[GreenKeys] How did you acquire your Teletypes?

[Ralph Irish]

G/K 

I was fortunate in that several older hams in my area worked hard to convince the Michigan Bell 
Telephone people to stop 'crunching' old TELETYPEs and make them available to area hams. 
One of the big boosters of this was Ralph Leland, W8DLT (SK). He was a Michigan Bell retiree 
at that time. 

An organization was formed and named something like, The Michigan Teletype Society. They had 
someone with a little legal experience draft up a document that was called a "WAIVER", and when 
a ham got a TELETYPE he signed the Waiver. His signature indicated that he would not sell the 
item for more than he paid for it, short of genuine improvements and add-ons. He would not sell it 
to anyone not a ham operator and no one out of Michigan. AND he would not use it for any sort of 
commercial purpose. The printing of UPS and AP "Press" was considered a gray area back then, but 
there were no strict prohibitions cited. As long as the 'Press' stayed in one's shack, no one seemed to 
care. 

I don't know how much 'legal weight' this WAIVER carried, but the overall system worked quite 
well. When a ham sold a machine acquired in this manner, they were supposed to get a blank WAIVER 
and have the new owner sign it, etc. It was sent to some central location and kept on file, we were told. 

There was a 'price list' for various machines. I've long since lost any of that documentation, but there 
may be a few in SD Michigan who still have some of them. The only items available at that time were 
Model 19, Model 15, Model 14TD and Model 14REPERFs. Occasionally a three-headed TD would show 
up or a rare FRXD. Don't have a clue as to how they were priced. Until Irv Hoff got the California phone 
company to release a hundred Model 28 machines, owning one was an expensive proposition. They were 
scarce and often brought over $300 in the 'private market'. I never heard of any being distributed via the 
Michigan "WAIVER" system. Two of the "Mouse Machines" did make it to Michigan, and were sold to 
two hams who had worked hard in the hobby on behalf of other RTTY operators. (W8TMO and K8QLO, 
both long time Silent Keys.) 

- - - - 

My first acquisition was a Model 15RO, that I have seen described or 'nicknamed' a Mailbox Cabinet. The 
entire front of the cabinet was raised straight up, and it pivoted on a hinge in the back, and with brackets, 
springs and other hardware, was completely out of the way for adjustments, paper change,ribbon change, 
etc. There was an indicated place on the 'blind side' of the front cover that could be easily cut out to allow 
the installation of a keyboard. The cabinet front swung outward and then upward, so that the opening and 
closing would not be affected by the keyboard. 

I got a 'new old stock' Model 15 Keyboard from Ralph Leland at his home, for $5.00, no waiver required, 
and went to work to modify the cabinet front. Ralph's slightly oversized 2 car Garage had not been used 
for an automobile for several years after he got involved in distributing TTY gear. It took him about five 
minutes after he went in a side door to locate and retrieve that keyboard in its original box. I was not allowed 
inside the garage. 

I was assisted in getting this machine going by a 'one-armed, one-eyed' US Veteran, who lived just a few 
miles away. He lost part of his right arm and one eye as a fighter pilot in WW II. He was one great 
gentleman, is all I can say. My first trip to his QTH was a real eye-opener. He had built a bunch of HeathKit 
items for his shack. A complete transmitter, a compete receiver and an amplifier. I have forgotten the Heath 
names of the items. It was a most impressive shack, then more-so due to his physical losses. (Mohawk 
transmitter name comes to mind. A 19" wide by 10 3/4" high front panel. A very large cabinet behind this.) 
I think the Receiver was of similar size, and it and the companion amplifier all had some sort of 'American 
Indian' name. 

Ben Woodall was originally from Texas and held a W5 call prior to WW II. He settled in Michigan and worked 
for LTV in come engineering capacity. When that operation was moved to Texas, he went right along with it and 
was able to reclaim his W5 call from earlier years. I think that he lived to the age of around 78 before passing. 

- - - - 

Anyway, that is the long version of How I Got My First TELETYPE. 

Sorry if I got 'long winded'! Just had a lot of nice memories as I went along, one triggering another. 

73, 

Ralph - W8ROI 


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