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	  	         === Last Update 1/17/95  ====





	    [removed]   Volume 96 : Issue 128


Articles in this issue of [removed]:

	 Re: Theater 5
	 Old Ampex Recorders
	 Records as Variable Velocity devices
	 OTR ISSUE #126
	 Re: OTR Digest #126
	 OTR Digest #126
	 Mercedes McCambridge
	 Gunsmoke
	 Ampex 600 Tape Recorder
	 Re: Sherlock Holmes
	 RA2 on slower modems?
	 Re: Inner and outer record speeds

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 07:12:50 -0800
From: dabell@[removed] (Alan Bell)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Re: Theater 5
Message-Id: <v01520d02ad8cfeec5d35@[[removed]]>

Definitely ABC (*not* BBC), but was it really Fred Foy announcing? My
recollection is that it was. I have a few on tape, but haven't listened to
them for at least 20 years. I remember recording them while in college just
because they were an attempt to revive radio drama, and not necessarily
because the episodes were any good. Some were, but many were not. Much like
the CBS Mystery Theater.

One of the best T-5's for my money was an episode titled "In Absence of All
Intelligent Life." It was well-written and acted, with a first rate audio
production. But what makes it one of my favorites is the twist ending that
could have ONLY been possible on radio. In fact, I was going to play that
episode for a class I teach in radio theater and discovered that - horrors
- I can't find it! I also can't find it in the RHAC catalog. (It may be in
others, though) If anyone reading this has a copy with good sound, please
email me. I'll be happy to trade several shows to get that one.

_____________________________________________________________________
ALAN BELL  3768 Sonoma Avenue  Santa Rosa, CA 95405  dabell@[removed]
=============================707-546-6988============================

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 11:25:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: roy547@[removed] (Roy Trumbull)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Old Ampex Recorders
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

With regards to the Ampex 600 [removed]
I bought a used 601 in 1959 so it would predate that by a
few years. The 600 was a full track recorder with the play
head positioned in the middle of the tape so that it didn't
read the edges at all. There was a two track stereo version
as well but the erase head was full track so you didn't
have the option of using it to record seperate mono tracks.
They were nice portable units done in a suitcase style with
metal caps on all the corners.
The electronics were tubes and I think they were all octal
based tubes rather than peanut tubes. The capstan was press fit
into the flywheel and on a hot day after the tubes had been
on for an hour you could pull the capstan right out. That
was fixed by adding a setscrew and rebalancing the flywheel.
I sold mine to a radio station and used the money to buy
the first Sony "Superscope" recorder on the market. I still
have it.
I also have two Ampex 300 recorders which was their first major
success. It is based on the German Magnetophon. There was also
a 100 and 200 but not too many of them. There was  a 400
or 450 that you want to avoid. The capstan was to the left of
the heads which made no sense. Some of the 300s were produced
with a plywood baseplace and wouldn't hold tolerances at all.
They are worthless. The big seller was the 350 which could be
rack mounted and it was the first to use a machined motor 
shaft as the capstan. 
The real sex of those machines was that they could be remote
controlled since they employed DC solenoids. But the DC was made
with a selenium rectifier up through the mid 60s. If you find
a machine in which the controls don't work, changing out that
rectifier for a silicon one usually does the trick.
Value on any of these machines is strictly a matter of machine
condition and your desire. They have no commercial value now
that everything has gone digital. Something would have to be
really in cherry shape to be worth more than $200.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 11:40:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: roy547@[removed] (Roy Trumbull)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Records as Variable Velocity devices
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

A record is a variable velocity medium. Track length per unit
time changes as you go from outside to inside. What is recorded
in one turn of the record on the edge fits into a longer track 
than what is recorded in one turn of the record in the innermost 
groove. While the revolutions are constant, the track length per
turn keeps shrinking. 
The best example I can think if is that it's like starting out at
7 1/2 ips only to wind up at 3 3/4 ips. 
Between the loss of fidelity and the failure of tone arms to properly
track, the inner grooves always have the worst distortion.
There was a method used to make a a disk logger in which the RPM
was varied depending on the position of the cutting head. That
was the only constant velocity recorder I've ever run into.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 12:56:46 +0000
From: "Ross & Corinne Learn" <learn@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: OTR ISSUE #126
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Hi Bill
Could you please resend OTR Digest #126, I only recieved part of it
[removed]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 12:54:03 +0000
From: "Ross & Corinne Learn" <learn@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Re: OTR Digest #126
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Hi Bill
Just a [removed] you please resend issue #126 (I recieved about 
half of the transmission
[removed]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 12:50:46 +0000
From: "Ross & Corinne Learn" <learn@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: OTR Digest #126
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Hi Bill
Just a [removed] you please resend issue #126 (I recieved about 
half of the transmission
[removed]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 96 12:21 PDT
From: lois@[removed] (Lois Culver)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Mercedes McCambridge
Message-Id: <m0u601w-0006ZLC@[removed]>

, (appropriately enough,) was Mercedes McCambridge's 78th
birthday.  I think my favorite of all her radio roles were the many she
played in the ILAM mysteries.  That tremulous voice was especially good at
communicating sheer terror.  Of course, she was all over the radio dial for
decades, and went on to TV and movies.

Does anyone know anything about her state of health?  I understand at one
period in her life she had a pretty serious bout with alcoholism.

Barbara Kliene

Barbara, the first part of your message was missing, and I am very
interested in it.

Mercy was the star of a show on Mutual Network called Defense Attorney, and
my late husband Howard Culver played opposite her as an attorney and her boy
friend, the show being directed by Ted Robertson.

We loved her dearly, and she was quite a character - had many quirks and was
good at cutting people down to size!  She was a star then, and always. 

Yes, she did have a bad bout with alcoholism.  I have lost track of her, and
her address of years ago is no longer good, as she sold the house when she
relocated for a time to the east.  As I was thinking about her the other
night, I, too, would like to know where she is and where she could be contacted.

Lois Culver
lois@[removed]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 96 12:25 PDT
From: lois@[removed] (Lois Culver)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Gunsmoke
Message-Id: <m0u605I-0006ZLC@[removed]>

As a matter of information re Gunsmoke radio show:

Audition transcriptions were cut in Hollywood for someone to play "Mark
Dillon" (as he was called in the primary show), then the transcriptions were
sent, without any names on the cuts, for a decision by CBS.

My late husband, Howard Culver, was chosen to play the lead in Gunsmoke.
However, he had already accepted a contract to play the dual lead in the kid
show "Straight Arrow", and his contract would not allow him to star in
another show.  Bill Conrad was chosen for the role.  Howard played many
parts in the show, but could not take the starring role.

Howard was cast as one of the Dodge City regulars on the TV Gunsmoke, and
played the whole 20 years, the first show, the last, and many in between.
His role was the hotel clerk in the Dodge House, "Howie".  

For the first show, he had never seen Jim Arness, and Howard's scene opened
with Howie standing at the hotel desk, looking down at the registration
book.  Matt Dillon walked up, stood at the desk, then Howie looked up at
him.  Well, when Howard looked up, he was looking at Arness's belt buckle,
and slowly looked up and up til he got to his face.  No one had told him
that Arness was so tall! ;)

Lois Culver
Grants Pass, Oregon

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 18:47:38 -0400
From: rgb@[removed] (Read G Burgan)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Ampex 600 Tape Recorder
Message-Id: <[removed]@btc1>

Lee Detroit asked about the history of the Ampex 600 tape recorder.  The
original Ampex 600 was first produced in the late 1950's.  It was Ampex's
first attempt at a truly portable tape recorder.  It was built into a custom
Samsonite suitcase.  A companion amplifier/speaker was available in a
matching suitcase.  The original 600 was one speed only -- 7 1/2 ips.  It
was available in either full (600) or half track (602?) and in half track
stereo.  It was a great machine for its time, very reliable with excellent
quality.  Sometime around the very late 60's or early 70's Ampex attempted
to update the 600 series.  The new machines included two speeds, usually 7
1/2 ips and 3 3/4 ips along with solid state electronics.  Alas, these
machines were mechanically difficult to maintain.  While they physically
looked similar to the old machines, they were not as good.  I owned an
original 600 back when I was in college and used it until it was stolen from me.

Read G. Burgan

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 07 Apr 1996 22:32:02 EDT
From: BWWG42A@[removed] (MR JACK L PALMER)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Re: Sherlock Holmes
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

-- [ From: Jack Palmer * [removed] #[removed] ] --

Don Martin,
	I have a lot of SH tapes with Rathbone.  If interested, contact me by
E-Mail and we can work out something.      Jack

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 23:29:40 -0400
From: stevecap@[removed] (Steven Capsuto)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: RA2 on slower modems?
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

>The Johnny Dollar can be downloaded in [removed] or [removed] format.
>If you have the ability to play the [removed] version, get it
>because though larger, the quality is definitely better.

Since we're downloading the file and then playing it locally, does it matter
what speed modem the user has?  [removed], could I d/l the [removed] version through
my [removed] modem and then play it through RA2 software?
___
Steven Capsuto, Philadelphia
stevecap@[removed]
WEB page: [removed]~[removed]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 08 Apr 1996 03:12:28 +0000
From: John Mayer <johnmayer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Inner and outer record speeds
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

>  Alan Chapman <[removed]@[removed]> wrote:
> In describing how ETs were recorded, Ken Piletic wrote:
 
> >The outside grooves of the ET are moving much faster than the inside grooves.  
> 
> An interesting description, but metaphysically impossible.  All grooves are moving at exactly the same speed.  Each successive inner grove, because it's radius is shorter, makes a complete rotation in less time -- but it travels at the same speed.  

Well, I'm an artist, not a mathmetician (and my metaphysical 
credentials are also questionable), but it seems to me that a bug 
riding on an LP, say an inch from the spindle would travel [removed] 
inches in a little less than 2 seconds (one revolution).  If the little 
critter were riding on the outside edge of the record he'd be zipping 
along at [removed] inches in the same time.  Seems faster to me.

------------------------------

    


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---- 
End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #128

