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       In April and May of 2011, Bruno Merlier and I traveled around the east coast of the USA in search of all things pertaining to antique video and television equipment. We met up at Kenedy International Airport in New York, rented a car and drove for two days to Columbus Ohio, to attend the Early Television Convention, near by in Hilliard.

       After that, we drove to Woonsocket, Massachusetts, home of the Museum of Broadcast Technology. Our host and great friend, Paul Beck, essentially turned Brruno and I loose inside the museum for two days. Row upon row of quadruplex two inch broadcast recorders of every era! Many of them already fully restored. Upstairs was filled with dozens of broadcast cameras on pedestals and a row of film chains spanning the ages. Awesome!

       Next, we traveled back to New Jersey for a visit to Turner Engineering and my friend John Turner. Soon , another old friend showed up. David Sica, "thee" earliest contributor to my site, and a videographer with years of experience.

       John then presented us with several excellent demonstration of very old video tape recorders. A one inch Pansonic and an RCA quadruplex. John Turner was the most gracious host and absolutely knwolegable on all aspects of the topic. These videos document random candid moments from our trip. Enjoy!

(366MB - 3 Minutes)

       (HD) Episode 3 of the "What Labguy Did On His Spring Break" series. I shoot horrible home movies. That's a fact. When I have no coherent footage, I call the result a "vignette". Works for me! This video is of some of the highlights, that impressed the Labguy, at the Early Television Convention in Hilliard, Ohio this year. I tried to include mostly operational equipment including, mechanical televisions and the famous Chuck Pharis RCA TK-11/31 image orthicon television camera from the late 1940s. Also shown for the first time in public anywhere, my very own Picturephone and Sony prototype home video tape recorder. The color drum TV belongs to Cliff Benham. Enjoy. Three minutes.

(990MB - 8 Minutes)

       (HD) What Labguy did on his spring break series, episode 1. John Turner demonstrates the 1969 RCA TR-60 quadruplex broadcast video tape recorder that he has restored to operation.

(495MB - 4 Minutes)

       (HD) John Turner demonstrates the 1969 Panasonic NV-204 BW, color capable, one inch VTR. This one is at the point of being restored where it is just running. Lots of issues, and another great delivery by John Turner, while Bruno Merlier, Dave Sica and I observe and marvel. Thanks, John!

(738MB - 6 Minutes 15 Seconds)

       (HD) This is definitely a Labguy home movie. Since I did not shoot my source in any form that made sense, I edited this non-narrated look at some antique cameras. Factoids are presented along the way. Enjoy!

(604MB - 5 Minutes)

       (HD) We see the exchange of a large pedestal used to support extinct broadcast video cameras of the stone age being swapped at the Museum of Broadcast Technology (MBT) in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. I believe one is returning from the machinist and the other is on its way to have a missing part fabricated. Peter Fasciano gives us a description of how this situation was very much like the kind of union work found in your local TV station in the 1970s. This video is just a "fly on the wall" piece of work. But, I found fascinating enough to share with you all.

(858MB - 7 Minutes)

       (HD) Paul Beck demonstrates his method for baking and cleaning old video tapes prior to recovering the video and audio content. Old tapes develop a condition called "binder hydrolosys" or more commonly, "sticky shed syndrome". This is where the binder, that's the glue that holds the metal magnetic particles to the Mylar or polyester film base, has decayed into a tacky coating. This crud will gum up the video tape recorder, clogging the guides and heads and sometimes even breaking the video heads. The preparation process consists of warming the tapes under a heat lamp for a week or more. Never exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit. An industrial dry air convection oven works well also. Then Paul cleans and lubricates the video tape, on a re-purposed Ampex 300 series tape deck, using dry silicone spray and simple paper towels. The spray is available at your local hardware store. Do not confuse dry silicone spray with WD-40. NEVER USE WD-40 on any tape recorder or tape!!!!

(1.02GB - 8 Minutes, 30 Seconds)

       (HD) Paul Beck takes us on an excellent tour of a small control room and video system he created for his church from used and scrounged equipment. Many great ideas for you folks trying to produce television on low or no budget! Paul is an excellent presenter and the video quality makes this one of my favorite videos. The interior and exterior shots are just gentle on the eyes. A very large file, well worth the wate to download. Enjoy!