Voice Mail in 1967 Smith Corona Mail Call

[@youbecha64]

Having the verbal explanation recorded to the cartridge was perfect!

[@JohnRunyard]

My brother in Vietnam would send tapes home. It was wonderful to hear his voice. One of these tapes you could hear 50 cal gunfire in the background. Making it real. I found the Mail Call machine in pop's garage about 10 years ago. I stuck it back in what ever box I found it in. Now pop had the forethought to transfer a bunch of my late brother's Nam tapes to reel to reel. To a Craig 212 to be exact. I found this reel to reel tape about two weeks ago. Pop's 212 worked for about a minute and a half, just enough to know the tape had voice on it. Purchased a rebuilt Craig 212 reel to reel machine from ebay to play these priceless tape. I transferred to digital at that point using the free Audacity program. You mentioned foil on the Mail Call tape. When this foil passed through it would sound a beep, You had 10 or 15 seconds of recording left. Thanks for the video.

[@KentuckyRanger]

It's so interesting how you keep coming up with these new (old) recording formats!

[@MacGyversWorkshop]

How cool! I used to have that exact same desk lamp! A total 70's desk lamp LOL!

[@riverhuntingdon6659]

What a strange little creature.Years ago I saw an Angel, for Christmas, that had a 4-track standard cassette in the base. It turned out that two tracks did the stereo sound, and the other two, the animation and lighting on the decoration. The head was the same type as used in auto-reverse car decks at the time. Tapes couldn't be turned over, the use of all four tracks at once precluded that, and the device would rewind at the end of a tape. The head in the Smith Corona looks to be a standard (ish) mono cassette type, sometimes installed in Walkman - sized mono cassettes, and in that Playskool tape, the pressure pad looked like a standard cassette one.

[@michaelbianchi22]

I know of Smith Corona Electronics. My dad used to have a PC Printer made by them. I still have the old box for that and use it to store my cassette tapes.

[@BersekViking]

The head on the left is the erase head. The one on the right is the record/play head. Standard tape recorder configuration.

[@CassetteMaster]

I agree. Nerd IS a complement!

[@TommyTantrym]

Nerds Rule

[@MnACreations]

I so look forward to your videos. It is so awesome to me, to see what you have to show us as well as the "behind the scenes" look at what you did to make the video happen. On a sort of related note. I went to a flea market the other day and saw a stack of reel to reel tapes and I was wishing that I had a reel to reel to listen to them on, They all had some sort of recording on them and dates in the 50's - 60's The tapes were in very good condition and were playable.. Some day I hope to have one and I will find some tapes to play and go back in time..

[@databits]

I recommend looking on Craigslist due to the weight of those machines.

[@NickFellows]

Love the design of the device! Totally agree about the 2001 reference.

[@NickFellows]

Suprisingly elegant under the hood too!

[@KK4CNM]

My dad had a 1970s vintage SCM dictaphone, it was built like a tank.

[@pancudowny]

Tape-speed also effected the total content/length of the cartridge, as I learned in Radio-1 during my high-school days.

[@CassetteMaster]

I've been wanting to get my hands on one of these units for years.

[@Clay3613]

4-track was used all the way up until the last decade at some radio stations and schools.

[@coondogtheman]

Neat unit. I know someone who would like this unit. I'm going to share it with him.

[@Renatodonadio]

11:15 Usually the big head is the "combo" read/write head, while the small head is the erase head ;-D

[@IAdryan]

The design of this thing reminds me of Star Trek, first series.

[@Tomsonic41]

If the tape is the exact same width as audio cassette, then you could probably spool that Teddy Ruxpin tape into a normal cassette shell and record/play it that way. I assume the tracks are in the same place - but does it run at the same speed as a cassette?

[@CoolDudeClem]

I'm proud to be a nerd!

[@LiviuDragon]

weird landline phone uses tapes

[@clydesight]

I had one of these units as a kid, but mine was in red.

[@databits]

I've seen red ones on ebay before.

[@hamiltonburger3501]

Excellent video! Where did you find the replacement drive belt?

[@erinrobbins6855]

Do you know how to wind one of these back up?? I have 2 of these mail call tapes. My grandparents actually recorded messages and johnny cash live on tv and sent to my Dad in Vietnam. One works, the other came unwound. I just can not figure out how they wind back up. Thanks!!

[@vibingwithvinyl]

If you click the dislike button twice, you end up with no dislike :p

[@setwave]

I just picked one up for $3 at a flea market. A red one. I hope it works.

[@databits]

Me too!

[@Akadjjoel]

I'm a nerdy friend!

[@vanhetgoor]

Sometimes I wonder why people invent something. The Smith Corona Mail Call cartridge recorder is really useless. In the 60's there was another cassette that survived many decades, so the others must have done something wrong.

[@mcramp20]

Nerd!!!

[@EvertGuzman]

first

[@databits]

second

[@EvertGuzman]

databits hehe great video man, i can't wait to see what you'll look at next.