[Ham-Computers] Still Need Help

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

No replies, so I am posting this again - 	
	
Hi All, 	
	
Yep, the old blind dude list admin with another scanning problem. 		
	
A Ham friend in Oregon mailed me some short-wave QSL cards his late father
received during the 1930's. Fascinating items! I tried to scan one and ran into
trouble.	
	
Because I intended to put them in the QSL Gallery on the HCI web site, I changed
the scanner resolution from the default of 150 pi down to 75 pi. I scanned in
color. I scanned actual size. It was saved as an image file.	
	
I then changed it from .bmp to .jpg, lowered the compression down to 90% and
saved the image. 	
	
When a friend viewed it there were some black smudges in text areas, black
typewriter ink text on a white background. (Remember, they used manual
typewriters with inked ribbons then! Ink breaks down over 65 years.) I thought
perhaps there was a fingerprint of a certain blind man on the scanner bed, so I
cleaned it. I did the scan again. Same problem.	
	
I raised the resolution back to 150 pi. Now the smudge was more faint, but it
was still present. 	
	
There is nothing visible on the card itself to the eye.  	
	
This smudge, or whatever it is, occurs only in text areas. The colors of the
card are fine and clear.  	
	
Any ideas as to what is causing this?	
	
I am thinking it is from the light used by the scanner causing the degraded
sixty-five year old ink to show up. 	
	
Thanks for your thoughts on this.  	
	
Duane W8DBF