Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Eidolon · 28th Sep 2021, 11:18 pm

an old deck that i used mainly for loading games onto my 48k Spectrum back in the 80's, then comandeered as the audio system in my first car, and has since been used for a fair few years as a convienent portable audio playback device.

Having bought the new Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next when it first came out, I found out that tapes wouldn't load from it for some reason. Using the tape tester (carried over from the old Spectrum 128k machines), it became clear that the tape was playing slightly too slowly, and the azimuth was off. So I sent it off to be fixed. Then the lockdowns happened. I just got it back at last. The azimuth is fixed, the speed seems as if it is mostly right, but in two hours of trying, I only got one game to load.

New problems

1.. It clicks now. Not at a regular interval, random, but frequently, Averaging between 2 or 3 seconds. The clicking does not seem to be carried over the playback audio into the Next, but it's very loud and noticeable coming from the deck itself. I am also intending to use it for listening to tapes, and this ruins the playback. Only does it with a tape in, and it does it on all tapes. I can't seem to pinpoint exactly where it's coming from.

2.. Deck has no strength. Stuggles to pull some tapes during playback, or ff and rewind. Some of these tapes are old, and I know that some are a little more 'resistant' than others, but it didn't happen before, and even the rubbish cheaply made deck built into the Spectrum +2a can still pull them through without problems. If that can do it, this should be able to.
On a side note, I have encountered an oddity with an audio tape. It's one i picked up a little while ago from a charity shop, but have never listened to previously. This deck played it fine (clicking aside), but couldn't ff or rw it, it would just stick. So i went to put it into one of the other decks I have to rw it (as I did with the spectrum games that the trs-80 wouldn't pull properly), and found the same results. So I took the tape out and wound it by hand, using a pen. I was expecting heavy resistance and sticking, but it moved quickly and smoothly, like there was nothing wrong with it at all. Yet not one singe tape deck could ff or rw it. I'm a bit baffled as to why.

3.. THe volume seems to have changed. Is this something that can be altered accidentally during tinkering? Previously, I would load a tape with the volume set to about 7. When I got it back, 7 was exceptionally loud. I found that 3 now was the equivalent of whatw as 7 previously. 0 still went to silence, but turning it up got much louder than before. With the volume set to 3, i finally managed to get one game to load. Nothing else did despite repeated attempts.

4.. (maybe). It seems to give off a very loud hum when plugged in. I might be misrembering this, but I thought the hum it gave off was very quiet previously.

Anyway, it looks like the repair has been bodged. Does anyone have any ideas on putting it right? Thanks.

ben · 29th Sep 2021, 12:07 am

If this is a paid repair, get back to whoever did it and insist it is either put right or your money refunded. Don't put up with shoddy service.

In any case, these were pretty much the bottom end of tape machines even then, and not worth spending much time or money on - more so given the age now involved. Considering the amount of problems here, I suggest it might be easier/cheaper looking on ebay or elsewhere for another one.

TonyDuell · 29th Sep 2021, 4:05 am

Do you have the model number? Back in the day you could have ordered the service manual from any Tandy shop, but few people did. There are a few service manuals for them on the web, and the user manuals often included the circuit diagram.

Yes, they were low-end units, but I never found anything better than the CCR80 for loading tapes into my TRS-80 computers and many other home computers. So I keep them working still.

My first thought on the click is that the autostop lever is catching. It's moved by the tape getting too taut, it then engages with a cam on the capstan flywheel and trips the latch bar for the operating keys. It sounds (!) like a mechanical problem anyway.

The hum -- is it from the unit or the speaker? In the latter case, check the rectifier diodes and smoothing capacitor. In the former, perhaps the mains transformer is overloaded (shorted rectifier diode?). In either case the machine is not going to work properly.

The lack of torque could be a drive belt problem, could be the motor, or could be the power supply (see just above). I would expect a 'repair' to include replacing the drive belts, but who knows what was used?

I can't see how a repair could increase the volume unless there was a fault causing low volume which is now corrected. However I would expect most tapes to load into most computers with a volume setting of 6 or 7 on these machines, so it sounds like the original operation was correct. Maybe a crack on the PCB has opened a feedback loop or something.

In any case, I think it has been really bodged. Let me know the model number and I'll see if I have any information on it.

Eidolon · 29th Sep 2021, 11:19 am

It's a TRS-80. Are there model number differences elsewhere on the machine?

For a low end deck, it's done me well for all these years considering the use I've had out of it, I guess I've been very lucky

I also have a Boot tape deck as well, and that's been sounding very muffled for a while now, and it was impossible to load from that onto the Next. I always found this Tandy deck to be better of the two, which was why I chose it to the the one to get fixed.

The humming seems to be coming from the deck, not the speaker. I've always been 'sensitive' to electrical humming for some reason and can often quiet humming from devices when others can't, and could always hear a hum from this deck, but it was never anywhere near this loud before, I think it's a little deeper too.

Problem is replacing this deck if this isn't fixed. I've no guarantee that a second hand one will work properly, and there doesn't seem to be a new model deck that's sutiable currently available.

TonyDuell · 29th Sep 2021, 11:30 am

TRS-80 is a range of computers.

The cassette recotder will have a number on it either starting CTR (Cassette Tape Recorder) or CCR (Computer Cassette Recorder)

Could you post a photo of it?

Eidolon · 29th Sep 2021, 11:38 am

ccr-81 model 26-1208a is written on the bottom

ben · 29th Sep 2021, 11:49 am

There are any number of mono shoebox-type tape recorders that will perform the function you need. Provided the heads are clean, aligned and not unduly worn, I don't see what the problem is. Perhaps put a request on the wanteds on here.

Ideally you want something with a tone control or even bass/treble which can help with more 'difficult' tapes. But pretty much anything mono will do.

Did you contact the person who 'serviced' your Tandy unit to ask what was (supposed to have been) done?

cmjones01 · 29th Sep 2021, 3:00 pm

I recently restored my Radio Shack CTR-80A cassette recorder, which was originally sold for use with the TRS-80 range of computers though I used it with a ZX81 and BBC Micro. It had various mechanical issues brought on by old age. The belts had lost some of their elasticity, which I fixed by boiling them in water for a few minutes. The pinch roller had gone shiny, which I cured by rubbing it with fine wet-and-dry paper. And there was grease inside various parts which had gone sticky and found its way in to places it shouldn't have been, like the take-up clutch. Once these things were sorted out, and one faulty capacitor replaced, it's as good as new.

I briefly documented the process: https://twitter.com/mjtech01/status/1374673882767097856

Though the cassette machine now works well, a lot of the old cassettes won't load from it. The reason is that their cheapo sponge rubber pressure pads have gone squishy and crumbly like the ones in 8-track cartridges do, so they'd need replacing, or the tape winding in to new shells, to work properly. The same tapes load fine if I play them on a dual capstan cassette deck which doesn't need the pressure pad, so the recordings are fine. This is something to watch out for.

Chris

TonyDuell · 29th Sep 2021, 3:46 pm

I have the user manual for the CCR81, but not the service manual. The former includes the circuit diagram, but nothing on the mechanical side (but from what I remember it's very obvious). If necessary I can take mine apart.

The unit I mentioned earlier as the one that loaded most tapes without problems was the CCR82 (not 80). I actually have the service manual for that one, but it is very different to the CCR81.

As for the CTR80 mentioned in post #8, watch out. This thing can put a glitch on the tape (completely ruining the recording) if it's turned off by remote control when set to record. The cure, from what I remember, is to solder a 10uF capacitor across the erase head (it uses DC erase). Do not ask how I found out it did that, how later on I found mention of the fact and cure in the manual for a piece of 3rd party software along with the fact that Radio Shack would fix it free. Of course Tandy (UK) knew nothing of this, but I owned a soldering iron back then too...

cmjones01 · 29th Sep 2021, 3:56 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyDuell

As for the CTR80 mentioned in post #8, watch out. This thing can put a glitch on the tape (completely ruining the recording) if it's turned off by remote control when set to record. The cure, from what I remember, is to solder a 10uF capacitor across the erase head (it uses DC erase). Do not ask how I found out it did that, how later on I found mention of the fact and cure in the manual for a piece of 3rd party software along with the fact that Radio Shack would fix it free. Of course Tandy (UK) knew nothing of this, but I owned a soldering iron back then too...

That's very interesting to hear. Having only owned the recorder for the best part of 40 years, I hadn't yet discovered that! I think I'd always got away with it because the remote control only stopped recording when nothing important was going on, at most only the BBC Micro's inter-block tone, so any glitches would have no effect.

Incidentally, the CTR-80A's most useful feature, rarely found on other computer cassette recorders, is that the remote control only affects play and record, so even when the host microcomputer has switched the cassette off, you can still manually position the tape without unplugging anything. Very well thought-out.

Chris

TonyDuell · 29th Sep 2021, 4:11 pm

Actually, come to think of it, I mis-remembered (Well, it's been over 35 years since I fixed this). The CTR80 can put a glitch on the tape if it's stopped by remote control in _Playback_ mode. ARGH!

Meaning that on some computers, if there's a checksum error on one tape block, the machine will stop the tape a little later and the CTR80 will wreck the next block of data on the tape.

Later machines were shipped from the factory with the capacitor fitted and you may well have one of those. Mine came with an early TRS-80 model 1 and was not fixed at the factory.

As for the remote control only working in record/play mode, I think the CCR81 does that too. The CCR82 is even nicer. There's a 3 position slide switch. In one position the remote control works (in record/play modes only). In the second position the machine will never start, And in the third the machine runs no matter what the remote control socket is doing. As there's also a 'monitor' switch on that machine which enables the speaker even with something plugged into the EARphone socket, you can actually listen to the tape while the machine is connected to your computer. Very useful on tape with spoken introductions to the programs.

SiriusHardware · 29th Sep 2021, 4:20 pm

Click every few seconds could be static building up on the flywheel and then arcing to nearby metalwork. There was often a springy phosphor-bronze contact which rested on the flywheel spindle, conducting any potential static build up to the chassis. If your recorder had such a spring contact, the repairer may have left it off.

Increased loudness following repair may simply mean that the repairer cleaned the head, which would be the least you would expect them to do.

cmjones01 · 29th Sep 2021, 8:58 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyDuell

Actually, come to think of it, I mis-remembered (Well, it's been over 35 years since I fixed this). The CTR80 can put a glitch on the tape if it's stopped by remote control in _Playback_ mode. ARGH!

Nasty. I've never suffered from that. Maybe it's because mine's a CTR-80A - perhaps the A suffix implies some change to the spec.

I remember looking at the circuit diagram and trying to work out whether it used DC bias and erase or not, since I couldn't see an obvious oscillator coil. I wondered if it did something clever with the inductance of the erase head. Clearly not!

Chris

Eidolon · 1st Oct 2021, 10:21 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben

Ideally you want something with a tone control or even bass/treble which can help with more 'difficult' tapes. But pretty much anything mono will do.

Are these settings something that he could have accidentally changed? Presumably this deck would have these set to a factory standard, and all be the same?

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmjones01

Though the cassette machine now works well, a lot of the old cassettes won't load from it. The reason is that their cheapo sponge rubber pressure pads have gone squishy and crumbly like the ones in 8-track cartridges do, so they'd need replacing, or the tape winding in to new shells, to work properly. The same tapes load fine if I play them on a dual capstan cassette deck which doesn't need the pressure pad, so the recordings are fine. This is something to watch out for.

Chris

All the tapes seem fine in this regard. A couple of them sound a teeny bit less clear compared to the others, but they still load fine on the 128k +2a's built-in deck, which is known to be cheaply made. I'm fortunate in that I've only had a couple of tapes die on me completely over the years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

Click every few seconds could be static building up on the flywheel and then arcing to nearby metalwork. There was often a springy phosphor-bronze contact which rested on the flywheel spindle, conducting any potential static build up to the chassis. If your recorder had such a spring contact, the repairer may have left it off.

Increased loudness following repair may simply mean that the repairer cleaned the head, which would be the least you would expect them to do.

I have a lot going on at the moment, due to a fight with my insurance company over severe damage to my house, and as such I'm not always remembering other things in detail, but I think that the clicking had started before I took it in. It may actually be a problem that manifested earlier, I'm trying to recall. It doesn't do it if the deck is playing without a tape in it though, which is the only real pointer I have yet, other than that it isnt coming from the speaker, and doesn't seem to be audiably transferred to the Spectrum.

Regarding the volume, I asked in the Spectrum community about this, to check my memory on it, as I thought that I'd used it at around 7 before. On all accounts, around 6-8 is average volume for tape decks, and I don;t think it was as loud as it is now before I took it in. This was my most used deck, and I used it for audio tapes for a while as all the tape decks in my larger machines (stereos) are in need of repair, and for various reasons currently, taking them in to be fixed is difficult. I'm sure I had the audio volume up louder than this when I was just listening to tapes on them. Now it's way too loud about the 4-5 mark.

Eidolon · 22nd Dec 2021, 3:23 am

I've been looking into this a little more elsewhere, and made a tiny advancement. The loading does a 'checksum' at the end, and when it doesn;t match with the expected data during loading, it results in the R Tape LOading error. So some Data isn't going across right during the loading.
IF I have the volume any higher than 3, then the 'loading stripes' in the border disappear and nothing progresses anyway. 7 would appear to the average volume.
So it looks like it's most likely, or partially, down to the volume output of the tape deck being messed with somehow during it's 'repair'.

SiriusHardware · 22nd Dec 2021, 9:07 am

With regard to the unexpectedly loud audio after return from repair, have you tried 'exercising' the record-play switch about 100 times? I would say the number one 'non-deck' cause of weird / unexpected symptoms on old cassette machines like this is a dirty record-replay switch.

If the behaviour of the unit changes every time you press / release the record switch, that's your culprit. (You obviously should only do this with an unimportant tape inserted, or while defeating the record interlock by some other means!).

nickdoofah · 24th Dec 2021, 3:31 am

This is a Hitachi built unit and of good quality! The cassette mechs need careful servicing but easy for competent service folk! I would say the deck is very good and more than able to load a computer data cassette! It's lasted you a long time for that reason!

FIXITNOW · 24th Dec 2021, 8:02 am

Radio Shack CCR-82.pdf full service manual if tape section same ?

also youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oba6-U33W2w

do you have photo of tape deck section CCR 81 ? if so please upload

Eidolon · 10th Feb 2022, 11:19 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eidolon

I've been looking into this a little more elsewhere, and made a tiny advancement. The loading does a 'checksum' at the end, and when it doesn;t match with the expected data during loading, it results in the R Tape LOading error. So some Data isn't going across right during the loading.
IF I have the volume any higher than 3, then the 'loading stripes' in the border disappear and nothing progresses anyway. 7 would appear to the average volume.
So it looks like it's most likely, or partially, down to the volume output of the tape deck being messed with somehow during it's 'repair'.

I've been going thorugh this a bit more when time permits, within the Spectrum community, and have a little bit more info on things that are wrong.

The volulme is definately wrong now. I thought i remembered myself using it at about '7' for loading, and have confirmed that that's correct for this deck. So having to set it at '3' means that the person who 'fixed' it somehow has boosted the volume. Considering that it goes from 0 still, up to it's new extreme-max level, something that's probbaly playing a part in this is that it's almost certainly virtually impossible to get a suitable volume for loading, as the margin to find it is now so small.
The clicking that's coming from the deck, based on the Spectrum's Tape Tester's readings not showing any anomalies when the clicks occur, doesn't seem to be interferring with the audio going into the Spectrum in any way. However, the clicks may be something that is briefly interfereing with the speed, and as such stopping all the data from loading correctly.

These two things could be what results in the CHecksum error at the end of the loading, and why nothing works.

The deck isn't strong enough to pull tapes properly anymore either, longer tapes with multiple games on them get nowhere, and a fair few shorter ones cant be pulled either. For the ones that do work, the tape tester doesn't show any anomalies during loading

ben · 10th Feb 2022, 11:37 am

This may sound harsh, but life's too short, IMO.You've already said you used that machine for years both for computer and audio use. It sounds like it's time to retire it and look for something better. There are clearly worn parts, maybe even the heads, which will take more money and effort to fix than it's worth. Mono cassette machines in good condition can still be found.

The Philips AQ 6455 is one I recently dug out to test my old Spectrum and it beat all the others hands down. It has a pitch control, and separate bass and treble, pretty much anything will load from it. Being fairly new, the heads had no wear at all.

28th Sep 2021, 11:18 pm	#1
Eidolon Hexode Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Worcester, Worcs, UK. Posts: 257	Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck an old deck that i used mainly for loading games onto my 48k Spectrum back in the 80's, then comandeered as the audio system in my first car, and has since been used for a fair few years as a convienent portable audio playback device. Having bought the new Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next when it first came out, I found out that tapes wouldn't load from it for some reason. Using the tape tester (carried over from the old Spectrum 128k machines), it became clear that the tape was playing slightly too slowly, and the azimuth was off. So I sent it off to be fixed. Then the lockdowns happened. I just got it back at last. The azimuth is fixed, the speed seems as if it is mostly right, but in two hours of trying, I only got one game to load. New problems 1.. It clicks now. Not at a regular interval, random, but frequently, Averaging between 2 or 3 seconds. The clicking does not seem to be carried over the playback audio into the Next, but it's very loud and noticeable coming from the deck itself. I am also intending to use it for listening to tapes, and this ruins the playback. Only does it with a tape in, and it does it on all tapes. I can't seem to pinpoint exactly where it's coming from. 2.. Deck has no strength. Stuggles to pull some tapes during playback, or ff and rewind. Some of these tapes are old, and I know that some are a little more 'resistant' than others, but it didn't happen before, and even the rubbish cheaply made deck built into the Spectrum +2a can still pull them through without problems. If that can do it, this should be able to. On a side note, I have encountered an oddity with an audio tape. It's one i picked up a little while ago from a charity shop, but have never listened to previously. This deck played it fine (clicking aside), but couldn't ff or rw it, it would just stick. So i went to put it into one of the other decks I have to rw it (as I did with the spectrum games that the trs-80 wouldn't pull properly), and found the same results. So I took the tape out and wound it by hand, using a pen. I was expecting heavy resistance and sticking, but it moved quickly and smoothly, like there was nothing wrong with it at all. Yet not one singe tape deck could ff or rw it. I'm a bit baffled as to why. 3.. THe volume seems to have changed. Is this something that can be altered accidentally during tinkering? Previously, I would load a tape with the volume set to about 7. When I got it back, 7 was exceptionally loud. I found that 3 now was the equivalent of whatw as 7 previously. 0 still went to silence, but turning it up got much louder than before. With the volume set to 3, i finally managed to get one game to load. Nothing else did despite repeated attempts. 4.. (maybe). It seems to give off a very loud hum when plugged in. I might be misrembering this, but I thought the hum it gave off was very quiet previously. Anyway, it looks like the repair has been bodged. Does anyone have any ideas on putting it right? Thanks.

29th Sep 2021, 12:07 am	#2
ben Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Madrid, Spain / Wirral, UK Posts: 7,498	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck If this is a paid repair, get back to whoever did it and insist it is either put right or your money refunded. Don't put up with shoddy service. In any case, these were pretty much the bottom end of tape machines even then, and not worth spending much time or money on - more so given the age now involved. Considering the amount of problems here, I suggest it might be easier/cheaper looking on ebay or elsewhere for another one. __________________ Regards, Ben.

29th Sep 2021, 4:05 am	#3
TonyDuell Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK. Posts: 5,208	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck Do you have the model number? Back in the day you could have ordered the service manual from any Tandy shop, but few people did. There are a few service manuals for them on the web, and the user manuals often included the circuit diagram. Yes, they were low-end units, but I never found anything better than the CCR80 for loading tapes into my TRS-80 computers and many other home computers. So I keep them working still. My first thought on the click is that the autostop lever is catching. It's moved by the tape getting too taut, it then engages with a cam on the capstan flywheel and trips the latch bar for the operating keys. It sounds (!) like a mechanical problem anyway. The hum -- is it from the unit or the speaker? In the latter case, check the rectifier diodes and smoothing capacitor. In the former, perhaps the mains transformer is overloaded (shorted rectifier diode?). In either case the machine is not going to work properly. The lack of torque could be a drive belt problem, could be the motor, or could be the power supply (see just above). I would expect a 'repair' to include replacing the drive belts, but who knows what was used? I can't see how a repair could increase the volume unless there was a fault causing low volume which is now corrected. However I would expect most tapes to load into most computers with a volume setting of 6 or 7 on these machines, so it sounds like the original operation was correct. Maybe a crack on the PCB has opened a feedback loop or something. In any case, I think it has been really bodged. Let me know the model number and I'll see if I have any information on it.

29th Sep 2021, 11:19 am	#4
Eidolon Hexode Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Worcester, Worcs, UK. Posts: 257	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck It's a TRS-80. Are there model number differences elsewhere on the machine? For a low end deck, it's done me well for all these years considering the use I've had out of it, I guess I've been very lucky I also have a Boot tape deck as well, and that's been sounding very muffled for a while now, and it was impossible to load from that onto the Next. I always found this Tandy deck to be better of the two, which was why I chose it to the the one to get fixed. The humming seems to be coming from the deck, not the speaker. I've always been 'sensitive' to electrical humming for some reason and can often quiet humming from devices when others can't, and could always hear a hum from this deck, but it was never anywhere near this loud before, I think it's a little deeper too. Problem is replacing this deck if this isn't fixed. I've no guarantee that a second hand one will work properly, and there doesn't seem to be a new model deck that's sutiable currently available.

29th Sep 2021, 11:30 am	#5
TonyDuell Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK. Posts: 5,208	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck TRS-80 is a range of computers. The cassette recotder will have a number on it either starting CTR (Cassette Tape Recorder) or CCR (Computer Cassette Recorder) Could you post a photo of it?

29th Sep 2021, 11:38 am	#6
Eidolon Hexode Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Worcester, Worcs, UK. Posts: 257	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck ccr-81 model 26-1208a is written on the bottom

29th Sep 2021, 11:49 am	#7
ben Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Madrid, Spain / Wirral, UK Posts: 7,498	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck There are any number of mono shoebox-type tape recorders that will perform the function you need. Provided the heads are clean, aligned and not unduly worn, I don't see what the problem is. Perhaps put a request on the wanteds on here. Ideally you want something with a tone control or even bass/treble which can help with more 'difficult' tapes. But pretty much anything mono will do. Did you contact the person who 'serviced' your Tandy unit to ask what was (supposed to have been) done? __________________ Regards, Ben.

29th Sep 2021, 3:00 pm	#8
cmjones01 Nonode Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK Posts: 2,676	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck I recently restored my Radio Shack CTR-80A cassette recorder, which was originally sold for use with the TRS-80 range of computers though I used it with a ZX81 and BBC Micro. It had various mechanical issues brought on by old age. The belts had lost some of their elasticity, which I fixed by boiling them in water for a few minutes. The pinch roller had gone shiny, which I cured by rubbing it with fine wet-and-dry paper. And there was grease inside various parts which had gone sticky and found its way in to places it shouldn't have been, like the take-up clutch. Once these things were sorted out, and one faulty capacitor replaced, it's as good as new. I briefly documented the process: https://twitter.com/mjtech01/status/1374673882767097856 Though the cassette machine now works well, a lot of the old cassettes won't load from it. The reason is that their cheapo sponge rubber pressure pads have gone squishy and crumbly like the ones in 8-track cartridges do, so they'd need replacing, or the tape winding in to new shells, to work properly. The same tapes load fine if I play them on a dual capstan cassette deck which doesn't need the pressure pad, so the recordings are fine. This is something to watch out for. Chris __________________ What's going on in the workshop? http://martin-jones.com/

29th Sep 2021, 3:46 pm	#9
TonyDuell Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK. Posts: 5,208	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck I have the user manual for the CCR81, but not the service manual. The former includes the circuit diagram, but nothing on the mechanical side (but from what I remember it's very obvious). If necessary I can take mine apart. The unit I mentioned earlier as the one that loaded most tapes without problems was the CCR82 (not 80). I actually have the service manual for that one, but it is very different to the CCR81. As for the CTR80 mentioned in post #8, watch out. This thing can put a glitch on the tape (completely ruining the recording) if it's turned off by remote control when set to record. The cure, from what I remember, is to solder a 10uF capacitor across the erase head (it uses DC erase). Do not ask how I found out it did that, how later on I found mention of the fact and cure in the manual for a piece of 3rd party software along with the fact that Radio Shack would fix it free. Of course Tandy (UK) knew nothing of this, but I owned a soldering iron back then too...

29th Sep 2021, 4:11 pm	#11
TonyDuell Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK. Posts: 5,208	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck Actually, come to think of it, I mis-remembered (Well, it's been over 35 years since I fixed this). The CTR80 can put a glitch on the tape if it's stopped by remote control in _Playback_ mode. ARGH! Meaning that on some computers, if there's a checksum error on one tape block, the machine will stop the tape a little later and the CTR80 will wreck the next block of data on the tape. Later machines were shipped from the factory with the capacitor fitted and you may well have one of those. Mine came with an early TRS-80 model 1 and was not fixed at the factory. As for the remote control only working in record/play mode, I think the CCR81 does that too. The CCR82 is even nicer. There's a 3 position slide switch. In one position the remote control works (in record/play modes only). In the second position the machine will never start, And in the third the machine runs no matter what the remote control socket is doing. As there's also a 'monitor' switch on that machine which enables the speaker even with something plugged into the EARphone socket, you can actually listen to the tape while the machine is connected to your computer. Very useful on tape with spoken introductions to the programs.

29th Sep 2021, 4:20 pm	#12
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 11,548	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck Click every few seconds could be static building up on the flywheel and then arcing to nearby metalwork. There was often a springy phosphor-bronze contact which rested on the flywheel spindle, conducting any potential static build up to the chassis. If your recorder had such a spring contact, the repairer may have left it off. Increased loudness following repair may simply mean that the repairer cleaned the head, which would be the least you would expect them to do.

22nd Dec 2021, 3:23 am	#15
Eidolon Hexode Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Worcester, Worcs, UK. Posts: 257	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck I've been looking into this a little more elsewhere, and made a tiny advancement. The loading does a 'checksum' at the end, and when it doesn;t match with the expected data during loading, it results in the R Tape LOading error. So some Data isn't going across right during the loading. IF I have the volume any higher than 3, then the 'loading stripes' in the border disappear and nothing progresses anyway. 7 would appear to the average volume. So it looks like it's most likely, or partially, down to the volume output of the tape deck being messed with somehow during it's 'repair'.

22nd Dec 2021, 9:07 am	#16
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 11,548	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck With regard to the unexpectedly loud audio after return from repair, have you tried 'exercising' the record-play switch about 100 times? I would say the number one 'non-deck' cause of weird / unexpected symptoms on old cassette machines like this is a dirty record-replay switch. If the behaviour of the unit changes every time you press / release the record switch, that's your culprit. (You obviously should only do this with an unimportant tape inserted, or while defeating the record interlock by some other means!).

24th Dec 2021, 3:31 am	#17
nickdoofah Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Littlehampton, West Sussex, UK. Posts: 142	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck This is a Hitachi built unit and of good quality! The cassette mechs need careful servicing but easy for competent service folk! I would say the deck is very good and more than able to load a computer data cassette! It's lasted you a long time for that reason!

10th Feb 2022, 11:37 am	#20
ben Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Madrid, Spain / Wirral, UK Posts: 7,498	Re: Radio Shack TRS-80 cassette deck This may sound harsh, but life's too short, IMO.You've already said you used that machine for years both for computer and audio use. It sounds like it's time to retire it and look for something better. There are clearly worn parts, maybe even the heads, which will take more money and effort to fix than it's worth. Mono cassette machines in good condition can still be found. The Philips AQ 6455 is one I recently dug out to test my old Spectrum and it beat all the others hands down. It has a pitch control, and separate bass and treble, pretty much anything will load from it. Being fairly new, the heads had no wear at all. __________________ Regards, Ben.