Old Broadcast Ampex, etc, VT Gear for Disposal - Help!

[Humber888]

I went to collect some cable today that had been offered on Freecycle by a lady who knows little about electrical stuff but was then shown a room full of other vintage kit that her (ex?) husband had collected over the years. Much of this appears to be old broadcast-standard video gear, but I am way out of my depth here. Without disturbing too much dust I found:

Ampex VPR-2B (originally read it as VPR-28) VTR, set of manuals and many tapes;
Ampex TBC-2B digital timebase corrector and manual;
3 Barco 14" monitors;
2 Tektronix 521A vectorscopes;
Tektronix 1481R waveform monitor;
and a shed-load of cables.

I am ignoring at present other stuff such as a Revox A77, Leak Varislope 2 pre-amp and Leak Sandwich speakers - which I can get my head around.

Anyway, I sort of offered to find out whether any forum members would have an interest in the VT kit and to act as a point of contact. The gear is located in Bromley (SE London) and looks like it has not been used in 20 years. This could possibly suit a museum exhibit but, as I say, this is not my area of expertise. Certainly, someone would need to look at the stuff in person to decide how best to dispose of it.

So, can anybody help? I suspect the lady in question just wants her room back but, if the kit is worth real money, then some sort of token quid-pro-quo would be nice.

Cheers

Mike

[AC/HL]

I suggest Brian Summers (Beamcurrent on here) would be well placed to offer advice about this.

[beamcurrent]

Hello Mike,

Were to start?

The Ampex VPR2B and its, TBC are unlikely to work and are not of great value, alas, very heavy. There are a lot of 1" tapes about so the value is again low unless they happen to be one of the missing Doctor Who episodes! unlikely. advertise on the BATC forum http://www.batc.org.uk/forum/ or Ebay. Recently a perfectly good and newer Ampex VPR3 failed to attract a bid.

The Barco monitors, it depends which ones they are?? very old or last generation will be interesting, middle aged ones at the bottom of the bathtub curve. 2/37 good, 3/37 & 4/37 bad, CVS37 good.

Tek 521A, nice vectorscope, I have 3, once the bees knees, still usable, but a bit old now.
Tek 1481R, again a very nice waveform monitor, and still usable.

None of it is very valuable, just needs a good home.

My main interest would be in the camera area if there are any camera bits in the pile? Have you any photographs?

Also I am on the lookout for a vintage BBC/GPO style 19" equipment rack, if such a thing happens to be there?

hope this helps

[PaulM]

Hello Mike,

Brian is quite right about the value of this kit. I've broken up four complete VPR2B/TBC2B consoles over the last few years as they were just in the way and nobody wanted them. I have my Marconi MR2B versions of same and they are laid down as part of the operational collection. The scrappers did produce a lot of spares for the long-term preservation of the Marconi versions, so it wasn't all bad.

If you do wind up breaking/scrapping them, it's certainly worth keeping the whole scanner assembly (contains the heads and drum motor). They still have a small value and a good AST playback head is quite saleable. It's a shame to reduce these to scrap metal and a few spare parts but that's about the score unless somebody really, really wants a challenge and has the space/knowledge to attend to them.

If any of the machines are the Marconi variant (UK made) I think that I could place one of those with a museum. They won't want the Ampex version for sure.

Maybe Lucien Nunes at Electrokinetica might be interested in them? Just a thought.

I would be very interested in anything Marconi/Pye/EMI/RCA if there's anything else there.

Best regards,

Paul M

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Mike, anything in the way of literature, handbooks, magazines, technical books there?

I know some of the guys here would be interested in the specifically technical TV magazines, I would be interested in Electronic Engineering.

Thanks, Ed

[Humber888]

Thank you for your quick replies and sharing your expertise. Trying to answer your questions in no particular order:

1. I'm pretty sure the mentioned kit was Ampex not Marconi from reading the front panels. This also ties up with the box of manuals. I did see a box in a far corner labelled something like 'VPR2 heads', so this could be useful to somebody.

2. I did not have a camera with me as I really was not expecting to come across this hoard. There may be some camera bits in there but I did not have time to delve too deeply. I did not get the Barco model number as this would have involved pulling one out from the teetering pile at the time. I can get a photo of the front panel if that helps identification.

3. I did not see any literature other than manuals - but who knows until serious inroads are made into the pile.

4. I did not see any 19" racks.

5. I did wonder about missing Doctor Who, etc, episodes but did not have time to look at the labels on the tape boxes - seems unlikely but will do a trawl later.

It's a pity that none of you are closer, since a knowledgable eyeball would be very useful. I will try and get a radio amateur friend involved to help sort through some of the other kit, but we have no experience of the TV stuff. Would any of you want anything from the first posting to cannibalise for your own needs, assuming it is FOC? Also is the cabling between the Ampex kit useful even if the VTR is not? What I don't want to do is relocate this equipment to my house as this is likely to be very bad for domestic harmony!

Mike

[delaitt]

hello Mike

I may be interested in the Tektronix 1481R waveform monitor

Thanks

Thierry

[Humber888]

Update: The Barco monitors appear to be CVS37 - so that's all good then? Thierry, noted. If anyone else expresses an interest in anything, I will try to organise it all at the same time.

Mike

[beamcurrent]

Hi Mike, can you put my name down for the CVS37(s) please, I wonder if they work after all this time?

Should be able to get at least one going, it's the triplers that are the problem.

They should look like the attached picture.

Thanks Brian

[suebutcher]

Mike, I'll let the guys over at Missing Episodes know about the 1" tapes. There's thousands of missing UK TV episodes, not just Doctor Who. Anything pre-1980 recorded off-air or from TV studio may be of historical value.

[delaitt]

Thanks Mike. I may also like a Tektronix 521A vectorscope if still available!

Thanks

Thierry.

[Humber888]

To keep the thread relevant, I've PMed folks direct who expressed an interest in any of the kit. Suebutcher: I'm not quite sure when we will get a chance to look at the videotape boxes, but a list of missing stuff would certainly be useful to have, rather than compile a spreadsheet of (primarily) uninteresting video.

Mike

[suebutcher]

Originally Posted by Humber888

Suebutcher: I'm not quite sure when we will get a chance to look at the videotape boxes, but a list of missing stuff would certainly be useful to have, rather than compile a spreadsheet of (primarily) uninteresting video.

Where to begin?! I suppose entertainment programmes from the Sixties are the most sought after, and almost all of those shows will have episodes missing. Examples are; Doctor Who, Top of the Pops, Adam Adamant, At Last The 1948 Show, Broaden Your Mind, Out of the Unknown, Do Not Adjust Your Set, Till Death Do Us Part, Not Only But Also, World of Wooster. Steptoe and Son and Coronation Street are complete, but they are very much the exception. There's quite a bit missing from the early Seventies, too.

[Humber888]

A bit more feedback on the video tapes indicates that most of those lying around were reused for a college project some 20 years ago. Also, since the original owner worked at the BBC, he would have known if there were any programmes on them that were being actively sought. Pity, but not surprising.

Mike

[AidanLunn]

Originally Posted by Humber888

Without disturbing too much dust I found:
Ampex VPR-2B (originally read it as VPR-28) VTR, set of manuals and many tapes;

Do you recall if the VPR-2B was the full size beast with racks or just the deck?

Here are two with racks.

http://www.vtoldboys.com/hw1980.htm

[Humber888]

Aidan,

The VPR-2B was sitting vertically and the TBC-2B was some way away, so I think they were not racked. I'll double check when next over there.

Mike

[paulsherwin]

Just a thought - if you do finish up scrapping some of this stuff, don't forget to pull the boards first. Early 80s pro gear is full of useful high quality components. I'm sure lots of members would be interested.

[beamcurrent]

Further information

I have been down and collected the Barco monitors and had a look at the Ampex 1 inch C format Kit, it comprises :-

a VPR2B in "table" format, ie no console.
a TBC-2
a Marconi monitoring unit
connecting multi-core cables.

These are connected up just as they were last used 20?? years ago. It would seem to me that they are unlikely to be still working, but could be got back to a working state, by an engineer, without too much trouble.

There is a large box of handbooks, some extender boards, (alongside and to the left of the dresser the TBC is stood on) a spare TBC 2, and a 4foot tall pile of 1 inch tapes, contents unknown. The double eurocard extender, pictured is not part of the VPR 2B set-up.

This is available free, but a donation to the lady of the house would be appreciated.

It is MOST definitely a collect only item, from South East London.

Contact Mike Humber888 re collection details or me for technical enquires, and no we can't go through the tapes to see what's on them.

Posted by Brian, Beamcurrent.