SUBSCRIBEI bought this neat little piece of test equipment in an online Goodwill auction. Not much military surplus electronic equipment shows up there, but every now and then something cool pops up.
Exterior View
This test set appears to be for measuring distortion of data bits in teletype current loop signals, which would need to be corrected with mechanical adjustments of the device under test. I found some incomplete technical manual scans online, but unfortunately not including a schematic diagram, service information or operating instructions. I have a truncated scan of the first four pages of operator’s manual TM 11-6625-207-10, and a scan of maintenance manual TM 11-6625-207-20 which simply doesn’t include much useful information. I hope that I can find more detailed documentation so that I don’t need to reverse-engineer the thing to get it working.
The set is dirty, and needs a new line cord and two new toggle switches. I think it will clean up nicely, though.
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- Exterior View
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- Dataplate
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- Front Panel
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- Rear Panel
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- Right Side of Chassis
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- Left Side of Chassis
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- Rear of Chassis
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- Underside of Chassis
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- Label on the CRT Shield
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- CRT Graticule
Update 1: Robert Downs WA5CAB says that he will be able to provide reprints of all of the necessary manuals once he gets some things sorted out. Yay!
Update 2: Jack K2TTY says that this unit was also known as the Atlantic Research TDA-2.
What is the setting between 60wpm and 75wpm? Very nice find!!
Ed Tanton N4XY in Marietta, GA
P.S. I went ahead and listed my website URL, but it REALLY needs to be brought up to date.
I think that setting says “5UCO”. The truncated user manual scan that I have states:
a. Teletypewriter Test Set TS-1060/GG (fig. 1) is a self-contained portable unit that measures the bias and distortion of start-stop and synchronous telegraph signals. Various types of distortion peculiar to teletypewriter equipment can be measured without interrupting service.
b. The test set can measure distortion of the following telegraph signals operating on 20- or 60-milliampere (ma) neutral circuits or on 30-ma polar circuits:
(1) Baudot start-stop telegraph signals (7.42 unit code).
(2) Start-stop IBM telegraph signals (10.42 unit code).
(3) Synchronous 5UCO telegraph signals (5.0 unit code).
c. Distortion indications are presented in the form of pips displayed within a rectangular pattern on the screen of a cathode-ray tube.
[...]
Input speeds:
7.42 unit code .... 60, 75,100 wpm.
10.42 unit code ... Baud speeds equivalent to 60, 76, and 100 wpm.
5.0 unit code ..... 66 wpm (approx.).
I have one of these and don’t understand it’s value is it valuable to hobbyists and collectors
In my personal opinion, it is an item that is interesting to a small number of collectors of teletype equipment and/or military surplus, but I don’t think it has a very high dollar value. Maybe in the $20-$50 range at a ham radio swap meet? I don’t remember what I paid for mine, but I don’t think it was very much. If you decide to sell yours someplace like eBay, feel free to reference this web page to help you describe it, as long as you give proper attribution and make it clear that I’m not involved with the sale.