Today’s post brought to you by Get The Damn Batteries Out.

Made a video on fixing up my Lucent PortMaster 3, https://youtu.be/ThC_tH3uOqM

This just focuses on hardware, next video in the series will be about config!

For the past ~6 months I’ve been trying to decode NABTS #teletext (the more obscure of North American teletext standards, yes NA had teletext) on real hardware decoders using old recordings and learned that it probably wouldn’t work because the recordings were too lossy.

I had since shifted to generating my own NABTS which is a WIP, but this week the decode-orc team cracked software decoding for #NABTS and NA #WST! https://github.com/decode-orc/decode-orc/releases/tag/v2.7.0

First time this content has been seen in decades!

Any #teletext nerds in the house? Picked up this NEC unit a while ago, obviously meant for the Japanese market. Don’t know what standard it would decode. JTES?

If I’m ever having a dull day I can just flip the switch.

In all seriousness I miss when electronics looked like this.

Getting ready to go to PhoneCon tomorrow. I think these are the phones I’ll bring for the switchers’ corner.

#phonecon

Here’s one of my hardcopy terminals, a Panasonic KX-D4920. This unit supports data rates up to 1200 baud and features an RS232 port, a modular telephone jack, and an acoustic coupler on the back. Here it is calling NIST’s still-active computer time number.

#terminal #modem

I think I’m entering my teletype / paper terminal era. Somehow this is okay as I both loathe printers and told myself I can’t have a typewriter collection. Loophole?

Hey! I’ll be speaking at the Temple Electronics Faire this Friday 4/10! The theme of the Faire this year is _repair_ and I’ll be talking about “freephone” projects that repurpose payphones as public, free-to-use telephones, and what they mean in the context of our relationship with technology.

The faire has activities on both the 9th and the 10th. Check out this link for more info and hope to see you there, https://sites.temple.edu/efaire/schedule-and-registration/

Things have escalated.

Meshtastic messaging on a Cybiko. The handheld communication device of the future!

@ajroach42 Hey, I made an order through the New Ellijay Televison shop about 2 weeks back and haven’t heard anything. I don’t mind the wait, just wanted to check in incase the order was missed. Didn’t see an obvious way to reach out for support via the website so hopefully you don’t mind me pinging you here!

Amateur television. The joys of a ham license.

Anyone else love it when you see a few people you follow on the fedi from different backgrounds/niches all interacting and you didnt’t know they followed one another? It’s like seeing the birth of a supergroup.

My friends when I tell them about some weird piece of hardware I just got in.

Hey, I made a video about my AT&T Sceptre terminal, but don’t worry if you don’t know what that is because I cover a bit about #videotex and #NAPLPS in the beginning before inspecting the unit, getting it working, and sharing my basic server application and demo line so you other NAPLPS-compatible-terminal-owners can call-in!

https://youtu.be/a2dxuqol0c0

Trying to figure out the secret handshake to film CRTs. Current winner seems to be 25fps with 1/60 shutter speed. Higher fps seems to always result in a big, noticeable rolling bar. Let me know if you have any tips!

#maxitel

From: @cquest
https://amicale.net/@cquest/115066575999994235

This boxed AT&T Sceptre on eBay just price-dropped from $150 to $100 if you are weird and want to join in on this craziness.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/157189621787

So my initial attempt at a python program just sending data doesn’t seem to work. Part of me wonders if it is too fast even though I’d think the modem would bottleneck things so the Sceptre doesn’t choke