[QuadList] Aircraft Carriers (Ampex VR1200)

[Steve Spears]

On the Kearsarge CVS-33 in 1969, we had the Ampex VR1200 (PLAT -Pilot Landing Television).

The VTR room was on the 02 level just below the flight deck, right near our ships television studio and the 24 hour ships entertainment disk jockey booth.

Up on the island, outside was a small platform deck, with an RCA TK-10 camera and all landings were recorded, for pilot review, as well as accident investigation.

Our ships entertainment television had the standard studio with Sony cameras (B&W), lighting and used Ampex VR7800 1 inch helical VTR's.

Tapes came from North Island at San Diego every week with all of the 3 network world news and prime time shows.

Those Ampex 7800 (dogs) needed twice as much technical attention to keep them going, than "any" quad machine ever.

I used to rob transistors out of sono-buoy's from our S2-F sub trackers, to keep those things running. All you had to do was sneeze and a video head would go bad.

I once made the mistake of asking Charlie Ginsburg at Ampex, if he had worked on the design those machines...I got a very sharp and curt response back "I had nothing !!!...to do with that program".

A year on the Kearsarge was one of my most memorable ships in my eight and a half years of Navy.

Steve Spears
Orrs Island, Maine
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