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<DIV>
<DIV>Hi John:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It will be interesting to see what the collective wisdom of this group has
to offer to your situation. I suspect that the likelihood of finding an
AVR-1 available for donation would be an extremely long shot. But beyond
that, I would encourage you or the group you are working with to very carefully
and realistically examine both your goals and abilities in relationship to this
project. Any quad machine, and most particularly an AVR-1, requires
specialized knowledge along with both technical and financial resources to
maintain it in an operating environment. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If your goal is to have a machine that operates reliably, the only way to
achieve that level of performance is to properly refurbish the machine.
Simply substituting boards from another "donor" machine is not a good idea for
several reasons. First, if the donor machine has not been properly
maintained, it too will likely experience failure, and then what? You must
properly repair it or find yet another donor which is just not a practical
approach. Second, depending on what boards are swapped, there may be
alignment and set-up issues that if not properly performed, will either degrade
the performance of the machine or render it unusable, even though the board is
perfectly good.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Having worked with non-profits, I am sympathetic to the common problem of
budget restraints. Unfortunately, the reality of the costs, both in
dollars and knowledge, may be more than the organization can bear. I
certainly wish you success, and strongly support the preservation of this
technology, but I also urge you to carefully evaluate your expectations and
resources to determine if this is a feasible undertaking for the
organization. There may be other alternatives which are more
practical.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best Regards,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Don</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Don Norwood<BR>Digitrak Communications, Inc.<BR> </DIV></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jwalko@scenesavers.com href="mailto:jwalko@scenesavers.com">John
Walko</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=quadlist@quadvideotapegroup.com
href="mailto:quadlist@quadvideotapegroup.com">quadlist@quadvideotapegroup.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=bscott@iglou.com
href="mailto:bscott@iglou.com">'Bradford E. Scott'</A> ; <A
title=jbird@pps-inc.com href="mailto:jbird@pps-inc.com">'Bird Jim (Jim
Bird)'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 22, 2008 10:02
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [QuadList] Restoring an Ampex
AVR-1</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hello
group;<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">We are working with a local
non-profit organization in our home town. An Ampex AVR-1 was donated to
them when it was taken out of service from a local television station several
years ago. The machine sat for several years while this non-profit (an
organization called Media Heritage) prepared their facility. Their
facility is now far enough along that they would like to get this machine
operational.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Some background. The machine
was working when it was taken out of service. It has been sitting
without power for probably the last 5-6 years. It appears as if the
machine was originally wired for a 208-three phase volt power supply, and that
is the way it is currently wired. We’ve been working with the engineer
(now retired) who originally kept this machine in working condition. He
knows a tremendous amount about this machine, and has helped us get to the
point where the machine will power up. However we have run into a road
block, and I hope someone can help.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">When we powered the machine up, we
did not power up the air compressor…we just wanted to see if the machine
itself would run. When we let the machine powered up for more than a few
moments, the circuit breakers in the lower drawer start to trip. We have
tested the power supplies in the lower drawer and have found a few of them
don’t appear to be working (this is regardless of whether the circuit breaker
is open or closed). There also appears to be a problem with some of the
boards in the side cabinets (which, we believe is causing the circuit breakers
to trip). We have not tried the air compressor yet, but are not overly
concerned about it, because we could use an external compressor if
necessary.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The machine is very clean.
We have removed and reseated all the boards and power supplies (with the
machine powered off, of course). We have visually inspected everything
to see if there was anything obvious (such as exposed wires) and see nothing
out of the ordinary. I did not record which circuit breakers trip, or
which power supplies appear to not be working. I could get this
information if it would help anyone diagnose the problem. What we don’t
want to do is get into a situation where we are replacing the hundreds of caps
in the machine to try to figure out the problem.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">We are looking for another
machine. The intent is to utilize good components from this, or the
other machine to make one operational. It does not matter to us if the
other machine is operational, as long as it is largely complete (although an
operational machine would be ideal). Since this organization is a
non-profit, they are operating on a shoe-string budget, so we are seeking
donations (however, we can cover minor expenses, such as pick-up/shipping,
etc.).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">An ideal situation would be an
organization who has a machine that is no longer being used or one that is a
spare. As we are located in the Mid-West, machines located in the
eastern half of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> would be
ideal.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Can anyone offer any advice or do
you know where any machines might be located? I can be reached at
800-978-3445. Any advice would be greatly
appreciated.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">John
Walko<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Media Archive
Manager<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Scene
Savers<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="http://www.scenesavers.com/"><FONT color=purple><SPAN
style="COLOR: purple">www.scenesavers.com</SPAN></FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">800-978-3445<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">513-708-1474
(cell)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">859-292-1110
(direct)</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
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