Realistic TR-169 questions

I picked up one of those and am trying to learn more about it.
I hooked it up and it plays.
Questions:
1. Is there anywhere online a simple user guide for this?
2. What is the big white button for? When I press it it doesn't seem to
do anything.
3. At bottom is a "head alignment" hole/screw. What is it for and when
it's needed to be used.
Thanks,
--
Nathan Gutman

On Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:39:13 GMT, Nathan Gutman
wrote:

I picked up one of those and am trying to learn more about it.
I hooked it up and it plays.
Questions:
1. Is there anywhere online a simple user guide for this? snip

Not that I know of, but you could try http://www.8trackheaven.com
and/or joint the 8trackheaven Google Group (not available on Usenet)
and see. These things were pretty straightforward, though.

2. What is the big white button for? When I press it it doesn't seem to
do anything. snip

Track change button? Common failure point on RS products I've seen.
The elevation mechanism probably is gooped up with old grease and
needs cleaning and lubrication.

3. At bottom is a "head alignment" hole/screw. What is it for and when
it's needed to be used. snip

First, don't diddle with it if you don't know what you're doing.
Search the archives of this group on "+alignment +head" for a primer
of basic analog tape alignment criteria regarding cartridges. You'll
need a REAL alignment cartridge, the Nortronics AT-820 being about the
best. AVOID any phony "alignment tapes" from an idiot called
"66-catalina" on eBay. They're homemade fakes and will misalign your
heads worse than if you tried to do it on a music cartridge. This
fraudster, who you'll see in here now as "trippin-2-8-track" is
Charlie Nudo of Drums, PA. He's an electronics idiot who got into 8
tracks as a way to make a lot of money quickly. Sorry that didn't
work out for ya there, Noodles!

In a nutshell, head alignment on any analog tape machine involved
setting these geometric features: azimuth (lateral tilt in reference
to tape travel), elevation (vertical position in regard to the
horizontal tape movement), perpendicularity (only adjusted with
machine open and with instruments; means the alignment of head face to
tape) and zenith (angularity of pole gaps of head again the tape with
the machine running.)

Of these, the most common things wrong that prevent decent playback
are azimuth and elevation. With a GOOD tape with fresh WinGib pads
(not the cheesy aquarium filter foam fakes offered by 66-catalina) you
can use a good prerecorded music cartridge (a later Columbia release
with a lot of high frequency energy) to get a "ballpark" azimuth
adjustment. You can use just headphones for this, or if you have an
o-scope with a selectable input filter that will eliminate signal
below around 5 Khz, you can also use that. It won't be a precise
setting, though. You can do the same with elevation, which changed
the head's lateral position across the line of travel of the tape,
simply by listening for "cross talk" between cuts of music. Again, it
won't be exact.

The only way to get an EXACT head alignment job that will work on the
most tapes would be to have a real alignment tape, and the good ones
haven't been made in many years. There's a guy selling tapes done on
a home machine using oscillator tones, but he doesn't seem to know
what reference fluxivity is, so I don't recommend them.

Head alignment, if you don't have the tools, is best left for a tech
who does have the right tools to do it correctly. However, reading
above, you can sort of get in the ball park to make a deck serviceable
enough to work for you.

On Feb 8, 2:39*pm, Nathan Gutman wrote:
I picked up one of those and am trying to learn more about it.
I hooked it up and it plays.
Questions:
1. Is there anywhere online a simple user guide for this?
2. What is the big white button for? When I press it it doesn't seem to
do anything.
3. At bottom is a "head alignment" hole/screw. What is it for and when
it's needed to be used.
Thanks,
--
Nathan Gutman



welcome Nathan-

first off, don't believe a WORD this "DeserTBob" guy says- he gave
someone tech advice in the past, destroyed the guy's tape deck- then
when the person came back in and stated so, DeserTBob attacked and
insulted him ! "DeserTBob" is a poser, he knows nothing about 8-
tracks.

now your questions:

the head alignment screw on the bottom, does just that, it sets your
tape head to play the tape on the proper tracks, just like a VHS tape
has a tracking adjustment. Put a tape in, put it on program 2, and
adjust that screw until you hear the best sound- using headphones

the white button that doesn't do anything....sounds like a repeat
button, or auto stop button ? is it labelled ? it may also be a
program switch button, and perhaps the program solenoid is not
engaging, or the track switch mechanism is stuck- common problem with
Radio Shack decks

user guide- check ebay !

good luck and welcome to the world of 8-tracks

On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 01:46:00 -0800 (PST), Charlie Nudo, masquerading as
trippin-2-8-track wrote:


welcome Nathan-

first off, don't believe a WORD this "DeserTBob" guy says- he gave
someone tech advice in the past, destroyed the guy's tape deck- snip

Lie #1

then
when the person came back in and stated so, DeserTBob attacked and
insulted him ! snip

Lie #2

"DeserTBob" is a poser, he knows nothing about 8-
tracks. snip

Lie #3

now your questions:

the head alignment screw on the bottom, does just that, it sets your
tape head to play the tape on the proper tracks, just like a VHS tape
has a tracking adjustment. snip

Stupidity proof #1

Put a tape in, put it on program 2, and
adjust that screw until you hear the best sound- using headphones snip

Stupidity proof #2

the white button that doesn't do anything....sounds like a repeat
button, or auto stop button ? is it labelled ? it may also be a
program switch button, and perhaps the program solenoid is not
engaging, or the track switch mechanism is stuck- common problem with
Radio Shack decks snip

Stupidity proof #3

user guide- check ebay !

good luck and welcome to the world of 8-tracks snip

....and remember...ignore anything Charlie Nudo says, and do NOT buy
anything from him either here or from "66-catalina" on eBay. For more
about this infamous fraudster and con artist, see:

http://nudowatch.blogspot.com

....or simply Google "Charlie Nudo" and be amazed.

Today, he racked up 3 lies and 3 "stupidity proofs"...about average
for him giving "advice."

On Feb 8, 2:39*pm, Nathan Gutman wrote:
I picked up one of those and am trying to learn more about it.
I hooked it up and it plays.
Questions:
1. Is there anywhere online a simple user guide for this?
2. What is the big white button for? When I press it it doesn't seem to
do anything.
3. At bottom is a "head alignment" hole/screw. What is it for and when
it's needed to be used.
Thanks,
--
Nathan Gutman



see what I mean ? DeserTBob aka Bob Scarborough of Lancaster, Ca.
USA- isn't the sharpest cheese on the cracker- just look at what he
did to this 8-track deck tech thread, he flamed it

I'm starting to think, Bob's mother scolded him as a child, saying
"don't get smart with me !"

and Bob listened...

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:29:46 -0800 (PST), Charlie Nudo of Drums, PA,
aka trippin-2-8-track wrote:

see what I mean ? snip

Oh yeah, I'm sure he sees what I mean, Noodles...Charlie Nudo of
Drums, PA, aka "66-catalina" on eBay, is a longtime fraudster and is
responsible at least partially for the collapse of the 8 track
collecting hobby.

Oh...by the way...I don't live in Lancaster...haven't for awhile, but
keep trying to find out! Your net detective skills are near zero, and
I'm sure you'll make a complete ass out of yourself...again.