The Racal ICR 32 REEL TO REEL Air Traffic Control Recorder

The Recall ICR 32 Tape Reel Recorder
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[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

The questions I have for some people in the know on these. is that erase and record heads. Or record and read heads for monitoring that the tape is correctly recording..... regardng the speed. the speed i mention is way too quick, itll become obvious when it starts running.

[@R3TR0R4V3]

You got 4 heads there, on each transport: Erase, Record, Playback and most likely a dedicated Reverse Playback head. Since it was designed to run & record 24/7, in a LoFi quality, I assume it records at the slowest speed to make the tape last the longest, which will probably be 3 3⁄4 ips in this case. These are just some educated guesses, mind you, but surely someone more knowledgeable on these particular machines will be able to fill you in. 😉 Despite it's original purpose, I still bet you could record some cool LoFi music, if you really wanted to. 😎

[@nikdog419]

The tape won't transport until the tape is threaded, and pulling on the auto tensioning levers, engaging their microswitches. It's what engages the autostop when the tape comes off the end of the reel (or in that sad moment when the tape snaps) and also starts the reel motors in opposite directions of each other to tension the tape. You can just hold them with your hand for testing/servicing purposes. (ah damn, I see the spoiler note after I typed this xD) It looks like 1" tape. 2", 1", 1/2", and 1/4" tape are standard sizes. Studios would usually record 16ch to 1" or 24ch to 2", then master the mix to full width (2ch) 1/2" tape to send off for vinyl cutting. I see speed forward and back control. It'd be super lucky if it went up to 30 or 15 ips. (Studio speeds) I'm going to guess it tops out at 7.5 ips (if that) and probably never really ran that high. If you could manage to get it up to 15 or 30 ips you could then replace all the tape heads with studio ones if you wanted to use it for HiFi recording. But I doubt that's your intention with this bad boy. You may have already found and read this ICR32 service technician's forum post from 2006 on vintage-radio.net but I'll leave it here just in case: "Yes they are still in use! I'm responsible for 6 pairs. They are a multitrack machine with limited bandwidth (300 to 3400Hz), and are used for voice recording in air traffic, banks, stock exchanges and the like. They come in a number of flavours, 16 and 32 channel with 1/2" tape, and 32 and 64 channel with 1" tape (the electronics is the same, just a different number of channel boards (1 to 4), and a different set of tape guides, and obviously, the tape head. They will not normally have an erase head, but can be used to record and playback. I have the manuals, including the mechanical set up of the deck. Thales (Racal) no longer support them, but a company called Precision Applications has taken over the support and spares. The machine in the [forum post] picture looks to be a 32 track 1/2" one, which will have 30 tracks available for record, plus one time track, and one spare (automatically switched in on failure of pilot tone recording). Machines are normally fitted in pairs, to give continuous no-break recording (one tape change every 24 hours, with auto changeover), if more than one track fails, the second deck will come on line, as it will at the end of the tape - there is normally a 1 hour overlap where both machines are recording. These machines are fast disappearing, as they are now around 20 years old, and are being replaced by new digital machines. __________________ Jim Beacon G1JBG www.g1jbg.co.uk" I guess that means if those are 10.5 inch reels with 6000 feet of 0.5mm thick tape on them you're looking at 0.8333 ips to cover 24 hours. I'm also totally guessing the reel size and it could be larger than 10.5 inch. Jim's website went down sometime after 2017, and the only email I can find for the guy uses that domain. I imagine if he's still with us, he'd have a lot of useful information.

[@limmit00]

Might be 1 7/8 ips or 15/16 ips for the speed

[@mjrippe]

@@limmit00 Agreed. Most likely 15/16 ips. Also "voice frequency" recorders are generally 300Hz - 3kHz bandwidth.

[@AlexanderWright1]

I used to work for Racal Recorders, though I didn't work on the ICR 32, I've worked on other ICR systems, Wordsafe, Storehorse and Storplex. From my memory, the ICR system heads include both a play and a record head together with an independent erase head. It had multiple record modes, including looping from end to end recording 16 channels on each pass. This enables continuous recording. They were usually fitted with a data card for recording data from the radar system; thus synchronised voice and radar could be replayed on demand.

[@ambiention]

Patch it into the telephone exchange and you could record everything simultaneously. Should work ok as they're both designed around frequencies important to voice intelligibility

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

indeed! thats probably all that its useful for!however the tape is gunna cost a bomb

Send the tapes to Techmoan to know what they have.

[@limmit00]

Techmoan doesn't have a machine for this

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Will be interesting to see what's on those tapes!

[@markhodgson2348]

Truth about

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

thats the main reason I wanna get it spinning! :D

[@Richardincancale]

@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE They were used in some fun places! I recall specifying these to be installed in the control rooms of a couple of nuclear power stations in Scotland, for replay in case of some ‘mis-operation’

[@user-li7rh8pf6c]

I used to test these at Racal Recorders in the 1980s, along with the later ICR 20 and 40 machines. The missing item from the bottom of the cabinet is the fan tray. It kept a bit of positive pressure in the cabinet to keep the dust out and circulate filtered air. These machines were voice recorders only, only the later versions could record radar plot data. In Voice Op the decks are stopped, but the capstan runs, so the tape pick up is practically instantaneous. The lifter bars between the heads keep the tape off the heads during spooling to reduce wear. The central "crate" contains the channel cards, and the logic to change over to spare channels if one fails the 400hz pilot tone detection monitor. There's also logic to control deck change-over etc. The signal cards up by the heads are groups of head replay amps with frequency response shaping circuitry. Basically it's a telephone-bandwidth 32 channel recorder with potentially 24hrs recording per reel and automatic deck changeover and re-wind.

[@jaredwblack]

"Jiff Jaff" is, I think, my favorite bit of vocabulary learned from this channel. 😀

[@barryculver72]

I know a little bit about this as I worked on digital recording systems in the 90s. All conversations between a plane and the flight controller must be continuously recorded as a record in case of an incident. Each channel would record

[@barryculver72]

.. one seat in flight control. The audio comes over as a 600 ohm twisted pair, a bit like a phone line, into a transformer on each input channel. The recorders have record and playback heads to prove recording is working. This stuff is essentially telephone audio quality. I guess the tapes auto swap every 24 hours, or if there is a fault. Tapes would be stored in locked cabinets - kept for some months. There would have been a separate playback station.

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

@@barryculver72 cool to know! so you recon thats record and read heads? woud the tape be re used? i guess there would be an erase machine aswell for that? or do they just use new tape?????

[@rafo6577]

That thing reminds me of the traffic light control system form the original Italian Job move.

[@simonsaunders7532]

I used to use a bunch of these in a bank dealing room - there was no erase head and we had an external erasing apparatus which was used prior to loading the daily tape each morning

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

The questions I have from some people in the know on these. Is is that erase and record heads. Or record and read heads for monitoring that the tape is correctly recording

[@snuffamericanstyle]

Best guess would be record and read heads. Since the tapes were swapped daily and saved for record keeping, I wouldn't think they would need an erase function.

[@tuopeeks]

Tapes may have been erased externally with a degauss coil before reuse.

[@R3TR0R4V3]

Keep in mind there's 4 heads.. and with that in mind, you should have the usual: Erase, Record, Playback and in this case, a dedicated Reverse Playback head. At least that's what other typical 4-head R2R machines have and I suspect this one is no different in that regard. :-)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

@@R3TR0R4V3 I think this one has 2 16 channel record heads and 2 16 channel read heads and no erase head

[@soundboyapparel6476]

Glad to see it in its new home!! ✌

[@dykodesigns]

That’s a fine looking piece of equipment! If it is a 32 track recorder, I would suppose that every channel is assigned to a specific flight. So potentially the tapes could have conversations of 32 simultaneous flights on them, provided that tapes are still good. It be a potential time machine, going back to the last day that the machine was used.

[@clemf3785]

me as Amateur radio / SWL, RACAL is the dream, wonders of HF/V-UHF receiver/transmitter , amp & rec, made in UK.

[@thomasroooney1835]

It would make a great answering machine for your telephone exchange. The top reel could play a track "Hello, this museum is not obsolete. Please overdub your vocal… 1 2 3 4"

[@Ascsoms]

I'm pretty confident if anyone can get this thing working and utilised in a musical context it'll be you

[@AlexanderWright1]

Note that the tape (1" audio tape) needed to be threaded into the tape path, and the load tape button pressed to tension the tape correctly. The tape mechanism won't move without this being carried out. The tape was kept tensioned correctly by controlling the power to the two spool motors, with moveable tension sensors providing feedback to ensure correct tension.

[@johnbartlet6669]

A 32 channel lofi looper.... that could be fun.

[@h2o1969]

I was just thinking that. Something like Hainbach or Amulets kind of thing.

[@Chris-vr8cd]

@@h2o1969 give it to heinbach and he'll find a way to make it musical

[@jadenpeterson4881]

Oooh! Record 32 different tones on a looping tape, wire the playback heads to some push buttons all with a shared ground. 32 key tape synth.

[@johnbartlet6669]

@@jadenpeterson4881 That, sir, is an excellent idea.

[@soundguydon]

I freaking love your channel. I am interested in virtually everything you show in your videos!! I wish I was able to travel and come see all this awesome stuff in person!!! Thank you for sharing, (especially for those of us unable to travel) !!

[@tonib9261]

This wasn’t made obsolete by recording to hard disk, that was several generations into the future. The tape machines were made obsolete by the voice recorders that used VHS tape as their media. Voice record is “popular” in investment banking, where there were.many hundreds of lines to record, so there were racks and racks of these. These were generally installed as record only, the playback machine was in an office.

[@chilebike6556]

I did the course on this. It records the w/t channels to the aircraft for ATC, only to 3khz BW, the tape going so slowly allows, if I recall ,24hrs on each. You had to look at it twice to confirm the tape was moving. I recall something about record monitoring, this was legal data after all. The standing orders required a tape once finished went into the 7 day series, and the next one bulk erased & recorded over, so any incident in the last week could be recalled. On the course exam there was an empty Avo case next to the bulk eraser as part of the test. If I haven't purged them the course notes are in my loft, oh my. This was the RDCE equipment, and it was in MRCE. The CAA liked 4 letter acronyms. This came from LAP I believe, we were at LATCC, West Drayton. You would have to trawl through a lot of tapetime to find anything interesting, and then, very little. If you wanted to record seismograph data in a big space, this would be great, but nothing an Arduino & an SD card couldn't do. Let's see - 3khz * 3600 * 24 = about 300 meg. Pass me the SD card...

[@goldenghostinc]

This thing looks really cool next to the phone exchange and whatever that thing on the other side is that we got a glimpse of. Awesome room altogether!

[@desamos8196]

It looks like there is a phase shift cap next to each motor, so it will be asynchronous motors for spooling and Synchronise motor for capstan so changing the speed means changing capstan shaft or Capstan motor. An yes 15/16" per sec sounds about right.

[@Sperminski]

Damn, the cabinet alone. What a big beauty.

[@Whiteseastudio]

Hey man! I do my maintain my own tape machine in my studio, if you need any info on tape machines, feel free to hit me up! About the big question about the tape itself, I think it's 1" tape, which should be generally available. The tape that is currently on the machine could be suffering from Sticky Tape Shed Syndrome, and might need baking before you can use them.

[@AntiDot70]

This tape recorder looks like snake oil to me!

[@Whiteseastudio]

@@AntiDot70 Tape recorders are never snake oil!

[@TheRothOfKhan]

Nice. Some British police forces used these to record telephone and radio traffic in the late 1970s.

[@thenorthamericanphonograph1039]

We had 4 911 recorders, and all of their phones. Two Magnasync and two Dictaphone logging recorders, but never used them, they recorded 911 calls, they were 10 track 1/2" tape and yes, only for voice recording , so they go really slow, not for high fidelity, very very reliable.

[@quenchize]

The playback heads are probably confidence heads. These are only to playback the recorded signal right after it is recorded so that you can be 100% sure there is a signal on the tape it also makes it much easier to align the bias, azimuth and phase of the heads.

[@reggiep75]

I can feel the presence of Hainbach in the museum.. I can feel his lust after your 32 track recorder. Once the Hokey-Cokey-19 madness is over he'll want to have a proper go of this.... Half speed: *INCOMING*

[@R1GAMBLER]

maybe you could lease some of your inventions out to film production for revenue to support the museum... how cool would it be to see your stuff on Dr. Who?

[@sparkyprojects]

Yep, it would run really slow, that's why it's more for voice, if there was a way to increase the speed, you may get better quality, but that's a longshot, i just made a vid for techmoan on speeding up that type of motor, but i doubt it would speed it up enough without casing damage, you'd have to speed up all 3 motors in each machine. I would guess that normally one recorder will be running with the other on standby, once the first tape runs out, it switches to the standby one, then someone will change the tape on the first one and set it up as the standby. Looks like 2 heads for erase, then 2 heads for record, the monitor speaker is just for monitoring, you probably don't want to tie up the machine toplayback, that might be another single machine for that

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

the thing that makes me thing they are record and read heads is the fact i have heard it mentionned on some sites aswell as a comment above about a monitoring to make sure it is recording correctly. but then there is no erase heads. maybe they just didnt re use the tape who knows. im sure it will come apparent when i open up the mixer.

[@sparkyprojects]

@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE If you check the link i posted (might be in your moderated folder), yeah, the guy said something about record and play heads only, they would need to put a clean tape in (or one that has been through a bulk eraser)

[@Lu_Woods]

Sooooooooo Coooool !!!! I hope you find out more about that beast and implement a multi track echo something or other. I love big racks ; )

[@rickharriss]

RACAL pronounced RAY KAL Just for your info. One of the many things I serviced when working at the RAF air traffic training school RAF Shawbury. You might get away with some heat shrink on the Pinch rollers.

[@swilwerth]

That's looks like a lot of work dude! I will first try to make the motor / capstan / tape guide to work. Then the head preamp only to line levels at first to hear what's on the tape.

[@gordonking2739]

Regards to ICR 32 used by ATC only can be used to record up tp 32 separate channels for it to work tape will have to bulk erased, to play back recorded audio it needs a separate play back deck. Tapes will run for 25 hours but tape will be replaced after 24 hours and manually start up standby deck, the tapes will be kept for 30 days before being bulk erased before reused unless replay required by ATC. Each channel has a plot tone recorded at a low frequency this is notch out on replay, if a channel fails it will give a deck alarm and transfer audio to channel one if more than one fails will start the standby deck. Note each channel can checked for correct recording by used the card slide controls, the button will check the pilot tone.this in real time with a slight delay, due to the spacing of the heads. To check for correct operation a test is transmitted on each frequency for correct speech quality ever two hours, the standby will checked by ATC. If you need to used ICR 32 for demo purposes you will need feed a test audio signal all the time note a 600 ohm balanced input at 0db about 700mV is required. Channel two is used to record morse time code this channel is lso used to record information as to date and time both on start and end. In ATC systems the line side channel frequency from the RDCE is recorded , the controllers desk side which will include intercom and phones audio. Standby hand sets will record onto a separate channel. Hope this information helps. Kind regards

[@SpectrumDIY]

This should be rather interesting! And yeah... projects do seem to have a way of complicating themselves out of nowhere XD I know you'll get it though, looking forward to seeing the next update!

[@rogergregory5981]

Looks in good condition, fingers crossed you won't have much of a problem getting it up and running And it's great to hear someone else calling a lamp a lamp and great video

[@TaswcmT]

This being from the 70's, I'm tempted to believe it's not yellowed or in its original colour - it's nicotine.

[@unf0ld]

Looks like 1 inch tape, it’s pretty easy to find but bloody expensive!

[@ChadBillAnderson]

I had no idea you had this channel in addition to LMNC, so stoked to see what comes of this project :D

[@McTroyd]

Given the randomness of the visitors passing through the museum, if you record enough, you should get some awesome samples. It'll be lo-fi, but that's a style too, right? 🤷‍♂️👍️

[@peter.stimpel]

some years ago someone was paying some good money for this stuff ... if you get it running, I can't wait to learn if data on the tape survived

[@TonyLing]

Gorgeous

[@craiggilchrist4223]

The slot in cards could be modules for High/Low pass filters and or gates maybe.

[@SXTransmission]

if there's no playback im sure that one could be maneuvered into place to hear what's on the tape. If it's got stuff on then that would be interesting to have running, hearing all the voices of mostly-dead pilots from the 70's!

[@FabFunty]

you would smell the sweaty polyester shirts and cigarettes 😃

[@whstark]

Trained on similar in air force for tower com's, get rubber put on by russel, replacement belts suppler sent in the rollers and they referbed with new rubber. Did a lot of antique recorders. Nice 3 motor decks, could use for display audio etc. Maybe change tape speed, but heads and preamp mods? Or use for control audio with freq to voltage converters.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

3M 226 reels of tape are what you are looking for. and actually a unit with 32 track capabilities would set you back £32,000 big ones.

[@algaylor9971]

For replacement reels/tape check with the UK/US navy "Sonar" recording electronics. Those are the one-inch tapes we used in the 1980/90 time frame. Maybe check out the local Hawker Siddeley Nimrod museum (LOL). Those are very, very, very high quality & sound sensetive tapes. You got very lucky! If you can find the tape on the glass reels you get a bonus of being able to break a reel on highspeed rewind.

[@gwesco]

Also looks like 1 inch Reel to Reel video recording tape as used on early Ampex video recorders.

[@jamesbennettmusic]

could it be 15/16ths of an inch per second? (half cassette speed). As it's a logging machine of sorts, I bet the heads are record and playback - if you wanted to erase an industrial tape I bet the reels get run through a bulk eraser - but you might not ever want/need to accidentally erase a flight log on the machine itself!

[@Tardisntimbits]

I bet you have a lot caps to replace. Still, it's cool to see this kind of kit, the stuff you'd never see outside of a movie, or working in the industry.

[@VeronicaGlassCelestica]

jeez! amazing. not too early to you to have this type of stuff :)

[@wisterialosenge2546]

i had an 8 track reel to reel that i had replaced the melted tar wheel with a found metal bearing with some card board also rolled in the middle of the bearing. the bearing was probably slightly smaller than the tar wheel was, and it worked and i recorded that way, but if i moved the machine 3 feet to the left, it would mysteriously stop working for a week or two, then start working again. might have been the size mismatch on that roller wheel causing the malfunction. my bearing was slightly smaller, i think. something wasn't quite engaging, maybe it was a funky spring or switch in the lever next to the wheel. * low fidelity is probably more the tape speed and the audio source than the recorder itself

[@_zzpza]

I used to work for Racal a long time ago! Nothing to do with this specific product unfortunately. But I can give you a quick tip - the company name is pronounced "Ray-Cal". It's made up from the names of the two founders RAymond Brown and CALder Cunningham. "RA" from Raymond and "CAL" from Calder.

[@martinmihkay8100]

I don't think it was at Heathrow. The airport ICR's had two sets of electronics, one for each tape machine. That looks like a single electronics machine. They were used at the Air Traffic Control Centre at West Drayton (about a mile from Heathrow). Now a demolished and a housing estate. The ATC Centre had a spare set pair machines that could be swapped in if there was a failure of the electronics.

[@TheBiggerburger]

Used to work for a telecoms firm who used something very similar looking as a call logger. Never took much interest, it was often said that retrieving a call (if it was even possible) was such a pain in the arse it would only be done if absolutely necessary. In practice, that was never.

[@janklas7079]

In another video you showed 2 telphone sets (green) which were basically an intercom. You were setting this up for in the museum as kids love it. You could use this recorder to record all those conversations.

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

yes but because of a lack of erase head, it would need another reader to erase before each day, it would all end up costing too much sadly :(

[@janklas7079]

@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE An erase head is not neccesary for recording. Sure, if you want hifi. Not for low quality recordings.

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

@@janklas7079 yes but what I mean is it will be time consuming to replay the reel to reel and also erase it for another day. it sadly isn't particularly practical

[@janklas7079]

@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE name me one practical thing in the museum ;)

[@NR23derek]

Looks like 1 inch tape which is standard enough, it would have run at 15/16th inches per second, which is half the speed of a cassette player. The slow speed will mean the highest frequency it could record would be about 5khz or so, fine for radio coms. Things aren't turning probably because loads of rubber bands have gone the same way as the pinch rollers.

[@johnkaplun9619]

Theres a guy here in the US who runs a site called Terrys rubber rollers, he will rerubberize the rollers like new

[@fathomisticfantasy2681]

I am a little late to the party, but it make a cool addition to the telephone exchange room. That is should you decide to expand it to air traphic communications. Just an idea I had while watching this.

[@gooneybird808]

So dope!

[@Stache987]

Damn.. you'd be a great project mate, into many of my interests

[@flipheijnsbergen]

Looks like 1inch reel to reel tape to me its a tape standard that was put on big studio recorders. I can be wrong, realy look forwart to part 2.

[@the_psychedelic_lucario]

I bet you it records at 15/16 inches per second. Like cassette on half speed. Then the reel would last 16 times longer. And it looks like either 1 or 2 inch wide tape. Its probably one of those standard sizes. I am a tape guy but I know nothing about this machine. It could record audio and then be super lofi sounding. But I dont think you could synchronize the tracks to do any multitrack recording with this.

[@tinfoilcat]

Record 32 pitches of some waveform on the channels - boom 2,5 octave mellotron in a rack. :O

[@desamos8196]

I do have a memory of having to line up same machine in a radio station. ABC Australia. Freaked out because of how bad it sounded. The recorded spoken clock on one track. All channel record. Looks like 1 inch and I think I know of someone who may still have service manual if required. He worked for Australian Distributor.

[@cttv90108]

I wonder if magic smoke was caused by a shorted tantalum capacitor or resistor or ?

[@patrik3623]

Good luck!

[@BillyTopley]

I actually have some Racal ICR 32 smoke if you need some to replace what was lost

[@limmit00]

I think the heads are either 2x 16track erase and 2x 16track rec/play or 2x16 track rec and 2x16 track play

[@raychambers3646]

Have you got a travelling ladder in you museum? Had lots of fun with them in the past.

[@alexanderthomas2660]

As others have said, instead of 3D printing replacements for the rollers, you can also try some simpler things like anything rubbery you can stretch over the pegs (maybe segments of bicycle inner tube). My experience with flexible 3D printing filament, even the softest stuff like NinjaFlex, is that it is still not as soft as real rubber and doesn't offer the same amount of grip, but I'm not sure if that is really required here. Also, it is not easy to print with, definitely needs a direct drive extruder and very slow speeds.

[@kevinvc9571]

curious marc collab seems to be coming closer...

[@DrRusty5]

If it is designed for voice... Perhaps it could work as a voice modulator? or creating harmonies 🤷‍♀️

[@oblioi]

iv got no idea but the empty box at the bottom could of been a power transformer. :o)

[@caseyrevoir]

Any number of types of tubing, hose, and solid rods are already available for use as new rollers.

[@gonzo_the_great1675]

A freind has a 16chan version of these. It was used to monitor phone lines at a call centre. Did you get the audio clock to go with it? It is a magnetic drum with read heads for each digit. Reads the time out by switching between heads. That was recorded onto track one as a timestamp. Voice op is a voice operated record. So it only records when there is traffic. Very low tape speed, so certainly only comms quality bandwidth. I believe they were record and playback units. You will need a bulk eraser to wipe the tapes.

[@gonzo_the_great1675]

Correction. His is the exact same 32chan version. He probably has a full set of manuals too.

[@copilotclaude1026]

Idea for making it musical: have an input (SM58, synth, whatever) for museum goers to mess with. It records into channel 1 on a tape loop on the upper reel. Read head of Ch. 1 upper reel is connected to write head of Ch. 1 lower reel. Lower reel is running just a little slower. Ch1 lower goes to ch. 2 upper, which goes to ch 2 lower, then ch3 upper... You get the idea. Museum users can turn a dial to listen to their own audio, or after one pass of tape, or after 16 increasingly grungy (and pitched down) iterations. Depending on how it's wired up they also might be listening on a delay? Like if the write head is just after the read head on each tape then the audio has to go all the way round the loop before it gets to the read head. So you might hear a kind of weird unintelligible imprint of what people were doing 15 mins before you got there! Fun for all the family :p Totally ruins it as a piece of history though.

[@PedroPetracco]

Wowzers

[@charlie_nolan]

Edit: never mind, you thought of this and talk about it near the end of the video With this you should make some sort of system that records phone calls or plays messages with some of your phone sets, something communication related

[@DieJackev2]

Important question: Are there still recordings of the first life of the machine on the tape? xD

[@Ladytron]

Can you use it as a tape/space echo, where you can use to mixer to add or remove a audio layer...

[@nrdesign1991]

The tape looks similar to what might have been used in computers back at the time

[@ArtemKashkanovLive]

Cool device

[@craiggilchrist4223]

Put the audio on it from some of your KZbin vids so people can dial in and listen or some old ATC audio. If the system plays at a weird speed then just use software to change and match it. There must be somewhere where the ATC operators headsets wire in and the feed from Aircraft. Just thinking out loud really. Im a stage/sound tech so would love to mess about with this.

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

the only real issue is its a recorder. its not for playback or erasing. only with some mods here and there will it really work for playback.

[@MiltonGrimshaw]

Looks like it works on duel phase and that would make sense too for it's use, you could probably just power with one set of PSU to start with

[@cambridgemart2075]

We don't have dual phase in the UK, it will likely be single phase 230V

[@gargapista]

What's that in the corner? "Oh never mind, that's just a russian listener bug"

[@AndreasLindholm]

Watch out with AMPEX tape. There is a certain generation of AMPEX tape where the filament binder goes bad over time

[@dvhx]

Make a "Record one message, listen one message" for visitors.

[@sterlingbloomfield4458]

I wonder if that is used for ATIS information? 🧐 (pilots tune into a frequency and here a pre recorded message telling them weather and airport information so ATC doesn’t have to tell them the same info over and over again)

[@berndeckenfels]

I would expect the key lock/power switch unit go into the top row?

[@daveedwards9575]

My fav thing so far. Trying to remember where I remember the RACAL name from, must lookup what happened to them.

[@cambridgemart2075]

RACAL was an electronics company that produced a wide range of equipment including test equipment, radar systems, sonar systems. They were wound up in 2000 and their product ranges taken over by Thomson CSF.

[@MoltenMusicTech]

Fun fact no one asked for: I was once an Air Traffic Control Officer

[@willynebula6193]

Haha how's the eurorack going? Ive drifted away from my synths atm. Been busy with getting an old 486 running again.

[@Flofutz]

Wonder how much there is on the tapes. 15 inces per second would be 0.38 meters per second and over two meters per minute... i would say that is fast.

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

yeah I got that wrong. will figure it out, itll be easy to see if I can get it going

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

but yeah interested to see whats on the tape when its going, hopefully there is playback, im guessing so. seems to be read and write heads and in and outs for each channel

[@Flofutz]

@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE you may have someone around who ist on the same side of the channel as you but if not, and we get german customs sorted i am happy to make new rollers for it. i guess they have all gone to hell.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

32 track audio tape is what you want as you are in the music industry then maybe you can easily get 32 track audio tape.

[@MatthewBryce]

Use heat shrink on the rollers?

[@Cinnimin]

how the hell you have everything i wanted to use for music and you use it for music.

[@robertlewis4216]

Is that rack not a bit top-heavy with both R2R's in the top?

[@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE]

no because the power supply is heavier

[@szuzmariacsatkai3496]

Maybe Techmoan could help you out on this. Maybe?

[@DetroitMicroSound]

Looks like 1" tape to me.

[@VodkaSelekta]

It would be cool to see if it as least has any awesome lo-fi qualiies

[@raindogred]

even if it only can handle human vocal frequency..maybe if you get it running, could load it up with 32x tracks of human vocals for choir pad drone loop plonka thingamabob..know what i mean????