[GreenKeys] Torn Tape Relay Transmitter project

[Jim Cooper]

On 21 May 2020 at 17:01, Nick England wrote:

> Lately I've been wiring up cables
> and connectors and debugging
> hardware. Here's the initial test of
> my tape transmitter components - six
> TDs singing and dancing together.
> Actually three channels, each with two
> TDs which operate in ping-pong
> fashion under control of a Message
> Identification Unit which inserts
> numbered headers at the beginning of
> each message.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRdK8
> ZvXNcI 

wow, does that bring back memories !!!

back when I was in my 20s, and working for 
ITT Worldcom (Mackay Radio) in NYC (in the 
LEASE TELEPRINTER engineering department, 
of course !!) my biggest accomplishment was the 
design and installation, on one entire floor of the 
Pan Am building, a gigantic 'automatic tape relay 
and switching' system ... using rows and rows of 
Model 28 R/T cabinets (receive/transmit) that 
would receive and punch tape from far-flung PanAm 
offices and resend them on different-speed outgoing 
channels (some paced at 1/2-speed or even 1/4-speed; 
which did not change the actual speed, but rather 
interspersed 2 or 4 characters from different tape 
transmitters!) ...  all automatically switched by stunt 
box coded switches in various M-28 ROs ...  my design 
schematic for the wiring was developed and drawn on 
giant sheets of paper taped to my office wall !! 

I wish now that I had taken lots of photos, but was 
way too busy overseeing the bevy of techs that worked 
from Friday night, all night, all day Saturday (24 hours) 
until about noon on sunday ...  of course the union techs 
went thru several shifts, but still ended up making 
triple time by the time Sunday rolled around. 

Having been super active with ham and MARS RTTY 
for eight years before that, that job was of course 
a "busman's holiday" as they say! 

w2jc    ex-w2bve