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<DIV>Chris, what a good recollection. Your words caused some long-submerged
memories to float to the surface (like scum?).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A good engineer in Akron had a name for the ailment common to RCA
quads, "Blue Ribbon-itis". Guess he spent a lot of time with a Pink Pearl eraser
rubbing out the disease one leaf contact at a time.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Once I saw a remote truck with a TR-60. All the gold stake pins were tack
soldered smack into the backs of the Blue Ribbon connectors. No more wires
falling out after a long ride in a truck.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Had both Ampex and RCA where I spent most of my TV years. Got
better-quicker at repairing RCA, perhaps because they were always failing. Good
thing there was a built in voltmeter with about 50 pushbutton test points, and
dozens of carefully thought out yellow scope test points right up front. What
message does it send when a piece of gear is designed for quick problem
diagnosis? Is it going to fail on me every few days? Mixed feelings on that
scene.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Despised those old TR-22's (some were hi-banded) and their
capstan-headwheel power amp modules. Yup, the ones that would eat a handful of
2N1556 Germanium transistors if you looked at them the wrong way. Gads, I can
still remember the exact part number. Can't remember the RCA "MI" number,
though.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Does anyone remember the phone number for RCA Tech-Alert? I'm thinking it
was 609-963-7000.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>AMPEX 1200's had a habit of sucking up bits of 2 inch tape that had fallen
underneath into the fans. If they stalled, the linear power supplies would get
toasty and fail. Nothing that some good housekeeping wouldn't have prevented,
but you know how the night and weekend crew sometimes behaved.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yes, some RCA gear had the appearance of something that was rushed to
market and patched in the field, while AMPEX looked like it was built to last
for decades. Still, had much respect for RCA, an outfit that sold most anything
you'd need and ran a network to help create demand.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dale</DIV>
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