[RTTY] RTTY Newbie and brag files

[Roger Cooke]

Hi, from one of the "Old Geezers".

    I was on RTTY in 1962 and also had a "Brag tape".   Actually, we 
scoff
at brag tapes and so on, but in essence they are not that much 
different from
a normal QSO, in which we exchange names, locations, antennas, gear, but
stop at Aunt Nellie's cat or our birthdays!
   The answer is of course that we do it because we can!  However, the
conversation should unfold from there. Instead of stopping at the 
brag tape,
or the normal QSO introductions as above, we develop the 
conversation and
learn a lot more than just the basics, or at least we should.
   My pet gripe  ( I am allowed to because I qualify as a Grumpy Old 
Man! )
is that "normal" QSOs don't seem to exist these days. I hear 
stations on the
air calling CQ at 30 wpm, having a caller, then issuing him with 
"599 73" and
then calling QRZ. What is all that about? I even heard a USA station 
doing it
and he should not have a limited use of the English language!
    The same applies to RTTY.  If you hear me calling CQ, don't 
answer if you
don't want a conversation. I didn't invest all that time and money 
into the hobby
just to exchange a stupid meaningless series of five numbers.
    PSK is different. For some reason, you do get the life history 
even before the
polite exchange of names!  However, that seems to be the way the 
hobby is
going these days.

    I still have some picture tapes stored away somewhere, but I 
have nothing to
use them on now of course. A brag tape with a description of the 
other guy's
locality can be quite interesting however, and no different sent 
from a macro
than if he were typing it, in fact more effective from a macro.

   I must have worked you Bob, in the dim and distant past using the 
"real thing".


73 de Roger, G3LDI

On 01/03/2011 15:49, Robert Chudek - K0RC wrote:
> Hello Mike...
>
> Welcome to the world of RTTY. It looks like you have already ingested
> some of the proper lingo... "brag file"! :-)
>
> "In the old days" when mechanical printers and the Mainline TTL were the
> devices that allowed fellows to operate RTTY, there were axillary units
> that would create and play "paper tapes". The old geezers, I mean the
> original operators would create a variety of tapes, one for calling CQ,
> another for the first round of information exchange, and so on. But
> there was that "other tape" that described all the equipment, including
> the last time the polar relay was replaced, that could be hung on the
> TD. It was the "brag tape". It didn't go into as much detail as the
> fellow you recently encountered though... there just wasn't all that
> amount of equipment to describe, although they might throw in the name
> of their dog/cat/wife&  kids. These tapes came in handy for when the
> call of nature arose. The longest brag tape could be grabbed from the
> nail on the wall, hung on the TD, and a quick dash could be made "down
> the hall".
>
> On the other hand, you may have run into a PSK operator... I understand
> they can be quite verbose at times! :-)
>
> One of the unique aspects of RTTY that has been lost to the modern
> configurations is "RTTY Art". These were "pictures" that were composed
> by judicious selection of characters and overprinting a single line to
> create a shading effect. Somewhere around here I have an example that I
> printed. It was about 2 feet long, a "picture" of a Playboy Playmate.
> I'm thinking I might have to list this item on eBay soon, in order to
> supplement my retirement income! Oh, and yes, I am one of the early
> geezers, having my first RTTY contact in 1964.
>
> 73 de Bob - KØRC in MN
>
>
>
> On 3/1/2011 7:00 AM, Mike Tessmer wrote:
>> I'm a recent newcomer to the world or RTTY.  Question on the practice of brag files.
>>
>> I recently had a QSO on 40m where the other station immediately went into a disertation about his whole station and a complete rundown on his computer including brand, model, memory, speed, etc., (including wireless keyboard and wireless mouse!)  I might have expected to hear about his radio and 40m antenna since we were working on 40m - I didn't expect to hear about his 30m antenna and antennas for all the other bands as well.  And I don't think I've ever had a QSO on phone or cw where we've exchanged detailed info on the computer setting on the desk....unless we got way into a QSO.
>>
>> Anyway...
>>
>>    - Why is it apparently important to some ops that I know every detail about the computer they are using?
>>    - Why is it apparently important to some ops that I know every detail about their entire station?
>>
>> While I find this all mildly annoying, I ask this not to be critical but more for seeking enlightenment as to how/why this practice started.  I know not everyone does this.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>> 73, Mike K9NW
>>
>>
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