MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Aug. 26/98 Index: NADCOMM; North American Data Communications Museum SPECIAL EVENT REPORT; St. Charles Mo. MEMBERS WRITE; More Web Sites of Interest, Email Address With Messages? BC-620/BC-659 Rebut, NEW MEMBER; Don Robert House HUMOR; *********************************************** NADCOMM; The North American Data Communications Museum Fallbrook, CA --- Prospect Heights, IL --- Randolph, NJ What the heck is NADCOMM? Well back in 1984 I was visiting a telephony equipment supplier in Virginia. During the tour of the facility I noticed a 35 ASR Teletype with only 50 hours on the hour meter! It was being loaded for the scrapper. I objected and the company gladly sent it to me via Roadway Express along with a second 35 ASR for parts and a 35 RO. Well, why would I want these machines...? Since leaving the US NAVY in 1966 I went to work for Illinois Bell as a Teletype Repairman. I spent years working on the "beasties" and I also needed a machine to make mailing labels for our old car club. I rewired the monster for use on-line and swapped a sprocket feed typing unit for the friction feed one. As time went on, the idea of collecting and preserving older Teletype and early data communications equipment was brewing in the back of my mind. It all came together in 1996 when I let several people know I was going to establish a volunteer museum. Many of my old friends from Illinois Bell thought the idea was unusual but interesting and several "got the bug" and assisted in finding many old and interesting items. Since I attended more than 25 training courses at the Bellcore Training Center in Lisle, IL many of these folks got to know me pretty well and decided to donate equipment instead of sending it to the land fill. I found many test sets saved from the scrapper by the owner of Radio Station WNIB in Chicago, Mr. Bill Florian. My long time Illinois Bell friends Frank Frisch and Bob Cnota helped collect and store many of these items. When I retired from Ameritech in September of 1996 the collection took up quite a bit of space in my basement and in a 20' x 30' storage facility. When we moved to Southern California it took an additional $4,000.00 to transport the equipment to Fallbrook. In Fallbrook, we began by storing the equipment in a storage building, but the rent was $112.00 per month, which I did not want to spend, and so my wife suggested making the garage into a museum. I worked day and night to bring all of the stuff here and set it up. Many things I could not have done without the help of local friend and engineer, Bob Gordon. Then my long time friend, Roger Bindl volunteered to set up our website and the rest as they say, "is history." You can view our website at: http://www.hem.com/nadcomm Pacific Bell found out I was using ISDN to telecommute and asked if they could do a story on me for the Internet. I said "sure." Well when the scout came here he saw the ISDN installation, but was more impressed with the museum collection, which by then included the ex-Bellcore DDS Hub and end-office equipment and a Model 26 TTY from the Pasadena area. After both a 3 hour photo session and a 2 hour interview the feature article was put onto Pacific Bells website. You can see and hear it by pointing your browser to: http://www.pacbell.com/others/stories/story-12.htm After several months of keeping in contact with friends via e-mail, Jim Harvey, WB8NBS told me about the "Greenkeys" reflector. I, of course, signed up right away. Through the reflector I have met many individuals who have contributed to the museum and have become both benefactors and friends. Several are people with the same ideas I have and have become members of our board of directors. Tom Kleinschmidt and Jack Hart have dedicated themselves to the effort by accepting appointments as Vice Chairmen and are making their collections available for people to see in the Midwest and Eastern regions. The preservation instinct is strong for those of us who started in the data communications business in the 60s. We are always looking to add additional equipment, supplies, literature, documentation and memorabilia. My son, Richard wrote our mission statement, which you can see on our website, however the ideas are well written and I would like to share them with you here: "The North American Data Communications Museum (NADCOMM) is committed to the project of collecting, displaying, and operating the equipment which has powered the communications revolutions of the twentieth century, from telegraphy to digital telephony. The collection, largely donated by committed telecommunications workers and businesses, already encompasses a wide array of machines spanning the entire history of teletypewriters and the transition to contemporary digital modem technology. NADCOMM's goal is to counter the present state of communications history, marked by the quick and successive obsolescence of "last year's models," by maintaining a working collection of functional equipment tracing the stages through which telecommunications technology has passed. Curator Don Robert House and the NADCOMM staff believe that this project involves more than the nostalgia of the technophile. The advances in technology preserved in the NADCOMM collection have shaped not only the present state of technology but economic, social, and cultural history through their use in industry and mass media. Whether or not we accept the premise that these advances mark the transition of world history into a wholly new postmodern "Information Age," their impact on contemporary culture makes the unique project of NADCOMM a vital one. Moreover, the fact that equipment is displayed in a functioning state means that the NADCOMM collection remains a valuable resource for hands-on technological training for the communications professional and the interested layperson alike." Thank you Rich, I couldn't have said it better myself! In addition to the equipment already mentioned we have acquired many unique and unusual items. Some are ex-military and these include the CV89 RTTY FSK converters and an R-1051B receiver to receive Radio Teletype messages. We have equipment waiting to be picked up in several areas of the U.S. and hope to obtain a telegraph carrier system that is being preserved in Florida if we can figure out how to get it to one of our locations. Tom is hoping to rent a storefront location in the Chicagoland area where interested folks can see this technology without having to climb down basement stairs or fly to the foothills of Northern San Diego County. Come on down and visit us sometime, just call or write first for an appointment. Don Robert House Chairman & Curator, NADCOMM e-mail: nadcomm@usa.net *********************************************** SPECIAL EVENT REPORT; St. Charles Mo. Well Ike and I had the usual good time, camping out, and exercising Ike's bar B Qing skills, and some minor problems with the local biting bugs. But as hamfest's go, twasn't too good, and far below it's glory in past years as seems to be the national trend. The Power Wagon did pretty good, but it's pilot shaft bear is making a lot of nasty sounds so gotta pull the trany(no minor chore) before the Peoria Fest on Sept.19 that should eat up several days of precious time! The only military items showing up were a BC-459 command transmitter for $10.00 so I got it, what the hell, I only got about six of um. Next was a BC-721(glider BC-611), asking price was $100, I offered $50, ended up paying $75. Figgured that after driving 250 miles I wasn't going home empty handed. Also present was BC-221 for $45, an NC-3 for $450, both went home with their owners. Dave Sundheimer had come down from Minnesota with Paul Washa(the book guy), poor bastard, after all that driving, went home with nothin. I had a conversation with Paul about his books and some special group prices, looks like we might be able to work somethin out in the not too distant future. After a very brief rest Monday I headed off for a State Auction in Jeff City(about 90 miles from here). Spent about $75.00 and bought five lots of land mobile equipment. It will take me most of the week to get it all home(multiple trips with a BIG truck and trailer) so will be out of pocket most of this week. Dennis *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; Someone's auctioning a Collins R-391 (not me!). I know some people don't like notices like this, but this set is a pretty rare bird and I figure some folks here will want to know. At this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=26647356 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Web Sites of Interest, Dennis, I too enjoyed the BC-620 overview, Thanks Ed! I appreciate our members editorial efforts! There is some interesting reading from the Mississippi Historical Radio and Broadcasting Society Newletter. I think I found this site surfing one day for BC equipment. It outlines some of the early days we were discussing. I don't vouch for it's validity, just another piece of the puzzle. " In 1939 Armstrong, with engineering support from GE, demonstrated FM's superiority to the Signal Corps. " I won't post the articles, but they are on the internet: These two articles mention the BC-348, ROA, BC-654, BC-659, BC-1306 with great photos. The other articles in their database do not deal with military gear, so I will save you some download time. http://home.cybertron.com/~comcents/mhr/mhrnl/nl4-4.html http://home.cybertron.com/~comcents/mhr/mhrnl/nl4-2.html With our current GRC9 interest, an unrelated site with a nice GRC9 / DY88 picture and TM field setup details can be found at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Jeep_Man/grc9.htm Ralph Hogan WB4TUR ralph.hogan@vmic.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Email Address With Messages? Dennis, May sound like a dumb question but I do not understand why it is necessary to add the email address at the end of a message. I am not computer "smart" but my address is added automatically on the message header. Is that standard? If so why add it to the end of the message? Not trying to be a smart ass I just do not understand the problem. Am I the only one that don't understand this? Tnx Ed For several reasons. ed) Often times my messages must go to more than one person. If so, I must dig through the address book to find it, where as I could have just copied and pasted it.. Other times messages received are ment to be included in one of our several post. Again, I must go find it their address.(It took me nearly 4 hours just to get our Paper Trail done because of this) Or when somebody wants Backmail. If they'd just included it in the request, I could just copy/paste it. But as is, again I must screw with the address book. My work is increased by at least about 75% when an address is not included in the message. To the point that I'm about to not prosses any message that doesn't include it. My address book has over 1000 addresses in it, so I must use search functions to find anyone(more typing!). For instance if someone sent me their addition to the Want/Trade Post without an address, I must #1,copy/paste their text from the message to the Post. #2,Then open the address book, #3,open search(find), #4,type in their name(hopeing I remembered it and it's spelling) #5, once found, hit "send to", and close the phone book. #6, copy/cut it from the "TO:" window to the message txt/Post. All when all I should have had to do is copy/past their message to the Post(one step). Can you now see the work produced for nothin? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BC-620/BC-659 Rebut, Dennis, A little rebuttal to your comments on the BC-620, BC-659 story. The name "Motorola" was coined from the combination of the two words Motion and Radio. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Close, but the company historian states that the idea was to signify "Music in motion". Motor for motion and a popular suffix of the 20's and 30's for radio/phonograph was "ola" as in the famous Victrola. The initial order of 3500 BC-611's from Galvin were never received. This order was diverted to the Dutch East Indies. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And straight into the hands of the Japanese, says history! The original SCR-300 submitted by Galvin for Signal Corps testing was not FM. It was originally AM, and was re-designed for FM at the Signal Corps insistence. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Very interesting! This does not show up in any of my stuff. But I read that it was developed by Galvin Manufacturing in "cooperation" with the United States Signal Corps. BTW, It is possible that I know of an original AM SCR-300. A mess of photos and a write up would be nice. That's up to the owner, however! Thanks for posting the story. I'm surprised and glad that it was well received. Ed Guzick ed)The moto-rola quote/name origin was from "Timeline of MOTOROLA HISTORY" a large wall mounted poster put out my Motorola last year that chronologs their acheivements from 1928 to present. Perhaps their historian should read their own material. The original Galvin SCR-300/AM item does appear in "The Signal Corps". Why you think they were so hot to get their hands on Noble? *********************************************** NEW MEMBER; Don Robert House I would like to be a member of your group. My main interest is with Military and Naval use of data communications equipment, both on land line and radio frequencies. I am the chairman and curator of the North American Data Communications Museum. We have display locations at Fallbrook, CA; Prospect Hts.,IL, and Sandy Hook, CT. Teletypes, Convertors, comparitors, RTTY receivers, telemetry, facsimile, etc., etc. Please see our website at: http://www.hem.com/nadcomm/ I will send more information in an attachment that is a Microsoft Word document. Let me know if you need me to send it as text or whatever. Thanks for the invitation. I agree with and support all of your guidelines and regulations. Sincerely, Don -------------------------------------------------------- Don Robert House e-mail: dhouse@abac.com e-mail: nadcomm@usa.net URL: http://www.hem.com/nadcomm URL: http://www.pacbell.com/others/stories/story-12.html -------------------------------------------------------- "If necessity is the mother of invention, then simplicity is the father of design" ---HENRY DREYFUS *********************************************** HUMOR; The real meaning behind the abbreviations in personal ads THE WOMEN 40-ish............................48 Adventurer................Has had more partners than you ever will Athletic.......................Flat-chested Average looking.........Ugly Beautiful................... Pathological liar Contagious Smile........Bring your penicillin Educated.................. College dropout Emotionally Secure......Medicated Feminist...................... Fat; ball buster Free spirit.................. Substance abuser Friendship first........ Trying to live down reputation as slut Fun............................. Annoying Gentle........................ Comatose Good Listener...........Borderline Autistic New-Age....................All body hair, all the time Old-fashioned...........Lights out, missionary position only Open-minded.............Desperate Outgoing................... Loud Passionate............... Loud Poet........................... Depressive Schizophrenic Professional............ Bitch Redhead................... Shops the Clairol section Reubenesque.............Grossly Fat Romantic....................Looks better by candle light Voluptuous................Very Fat Weight proportional to height..................Hugely Fat Wants Soulmate..........One step away from stalking Widow...................Nagged first husband to death Young at heart.......... Toothless crone THE MEN 40-ish.................. 52 and looking for 25-yr-old Athletic................ Sits on the couch and watches ESPN Average looking.........Unusual hair growth on ears, nose, & back Educated................Will always treat you like an idiot Free Spirit............. Sleeps with your sister Friendship first........ As long as friendship involves nudity Fun..................... Good with a remote and a six pack Good looking............Arrogant bastard Honest.................. Pathological Liar Huggable................Overweight, more body hair than a bear Like to cuddle.......... Insecure, overly dependent Mature.................. Until you get to know him Open-minded.............Wants to sleep with your sister but she's not interested Physically fit..........I spend a lot of time in front of mirror admiring myself Poet.................... Has written on a bathroom stall Spiritual............... Once went to church with his grandmother......on Easter Sunday Stable.................. Occasional stalker, but never arrested Thoughtful.............. Says "Please" when demanding a beer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What Bill Clinton should have said... THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS THAT PRESIDENT CLINTON SHOULD HAVE GIVEN "Mr. Vice President. Mr. Speaker. Members of Congress. My Fellow Citizens. I banged her. I banged her like a cheap gong. Which is not news, folks, because if you think Monica Lewinsky was the only skin flute player in my orchestra, you haven't been paying attention. The only babes in D.C. I HAVEN'T tried to bang are the First Lady, Reno, Albright, and Shalala, mostly because they're a little older than I like and they have legs that former Houston Oiler Earl Campbell would envy. Which isn't to say I don't appreciate Hillary...I do. If not for the ice-water coursing through her veins, I'd be pumping gas into farm equipment in Hope, Arkansas, and she'd be married to the President. So, let me set the record straight. I dodged the draft, hid FBI files, smoked dope, flipped Whitewater property, set up a new Korean wing in the White House, fired the travel staff, paid hush money to Hubbell, sold the Lincoln bedroom like an upscale Motel 6, and grabbed every ass that entered the Oval Office. Got it? Good. Six years ago, there's not a man, woman, or child who didn't know I was as horny as Woody Allen. But, you elected me anyway, which turned out to be a good move on your part. Your other choice was Bush, an aging baseball player and part-time resident of some place called "Kennebunkport" who thought he could bomb his way into the White House. Before him, it was Reagan, who left the office with the same Alzheimer's he came in with. There was Carter before him who brought you a 17% prime interest rate, smiling the whole time like his lithium drip had just kicked in. Before him, Nixon coined, but never really understood, the concept of 'plausible deniability,' and almost got a one-way ticket to San Quentin for his crackerjack style of governing. It goes without saying that Johnson was an inbred, power-mad war criminal whose major contribution to American society was Agent Orange. And John Kennedy, who was a little naughty himself, didn't hang around long enough for America to spot that curious atavistic tic for "beaver- wrestling" shared by at least a dozen former residents of the White House. Which brings me back to my point. Since I have been playing first Saxaphone here at the White House, government is doing more for less. The budget is balanced for the first time since JFK did a one gun salute to Marilyn, a fact the press didn't seem to care about, evidently. Unemployment is so low today a blind felon can get a job as a night watchman. The stock market is higher than a D-student on a full gram of cocaine, and anyone with a degree from a junior college who can spell 'internet' has enough money to ponder the annual maintenance cost of his boat, instead of where his next meal is coming from. Bottom line: I'm running a country here and I'm doing it with my willie showing. What I'm asking for is your support, not a date with your daughter (unless, of course, she's a hottie with big hair and thin ankles, and then I'd like to discuss it). In the meantime, think about where you are today and what kind of life you're living before you get too interested in where I'm parking the Presidential limousine. God bless the United States and Thank God for little girls. Good night. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A blonde was down on her luck. In order to raise some money, she decided to kidnap a kid and hold him for ransom. She went to the playground, grabbed a kid, took him behind a tree, and told him, I've kidnapped you." She then wrote a note saying I've kidnapped your kid. Tomorrow morning, put $10,000 in a paper bag and put it under the pecan tree next to the slide on the north side of the playground. Signed, A Blonde." The blonde then pinned the note to the kid's shirt and sent him home to show it to his parents. The next morning the blonde checked, and sure enough, a paper bag was sitting beneath the pecan tree. The blonde opened the bag and found the $10,000 with a note that said, "How could you do this to a fellow blonde?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A rich lonely widow decided that she needed another man in her life so she placed an ad, which read something like this: RICH WIDOW LOOKING FOR MAN TO SHARE LIFE AND FORTUNE WITH QUALIFICATIONS: 1. WON'T BEAT ME UP 2. WON'T RUN AWAY 3. HAS TO BE GREAT IN BED For several months, her phone rang off the hook, her doorbell was ringing constantly, she received tons of mail, etc., all to no avail. None seemed to match her qualifications. Then one day the doorbell rang yet again. She opened the door to find a man with no arms and no legs lying on the welcome mat. Perplexed, she asked, "Who are you? And what do you want?" "Hi," he said, your search is over, for I'm the man of your dreams. I've got no arms so I can't beat you up and no legs so I can't run away." "Well then", she said, what makes you think that you're so great in bed?" To which he replied, "Well, I rang the doorbell, didn't I ?" *********************************************** (The preceding was a product of the"Military Collector Group Post", an international email magazine dedicated to the preservation of history and the equipment that made it. Unlimited circulation of this material is authorized so long as the proper credits to the original authors, and publisher or this group are included. For more information conserning this group contact Dennis Starks at, military-radio-guy@juno.com) ***********************************************