Vintage Audio Activities...

[CitroJim]

Something different, and very modern, in the workshop yesterday...

On a rather excellent, but latterly very wet, I discovered my bike video camera - the device that provides a lot of classic car 'spots' for this forum - was not waterproof

The image went all misty from condensation on the optics and sensor head...

I disassembled it and found it quite damp inside as there is absolutely no sealing to keep water out... Definitely an IPX0 device

I dried it out and left the sensor/optics assembly in a warm place for many hours and happily, all is now good again

I've taken steps to (hopefully) waterproof it sufficiently that the same won't happen again...

I'm not complaining as the camera is a cheap Chinese rip-off of a device that normally costs four or five times more... Despite that, it works adequately well and will record for around five hours - with the DRL on too!

[Hell Razor5543]

I wonder if putting a packet or two of desiccated silicon would help to absorb the moisture that gets in (if any does after your weatherproofing).

[CitroJim]

I wonder if putting a packet or two of desiccated silicon would help to absorb the moisture that gets in (if any does after your weatherproofing).

I wondered the same James but dismissed it as there's no room for one inside sadly

[myglaren]

Watched an interesting BigClive video about LED emergency lights ("It's somehow managed to be both brilliant and sh*t" ) with some amusing quotes in it:

"Slight skidmark here, I had a bit on an incident"

"I might have to pause momentarily as I go in deeper"

There is a mention of Mr. Carlson's Lab where it is mainly vintage audio equipment restoration involve and may be of interest.



Unfortunately he speaks American Canadi-ish but it may be acceptable if the clip is interesting enough.

[Peter.N.]

That's a proper radio, they were all like that when I was alive.

Peter

[bobins]

There is a mention of Mr. Carlson's Lab where it is mainly vintage audio equipment restoration involve and may be of interest.

Unfortunately he speaks American but it may be acceptable if the clip is interesting enough.

Quick, Steve, change that before someone notices. He comes from Canada They get a bit funny about that sort of thing in Canadia

[myglaren]

They all sound the same but his is at least muted compared with his southern neighbours - can't listen to some of them.

[bobins]

I was in the mood for fixing things, so I got this old radio out of a stack of things of latent usefulness not expecting much from it. One of the battery terminals (it takes 4x 'D' cells) looked a bit manky so I desoldered it and soaked it in vinegar to clean it up a bit, then soldered it back on. Shoved in some new batteries, and turned it on. Rather remarkably - it works Not bad as I think it's over 50 years old now. Reception was a bit sketchy on FM, but I got Radio 4, Greatest Hits, and (I think) Radio 3. Next was SW, but I got nowt from that. LW showed promise with more Radio 4, and quite a bit on MW - most if it foreign sounding Then back to SW and it got better as it warmed up - heaven only knows what or where I was listening to
Not entirely sure what I'll do with it now as I'm not short of music sources here

Cantabile radio - own work

[bobins]

One for the vintage TV and radio enthusiast who owns a microfiche reader -

2Kgs of repair and parts diagrams on microfiche for a whole host of old machines

TV and radio microfiche - eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175133744664

When was the last time anyone used a microfiche reader ?

[Peter.N.]

I repaired my Yamaha organ - a first for me. Smoothing capacitors had leaked and the electrolyte eat the printed circuit, all fixed now though. Took a couple of days to find how to get it apart then found a free manual download. The thing is built like a tank, the keyboard and electronics section weighs about a hundredweight, had it on the dining room table for about a week! Its an EL70 for anyone who is interested.

Peter

[bobins]

A wonderful Old Skool method of cleaning up the sound from records is shown in this short from Tomorrow's World in the early 1970s. Laborious, and the end product was probably only appreciated by a handful of people - they certainly don't make them like that anymore

I can recommend the BBC Archive Youtube channel - it's only been running for a relatively short time, but they've been putting up some gems from 'back in the day'

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice turn of phrase "every crackle can be made to sound like a lengthy plop"

Regards Neil

[Peter.N.]

Its amazing how they can make 78 rpm records sound now, presumably by computer. There is a 1927 record of Fats Waller playing the organ and it sounds brilliant, they have even got the full frequency range back and that was barely in the days of electric recording.

Peter

[bobins]

Bit of a random post, but I thought it might appeal to some of the readers on here -

MCR21, which is a 1960s BBC Television mobile control room that's been restored by a bunch of volunteers will be visiting Amberley Museum for 11 days in July.

MCR21 - mcr21.org.uk

MCR21 magazine cutaway - BBC

"The BBC outside broadcast unit was used to televise many historic events. MCR21 was at Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in 1964 when Jim Clark won the British Grand Prix. In 1965 it was at St Pauls Cathedral for Sir Winston Churchill’s Funeral and at Caernarfon in 1969 to televise the Investiture of the Prince of Wales. The technology of MCR21 was ‘state of the art’ for its time. It had four monochrome cameras, one of the first vision mixers to use transistors and a built-in twenty channel sound mixer.

Visitors will be able to enter the production area and experience what it would have been like to be there when a programme is being transmitted. From pre-recorded material, the television monitors show the pictures from the four cameras recorded at a Jazz concert. You can hear the music being played along with the television director’s instructions to the camera operators.

Visitors will also be able to find out about the history of MCR21 and the many interesting facts about BBC’s television coverage of great events, dating back to 1937. There will also be ‘hands on’ experiences where you can try your hand at operating a 1960s television camera."

More details:
https://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/whats- ... -amberley/
http://mcr21.org.uk/
https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/research/mcr21/

[myglaren]