Green Keys Night

The Greenkeys online group is happy to announce the first-ever 'Green Keys Night' (GKN), to be held concurrent with 'Straight Key Night' on 1st January 2019, from 0000 to 2359 UTC.

As with SKN, GKN is an event and not a contest.

"Greenkeys" is not a reference to eco-friendly operating - though members certainly are keen on equipment recycling - but rather is a group dedicated to the restoration and use of vintage mechanical teleprinters and related equipment. The term "greenkeys" itself refers to the colour of the keys on Teletype machines.

Participants are encouraged to get on the air and simply make enjoyable conversational RTTY QSOs. Operate on all authorized Amateur frequencies.

Please follow established band plans and be mindful of SKN QSOs. RTTY modes only. Call "CQ GKN".

The use of mechanical teleprinters is preferred or simply get on the air with the oldest equipment you can scrape together. Real heavy metal Teletypes to be sure, but if that isn't available: analogue hardware modems, VT100 terminals, pre-Windows computers, etc. And vacuum tubes. And maybe fire up that boat anchor rig that never gets enough air time.

Please no brag tapes/files. Please, no pre-recorded messages. Have a real conversation by hand typing it keyboard to keyboard. If you are slow we'll happily wait. (A CQ macro is okay but you would have better bragging rights if you hand typed that too.) But even if you don't have any old equipment, do get on the air and have some fun QSOs the old fashioned way!

There are no points scored, but if you'd like to share with us your favourite or most interesting QSO (worked or heard), your log, and what equipment you operated with (including photos), please do.

Please note that there is a RTTY contest concurrent with GKN, the SARTG New Year RTTY Contest. The contest runs from 0800 to 1100 UTC. As long as you have your RTTY working why not join in the contest and then return to more GKN fun!

More Information - http://www.sartg.com/contest/nyrules.htm

The Greenkeys online group is an email list devoted to the discussion of older radioteletype (RTTY) gear including mechanical teleprinters (Teletype, Kleinschmidt, etc.), terminal units, paper tape, gears, cams, oil, and anything else related to TTY/RTTY. To join the group, visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys.