[Boatanchors] "Kinescope ", thanks all.

Wed Aug 10 11:29:22 EDT 2011

Bob, you have brought back memories!  Our first videotape was an Ampex VR 
1000 donated to us by the Ford Foundation.

Jack

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob W5UQ" <W5UQ at att.NET>
To: "Richard Knoppow" <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
Cc: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>; "Sheldon Daitch" <sdaitch at kuw.ibb.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 7:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] "Kinescope ", thanks all.

>I used this equipment when I started in TV on December 7th, 1956.
> Dumont, GE, RCA and Dage equipment I used and maintained.
>
> We had Iconoscope film chains with JAN Bell & Howell projectors as well
> as GE projectors.  The GE275 and 285 projectors come to mind. RCA TP6's
> and later 66's...slide projectors, TP7's....   I maintained all this
> equipment.
> Yes, the gun portion of this tube was at an obtuse angle to the large
> cylinder that housed the mosaic portion of the tube.  I remember the
> edge light, producing the black level. Archaic to say the least.  We had
> both GE and RCA film chains.  Then the vidicon came along replacing them.
>
> The RCA TK11's were studio cameras, Image Orthicons.  (Field cams were
> the same, but with side handles, and they were TK31's)  The monitors you
> mentioned were TM-6's.
> These monitors were used several places.  Master monitor, film chains
> and cameras as well as microwave monitors and such.
> We also had GE studio cameras.   I remember my first videotape machine
> in 1959.  RCA TRT 1A.  Five racks of tubes.
>
> Thanks for the walk through time.  And thanks to the moderator for
> allowing it.  I love it.
> Having been in broadcasting, mainly TV, for 53 years before retiring,
> and it was my love,  I really loved it, I have lots of memories.  I also
> did consulting for AM, FM, TV, microwave and satellite.
>
> Thanks again.
> Bob
>
> and the beat goes onnnnnnnnn!!!!
> With or without us too..........
>
> The Shadow could cloud men's minds.
> Old age, some spouses and most politicians can have the same effect.
> And a lot of times without our being aware of it.
>
> "Faith is not about everything turning out OK;
> Faith is about being OK no matter how things turn out."
>
> See W5UQ.com
> &  QRZ.com is accurate for W5UQ
> Also see QRZ.com for A25UQ,V31UQ&  VP2EEU.
> And will be ZF2UQ in July 2011.
>
>
>
>
> On 8/8/2011 5:13 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Sheldon Daitch"<sdaitch at kuw.ibb.gov>
>> To:<W4AWM at aol.com>
>> Cc:<boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>;<KO6BB at sbcglobal.net>
>> Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 12:42 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] "Kinescope ", thanks all.
>>
>>
>>> GE made the color film chain that was at WRDW-TV,
>>> Augusta, GA, late 1960s timeframe.  The B&W film chain
>>> was an RCA unit.
>>       There were a lot of companies who made parts of film
>> chains. At KTTV we had General Electric cameras, RCA 35mm
>> projectors and Eastman Kodak 16mm projectors plus automatic
>> slide projectors, no longer remeber who made those but I
>> think it was RCA. I think the "multiplexer" which is the
>> moving mirror thing for switching from one projector to
>> another, was also made by GE but am not sure. We had seven
>> film islands some 35mm only, some 16mm only and some with
>> one of each.
>>       Dage was a major maker of TV equipment as was
>> Westinghouse and others. The early film chains used
>> Ikonoscope tubes. They were also used in experimental TV
>> cameras but were very insensitive requiring set lighting on
>> the order of 1000 foot candles. Enough to melt your skin.
>> RCA came up with the Image-Orthocon tube about the late
>> 1940's. This tube had a photo multiplier in it that very
>> substantially increased sensitivity. These were used in
>> nearly all studio and location cameras. The studio version
>> required about 200 ft/c and the location version would make
>> good pictures with below 50ft/c. These were delicate tubes,
>> temperature sensitive, and you coundn't point a camera
>> straight up or down or stuff would fall on the image forming
>> matrix. The secondary emission characteristic of the earlier
>> IO tubes led to the familiar black halo around bright
>> objects in the image. This was actually exagerated by CBS on
>> theory that it improved image sharpness. CBS had the worst
>> looking pictures on network air. A later version of the IO,
>> called the "separate mesh" tube eliminated the secondary
>> emission and halo effect. These tubes were used in later B&W
>> cameras in the the early color cameras. AFAIK IO tubes were
>> never used in film chain cameras. The Ikonoscope had the
>> electron gun at an angle to the image plate so required a
>> rather complex sweep circuit to correct for the key-stone
>> effect and also correct for the shading brought on by the
>> varying distance of the gun. These cameras were capable of
>> very good quality but were a PITA to get aligned and
>> adjusted right. They also used a "bias light" actually four
>> No.47 dial lights to overcome a non-linearity in the curve
>> to get better reproduction of blacks.
>>       When you know what was in that stuff its amazing any of
>> it worked at all let alone producing pretty good video. NBC
>> had the best pictures, CBS the worst. ABC pretty much
>> followed NBC and RCA recommended operation so also had good
>> images. DuMont, while they existed, of course used DuMont
>> equipment. Capable of pretty good pictures. WWJ, in Detroit,
>> where I grew up, used all DuMont equipment (and Western
>> Electric at the radio station) because the CE hated RCA. I
>> remember seeing a live audience show there with the DuMont
>> cameras that looked like travel cases. The got dis-assembled
>> immediately the program left the air. FWIW, DuMont used
>> composite synch to the cameras rather than separated drive
>> and synch as RCA did.
>>       BTW all this equipment was very much boatanchor. An RCA
>> TK-11 with monitor weighed about 100 lbs.
>>       I am amazed that anyone is still interested in this
>> stuff.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard Knoppow
>> Los Angeles
>> WB6KBL
>> dickburk at ix.netcom.com
>>
>>
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