RE: ADSactly Tech News - A Walk Down Memory Lane, Forgotten Devices of the Past (Part 2)
Jeeze. I feel like you are talking to your old uncle in the nursing home. I'm not, yet you know. Your uncle or in a nursing home.
Super 8 was such an incredibly big deal because of the cassette system. The preceding 8mm hand held cameras all had film reels, were near impossible to load correctly and were brutally expensive. Kodak did for motion pictures exactly as they had for stills. Made a product that every person could use. I have access to film my uncles made when they were in the Navy, they were pure geeks in the time. One of the 30 second loops is a refueling on the fly of the USS Ranger in the very early 60s. Pretty impressive. They both switched to super 8 early. Somewhere, the 15 year old me still exists on their film.
This particular area is a big time Ham zone. Old guys move here and bring their radios with them. I have one friend that is very nearly blind that has a 2x set up. One set is full time Morse code and the other is full time voice. It's really pretty impressive. With a 70 foot antenna that I helped install.
Wollensak. I actually worked in a radio station when I was in college, and had my 3rd class radio engineers ticket to be able to do so. Wollensak was THE brand to record with in the late 60s and they weren't called tape recorders, they were called Wollensak. I was at a couple of other stations that used the Ampex system. They were called Ampex :)
Well, I'm not tired of it OR out of ideas. I'm just loving this series.
One more thing. My buddy Gunny came home from the Navy in 1975 with a 4 channel reel to reel set up. Akai tape deck, Sansui speakers (4x) and a Pioneer Amp/PreAmp. The sound was incredible, and we spent days with a certain herb contemplating the music. You want to know what's funny? He still has the set up, and still tees it up once in a while. I visited him this summer and visually confirmed that it's still there.
And for the record, he still has the car he got married in. A '69 SS that he keeps hidden in a shed!
Hey @bigtom13. Wow, quite a lot of points made here... I understand based on your explanation that the Super 8 which had a cassette was a total game changer for personal filming. So many more options were suddenly available. Kodak has been a beast of a company! Ham radio is fantastic, I had so much fun playing around with it as a teen. Wollensak is news to me! Thanks for your thoughts!