[QuadList] First Tech Publication posted to website: Ampex 1021 Intersync...

[Tim Stoffel]

> 
> In short order the machine was on its back with both the head and capstans running unlocked.  Our CE came down, took that boy's little green screwdriver and ground the end off to prevent him from doing that again.  
> All this under a stern lecture of "Avoid Screw Driver Drift!".
> 
> Like I said, those were good days. 
> 
Ah, stories like this bring back fond memories. I remember my very first
days as a broadcast engineer. A 3/4 inch VTR that had what appeared to
be a capstan servo problem was brought into the shop. The technician
there took one look at it and decided the machine had an interchange
problem. He grabbed a screwdriver and immediately starting tweaking on
the entrance and exit guides. I gasped at his forthrightness. And of
course, it got him nowhere. I forgot exactly what I told him, but it was
something to the effect that an interchange problem could not produce a
constantly rolling noise bar. Time then spent correcting the minor
capstan servo problem (broken wire on the CTL head if I recall): 1/2
hour. Time spent getting the interchange right again: 2 hours.

I was his replacement.

Another time, I was dealing with a smart-akeck truck EIC who thought he
was God's gift to maintenance engineers. After losing an argument to a
room full of engineers on why a  device that should never need to be
unracked should have rack slides, he decided to take on my skill at VTR
troubleshooting: "I can change a head in a Betacam machine and do all
indicated alignments in 2 hours." I just happened to have a BVW70 that
needed a new head on my bench. I handed him the tools and let him have
at it. I only helped or assisted, or made suggestions when he asked. Two
hours later, the head was finally physically installed, and the
eccentricity adjustment was complete. I then discovered another major
problem with the machine, and stopped him at that point. A bit later on,
I discovered the major problem: The head was on 180 degrees out, fairly
easy to do on a Betacam machine.

This guy never questioned my maintenance abilities again.
He has also mellowed out considerably.

At that same station, when I started, there was a few strange practices.
One of them was that all VTRs leaving the shop-- VHS included-- were to
have 'perfect interchange'. I quickly discovered severely worn guides on
almost all older VTRs, from constant adjusting. A few even needed to be
replaced. I  finally showed the person who was making this decree the
manual for one machine, which shows that a less-than perfect interchange
was completely acceptable. Ended up saving a lot of future work. When we
got our first Betacam machines the next year, I forbade the adjustment
of any tape guides unless there was a demonstrable problem. Three full
years of heavy use went by before I had to even tweak a guide somewhere.
Some machines were on their third video head before they showed enough
of an interchange problem to require guide adjustment.

Tim Stoffel