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Whats In Your Loft ?


Waterside Echo

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"Spare that tree" is an absolute classic, one of my all time favourites W/E."

Mine too, along with Dark Town Poker Club.

I've got lots of his comedy recordings and also some radio shows.

I'll CD them if you want them.

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Most reel to reel tape recorders which were common in the 1960's were usually Phillips or Grundig.

Sony was one of the first Japanese entries into this market and many of their early machines were quite primitive by contemporary standards

It seems that the 101 is still quite a common model though

The EMI is a different thing altogether, much rarer as a domestic machine and better known for its recording studio professional equipment.

EMI studios at Abbey Road was fully equipped with EMI studio recorders, and all The Beatles records were made on it.

What a pity that the better machine of the two is the one in poorest condition.

My wife's elderly uncle used to own a very early reel to reel tape recorder. It was called a Sound Mirror and it recorded on 1/4 inch tape with a paper base instead of the later plastic.

Unfortunately it was thrown out during a clear out about ten years ago.

I remember a step-cousin who served in the Royal Navy on nuclear submarines telling me that the guidance information for the missiles was stored on Revox reel to reel tape recorders.

HD

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I remember a step-cousin who served in the Royal Navy on nuclear submarines telling me that the guidance information for the missiles was stored on Revox reel to reel tape recorders.

HD

Given the defence cuts they'll be going back to a Rotodex card file soon!

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My wife's elderly uncle used to own a very early reel to reel tape recorder. It was called a Sound Mirror and it recorded on 1/4 inch tape with a paper base instead of the later plastic.

Unfortunately it was thrown out during a clear out about ten years ago.

I remember a step-cousin who served in the Royal Navy on nuclear submarines telling me that the guidance information for the missiles was stored on Revox reel to reel tape recorders.

HD

The original "magnetic sound recorders" (as opposed to magnetic TAPE recorders) invented by Poulssen in 1899, (so suprisingly magnetic recording is not that much younger than mechanical recording on a phonograph / gramophone) used magnetised steel wires to record onto, often running at several feet per second to record sound due to the large magnetic domains and problems with hysteresis in steel magnets. The idea of a magnetic TAPE dates back to 1928, but only really became available after the war in the late 1940's after American companies like Ampex got the idea from some captured German Magnetophone machines.

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Sounds like our loft every Christmas when we get the tree down we say we must sort it out but it never gets done. We have a Grundig reel to reel tape recorder, a Dansette record deck, a valve radio, and loads of 78s 45s and 33s records. I often say that we could supply the props for a 60s production. Oh yes we also have an old bakelite phone and a vast array of books our kids are going to thank us if we don't get it done before we pop our clogs. :rolleyes:

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Sounds like our loft every Christmas when we get the tree down we say we must sort it out but it never gets done. We have a Grundig reel to reel tape recorder, a Dansette record deck, a valve radio, and loads of 78s 45s and 33s records. I often say that we could supply the props for a 60s production. Oh yes we also have an old bakelite phone and a vast array of books our kids are going to thank us if we don't get it done before we pop our clogs. :rolleyes:

Leave them a few more years and they could be worth more than the house ! W/E.

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Sounds like our loft every Christmas when we get the tree down we say we must sort it out but it never gets done. We have a Grundig reel to reel tape recorder, a Dansette record deck, a valve radio, and loads of 78s 45s and 33s records. I often say that we could supply the props for a 60s production. Oh yes we also have an old bakelite phone and a vast array of books our kids are going to thank us if we don't get it done before we pop our clogs. :rolleyes:

Sounds like a fantastic collection of quite valuable stuff to me.

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Sounds like a fantastic collection of quite valuable stuff to me.

Well I have seen the record players going for a good bit on E bay just hope that I can convince OH or the kids before the ceiling comes down.

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Found this reel to reel recorder - National by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. of Japan. Still works ok wouldn't have a clue how old it is.

Also a stack of Illustrated London News 1948 - 1971 compulsive reading!

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Found this reel to reel recorder - National by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. of Japan. Still works ok wouldn't have a clue how old it is.

Also a stack of Illustrated London News 1948 - 1971 compulsive reading!

Interesting looking machine, - including that mains plug

I take it that it is probably some Australian standard mains plug.

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Interesting looking machine, - including that mains plug

I take it that it is probably some Australian standard mains plug.

The standard aussie plug on the left has 2 short pins splayed at 55 degrees and a longer earth pin - although that plug is as old as the machine, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

The black plug is american, on the other end is an airbrush compressor, I bought it from an airbrush company in the US. I knew they operate on 110 volts over there so I stressed it must be 240 volts for use in Australia. No problem they said. When it arrived whoopi-doo it was 110 volts! So after a couple of email conversations, they said, keep that one it's not worth sending back, the 240 volt model will be there in a week.

Anyone got a 240-110v transformer going cheap?

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The standard aussie plug on the left has 2 short pins splayed at 55 degrees and a longer earth pin - although that plug is as old as the machine, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

The black plug is american, on the other end is an airbrush compressor, I bought it from an airbrush company in the US. I knew they operate on 110 volts over there so I stressed it must be 240 volts for use in Australia. No problem they said. When it arrived whoopi-doo it was 110 volts! So after a couple of email conversations, they said, keep that one it's not worth sending back, the 240 volt model will be there in a week.

Anyone got a 240-110v transformer going cheap?

I think you will find that the black plug is European. It's a CEE 7/7. It's designed to fit in a French socket (CEE 7/5) which has a protruding earth pin which fits in the socket on your plug, but it will also fit in a German socket (CEE 7/4) which has the sliding earthing contacts top and bottom. These contact the corresponding contacts on your plug. In other words the live and nuetral pins are identical but with a pin earth in France and sliding earths in Germany.

I'm a bit puzzled why they sent an 110 volt appliance with a plug designed to be connected to European 220/230 volt mains. There is no corresponding US socket the plug would fit.

I have several transformers that would do the job but the carriage to Tasmania would be astronomical.

HD

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I think you will find that the black plug is European. It's a CEE 7/7. It's designed to fit in a French socket (CEE 7/5) which has a protruding earth pin which fits in the socket on your plug, but it will also fit in a German socket (CEE 7/4) which has the sliding earthing contacts top and bottom. These contact the corresponding contacts on your plug. In other words the live and nuetral pins are identical but with a pin earth in France and sliding earths in Germany. I'm a bit puzzled why they sent an 110 volt appliance with a plug designed to be connected to European 220/230 volt mains. There is no corresponding US socket the plug would fit. I have several transformers that would do the job but the carriage to Tasmania would be astronomical. HD

Thanks HD, seems I misled you a bit. This is the 110v machine they sent, (which I really did have to rummage in the loft for.) The plug in the first pic is the real McCoy, the 240v.

I just assumed it was American, as the company is in the US, however on close inspection, the compressors are manufactured in Taiwan so these 2 have almost been round the world twice.

Does this mean the unit should be earthed? My adaptor has no earth pin but there is 5 foot of rubber hose between the compressor and the airbrush. Reckon i'll take me chances.

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I think you will find that the black plug is European. It's a CEE 7/7. It's designed to fit in a French socket (CEE 7/5) which has a protruding earth pin which fits in the socket on your plug, but it will also fit in a German socket (CEE 7/4) which has the sliding earthing contacts top and bottom. These contact the corresponding contacts on your plug. In other words the live and nuetral pins are identical but with a pin earth in France and sliding earths in Germany.

I'm a bit puzzled why they sent an 110 volt appliance with a plug designed to be connected to European 220/230 volt mains. There is no corresponding US socket the plug would fit.

HD

It seems on my travels around Europe that this is a fairly "standard" Euro plug although they do differ from country to country in small details (eg, the earthing contact points) they do all seem to fit and work.

We have a travellers "Euro to UK" converter plug which seems to fit and work in every country we have visited within Europe.

EXCEPT ITALY

The Italian sockets look identical to the rest of Europe, but the round pin holes are a slightly different diameter and have a slightly different distance between them so that a "standard" Euro plug, and our UK adaptor plug, won't fit.

Apparantly this style of socket is only used in Italy itself, Libya and Ethiopia, both former Italian territories.

Italy are trying to modrnise and convert to Euro standards but their own version is still common, - especially in hotels.

I have no intention of going to Libya or Ethiopia but I am intending going back to Italy this summer.

Last time we went the hotel loaned us an Italian to Euro adaptor (free, on a fully returnable deposit) but these appear to be hard to find to buy, especially in the UK and universal travellers adaptors don't always fit the Italian sockets so I hope we have more luck when we go back there.

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Slightly different, but I remember reading a few years ago that NATO warships, which use each others port facilities, used to carry up to 14 different valve adaptors for taking on fresh water supplies at each others dockyards.

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