posted 05-02-2019 03:05 PM               

As some tapes are dirty, I will eventually need to make a tape cleaning machine, shouldn't be too hard? We'll see. Thinking about using simple stepper motors to turn the reels, and run the tape through two passes of cleaning liquid, then a cleaning stage. Anybody got experience with this?

posted 05-26-2019 08:13 AM               

The people who are working on a number of machines for Peter have their hands full. These things take time, and probably this is not going to change soon. The Otari will therefore have to wait. Peter has been able to purchase garage space to properly connect and test all his half-inch recorders.

It may be that the test tape used on the Otari was just empty, and that recording does not work. Now of course I don't have to record, the recorder with only the playback function is enough. Peter is going to perform some more tests with other tapes to hopefully get something out of it. Otherwise, the recorder may have to go to a repair company that will ask a larger amount of money...

Not to end on a sour note, with the help of the unmannedspaceflight forum we've finally been able to trace down the images recovered from our Pioneer tapes.

Lets dive in: The images recovered from our Pioneer tapes belong to spectrophotometry observations of planets, satellites and asteroids. The online files that match files on our tapes can be found here.

The B/W and colour images on QK7992H are LWR01530, LWR01531 and LWR01532. We've got only a small part of Pione-7937 for now (Reading last year has been dicey) but its metadata says its LWR1888.

So what have we learnt from this?

1. It's still possible to correctly read and digitize binary data from magnetic tapes, at least into the 70's and 60's. As long as care and expertise is provided.

2. With the help of people around the world we were able to correctly process the image data into a common, modern format readily accessible with modern operating systems and software.

3. A crucial factor in the correct data processing has been the metadata found on the tape, which was easily readable and provided important clues to its contents.

4. It's unlikely the remaining tapes contain some of the lost Pioneer data sets, as they were all part of the same lot.

5. Crowdsourcing and openly providing the files has perhaps been the most important factor in the success of this project.

posted 07-10-2019 08:45 AM               

Either way, these machines are refrigerator sized, so shipping would have been several thousand dollars. And it was local pickup anyways. You can see the advert here and here are more photos.

Such a machine would be ideal, but out of my expertise, roomspace and budget.

posted 10-07-2019 10:20 PM            

I've sent you e-mail already, but just received permission to post here, so I'll summarize:

I have about 7,000 7-track (probably 800bpi NRZ) digital data tapes in very good condition from Helios-1 and -2 plasma wave instrument that I would like to read.

I also have couple dozen 7-track 1/2-inch analog telemetry tapes containing audible-frequency plasma wave data.

And the fun part: I have a Honeywell Ninety-Six 7-track 1/2-inch analog drive in pretty good condition as well as a Kybe tape cleaner.

I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a single working 7-track digital drive on the planet, especially considering the variety of recording densities that were used. On the other hand, I'll bet if I spooled the digital tapes onto analog hubs and digitized the signal using an analog drive, the results could be decoded in software.

posted 10-28-2019 11:43 AM               

I will try and contact some people I have worked with previously, including the person who has digitized my computer tapes. Hopefully one will be able to get you a digital 7-track drive, or point you to a likely location. 7-track drives show up on ebay from time to time, perhaps if you get one it may be possible to get it repaired, calibrated and setup for digitization work by an enthusiast.

It may be worth asking around at an America retro computing form, as several members have got working 7 and 9 track computer drives. They may be able to assist you in getting a working drive, repairing one. I am also active on an other NASA-related forum with computer tapes, may be usefull to ask there. people on that website are very talented, without them nothing you see here would have happened!

I will respond to your email and send some links to the sites I mentioned.

Yes, I suspect it will be possible to use the Honeywell telemetry recorder to digitize the computer tapes. Then the audio recordings can be processed to bits in post production. But theses machines are quite specializes and will have to be refurbished/calibrated (Like a computer 7-track drive also) I think this is something I will have to do with my telemetry recordings also.

Instead of spooling every computer tape to a telemetry reel, it will be faster to 3-D print a custom hub that fits on the Honeywell motor and is compatible with the computer tapes, the difference are basically a few notches. Or modify a computer tape hub to fit on the Honeywell.

As for funding, the most expensive thing are going to be man-hours. If you want to sell the plasma tapes for a decent prize I will be interested!