[TMC] Info on old tmcvintage website
John Poulton
jp at cs.unc.edu
Thu Jun 2 15:23:03 EDT 2011
*YES*, I would definitely be interested in the financial analysis you
mention.. we should talk.. :) I have lots of info to share that isn't
on the web yet.
This is long, but.. please read. I really need your help with this
huge project!
I don't think there's any advantage to holding back anything at this
point. I had been a little cagey about where all of this material came
from because I got the impression that the "kind benefactor" who made
the material available might not want to be acknowledged publicly.
Well, the cat's pretty much out of the bag, and I'm 99% sure Neil would
not mind my sharing this with you anyway: Indeed, all of this material
came to me from Neil de Pasquale, brokered with the very capable
assistance of Bruce Berman. Neil's purpose, I think, was to clean
out the "junk" that had accumulated over the years and make as much of
it available to the TMC collector community as possible. I have
undertaken that job in exchange for being at least the temporary
caretaker of the material. I get the idea that Neil was quite
surprised, and pleased, that there is so large and fervent a community
of folks who collect, restore, and operate the gear that was his dad's
brainchild.
As you surmised, the company went out of business for all practical purposes
back in 1994. A small remnant remains, and Neil still fields requests for
spare parts--remarkably, there are a fair number of TMC units still in service
around the world.
I've gotten three significant chunks of TMC ephemera from Neil:
1. The stash of manuals, 25 banker's boxes full, in fact. Nearly all
of the unique manuals have been scanned at high resolution and are
online for your enjoyment. I still have work to do on this, but this
part of the project is mostly "there". If you need paper copies of
manuals, speak up! There's a good way to make this happen.
2. The *entire* stash of all of TMC's drawings. There are many 1000's
of them. They are actually in the care of another TMC collector, and
between us we are trying to figure out the best way to make them
available to you. As a start, I've just finished scanning all of the
S-documents. The current plan is to build an archive of drawings for
each of the commonly collected TMC equipment types.. it'll probably take
us a while to do this. Even this subset is a HUGE job! In the
meantime, if you need a drawing, just ask! We can easily make you a copy
or scan.
3. The *entire* stash of TMC photos. Most are 8.5x11 glossy b/w's.
There are 5 banker's boxes full of "rig pix", and I'm currently working
on getting those scanned. If you have a suggestion on how to make them
available, let me know. THere will at least be links on the manual
pages to the photos--for help with rig identification. In addition
there are another 4 boxes full of random, and very interesting photos of
people, installations, rigs, projects, and much we cannot easily
identify.
Finally, I'm working on compiling a history of the company. If any of
you have *any* info about the company, please, PLEASE share it with me!
I'm particularly in need of photos of the engineering staff from the early
50's to mid-60's, the "golden era" for the company.
I've been greatly aided by lengthy interviews with Tony Faiola (a person
who's been a huge help to us hobbyists, by the way!) and with Neil
himself. This history will take the form of a lengthy essay on-line,
and it can/will be improved/corrected as time goes on. This isn't "my"
document, really.. I'm happy to include any and all content from others.
...
The GPR-90 is not the best performer, but when properly aligned (a bit
of a job), it can do reasonably well. It is, however, one of
the handsomest boatanchors ever built! You'll see this same attention
to the industrial design aspect in all of TMC's equipment. I really
think that's the thing that gets most of us hooked on this stuff.. :)
It's elegant and beautifully made.
73, John K4OZY
On Thu, 2 Jun 2011, GDM wrote:
> John: I was indeed involved in a small way with Dennis McCarthy's (VE3ZPU)
> original TMC web site.
>
> I got my first ticket as a Novice back in 1958 (KN9VTE) at the age of 14. My
> early ham radio involvement matched the hey day of TMC. As a young, and
> very cash deprived ham, I could only look at the magazine pictures of TMC
> equipment and drool/dream. There is something about the appearance of the
> GPR-90 receiver that is just inherently and distinctly pleasing. It says :
> "This is a communications receiver".
> My heart said GPR-90, but my pocket book said ARC-5!
>
> Before anyone chimes in, I know that the GPR-90 was never a great
> communications receiver from a technical stand point, BUT, remember the old
> Saturday Night Live sketch about " Its better to look good than feel good"
> (Billy Crystal)?
>
> When the original website was set up, along with a email list, there was a
> certain amount of discussion about the then current status (1996) of TMC.
> There appeared to have been a fall off in TMC's business, some labor strikes
> and then it just disappeared.
>
> I made two calls to the factory phone number and was able to reach Neil de
> Pasquale, the son of the founder Ray de Pasquale. I did two lengthy
> interviews with Neil which I then transcribed and posted to the web site.
> At that time he indicated they were still in business ( primarily providing
> replacement parts) and had some hopes of revival. In hind sight, it would
> appear he was still living in the glory days.
>
> If I look through my paper and electronic archives, I may still have copies
> of the interviews, but the probability is low.
>
> I was most interested to see you had posted about 20 years of TMC's annual
> financial statements. That's a real find (from a historical perspective).
> Where did you get them?
>
> Since you are the primary repository of TMC info, I would like to ask if you
> would be interested in a written analysis of the company's financial
> performance (or lack there of). As a retired bank president and financial
> analyst it would not be too difficult for me to accomplish this. It would
> go well with my life long interest in TMC.
>
> Currently, there are listings for TMC on two different business info sites
> (note the spellings of the company name and personal name):
>
> From "Manta":
>
> Tech Material Corp.
> 700 Fenimore Road
> Mamaroneck, NY 10543
> 914-698-4800
> Owner: Neil de Pasquele
> President: Neil H. de Pasquale
> Estimated annual sales: $1 - 2.5 million
> Employees : 10-19
> Incorporated in New York in 1934
> Manufactures communications equipment
>
> From " Goliath" :
>
> Technical Material Corp
> P.O. Box 116
> Mamaroneck, NY 10543
> Manufacturer of communications equipment
>
> Both of these business info sites offer more detailed information, but their
> is a fee to acquire it. It would appear there is some residual of the old
> company.
>
> Thanks so very much for copying all the TMC material and creating a web site
> for it. It appears it has taken a huge amount of time and effort. In all
> likelihood, it is the main repository of TMC info that is publicly
> accessible. If possible, I would like to hear how you acquired all of it.
>
> 73,
>
> Gary Maples
> W9OAK
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 6/2/2011 9:29 AM, John Poulton wrote:
>> TMC'ers,
>>
>> I followed up by looking through what's left of the old tmcvintage site
>> stored in various archives. The site's owner appears to have been
>> Dennis McCarthy VE3ZPU. I emailed him some time ago, but no reply.
>> Anyone know of his whereabouts, or have an email address OTHER than
>> ve3zpu at rac.ca ?
>>
>> Also mentioned on the site as having helped with its construction:
>>
>> Ed Gable K2MP
>> Bill Shaw W2HYN (just emailed him)
>> Gary Maples W9OAK
>>
>> Have the feeling Ed and Gary may have been involved only peripherally.
>>
>> Any help/info would be appreciated!
>>
>> 73, John K4OZY
>>
>> On Thu, 2 Jun 2011, triodes at optonline.net wrote:
>>
>>> Gee, I thought the "Wayback Machine" goes back to the days of "Mr.
>>> Peabody, and Rocky and His Friends".........
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Bruce, W2XR
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Chris Kepus
>>> Date: Thursday, June 2, 2011 1:25 am
>>> Subject: Re: [TMC] new URL's for TMC history and info
>>> To: 'Duncan Brown' , tmc at mailman.qth.net
>>>
>>>> Duncan and TMC folk,
>>>> Info from me on the "Wayback Machine" regarding an identical
>>>> inquiry from
>>>> John in November, 2010.
>>>>
>> ...
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>
>
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