[GreenKeys] Teletype purchase/restoration

[W2HX]

What an excellent project! Kudos to you for undertaking something so complex using such rudimentary technology. As for the teletypes, you should definitely look for something local, or at least in Europe. Shipping will be more than the teletype itself otherwise. I am partial to the model 28 units, but to each his own. The Model 33s are very very expensive because the vintage computer folks like them to mate up with their PDPs or S-100 bus computers.

I might suggest something a little more modern (not full mechanical) for you and your cousin. Something like this might good:
https://bw-schmitti.de/produkt/fernschreiber-tekade-fs200z-wie-neu/
https://bw-schmitti.de/produkt/fernschreiber-tekade-fs220z/

I have no idea what shipping might cost from Germany to Romania. These are 50 baud machines (European standard) as compared with the US 45.45 baud closest standard. They seem to have a printer, 5-level tape reader and punch so everything you might need. They are RS-232 machines, not loop which might be good for your use.

For communication with your cousin, you might consider a project called “i-Telex” which is run by some very sharp guys in Europe.  https://www.i-telex.net/

Anyway, I hope others will add to the conversation.
@moderators, I noticed that when I did a reply-all or simple reply, I could not get the Greenkeys list address to be included in this email. I had to add Greenkeys back to the address line manually. Is this a recent change? I seem to recall I used to be able to “reply” to the user for a private reply, or “reply-all” to include both the original poster and Greenkeys…

HNY everyone es 73
Eugene W2HX


From: greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net <greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of London Night via GreenKeys
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2020 7:53 PM
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [GreenKeys] Teletype purchase/restoration

    Hello. Let me introduce myself. My name is Alex, I am a 21 year old student at the Mechanical faculty (mechatronics and robotics major), in Timisoara, Romania. I've been in absolute love with anything that means electrical stuff, physics, computer science, clockmaking, etc.
    A couple of months ago, while watching all the content I could find on old relay and vacuum tube computers which were made during the war, like the Colossus computer, and Bletchley Park, I found out that such a thing as a teletype exists, and of course, I had to go watch a lot of content on those, to educate myself on their operating principle. I found on youtube a restoration project led by Curious Mark, and I was instantly in love with the teletype machine, and watching Mark have so much fun trying to get his machines to work made me realize that I would love to try that myself, and in the end, end up with a working teletype or two, with which I could have quite a bit of fun.
    So I set out on a quest of finding myself 2 previously working teletype machines, which I would then get them into operating condition again, and then I would most likely make some sort of module which would connect the current loop to some sort of microcontroller, and then connect those two teletypes through the internet that way. I would then most likely give one of the teletypes to my cousin, who loves antique stuff just as much as me, and we would communicate with eachother that way.
    This is why I came to you, I don't know what would be the best course of action in finding and contacting someone who has two teletypes and would like to give/sell them. The biggest problem is that I am a student, and I don't have that much money to spend. Also, I have to evaluate my options, because the transport cost can be huge if the package is big and heavy... So I would have to find a good way to transport them, and/or find someone who is closer to my country.
    Because of those transport constrains, I have to carefully choose the model of teletype I want. I would like some almost-all or all mechanical model of teletype, first I was thinking of the Model 19, but those are very big and bulky and heavy, and I have no idea how I would transport those from another country. I don't know how the cabinet itself would be disassembled, to save space on transport. Then I thought it would be almost impossible to transport one of those, let alone two, so now I am thinking about a model 33, which is much smaller, and also probably weighs less. I could also use the tape reader/tape punch to upload programs to my relay computer since the tape is 8 bits wide. (if you wanna see details about my relay computer, head on to http://www.cemprelaycomputer.com<http://www.cemprelaycomputer.com,>)
    How would you guys think is the best way in which I could do this?

    Thank you, and happy holidays! :)
                                ~~Alexandru Danco

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