larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (09/22/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0385m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> the TELECOM Moderator writes: > There were only minor differences between Telex and TWX. The biggest > difference was that the former was always run by Western Union, while > the latter was run by the Bell System for a number of years. TWX > literally meant "<T>ype<W>riter e<X>change", and it was Bell's answer > to competition from Western Union. The sequence of events as implied from the above is not correct. AT&T TWX service PRECEDED Western Union Telex service by approximately 25 years. More about this in a moment. > There were 'three row' and 'four > row' machines, meaning the number of keys on the keyboard and how they > were laid out. The 'three row' machines were simply part of the > regular phone network; that is, they could dial out and talk to > another TWX also connected on regular phone lines. I would urge a bit of caution in identifying teletypewriters as "three row" or "four row" devices; the preferred method should be 5-level (Baudot) or 8-level (ASCII). While the implication may be that 3-row are 5-level Baudot devices, and that 4-row are 8-level ASCII devices, this is not strictly true. French and German 5-level Baudot teletypewriters are 4-row devices, with some of these 4-row German machines made by Siemens being common in the U.S. TWX service was started by AT&T in 1931 using 5-level (i.e., Baudot) teletype machines. TWX was totally manual service with the connection established by an AT&T TWX "operator" until 1962 when dial switching was installed. Also, until this time only 60 wpm 5-level teletype apparatus could be utilized on the TWX network. Simultaneously with the introduction of dial connection service, the TWX network was changed to 100 wpm (110 baud) 8-level (ASCII) to take advantage of newer teletypewriter apparatus, such as the Teletype Corp. Type 33 and Type 35. For a short period of time both 5-level and 8-level apparatus co-existed on the TWX network using 5-level <--> 8-level translators, but the 5-level apparatus was phased out by 1964. TWX switching was originally handled by regular WECO #5 crossbar offices which had some separate line and trunk groups for TWX service. The behavior of a dial-up TWX line is virtually identical to that of a regular telephone line. It was a voice-grade line which used a 103-type data set. Most Telex service operating on leased lines utilize a totally DC circuit (i.e., there was no modem) from the subscriber location to the central office. The DC circuit discipline is usually either neutral or polar, depending upon service area and circuit length. Once in the central office, however, the DC circuit is often converted to 43-type telegraph carrier. Modems have been used with leased lines on Telex service, but they are generally the exception rather than the rule. The "original" Western Union Telex system was installed in the U.S. in 1957; it actually obtained world-wide access through the Canadian Telex system which was installed in 1956. All of the message switching apparatus used in the original Western Union Telex system was manufactured by a German vendor, Siemens-Halske, who has produced much of the Telex station and message switching apparatus used elsewhere in the world. Western Union later established its own direct Telex links to other countries on a world-wide basis, and no longer routed messages through the Canadian access point of Montreal. At some point in time - but I am not certain when or of the exact details - Western Union split its operation into two separate companies: "Western Union" (WU) for all domestic U.S. Telex, TWX and other services, and "Western Union International" (WUI) for all communications and services NOT domestic to the U.S. I don't believe that the WU-WUI split was exactly voluntary on their part; I believe there were some regulatory, legal and financial legal issues involved. WUI has been owned by MCI for several years. The relationship between WU and WUI is somewhat unusual. If you have WU Telex or TWX service and send an *international* Telex, you must use an international carrier such as WUI, RCA, ITT, etc. You access the international carrier through your WU terminal, and you may choose the international carrier on a call by call basis. So the point is, WU does business with WUI in the sense that WUI may serve certain WU customers. However, WUI also drectly offers Telex service with terminals in the U.S., and to some extent they compete with WU for basic service. Perhaps some telecom reader knows more about the WU and WUI split and their relationship. > Today, the Western Union network is but a skeleton of its former self. > Now most of their messages are handled on dial up terminals connected > to the public phone network. It has been estimated the TWX/Telex business > is about fifty percent of what it was a decade ago, if that much. Well, that's no surprise. Cost and improved, alternate transmission methods such as FAX have substantially supplanted Telex and TWX service. As an example of cost, in 1976 my organization first subscribed to TWX service; we bought our own ASR-33 and paid for the monthly TWX service from WU. The basic monthly charge at that time (less usage, of course) was around $ 30.00 per month, which *included* an additional mileage charge because we were located outside the Buffalo, NY metropolitan area. By 1985 our basic monthly charge was up to $ 135.00 and our traffic was way down because of the use of FAX. Since I wasn't too happy with WU anyways, I told them to pound salt and we switched to RCA Global Communications for straight international Telex service using a dedicated dial-up line (i.e., we installed a telephone line with a dedicated 300 baud terminal which RCA calls when they have incoming traffic). Our Telex traffic is now 99% international; we may have received one domestic message so far this year. Even international traffic is going FAX, and our Telex traffic diminishes every year. If this keeps up, we may well ax the Telex service within the next five years. However, our cable address is easy to remember (RECOGNIZE NEWYORK, if you're curious :-) ), and we get some international traffic on the Telex translated from our cable address instead of from our actual Telex number. > Then there was the Time Service, a neat thing which Western Union > offered for over seventy years, until it was discontinued in the > middle 1960's. The Time Service provided an important function in the > days before alternating current was commonly available. For example, > Chicago didn't have AC electricity until about 1945. Prior to that we > used DC, or direct current. You can't possibly mean 1945, can you? 1915, I can believe; 1945, I can't. > The sub-master clocks in each building were in turn serviced by the > master clock in town; usually this was the one in the telegraph > office. Every hour on the half hour, the master clock in the telegraph > office would throw current to the sub-masters, yanking them into synch > as required. And as for the telegraph offices themselves, they were > serviced twice a day by -- you guessed it -- the Naval Observatory > Master clock in Our Nation's Capitol, by the same routine. The Pacific time zone of the U.S. was not serviced by the Naval Observatory, but by a distributing clock located at the Mare Island Navy Yard. Until the WU time service was discontinued, the "distributing" clock at the Naval Observatory and at the Mare Island facility generated synchronizing pulses for regional WU clocks. The distributing clocks sent pulses at two times per day: 1155 to 1200 hrs, and 2155 to 2200 hrs. Pulses would be sent for five minutes right up to the hour itself. No pulse would be sent on the 29th second of each minute, and for the first four minutes no pulses would be sent on the 55th through 59th second. On the 59th minute, and only on the 59th minute, no pulses would be sent on the 50th through 59th second, with a single pulse at first second of the hour. How's THAT for useless trivia? :-) Each day at approximately 1130 hours the distributing clocks would be corrected based upon the Naval Observatory master clocks, which were in turn corrected by astronomical observations. The overall accuracy of the WU clock system was a few tenths of a second. It was no better because of the various relay operate times, and to a lesser extent because of electrical propagation delays since electrical signals in long communication cables travel much slower than the speed of light. Of course, all of the above time standard methods are now quite obsolete and have long been replaced by the use of rubidium and cesium "atomic" clocks. > Western Union was a grand old company in its time. That's certainly true. Unfortunately, as far as I know, the financial future of WU is now rather cloudy. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" [Moderator's Note: We got alternating current in the downtown area around 1915 or so. It was fully implemented in town by around 1925. I suppose we are technically-oriented enough here that 'three-row' and 'four-row' could have been replaced with other terms. But those were the terms WU used to explain the machines to their customers. The WU Directory had a detailed picture of each type keyboard (three or four row) and the subscriber was supposed to select the one resembling his model, then read the instructions associated. There was a section which explained how the one type was to connect with the other type as well. Regards clock service, did you know at one point, circa 1930-50, the FCC required all radio stations to have a Western Union clock on the premises for accurate time-keeping? And did you know that for about forty years, the famous beep-tone heard on WGN (720 kc, Chicago) came from the clock itself? The station ran a wire from the little red light bulb in the clock to a little device which made the beep; and that was wired right into the transmitter. For nostalgia purposes, they still give the beep every hour, but it hasn't been from the clock for over twenty years! PT]