[QuadList] Helical, Quads

Tue Feb 9 04:58:00 CST 2010

VR 660

Keep seeing references to this machine, I assume it's the two inch helical
with two heads 

Fixed drum rotating heads through a slot machine with

nice Joysticks, Drop out comp was an external unit

Took 7 seconds to cycle out of long insert edit

If so it was VR650 in the UK

Changing a head was fun you had to track it up on the wrong head to see the
errors when the new head was not 180 degrees from the other

Tweak and re check

I was only in education TV then, we had two, but one of the UK Broadcast
companies had one

and a guy rang up one day to say he had taken the band off to retrieve a Q
tip how do you put it back

I thought it was windup nobody would unscrew the hex screws that held the
band would they

Well apparently yes I think it had to go somewhere like Germany to get put
back together again

He never rang again

Trevor

UK member

From: quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com
[mailto:quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com] On Behalf Of Don Norwood
Sent: 08 February 2010 23:02
To: Quad List
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Helicals, Quads

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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