ITTY stands for
Internet Teletype. With today's
streaming audio over the Internet, George, W7TTY
has come up with a scheme that allows him to
broadcast teletype news over the Internet 24
hours per day, 7 days per week.
ITTY utilizes the BAUDOT protocol and
transmits data at a typical speed of 45.5 BAUD
(60 words per minute). Other speeds up to 100
words per minute are also possible
So what's different about ITTY? Well, for one
thing, the user community is able to submit
material to the transmit queue using simple
E-Mail (SMTP protocol). News broadcasts are now
possible from every point in the world.
| How can I
contribute to ITTY broadcasts? |
The success of ITTY
depends upon the submission of
"quality" news articles submitted to
the ITTY server. So how does one
contribute material to the server?
ITTY has set up an E-Mail client that is
capable of receiving news articles submitted by
the general community. Send you Email to "itty@readysetsurf.com",
but before you do that, you must format the text
with the following considerations:
- ITTY implements the "Bad-Boy"
carriage return at line 75 to keep from
pounding a hole in the paper. This
feature is not meant to replace the
nominal max line at 72, but to rather
protect against a really bad mistake by
the sender. Please format your messages
with carriage returns at no more than 70
characters per line.
- Most ASCII characters are translated into
the closest equivalent BAUDOT equivalent.
But it's best to format the data input
using the BAUDOT character set. Try
avoiding characters that are not in the
BAUDOT character set.
- No attachments allowed. The translation
of ASCII to BAUDOT will present a very
unusable mess to the listeners.
- Use common sense. The ITTY service is
provided by the moderator (W7TTY) as a
free service. Abuse
will only result in it going away
forever.
|
RTTY stands for Radio
Teletype. The military and news services
used RTTY for decades for transmitting news
material via high frequency (HF) radio to remote
locations.
RTTY utilizes the BAUDOT protocol at a typical
speed of 45.45 BAUD using a mark and space tone.
| Why aren't
we doing commercial RTTY broadcasts on HF
Radio today? |
On the air RTTY is
regulated by the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC). Several years ago, the
FCC approved a request for a Special Temporary
Authority (STA) to establish and operate a
1000-watt Radio Teletype (RTTY) Broadcast Station
on 6994KHz and 13972KHz. The purpose of the
proposed operation is to ascertain whether or not
there is any significant interest on the part of
those interested and active in RTTY operation to
receive regularly scheduled transmissions of
material not specifically amateur radio oriented.
FCC rules prohibit such transmissions within the
amateur bands. This STA assigned the callsign of
WA9XHN.
Included in the application was data allowing
use of Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) shifts of
170, 425, and 850 Hz., at BAUD rates of 45.45,
50.0, 56.9, and 74.2. The proposed transmissions
would be clear text utilizing the ITA#2 5-level
international Teletype code, more commonly
referred to as BAUDOT or the Murray code.
After several
years of successful broadcasts, the FCC decided
to rescinded the STA to George, W7TTY and on the
air transmissions stopped. Efforts to renew the
STA were cut down by the FCC.
| Where does
ITTY fit into the picture? |
ITTY provides the means
for teletype enthusiasts with a news feed using
TTY technology to drive teletype machines that
have been a part of our history.
Most of us involved in the ITTY experiment are
interested in teletype and amateur radio. It is
our hope to help continue the interests in
utilizing the teletype protocol for years to
come.
|
