[QuadList] Helicals, Quads

[Don Norwood]

George:

Thanks for sharing more of your great stories!

There actually was an Ampex model VR-1200/E.  There was also a VR-1100/E.  You can see brochures for them in the literature section of my website:  http://www.digitrakcom.com/ under the Ampex 2" tab.

Obviously, I don't know what machine was used to record the aircraft video, but there are some Ampex publications showing VR-1100's in that service.  There is also documentation of them using VR-660's for the same application, and when I first started reading your story, I thought maybe that's what the tapes would turn out to be.  By the way, the noise of the BB headwheels varied considerably from one head to another.  I have a couple of them that sound essentially the same as air bearing, and then some that don't!  

Don
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: georgenann at aol.com 


  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.

  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.
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