Memories

There are many things about Tel. Rec. you may wish to forget - but there are an awful lot of things to remember from times past..
Hover over items in Italics for a brief explanation.

Tez dustersA lint free cloth used for cleaning the guides and heads of VT machine heads before the advent of Kimwipes - especially in RCA brushes!
Benzine - in voluminous quantities. Where was Health & Safety?
ColcleneA fluid used for cleaning the guides and heads of VT machines
KimwipesTissues used for cleaning the guides and heads of VT machines
White powderA deposit left on the heads and guides of VT machines as a result of the lubricant in the tape binder (French Chalk) coming out of the binder
DropoutA picture disturbance caused by magnetic-particles being eroded from the tape surface
Head ClogsOxide from the tape clogging the video head causing bands of white noise on the picture
Drum ClogsOxide sticking to the actual drum of the video head in between the video heads - could be removed by a fingernail on the head!
High BandImproved recording standard for 625 line quad machines. Initial implimentation somewhat beyond the capabilities of the machines
RCA TR22sRCA's all transistorised quad VT machine
Head banding - and the cure - a thump between the spools
VR1000 head amps falling out
60' takeup spools on 90 'programmes
The glass spool
Heating Cornish pasties on the VR1000 power supplies (KT88s?)
Kicking the 3 cam timer in the back of the VR1000 to make the vacuum guide come in
Removing audio clicks on quad tapes with a hand demagger
Carding out (silent audio outs with judicious insertion of a slip of card between the tape and the audio stack)
Inadvertently carding out the video!!!
Pushing the **!! tin elephant and caption scanner from channel to channel and area to area
"Who's pinched my Studer?"
"You'd better cut away from me Presentation - the machine's on fire!"
Transmitting The Queen with main vision and reserve sound (out of sync)
The fountain overflowing and flooding the machines
The dead rat in the airconditioning for weeks and weeks
The one time you had a trouble free session on the EECO system
Alan Hart's wife's lunchboxes
"VT on the phone!"
"A disturbance of some magnitude........."
John Mee playing Scott Joplin on the piano in the LG scene dock
Sawtooth and tone
Ted Ball dropping a metal waste bin from the 4th floor to the basement down the South Hall stair well (after a visit to the Club)
Patrick Moore in "The Sky at Night" introducing some moon photos, "And the pictures by Sam Andrew, of course."
Coming in very early on Sunday morning to run "Make your self at home" , a Birmingham VT production , always an anxious transmission with the zing of splicing tape past the guide. Particularly worrisome when the recording report was signed "Satis R" or occasionally "Suggest use of AMTEC "
Drying my wet trousers over the VR1000 Power amps after a wet motor bike ride in
Trying to find the Capstan servo error needle on VT5 when mains locked.
Tuning the 5X drum servo ringing circuit when mains locked
Trying to find the edit pulse with the TEK 547 and A delayed by B, VT5 again
The Capstan tracking switch on 04 InterSync VT4, what did it do?
Spending all day trying to achieve a synchronous insert into TOTP
Pete Francis "What's the situation with credits for this programme?"
Big-budget drama producer- "How do you mean?"
Pete"Well, do you want a proper job or do you just want it slashed together?"
Bob Smith covering for new sports PAs by blaming their video disc shortcomings on stepping errors.
Richard Cox remembering the whole BBC Telephone directory by heart.
Billy Smart's Christmas Circus reviews (what happened to Corky ??)
Pentel pens and chinagraph pencil
John Nash (on the then new VR2000) switching off the machine's power on Tx, thinking it was a light switch
Tape servicing - still can't believe we spent all day reviewing black level and tone - or were supposed to anyhow
In the early 60s, before the inner ring in the basement became cluttered with tapes and trolleys, holding penny bowling competitions seeing who could complete the circle with the minimum number of throws
EMT splicers. Ron Bowman and Barry Stevens had a race to make a playable splice on Smiths (Ron) and EMT (Barry). Barry thinks his time was 29secs and Rons was slightly longer, but he admits his memory may not be 100% right! But he does say, "Anyway the EMT was a marvellous machine, you could do match frame edits (25 years before NLEs!) and still see your pentel marks under the blade. For pictures click here

Setting up the PEC symmetry on a VR1000
Valve testing
TX'ing at 6pm just as the mains frequency dropped
"Hot Line" tape delay between VTs 5&6 and 7&8
Hexaplexers, Multiplexers & Jeff Goddard
Unplugging in the Control Room - especially when on air!
Duplex changeovers
Countdowns on the cue track
Razor blades in RCA machines
Benzene and John Spencer's pipe
The grand piano in the Control Room on Christmas Day
Measuring the tips on a VR2000 head - the quick way
MOTD & Roy Norton
"I'm worried about my titles!"
Tape polishing
Cleaning double-enders
Reviewing black level and tone
Mis-lacing the TR4 at Lime Grove
Gordy sending coded messages home via the microphonic valve in the centre of the processor on the VR1000
Panel beating on a TR90 after Gordy had rolled it in the corridor
Making sure that you got the only truly accurate Smith's splicer for your edit
The increasingly creative inter-shift April Fool jokes
Shift outings, at home and abroad
The 15 minute passes of Telstar
Nationwide off-air hospitality at LG (and Panorama)
A certain HTel Rec's rage on seeing Mickey Mouse hands on the Control Room clock
Retractable erase stacks on the VR1000
Partial erase
Shibaden
John Ellis and the DFA
"Phone call for Ed Wooden!"
Ian Low's razor blade jig for slicing 2" tape for home audio recorders
John Spencer recording a trail at Lime Grove on a quad tape that after 30 seconds disintegrated into 8 x .25" strips
Wee Ron Sangster going from LG to Radio Rentals' window in Shepherds Bush to monitor an upcoming trail on air driven by John Spencer because he knew the dropout was going to be spectacular (possibly connected with above!)
"First call for tea!"
Party Political Broadcasts
Dickie Walker's maintenance-by-boot
Coffee down a VR1000 spooling knob!
Transmitting a 405 programme from VT 5 with 625 modules still in place
CAR on the phone "Holme Moss are complaining about your output!" (possibly connected with above!)
Brian Cowgill on talkback every Saturday
Ian Low with a TR90 in the bays recording Brian Cowgill on talkback
The videprinter
Porno on the EBU circuits at Xmas (and selecting the most reliable rx machine/synchroniser combination to record it)
The club on TOTP nights
Nationwide VT inserts in the wrong order, usually during Bob Wellings interviews eg Susan Hampshire (how could we forget!) and the West Norwood Red Indian Society)
Perks - Everyone else had share options and health insurance but we got free copies of the Radio Times
Car park tickets
Trying to find the Ferrograph to record Pick of the Pops off the Light Programme on Sunday afternoons.
Painting Football Focus stories on 2" tape late on Friday nights (especially memorable for sports PA's who had to be back in at 0800 Saturday morning), and those who forget to paint everything (Niall!).
Recording the time signal in VTs 5 + 6 for Trails so the sound man in Pres A could sync in order to relay sound.
An allegedly knickerless Patsy Richards making it to the loo and back between overs during England v West Indies test match, 1976
Clearing drum clogs with thumb nails
Some splendid vt chap hanging Jonathan Martin on a coat hook - Charlie Michie (2)

There are many, many, more - let me know link on Introduction page)