "THE FCC", I passed the test and got my General before 
my one-year Novice ticket expired.   I will say I was happy to pack the 
Instructograph and and send it on it's way to the next victim!

73, Bob W9RAN

PS:  The Instructograph used a spring-loaded mechanical contact to sense 
actual holes in the paper, the more sophisticated military TG-34-A used 
a gas-filled type 923 phototube to detect black marks on the paper tapes 
and trigger the oscillator. They're very cool but don't seem to attract 
much interest, which is why I have one and a wooden case full of tapes 
around here too!