<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Hello Guy,<BR>
<BR>
No, that is not me (I was in my second year of college at that time). That was Leon, with a full time pipe in his mouth, even when cleaning the heads (note bottle on the right side of the TR 70). <BR>
<BR>
Yes, the room was everything technical (GE audio console, Vital switcher, GE PE 350 CCU's, TK 10 CCU, etc.). The whole station was in a Quonset hut next to the 500' tower. No direct network line. All incoming network programs (the station was NBC/ABC/CBS) was via rotary dial-up to an off-the-air tuner located east of Dallas, microwave hopped back to Tyler. They also had a microwave hop to the sister station in Lufkin (also all three networks picking up their feeds in similar fashion but from the Houston affiliates, on an off-the-air Conrac tuner). In a pinch, the station could use a third Conrac tuner to receive the network affiliates in Shreveport. What a kludge, but it was the only way the station could receive network programming. That went on into the 80's when finally the station went full time ABC via AT&T dedicated line. <BR>
<BR>
Needless to say, image quality was directly related to atmospheric conditions at times.<BR>
<BR>
David<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
In a message dated 11/30/2009 11:35:52 AM Pacific Standard Time, quadruplex@verizon.net writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Hi David...<BR>
Great picture....Is that you there? That must have hot sitting in there <BR>
amidst all that Camden blue!<BR>
I may have to see if I have any vintage pics from that era. <BR>
We had "everything" in the same huge room....tape, switching, film and <BR>
the venerable TTU-30. Luckily, with solid state rectifiers, so the only <BR>
"boom" it made was the high voltage contactor kicking in or out or the <BR>
occasional lightning bolt coming down the tower and bouncing around the <BR>
transmitter.<BR>
I didn't really work overnight, as the station was only on until 10:30 <BR>
or 11 pm back then. I came in at 2 or 3 depending on when I could get <BR>
out of school, and did camera shading and tape for local productions <BR>
until that crew went home, and then I was on my own. I got my First <BR>
Phone at 16, and started the solo gig immediately.<BR>
When we first got the 1200/2000s and the Marconi color cameras in '69, <BR>
we briefly did record "instructional" programs in high band at 7.5 as we <BR>
had done in low band monochrome on the TR-4s before. I don't remember <BR>
the specific reason that we quit doing that, but it might have been <BR>
simply that some other stations that shared some of our programs, did <BR>
not have 5 mil heads and didn't want to bother with it for just a few <BR>
programs.<BR>
As for the fate of Ann Arbor, I really don't remember anything about <BR>
it's fate. Once we got the AT&T line from the network, it was pretty <BR>
much "goodbye" to bicycled tapes.<BR>
Guy<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
DCFWTX@aol.com wrote:<BR>
<BR>
><BR>
>I believe the color tapes I have received were not from NET, but from <BR>
>local affiliates (non-NET stations). Nonetheless, they are rare.<BR>
><BR>
>Ah yes, the overnight shift. Done that (the rewards for eagerness and <BR>
>a Third Phone/First Phone license). Although I never had to do all at <BR>
>once (MC/transmitter/tape/watachman), I did do all of the above except <BR>
>that the transmitter was 20 miles away except for one. That station <BR>
>had a TT50AH adjacent to the "everything room" with TRT 1, TR4, TR 70, <BR>
>and TCR 100 (shot is below). What a "kabam!" when the mercury vapor <BR>
>tubes arc'd.<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
>The other transmitter job I got roped into one summer was here at Mt. <BR>
>Wilson (again thanks to a First Phone license) baby sitting what had <BR>
>to have been the oldest transmitter up there, an ailing TT50AH. The <BR>
>station was too cheap to remote it, and was having problems meeting <BR>
>payroll weekly. Hence, no cash to buy anything new.<BR>
><BR>
>When doing a combo job in Dallas during lightening strikes (and <BR>
>momentary power interruptions), some VR1200's would keep on going or <BR>
>go into rewind. Quite a mess this would make while running MC and the <BR>
>tape room solo.<BR>
><BR>
>Didn't the NET facility in Ann Arbor burn to the ground?<BR>
><BR>
>David<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
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