There doesn't seem to be as much RTTY activity theses days as
there once was. But considering the rise of other HF digital
modes, that's hardly surprising.

Can I see a show of hands (or keyboards) to those of you out
there that still get on RTTY at least occasionally?

Are you running iron or glass TTY machines?

Are you adhering to the standard 170 Hz shift with either a
home brew TU or production TU like a HAL unit? Or are you
using 200 Hz shift with a PK-232 or Kam (as an example)?

When was the last time you were on?

I used to run RTTY back in the late '70s on 145.850 AFSK
back when FM was limited to 146 and above. ;-)

In the '80s I ran a Model 19 table set and later a model 32
with a HAL ST-6000

And yes, I'll admit to getting on a few times with the KAM
in the '90s but I also played with the HAL PCI-3000 card.

Just curious to see what's doing on RTTY these days.

Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi
"Real keyboard have green key caps."

--
“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”
Frank Leahy, Head coach, Notre Dame 1941-1954

http://www.stay-connect.com

On 1/17/2010 6:28 PM, Jeffrey D Angus wrote:
There doesn't seem to be as much RTTY activity theses days as
there once was. But considering the rise of other HF digital
modes, that's hardly surprising.

Can I see a show of hands (or keyboards) to those of you out
there that still get on RTTY at least occasionally?

I suggest you join the Greenkeys mailing list: please visit
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys for details.

Bill, W1AC

P.S. I used to have a model 15, but my dad put it out in the trash while
I was in Vietnam. C'est la guerre.

(Filter QRM for direct replies)

Ivor Jones wrote:
I used to have a Creed 444 until it caught fire (yes, really,
I had a shack fire around 20 years ago that ruined *everything*)

That would be this fine part would it not?
http://www.rtty.com/England/creed444.html

Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi



--
“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”
Frank Leahy, Head coach, Notre Dame 1941-1954

http://www.stay-connect.com

It's interesting that you don't hear much, Jeff. In the contesting
world a lot of people get angry at the rtty'ers for taking up a lot of
bandwidth.

Anyhow, I use RTTY, but do it via computer. I usually use 200 shift.

The mode is okay, but I have one small complaint, which actually
extends to other modes. T mny abrtns! The thing I like about PSK31 is
that we type mostly english. We do the standard 73's and sk, which
although not really related to the mode, is kind of ingrained into
Hams by now, but for the most part type the words me mean into the
machine the same way they are spelled in the dictionary. Just a minor
rant. Otherwise I like the mode just fine.

I understand that during the heyday of machine RTTY, they used to send
pictures that we computer people called "ascii art"
- 73 de Mike N3LI -

Michael J. Coslo wrote:

I understand that during the heyday of machine RTTY, they used to send
pictures that we computer people called "ascii art"

Oh yeah. I hadn't thought about that in years. There used to be some
pretty fancy ones floating around. Naturally you needed a very good
signal to send them via actual radio, since a minor loss of signal would
mess up the artwork pretty well.

A short, true, but not ham-radio story: Years ago, when the TTYs had
paper tape punches attached, one of our engineers decided to punch a
numeric-control tape using a file that he had stored in his computer
account. He punched it, put it on the numerically-controlled drill
press, and proceeded to ruin a nice hunk of metal. He came in and asked
us what the problem could possibly be. We ran the tape through the
printer and got the expected garbage typed out, until suddenly up popped:

THE SYSTEM WILL GO DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE IN FIVE MINUTES. PLEASE LOG OFF

73, Steve KB9X

On Jan 20, 12:02 pm, "Michael J. Coslo" wrote:

I understand that during the heyday of machine RTTY, they used to send
pictures that we computer people called "ascii art"

Way back when I was a student at The University, we had quite the RTTY
setup at W3ABT. S-line, TT/L demod, Model 19 printer with punch and
reader, patch panel for other things, Heath monitor 'scope set up for
two-loops indication, the works. Had some of that art, too. I still
have one piece of it somewhere, too.

We knew what "chads" were back then.

Among other antennas, we had four elements on 20 meters on a tower on
the roof of the Moore School, where the shack was located. Among other
things, that was where the world's first high-speed, general-purpose,
digital electronic computer (ENIAC) was designed, built, and put into
operation until being moved to Aberdeen, MD.

In QST about 1963 or so there was an article about various RTTY tricks.
One of them was a way to make the paper tape spell out letters in the
holes. If you ran the tape through a printer it looked like garbage but
if you looked at the tape itself the message was perfectlyclear.

Some folks could even do a form of music using the bell and LTRS/FIGS
keys. Early techno?

Ah, the smell of hot oil...

73 de Jim, N2EY

Steve Bonine wrote:
Michael J. Coslo wrote:

I understand that during the heyday of machine RTTY, they used to
send pictures that we computer people called "ascii art"

Some fine examples he
http://www.threedee.com/jcm/aaa/

More links he
http://www.rtty.com/gallery/gallery.htm

We ran the tape through the printer and got the expected garbage
typed out, until suddenly up popped:

THE SYSTEM WILL GO DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE IN FIVE MINUTES.
PLEASE LOG OFF

I just hate when that happens. ;-)

Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi


--
“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”
Frank Leahy, Head coach, Notre Dame 1941-1954

http://www.stay-connect.com

Michael J. Coslo wrote:
It's interesting that you don't hear much, Jeff. In the contesting
world a lot of people get angry at the rtty'ers for taking up a
lot of bandwidth.

Some contesters would complain that you're wasting air that they
should be breathing.

Anyhow, I use RTTY, but do it via computer. I usually use 200 shift.

Which was one of my original questions.

Amateur RTTY back in the beginning used 850 Hz shift and was finally
brought down to 170 Hz shift as equipment improved enough to be able
to stay tuned.

The use of 200 Hz shift was a result of using a Bell Modem standard
for early data transmissions over the phone lines in the "new" all
mode terminal units. This was a compromise to incorporate RTTY into
the units, rather than a terminal unit specifically designed for
RTTY operation.

The mode is okay, but I have one small complaint, which actually
extends to other modes. T mny abrtns!

This is a pet peeve of mine. This is a written medium. Please
use English, and make an attempt at proper spelling, grammar
and punctuation.

I can understand abbreviations being used in a slower mode.
(And no, I'm NOT bashing Morse code) Especially in traffic
handling situation with a lot of repetitious messages being
sent.

Although, I will make exceptions for the few people I've had
a QSO with on RTTY that typed painfully slow. ;-)

Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi



--
“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”
Frank Leahy, Head coach, Notre Dame 1941-1954

http://www.stay-connect.com