Just the Fax Ma'am!

I think as Amateur Radio Operators we tend to forget Facsimile is a mode of communication available to us. When we think of sending images probably most of us think of SSTV or Packet Radio. At your workplace you probably will just drag-n-drop an image into an email or chat client. Now days, a fax is just kind of a hold over feature from the late eighty's that just happens to still exist on your multi-function printer.

Once upon a time, I was quite hooked on the idea of receiving weather-fax signals and using a computer to view and print the resulting weather maps.

Back in 1987 (I think) I had a Tandy Model 102 note book computer that I wrote a program for which would display sections of a weather-fax map on the 240x60 pixel (40 x 16 character) LCD display. One time I even used my setup as a sort of "emergency" backup system after the weather-fax machine (using chemically treated heat sensitive paper) broke down on board the ship on which I was stationed.

Going a bit further back in time, apparently the future was looking bright for the Fax machine.

Here was an article I saw on Gizmodo....

Faxpapers: A Lost 1930s Technology That Delivered Newspapers via Radio

ENIAC, BINAC, UNIVAC, PADDIEWACK!

Continuing with the computer history research, here is a video from the Remington Rand Corporation which covers the advances in computing up to 1960. It's a worthwhile 13 minutes!

And now for something completely different... John Cleese and Compaq

I've been doing a bit of research on early computing and stumbled across this rare gem (which just happens to star the funniest man in the universe)!