[QuadList] PLAT (wasHelicals, Quads)

Thu Feb 11 18:34:04 CST 2010

Don,     

The next time I am around some of the OLD Ampex folks, I will ask about PLAT.
I don't remember anything other than Quads, and from the pictures I remember seeing I think they were VR-1100's

Bill

________________________________
From: Don Norwood <dwnorwood at embarqmail.com>
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
Sent: Thu, February 11, 2010 4:26:22 PM
Subject: [QuadList] PLAT  (wasHelicals, Quads)

Bill: 

I located some of my info on the PLAT program.  It stood for 
Pilot Landing Aid Television.  It originally was built around VR-1100's, 
but I'm fairly certain I have some later info indicating a change to VR-660's at 
some point.

Don
----- Original Message ----- 
>From: Bill 
>  Carpenter 
>To: Quad List 
>Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 6:10 
>  PM
>Subject: Re: [QuadList] Helicals, 
>  Quads
>
>
>The system that was on the Carrier was named PLAT(something?Landing And Takeoff) and it was a 
>  custom Ampex system. When I moved to California in 1971, there were folks at 
>  Ampex that had worked on the PLAT system.
>
>Bill Carpenter
>
>
>
>
________________________________
 From: Wayne Watson <wayne.watson at sait.ca>
>To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
>Sent: Mon, February 8, 2010 2:29:31 
>  PM
>Subject: Re: [QuadList] 
>  Helicals, Quads
>
> > 
>That 
>  is an amazing story. I had forgotten about the 7.5ips machines. I had 
>  experimented at the TV station I worked at (CITV in Edmonton Canada) with 7.5 
>  ips on AVR-1’s. We might have had an application but we also had an ACR25 and 
>  3 other AVR-1’s so it was not worth trying to have a mix of heads.
> 
>The 
>  SAIT BXST program and WABE need your help to recruit maintenance techs to join 
>  our industry. If you want to help please email info at wabe.ca
>For 
>  information on the SAIT Broadcast Systems Technology Program, check out http://broadcast.sait.ca
>Wayne 
>  Watson
>Broadcast 
>  Systems Technology
>wayne.watson at sait.ca
>(403) 
>  284 7079
>SAIT 
>  Polytechnic
>School 
>  of ICT
>Room 
>  G239E
>1301 
>  16th Ave. N.W.
>Calgary 
>  Alberta T2M 0L4
> 
> 
>From:>  quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com 
>  [mailto:quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com] On Behalf Of 
> georgenann at aol.com
>Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 2:58 
>  PM
>To: quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com
>Subject: [QuadList] 
>  Helicals, Quads
> 
> 
>I am 
>  impressed how so many of you guys remember not only the model numbers of the 
>  helical machines but some of the history of them. I always had trouble with 
>  model numbers, Revision Numbers, etc.
>CBS 
>  only went so far as the BVH-2000's after the BVH-1100A's as far as I can 
>  remember, although there is one PAL VPR? not sure of the number, which 
>  fortunately has been working OK at least till I retired. There are a 
>  couple of BVH-3100's (?) around.  I don't know where they came from, 
>  perhaps a garage sale. They have the self threading feature.  I don't 
>  know anyone who had trouble with threading up tape and it seems like a lot of 
>  work to come up with one of those.  I didn't like working on them because 
>  of the keypad on them.  Almost everything I needed to do was by inputting 
>  codes from that damn keypad, even putting it into E-E.  Fortunately there 
>  was one maint. tech who would bail me out as she remembered the codes.  
>  When she wasn't around it was a pain as the book was never in the same place 
>  twice.
> 
>Back 
>  to quads, before Ted fines us for chattering about helicals.
> 
>I ran 
>  into one neat machine.   It is an Ampex 1200-E with the flat 
>  deck.  It belonged to Charlie (Chubby) Salvato from Orange County, 
>  NY.  It was put together by AF Assoc.  They installed Volvo motor 
>  mounts on it with wheels so it could be rolled anywhere with just your 
>  fingertips.  It also had no Amtec, Colortec, Proc, etc.  They put in 
>  a CVS Digital TBC, I don't remember the number, but it had a "16" in it (I 
>  think).  CVS had a mod for it to work with Quads, it was a board which 
>  had to be installed in it.  I remember taking it to CVS to have it done 
>  for Chubby.
> 
>This 
>  was done around the time the AVR-2 came out.  Ampex propaganda had fotos 
>  of 2 people picking up the top deck then the TBC bay and showing how easy it 
>  was to move. Chubby bragged how easy this machine is to move.  A 
>  cavewoman could do it alone. He brought it to my home from time to time so I 
>  could tweak the servo, etc. We just rolled it in and out of his van 
>  easily. That was the only time I had a Quad in my 
>garage.
> 
>It 
>  was so neat, it could be moved over bumps easily and when it stopped it would 
>  just sit there and rock back and forth a couple of times.  Then all you 
>  had to is plug it in the wall, put video in and record or take video from it, 
>  no need for sync gen. etc. (It still needed air). I asked him about it some 
>  time ago, he said he sold it to a TV station in P.R.
> 
>By 
>  the way Chubby was known for his "Fire Engine".  He had a big fire engine 
>  with a 70 ft. or so ladder on it on which he had a camera mount which he 
>  rented out for sport events.  Perhaps some of you have seen it.  
>  Last I heard, his son was running it around for him.
> 
>There 
>  was a BVT-2000 connected to the the Ampex VR-2000's, before they were 
>  removed.  It was used for SCH purposes as it was feeding Betas and 
>  D-2's.  I tried feeding the BVT-2000 right out of the Demod, but it 
>  couldn't seem to handle the head switching.  I tried widening and 
>  increasing the switching suppression pulse but to no avail.
> 
>Another 
>  interesting thing, sometime in the 80's, my Navy Reserve unit was having a 
>  triple Retirement and Change of Command.  I was given the job of getting 
>  it done.  I was able to get the "Intrepid" in NYC for the 
>  ceremony.  While schmoozing  the museum curator we came across 
>  a room full of 2" video tapes.  He told me they were recordings of  
>  flight ops. while she was in commission. (One of the early uses of 
>  video tape was recording flight ops on carriers so the pilots could watch 
>  their landings, and they still do.) Also that he wanted to get them dubbed to 
>  U-Matic as he wanted to use them in displays around the ship. (The 
>  machines they were recorded on were gone.) I forgot all about the first 
>  thing I learned in the Navy, "Never "Volunteer" and I offered to help him 
>  out.  I also forgot how heavy a 2" reel of tape can be after carrying 
>  them about a mile, from the Intrepid to CBS, and back but I needed the 
>  exercise. I thought I was in deep trouble with the first reel.  I found 
>  they were recorded at 7.5 IPS.  Would you believe we also found some 
>  5 Mil heads on the ship which were in good shape.  I put one on the Quad 
>  near my shop and had good luck with it.  The only problem is they 
>  were ball bearing heads and made about 10 DB more noise than the air bearing 
>  heads do and I was trying to do this whole job un-noticed. Fortunately the 
>  maint. manager at time was interested in WWII planes as his father worked for 
>  Grumman designing some of them and let me get away with it for the small price 
>  of VHS copies of some of the tapes.  The tapes were fabulous. I managed 
>  to do about 50 reels for him. I don't know what model VTR they were made 
>  on.
> 
>73,
> 
>Georger 
>  Keller
>
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