telexforum

Something that seems strange after studying the UK Telex Directories I have here is that of Answerback Codes.

The 1974 Directory has two sections, one searchable by subscriber name,the other by answerback code.

We are all used to the format 123456 Business G, but the directory appears to suggest that the answerback code is just Business name with no numbers - Reailse that most members here are not UK experts, is this situation the same in directories from other countries, or has the UK done it's own thing and decided not to put the machine number on the answerback?

Perhaps the answer is just as simple as the number is not added to the search by answerback section?

Cheers
Sean

Dear i-Telexers - apologies in advance if this is the wrong place to post or if this is covered elsewhere!

Since the demise of twitter-based news services, are there any other similar services that anyone is running as a public i-telex service that I can join?

Failing that I would cheerfully build my own, but I don't know how I would do that - but I do have a few raspberry pis lying around :dance:

I miss my M32 telex bursting in to life periodically :hehe:

cheers! Andy

Hi All,

I have been building some systems here for loan to Museums in the UK, one of the problems for I-Telex in the UK is the lack of Double Current signalling as an Off The Shelf solution.

UK specification teleprinters are generally found with a 3 wire double current or V.21 signalling system - the Analogue Card takes care of the latter, and with a UT55A converter it is possible to run a DC machine with V.21 interface, however these modules are rare, and ones that do exist often need a lot of component level repair and refurbishment - not something that all UK enthusiasts are completely happy to do.

There have been some versions of the DC interface card designed by Fred over on the Sourceforge pages, but most were concept ideas, or prototype designs, as such not tested fully.

Henning and Fred are still working on the latest version of this interface card.

Being a little impatient, last year I worked with Jeff Angus, to come up with an external solution - this will allow UK...

Just over a month to go before the best event of the year.

If there is anything in the UK that is not too big,and can get to my home address by June 18th could be transported to FN. At the moment I will be travelling empty, other than some refreshments for the weekend, and essential camping equipment.

For the return trip, I may be able to transport items from FN back to the UK,but please be aware, there may be customs issues - but I am happy to transport smallish items (that are legal to import to the UK)

I have no plans to be returning fully loaded with Junk like I may have done in the past :)

Please feel free to contact me directly with any needs,

Hello everyone,
I have created an RTTY transmission address at 50 bauds and 170 Hz displacement,
to do teletype writing reception tests.

Regards.

Hi all!

Today, during a discussion with my friends, the topic came up: what was the maximum/usual distance between telex end-user machines and exchanges? Or they used multiple signal amplifier substations?
I did not find any reasonable information on this topic. For 4-20mA current loop, the usual distance is 500m but we are slower and using higher line voltage, so I assume it should be more.
Does anybody has any info on this?

Hi All,

A short report from the Hitchin Telex Office follows......

I-Telex made it's first public outing at the RSGB National Hamfest this weekend.

Machines on presentation were the Siemens T100, and T68 - I am pleased to report that both behaved impeccably, one minor issuew with a destroyed ribbon on the T100, but easily repaired with spares on site.

Many times the display was praised as being the most interesting equipment on display, and even better that it was all fully operational, and even possible for visitors to try.

Lots of comments about the Creed Model 7 or 444 that was used in the past, and a good number of people with machines still tucked away.

Hopefully some new members will come from this event.

I have provisional bookings for 3 Amateur Radio club demonstrations, and maybe two museums that are very interested.

Things I learned this weekend -

1, Running a display on your own is very hard work!
2, Really need more English content - I will have to think about...

Hello forum members!

Just a quick announcement that I will present two machines at an open field day with my HAM radio club in Zsámbék, near Budapest, Hungary, this weekend, 8th of October. Usually, we have these open days at our site every 2-3 months, but this time it will be special; I plan to bring my telex machines with me.
What to present: Siemens T1000S, Brno T100, the i-Telex interface
What to do:
let visitors call each other from the machines and exchange messages
let them print out some message onto the punched tape and take it as a souvenir
let the visitors manually decrypt a punched tape message with the help of a printed ITA2 alphabet

I know that it's a pretty slim chance, but if you are interested in coming, let me know :D
I will post some pictures later.

Probably a very long shot - I am planning on taking I-Telex on the road in 2022.

Planning on taking up a stand at The National Hamfest on 14 and 15 October 2022 at the Newark Showground.

There is some on site camping available and I currently plan to take a T68, Creed 444 (if DC is working) and maybe a T100z or perhaps the FS200 or T1000 (UK Spec if working)

I fully realise that getting support from our German members will be an expensive proposition (much like our travelling to DL from the UK)

Is anyone interested in getting involved?

May be a complete waste of time, but this will be a first public outing in the UK.

I will cover the costs of booking the stand and the power supply - there will be some spare assistance passes for the stand.

Come on, anyone fancy a couple of days playing with Telex machines and talking to hopefully like minded individuals?

Hi all,

I chanced upon a reasonably priced Hasler (GB) Telex 3600-3 on eBay and, not having seen any similar PC telex interfaces for sale recently, I decided to shoot first and ask questions later. I understand this is a PC telex adapter, apparently similar to Deutsche Bundespost's TTX 11. It came without any documentation or software, and I've had limited success (to say the least) in making progress with this device. I'm hoping to tap into the collective knowledge here.

The device was originally designed for connection to BT's network. Labels on the inside indicate quality testing was completed in 1986, and the software EPROMS carry version information labels showing the same year. This date is consistent with the BABT green circular approval label. A search for the approval number turned up empty. The only identifier on the back plane, other than the serial number, is the type 3600-3.

The line interface is not mounted on the main board. It is mounted in the top cover and...

Hello dear I-Telexers,

Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Volker, I am german but have been living in Spain since my childhood. I currently live in Benalmadena near Málaga in southern Spain.

So, the international I-Telex community has a new member. I am currently waiting for delivery of my I-Telex system, but I have managed to connect my teletype (a spanish Siemens T-1000 with double current) via PiTelex, and it will be operating 24/7 for testing.

The I-Telex number is 48822 sama e , and I appreciate and will answer to any received signals.

You can write to me in English, Spanish, French, Catalan and of course in German. I am also able to understand (but not answer) in Romanian, Dutch and Italian.

A good start of the week to all, and best regards.

Since some weeks we have a service available at number 787878, where you can get the current weather and a 24h-forecast for more than 4000 airports worldwide.

Unfortunately the user interface was in German only. But now there is the same service available also in English under 787879.

We think, that it is much better while demonstrating teletype writers to visitors, guests or friends to see the printed text in a language you understand and for an airport in your vicinity.
The weather reports are created and distributed globally in a standardized format called METAR (METeorological Aerodrome Report) and TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast).

If you look for „METAR“ or „TAF“ at wikipedia.org there is a very good explanation of their syntax and content.
A METAR is generated only for airports, if there is a weather observer or an automatic weather station available. Usually that includes the major international airports and the regional ones. Plus military airfields.
All airfields around...

Hey telexlovers
Bought an old siemens t100 on ebay kleinanzeigen.de, it is missing a cable at the back, see picture. Any info pinout etc ?.Any one that have a cable with connector that i can buy ?.
Thanks
Gruss
Fredrik - Denmark
PS you can t100Stecker.jpg reply i german I understand.

Or better titled: how I use Johannes' software to connect to the serial i-telex port.

My i-Telex boards are in the basement far away from my PC. And my preferred PC is a mac and is upstairs. I wanted to send and receive i-Telex messages over serial and avoid the mistake of sending lines that are too long via telnet. And I was intrigued by all of the extra very useful features in his program.

I have his program running in Windows 10 running on my mac using VMWare. In this windows 10 computer I am also running com0com to create virtual com ports and also com2tcp which then routes the com traffic from the virtual port over my local network.

Then I have a raspberry Pi that is running ser2net, which is the linux equivalent of com2tcp. The raspberry PI has a USB connection to an USB/RS-232 connector to a null modem cable to the i-Telex TW39 special board.

It is working well.

Paul

I’m finally back in Austria again. I will be setting up a teleprinter and a new I-Telex station here. The teleprinter will arrive hopefully tomorrow. Details to be provided once I have the machine.

I am really starting from ground zero. If this were in the U.S. it would be easy!

I brought with me basic tools, wire, multimeter and such. I will be ordering a soldering iron from reichelt because mine would not work in Europe. I’ll be ordering I-Telex boards from Henning ASAP and begging and borrowing other things no doubt.

I need to get a small rack enclosure and the necessary extra items beyond just the I-Telex boards. Does anyone have a shopping list or list of part numbers for Reichelt to make ordering easier?

As a new person (pease be nice), and a native English speaker who is trying to learn the technical German words, terms and abbreviations, what do FS, LS, and FSG stand for? I will guess that FS means fernschreiber.

This forum is full of abbreviations. It took a while for me to reverse engineer WR and ZV but I eventually got it.

It is funny to see some of the German words translated into strange English words. My favorite for the moment is “Walzendosen” which translates to roller boxes! :llach: I think it is called a jack in America, although the 1/4 inch jack used in the United States is much less sophisticated.

Is there a wiki or a post somewhere that defines all the acronyms and translates them to English? If not, I might start one!

Paul

Morning all,

Some of you will know that the English telex system is a little different to the German Single Current system - over this side of the channel our machines use Double Current signalling.

This presents a problem in two areas

1, The need for a Double Current interface

2, The need for a Double Current FSG (Known as a signalling unit)

Problem 1 has a solution in place - Fred has a prototype.

Problem 2 is more difficult to solve.

Because nearly all of the machines that are available or are in private hands in the UK were used for RTTY, the signalling unit was discarded - no need for them when hooked up to a terminal unit for radio.

There is some information available that covers the earlier signalling units - for things like the Creed 7B and that sort of machine - this relies on a lot of relay logic to control the line and motor circuits.

I have looked into the possibility of recreating these signalling units using off the shelf parts, two problems become immediately...

Had a trip to the stores today, forgot I had this.

So, any experts here know much about the TSG 40 - Looks to be a telegraph signal generator.

With many thanks to Jan for the supply of the rather excellent front panels my I-Telex system is now fully dressed.

As soon as I have my next TW39 card, and an Analogue card, this system will be complete. TIme then to build the second one :)

Thanks Jan - you have saved me hours of measuring and drilling.

Sean

Hello all.
My name is Tomas Larsson, living i Sweden.
I have just aquired an old Teletype model 3321.
The problem I have is to identify what unit I really have, since the Electrics differs quite a lot from the drawings/images I have seen i various documents.

There is 4 circuit bords in slots, with edge contacts, in front of the circuitbords there is a transformer.
The Molex contacts, number 2 and 3 are un-populated, i.e the whole contact house is missing.
Position 1 seems to connect to external data, and number 5 to two switches on the face-plate (actually 4 switches but only 2 is connected).
The circuit bords are marked as follows, starting with board closest to the front:

Board #1 Teleprint BS 230 Connects with a header contact at the bottom
Board #2 Teleprint BS 263 Connects with a header contact at the bottom
Board #3 Must be powersupply for reader etc
Board #4 Teleprint BS 270 Connects with a header contact at the bottom
There is allso a small board mounted upside down in the...

Hello. Sorry to speak in English, but is the only forgein language that I know. I'm curios, in countries like Italy, France, Switzerland, West Germany, Great Britain, U.S.A. in the '70-'90's there where any telex subscribers at home, meaning private persons having a telex machine at home. ;)
For Germany (West, reunified) I found subscribers list called Amtliches verzeichnis der telexteilnehmer, but I didn't managed to see the contain of any of it.

A short film about the Rugby Radio Station.

Some Teleprinters in the film

IMG_20191026_190709_555.jpg

Seems I have another machine for the collection

This is a BT Merlin Super Cheetah.

I have all the original documentation, and service manuals, and this is a complete system, Keyboard, and printer

Works on V.21 for line connection, so I need to figure out how to get this onto I-Telex

It's a pretty soulless thing, but nice to find a British Electronic machine that might just work.

The PSU is full of lovely Rifa Dragons, so there will be little testing until I have replaced these.

Hello all,

I found these relays on eBay, and they look to be Telefone/teleprinter types - I have purchased a couple to play with.

Just putting them here if they are of interest to anyone - given their history, and coming from Military stores I rather wonder if they are used in something like the T100?

Cheers
Sean

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