Blattnerphone steel tape recorder - Page 2 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

barrymagrec · 5th Apr 2023, 11:51 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by usradcoll1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted Kendall

The machine which used to be in the Science Museum sound gallery in the 1970s is a Marconi-Stille. My first boss at the BBC had the job of tidying it up for donation as one of his first jobs in the old Recording Department. It and the deck from a captured Magnetophon HTS disappeared from view when the gallery was reorganised. They may have a Blattnerphone as well - there were four altogether, according to Pawley, one of which was in the BH exhibition a few decades back.

There was a Magnetophone captured after the war, that is in the Royal Museum.
It was featured on the program "Secret life of Machines" With Tim Hunkin. It sounded rather good! Tim mentioned that you had to stand well away to prevent injury when the thing is operating!
Dave, USradcoll1, always interested.

Magnetophones (AEG) were used in German radio stations before the war and used plastic/ paper tape, not steel. There is a Magnetophone recording of Thomas Beecham conducting a Mozart symphony in Germany before the war, I had the CD but lent it to someone and never got it back. It also had some experimental Blumlein recordings I seem to remember.

I think, though stand to be corrected, that Magnetophones use high frequency bias unlike the steel tape machines, hence the much improved quality.

Ted Kendall · 5th Apr 2023, 2:27 pm

The Blattnerphone and its successors all used DC bias and single-pole heads.

The Magnetophon used DC bias originally, as is evident on the Beecham recording by the level and nature of the background noise. The rediscovery of AC bias occurred in 1941 when a Magnetophon was noticed to be performing exceptionally well. It was pulled into the lab and found to have an oscillating record amplifier. Von Braunmuhl and Weber of RRG turned this into a usable machine by 1942 - there is a recording of a Bruckner symphony from mid-1942 which is of astonishing quality for the time.

Before this discovery, experiments were being made with two tracks, differently equalised, to overcome some of the adverse effects of DC bias. The stacked heads came in handy for recording in stereo. Hundreds of recordings were made before the war ended, but these disappeared into the USSR and very few survived.

TIMTAPE · 5th Apr 2023, 2:42 pm

Yes the introduction of AC record bias so lowered the background noise that it exposed the noise of the tape itself, leading to the development of lower noise tapes.

jhalphen · 17th Jul 2023, 2:28 pm

Hi to all,

on the 1st page of this thread there are mentions of the Wesgrove/Telcan early VTRs.

Found this, which may of interest about the machines, Sorry! if off topic :

http://www.labguysworld.com/WESGROVE_VKR-500.htm

Best Regards
jhalphen
Paris/France

Graham G3ZVT · 19th Jul 2023, 6:49 pm

That Telcan machine piqued my interest.

I've hurriedly assembled some press cuttings from The British Newspaper Archive.
Not in chronological order.
I've had to split it between two .zip files

The "The Stage" article on the first page of the second file includes some technical specifications.

Ted Kendall · 24th Jul 2023, 4:59 pm

F C Judd of Amateur Tape Recording built a Wesgrove VKR 500 and featured its construction in an article. Silence followed, until a couple of paragraphs some time later in an article primarily about helical scan machines. It appears the high tape speed was hazardous, the sync was touchy and head wear was problematic. In short, it just about worked, but was a dead end - rather like VERA, in fact...

5th Apr 2023, 2:27 pm	#22
Ted Kendall Dekatron Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 3,458	Re: Blattnerphone steel tape recorder The Blattnerphone and its successors all used DC bias and single-pole heads. The Magnetophon used DC bias originally, as is evident on the Beecham recording by the level and nature of the background noise. The rediscovery of AC bias occurred in 1941 when a Magnetophon was noticed to be performing exceptionally well. It was pulled into the lab and found to have an oscillating record amplifier. Von Braunmuhl and Weber of RRG turned this into a usable machine by 1942 - there is a recording of a Bruckner symphony from mid-1942 which is of astonishing quality for the time. Before this discovery, experiments were being made with two tracks, differently equalised, to overcome some of the adverse effects of DC bias. The stacked heads came in handy for recording in stereo. Hundreds of recordings were made before the war ended, but these disappeared into the USSR and very few survived.

5th Apr 2023, 2:42 pm	#23
TIMTAPE Octode Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 1,901	Re: Blattnerphone steel tape recorder Yes the introduction of AC record bias so lowered the background noise that it exposed the noise of the tape itself, leading to the development of lower noise tapes.

17th Jul 2023, 2:28 pm	#24
jhalphen Hexode Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Paris, France Posts: 331	Re: Blattnerphone steel tape recorder Hi to all, on the 1st page of this thread there are mentions of the Wesgrove/Telcan early VTRs. Found this, which may of interest about the machines, Sorry! if off topic : http://www.labguysworld.com/WESGROVE_VKR-500.htm Best Regards jhalphen Paris/France

24th Jul 2023, 4:59 pm	#26
Ted Kendall Dekatron Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 3,458	Re: Blattnerphone steel tape recorder F C Judd of Amateur Tape Recording built a Wesgrove VKR 500 and featured its construction in an article. Silence followed, until a couple of paragraphs some time later in an article primarily about helical scan machines. It appears the high tape speed was hazardous, the sync was touchy and head wear was problematic. In short, it just about worked, but was a dead end - rather like VERA, in fact...