Thanks for reading this. I'm posting on behalf of a non-profit organization that does important work.
As you know, I've recently asked for help getting in touch with experts on telegraph signalling. In the process of talking to those who've contacted me, I found out that the Morse Telegraph Club, of which I'm a long-term member, needs your help to continue its work.
The MTC has been running a "Dial Up Morse" telegraph hub for many years, but the members can't afford the cost of the phone lines anymore, and so they're looking for donors who would be able to offer to provide a tax-deductible contribution. If you or your employer are in a position to give the Morse Telegraph Club the use of four local numbers, preferably in the Marion, Ohio area, please contact the club's President, who lives in the neighborhood.
The Dial Up Morse hub is a special, custom-made circuit arrangement that allows retired telegraphers to hook up telegraph keys and sounders to simple 301-type modems, and connect them together via the hub, so that they can demonstrate the way Western Union and railroad telegraph lines worked, during "Living History" demonstrations for schoolchildren and museum visitors.
The club would like to have the lines available all the time, since their demonstrations take place during school and/or museum hours: ideally, they would be toll-free numbers. Of course, other arrangements are possible.
The only stipulation is that they can't be VoIP lines, since VoIP and modems don't mix very well. If convenient, potential benefactors who are in need of a deduction could fund the lines instead of providing them directly.
Thanks for thinking about it: if you can help, or know someone who can, please get in touch with James Wades, the MTC President. His email address is jameswades.at.gmail.com.
Bill Horne