Monday - December 24, 2007

       Merry Christmas one and all! Santa has been good to the Labguy this season!

       Watch out for a super duper rare [VR-7100 one inch VTR] in portable roll-about console as used in schools and other institutions. I just won the auction for this one, but mere moments ago, and it is currently, "in the mail". We will probably see it's arrival in two to three weeks as it must be man handled and then shipped from the east coast to the west coast. I don't think it is going to fit into an overnight envelope.

       Added the 1967 Ampex Audio Monitor Amplifer or simply the [Ampexlifier] to the site today. Here is one of the more obscure accessories on this site for the entire world to enjoy.

       Under the heading of, "It can't hurt to ask" (again), does anyone know how you go about locating loft / living space that allows for light industrial activity? Something along the lines of an artists' enclave? I am becoming desparate to start restoring equipment and seriously deciding about the tape recovery and vintage video machine repair business. At this time, I only rent a room in another's home. Not possible to carry out such an enterprise under this roof. Merely scanning documents results in "too much of a mess". Not that I don't shamelessly exceed this on occasion. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for this type of living space in the San Jose California area or near by communities.

Sunday - December 23, 2007

       It can now be revealed. My 1963 Ampex VR-660B two inch helcial scan VTR is fully restored. Thanks to Richard Nafzger at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. During the original Apollo 11 landing and moon walk, the video was down linked from the moon, converted to both CCIR and EIA, and broadcast to the world. What most of the world did not know was that the video was recorded on kinescope in the United States. No video tape copy exists of the original video - officially. However, there were two sets of back up recordings afterall. One set has the 320 line / 10 FPS lunar slow scan video being recorded on an Ampex instrumentation recorder running at either 100 or 120 IPS. The second set was more obscure. Stan Lebar, the designer of the Apollo 11 video camera, had a converted VR-660 that could record the 320 line / 10 FPS lunar video directly. The live lunar video was recorded on this machine at Goldstone in southern California. If this video could be recovered the quality would be vastly superior to the blurry smeary images that are the legacy today.

       For all of the summer of 2007, a massive search was conducted for Mr. Lebar's recordings OR the instrumentation tape recordings. This search was carried out in people's spare time and manned 100% by volanteers. Sadly, no back up Apollo 11 recordings were found. On the outside chance that they could have been found, I was contacted by Richard Nafzger to see if they could obtain an Ampex VR-660. Of course, there was no question at all that this was possible from my end. I shipped my VR-660B to Mr. Nafzger at Goddard where it was overhauled and restored to operation. I gave unconditional permission for them to modify the deck any way they needed to, electrically or mechanically, to play the tapes, should they ever be found. They ARE stored somewhere in the National Archive. There's the rub. Do you have any clue how many tapes are stored there? Too many, that's for sure! Sadly, funding ran out for Mr. Nafzger's department and it was shut down in October. My VTR was returned to me in better condition than it left. Thank you to everyone at NASA that tried to recover the precious recordings. And thank you very much for restoring the deck. I can never express enough gratitude for this. (Not to mention having the privelege of helping people of such historical significance and the public at large. Wow.)

NEW!

       The [Ampex VR-660B] is restord! I will try to set this up and get photos and an article during this holiday break!

       There is the rare and much coveted [Sony CLP-1B color adapter] for the Sony EV-210 and other early 1960s one inch VTRs.

       Another [Sanyo EIAJ VTR], the VTR-2000 a fine mate to go with my [Sanyo Color EIAJ VTR], the VTR-2000C. The color version of this latest find.

       I recently acquired the VERY video camera seen, and incorrectly listed as a bomb cam, on my [RCA WWII Bomb Cam page], the Iconoscope camera was actually built by Homer Lewis Apple (Homer) W4HER, of Burlington, NC in 1953. This was an RCA 5527 electrostatic deflection linear Iconoscope based design intended for ham radio amateur television. The camera, sad to say, was never completed. See it here: [1953 W4HER Iconoscope Camera]

       Note to self: Spun the master folder of this site to version 9 today. Picturephone schematics arrived today.

As usual, Stay Tuned!

Friday - July 27, 2007

       Labguy has not been doing his updates on a regular basis. New job, new car, a girl friend and life in general are cutting into the precious time available to me. Just upgraded my home computer as well. Running Windows Vista on a nice 2.4Ghz Pentium 4, lots of RAM and a huge 500MB hard drive. The video screen is now a huge 24 inch 16:9 aspect ratio Samsung TFT-LCD with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels and all the colors I can marvel at! No major system problems to report either. Just reinstalled the FTP client that allows me to upload files to the web site server. If you are reading this, then the FTP part worked. Many exciting updates on the video collecting front are coming soon too. Stay tuned.

       For those of you who wonder about such things, this site is alive and well. My maniacal collecting habits have only been tempered by my lack of storage and work shop space. Hopefully this situation might change one day and I can set up and work on all the equipment I have stashed in two huge storage lockers. Wish me luck.

Sunday - April 22, 2007

.        Added the [IVC 150] three tube color camera this evening.

Saturday - April 21, 2007

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It's Soviet video camera day at Labguy's World! I have added another Russian television camera to the collection. An [Electronika H-801] hand held BW vidicon camera from the 1980s Soviet Union. It turns out that I had the manual for this camera all along. It came with the first two Russian cameras I added to the collection. It was scanned and posted, but not linked to a web page because until today, there was no page to link it to. What a pleasant surprise for me as I set out to type up today's updates. Scanning and posting a simple user manual takes me about five to seven hours to produce and upload. See the [H-801 Operator Manual here].

.        I also updated the [Electronika-841] page. I found some information about the mating VTR for this camera. Also added a wonderful English translation of the Electronika 841 operator manual, graciously provided by Maciej Szymanski, my newest friend from Poland.

.        Coming soon. An IVC-150 three tube film chain camera.

Saturday - March 31, 2007

.        Ampex introduces the VR-3000 portable quadruplex VTR. That was 40 years ago to the day. Be sure to check out my tribute page for this important video recorder. Because of it, and other portable video equipment that followed, viewers around the world could now see video programming recorded in the most remote locations. [March 31, 1967].

Saturday - March 25, 2007

.        The [Shibaden SV-707] and [Shibaden FP-707] VTR and cameras have finally been added to the appropriate museum pages. The collection continues to grow.

.        [March 31, 1967]. Ampex introduces the VR-3000 portable quadruplex VTR. That was almost 40 years ago to the day. How time flies!

Saturday - March 17, 2007

.        The [Ampex VR-1500] is here. Check out the first consumer video recorder. Ever.

.        Got another Shibaden portable outfit, SV-707. I had to buy the outfit to get the rare service manuals. I now have manuals for the Shibaden SV-707, FP707, camera adapter and VTR AC adapter.

Sunday - March 11, 2007

.        Added the articles pertaining to the two cameras I reported yesterday. A [Sharp XC-2000] studio camera and a [Sharp XC-320U] portable three tube camera. That is all.

Saturday - March 10, 2007

.        More VTRs and cameras Labguy? Gee whiz!

.        Resting on my front porch at this very moment is a beautiful [Sharp XC-2000] studio camera in perfect condition and in the original box. What a find!

.        Topped that off with another Sharp portable color camera, model XC-320. Three very small tubes as I recall. Cheap! (You gotta love the [DeAnza college electronics flea market]! Also, don't forget the [Livermore ham radio flea market].)

.        A while back, at the DeAnza market, I was given a beautiful Sony BVP-300 by a fellow named Andrew. Today, Andrew through in the extender card and manuals as well. Thank you very kindly, Andrew!

.        Next, I struck a deal for an [Ampex VR-1500]. Finally! Not cheap. No. Not at all.... But I got it. More to be posted when it arrives...

.        The Ampex VR-1500 is the [VR-660] without the tension servo system. The 660 can play tapes recorded on a 1500. Vintage 1963. Hugh Hefner owned several VR-1500s. He even had one installed on his private Boeing 707, the "Black Bunny". I heard that Hef' had a full time technician to record TV shows for him. Early time shifting!

.        Meanwhile and speaking of Ampex VTR's, my Ampex VR-660 has been fully restored. A big story will be posted about that in the near future. WHY it was restored being the topic of discussion. The outcome could have historic repercussions..        

.        To see last year's What's New page, [CLICK HERE].