Need: RCA Quadruplex VTR playback german Apollo tapes

[apollo16uvc]

Hello VideoHelp members,

After I have done some digging, and with some suggestions from other people, I have found a german radio station that at the time of Apollo received and recorded audio, biomedical telemetry and video from the moon.

Someone who came there some years ago said he saw a RCA Quadruplex Video Tape Recorder (VTR) in bad shape, together with a two inch Quadruplex reel on display. The reel was labeled Apollo 16. The reel was in a state of decay, as was the recorder.

I have contacted some people at the radio station, and in September I will get in contact with someone who knows more about the tape archive.

So far I know that they recorded video/audio from Apollo 16, and audio from Apollo 11. But I am sure other missions were recorded too, it was hinted.

I proposed a digitization effort, and have been told that the RCA VTR is indeed in a bad state and would need costly repairs. The main reason why it has not been done already, is that NASA had bigger dishes and thus a better video feed anyway. But I think every chance to digitize historically significant tapes should be taken before the tapes have decayed completely.

I will post more information about the tapes as I receive more information. I also asked for photos, but that email has not been answered so far.

Would anyone here be willing to lend their expertise, parts or perhaps an entire Quadruplex machine to a digitization effort? and possible machines for other formats, if the Apollo 11 audio was recorded on 1/4 or 1/2 inch audio reels. NASA has given third parties money for restoration efforts before, like the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project.

If you wish to contact me personally, PM me and ask me for an Email there.

Here is something that an average Quadruplex recorder will look like:

Video heads:

Tape:



Regards,
Niels

[JVRaines]

I think your best avenue of exploration would be universities and libraries that have large audiovisual collections and an established preservation laboratory. The UCLA Film and Television Archive comes to mind. They are in the same city where quadruplex videotape was first implemented in the 1950s.

[johnmeyer]

You'll need to find an expert to operate that machine. Even when in perfect condition, they were a bear to operate. There are some amazing videos on YouTube made by people who have managed to get some of these up and running.

I think you would get a lot more useful feedback if you were to post in a broadcast forum.

[apollo16uvc]

You'll need to find an expert to operate that machine. Even when in perfect condition, they were a bear to operate. There are some amazing videos on YouTube made by people who have managed to get some of these up and running.

I think you would get a lot more useful feedback if you were to post in a broadcast forum.

Hello Johnmeyer.

Thanks for your reply and suggestion. Could you link me some broadcast forums, preferable with members at Germany, where I could ask for help?

Kind regards,
Niels

[johnmeyer]

You'll need to find an expert to operate that machine. Even when in perfect condition, they were a bear to operate. There are some amazing videos on YouTube made by people who have managed to get some of these up and running.

I think you would get a lot more useful feedback if you were to post in a broadcast forum.

Hello Johnmeyer.

Thanks for your reply and suggestion. Could you link me some broadcast forums, preferable with members at Germany, where I could ask for help?

Kind regards,
Niels

Heck, you live next door to Germany, while I am on the other side of the world, so I'm sure you have a lot more contacts that I would.

I see you have posted about this at AppoloHoax.net:

Apollo 16 footage played on Ampex Quadruplex video reel VR-2000B

That post makes it sound like you actually got the tape transferred, so I'm not sure what else you need to do. However, if I were looking for help, I'd start by doing a Google search based on Avid, which is the software that broadcast professionals use. While most Avid operators probably have no contact with broadcast analog video, many of them may know some old guy down the hall who, back in the day, operated these machines.

I'd also go to YouTube and do a search on "Quadruplex" there. As I said in my post a few months ago, there are some really cool videos done by people who have restored those machines. Use the YouTube PM service to contact the author of each of those videos and ask them if they know people who use to service or run these machines. You can save your questions about Germany until later, because I think that will limit the discussion too much.

One final search term is Ampex. They were the company that invented videotape and built the Quadruplex machines. You may get some hits on that.