[GreenKeys] How did you acquire your Teletypes?

Wed Aug 26 14:02:21 EDT 2020

I live in what I fondly call the Teletype Black Hole.

The long and short of it is I leveraged patience and a myriad of tools to build up what I have today, and will continue doing so well into the future. Hopefully this comes of some use to others who have the same question.

If your area is a black hole like mine, most likely you'll have to resort to shipping and/or road trips. It's just part of the game.

 * *eBay Saved Search*
   * I suspect you may already be leveraging this tool, but I created saved searches for all relevant terms like teletype, teleprinter, teletypewriter, rtty, radioteletype, ratt, and so on. I have gotten an AN/UGC-74B for more than I should have paid for (it's built to withstand a nuke, practically, so even our beloved shipping trinity of USPS/UPS/FedEx couldn't damage it), some Model 14 TDs and 14 typing reperforators, and a couple of line test units via this method. I've also gotten some interesting smaller items like tuning forks, motors, classic telephone-style switches, a great deal on a whole bunch of paper tape, metal ribbon spools (the NOS ribbons are usually but not always too dry for use-- sometimes I've had clearly ancient ribbons that were sealed really well that were still usable), and other parts. https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/search-tips/saved-searches?id=4051
 * *National Craigslist Search*
   * While I had set up searches for our local online classifieds (Utah tends to use KSL.com rather than Craigslist), I've yet to see anything come up locally except than some overpriced paper rolls once. There are various tools to search all Craigslist. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=craigslist+national+search&t=brave&ia=web I think Search Tempest and "All of Craigslist" are the ones I've personally used. 
 * *Facebook*
   * I hate the Facebook. But their marketplace seems to be very active in most areas. I don't spend a lot of time browsing there since they don't offer automatic searches with notifications like eBay and the Utah-local KSL.com classifieds does since they want to keep you on the site all the time so they can track and sell your soul, but it's a resource a lot of people forget about.
 * *The GKN - GreenKeys Network*
   * From time to time folks will call out local machines they are aware of on the group or advertise machines they personally need to help find new homes. People have also sometimes had luck sending out a message asking if anyone is aware of available machines in particular areas.
 * *Harold's List*
   * Harold Hallikainen is kind enough to aggregate listings from GreenKeys and other sources in a list here-- it's good to revisit once in a while in case you're able to make it out to or arrange some other kind of shipping method from the updated locations: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I6TgY5PEQ35c6IVqWWrV5lmEvdRVZxkj8FaYxUj87qM/edit
 * *Thrift Stores, Yard Sales, Estate Sales*
   * This may be obvious, but taking a quick 10 minutes to stroll through whatever thrift/consignment/antique store and yard sale and especially estate sale you may pass by on your regular travels will may just one day yield some results. I've yet to see anything outside of typewriters at my local stores and yard sales, but someone once described a Model 28 ASR to me they said they saw at a nearby thrift store just a few weeks prior. I kicked myself for not having gotten it. 
     * goodwill.org may be a resource you could use-- I've never found teletypes there myself, but I haven't used it much. Perhaps I should utilize it more. It's a great portal into auctions available from Goodwill stores around the country.
 * *Shipping/hauling methods *- combine with any option above
   * *Uship.com *- A handy site where you can choose a pre-advertised rate or put out a freight job for smaller freighters to bid on. I found a Model 19 with table/power supply and Model 15 in Madison, WI and found a small freighter on uship.com who bid a price within my range at the time. The seller was willing to put them on a pallet and ratchet them down and wrap them up. I posed the question in a local ham group, and someone worked for a logistics company that was willing to have my pallet delivered to their loading dock for free (having to pick up with a lift is typically $100 extra, as is having to drop off, so that saved me $100). With the $100 lift pickup fee and the shipping, it was still $400 for that pallet. That was about half of what the big freighters like UPS/FedEx wanted for the pallet. I probably could have shaved off a little more if we had accurate weight measurements, but we likely overestimated. This was in 2016.
   * *Have truck, will travel* - if you have a trailer or a truck or anything that's not a Smart Car, probably, you probably have enough room to pick up even something as large as a 28-- I've heard stories of guys packing ASRs in the trunks of their Corollas or something like that, so where there's a will there's a way. Also, I suffer from Fear of Doing New Things-- I think most of us do even if we don't recognize it. Comfort zones and all that. Sometimes you just gotta take a couple days off work and drive 800 miles one way to do something you're really interested in. You probably won't regret making a big trip like that, but you probably will regret not doing it at least once. And this comes from someone who isn't able to take a whole ton of time off of work and only takes time off to be with his immediate family.
   * *Renting uHaul* - I mainly mean renting one of their small trailers. The flatbeds aren't very expensive. Even the covered trailers aren't that bad. They don't track miles, just a flat daily rate. Renting a truck is a lot more expensive since you have a daily rate plus 79 cents a mile, but once in a great while someone on GreenKeys will do this (or use their own truck/big trailer) and deliver a big haul of machines on their way around the country in exchange for gas money and some food, which makes the cost split between various people and thus more palatable. Penske in the instance of a really huge haul/truck and 1000+ miles I think will usually be cheaper than uHaul.
   * *FedEx/UPS pack n' ship* -- this is handy, but I wouldn't exactly recommend it. You can pay FedEx or UPS to pack and ship your machines if a far away seller is willing to drop them off but not willing to pack/ship. Only smaller machines will work this way-- FedEx told me the Model 14 typing reperfs I had them pack and ship were technically over the limit, but they ended up doing it anyway, so good on that local branch. Their shipping process ended up damaging one of the reperfs for me in transit, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to honor a claim, but they eventually did refund the cost of both the packing/shipping AND what I paid to the seller, so I ended up getting those machines for free. I'd recommend avoiding this option except in cases where the machine is totally enclosed: The 14 TDs are simpler machines, simpler shapes (no keys sticking out or odd protrusions), and pretty much fully enclosed and didn't experience any damage.
   * *B**us Shipping* - I haven't used this method yet, but it looks promising and generally cheaper and safer than the trinity shippers. Packages have to be 100 pounds or less, but a Model 15 is a prime example of being able to easily split into its modules and ship in 2 - 3 packages.   https://www.busfreighter.com/ and http://www.shipgreyhound.com/
   * *People with which you have connections*, even if the connections aren't personal. Don't underestimate this option. I was able to leverage the help of a work colleague who shares an affinity for old tech and who lived a few states away to help me get some machines near his location to me-- he picked them up and dropped them off at FedEx. I didn't even know the guy personally until that time-- I just put a general request out on the retrocomputing Slack channel I run at work. That local ham connection also helped me save a lot of money shipping by allowing my pallet to be delivered to his company's loading dock. 
     * Also, it doesn't hurt to put a message out to the GreenKeys group to see if there are any GreenKeyers in an area you're hoping to pick something up-- you never know when someone may be traveling your direction to visit family or willing to hold something for you until you're able to travel to their location, or even someone who's going halfway to your location combined with someone at the halfway point who's willing to hold for you. Maybe they just act as a middle man to get the machine from the seller to a shipper/freighter a few miles away. You'll be hard pressed to find a more helpful and willing group-- but it doesn't hurt to offer a giftcard or something to sweeten the deal!
 * *Any local GreenKeyers? *
   * I didn't think I had any brethren/sistren nearby when I first joined the list, but I eventually found out I am not alone when someone else on GK asked if there were any other Utahns on board. Turns out there are at least three of us. One of the guys has a warehouse downtown with a fair number of machines he's rescued over time, and two of us Utahn GKers plus a few other locals not on GK found ourselves the proud new owners of some great 28s, 3Xs, and even some Frieden Flexowriters (I'm a glutton for punishment). It might be worth asking on the list to see if you have some kindred spirits near your location. Even if you're never able to obtain any machines through these channels, it's great to meet up sometimes and just talk the trade, share tips, and enjoy each other's collections and accomplishments. Two of us in Utah have frequented some local shows, and it's always nice to say hello and see what the other is up to. After interacting with folks on GK for a while, you'll end up getting a general awareness of some people who live in nearby states that you can drop in and visit one day and who may be able to help be a halfway point for some future machine you rescue.

I'm going to have to compile this and other suggestions people have at teletype.net. It's about time I update that site-- so much I want to do with it, so little time.

-
Jordan Spencer Cunningham
teletype.net | GreenKeys Search Engine: teletype.net/gksearch
SMS via teletype: 385-308-4898 | Email via teletype: tty at nerdology.org

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020, at 9:08 AM, GodOfCows wrote:
> (This is my first post to the email list)
> 
> I just started getting into teletypes this year, mainly off my fascination with early computing input/output. However, I'm struggling in acquiring teletypes. So far Ebay has been my only source for both material and teletypes themselves. It's been a crapshoot to say the least. I've gotten a nice Model 32 Teletype that I've managed to repair, but a Model 33 101c Teletype that I got came in the worst packing job I have ever seen, it's repairable, but cosmetically it's beyond repair (I spent about 4 hours glueing and melting plastic pieces back together). 
> 
> In the end I'd just like to know how you got your teletypes? Any tips for a new guy?
> 
> Many thanks.
> ______________________________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> 
> >>> Jordan Spencer Cunningham's GreenKeys Search Tool: https://teletype.net/gksearch
> >>> 2002-to-present greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
> >>> 1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
> >>> Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to js at teletype.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20200826/3b66a23c/attachment.html>