Racom 1600 voice storage unit

One of these got passed to me a couple years back from a local ham.
I was told its used to record announcements that play back at intervals on repeater systems or PA systems.
Lots of terminals on the back,

http://www.mediafire.com/view/tl114b...M0466.JPG/file

plus a mike jack on the front.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/tl114b...M0465.JPG/file

Cant find much about it on the web except a owners manual for sale.


Both pictures show the back of the unit. I did find a tiny amount of info
on it. One old magazine ad from 1994 called it a "voice IDer" but said
nothing else. And this site

http://www.redwaveradio.com/2_4b2312f69c627e34_1.htm

carries an old ad for an earlier "1500" version that says it uses an
endless-loop tape to store the audio.

Anyone out there seen these before and know how they operate?

Are there any useful parts in and on the box? Since it was used as a repeater voice ID unit it's obsolete and quite old from the days of COR units. To the best of my knowledge repeater controllers with digital voice and CWID have been in use since 1995, possibly longer.

FYI even those 3AG fuse holders and fuses are obsolete, there hasn't been enough room in equipment to fit them for decades. A durable tape loop system??? All things considered a new loop would have to be fitted every week or so as oxide wears down to the acetate backing. (;->)

That's an interesting catch phrase on your full wave vacuum rectifier avatar. How about mine on another ham site my VFO drifts by from time to time? I modulate, therefore AM. No fellers, it's NOT either one of (ahem) those.

I have not opened it up yet so not sure if its tape or digital storage. Just out of nostalgia, am curious how it operates.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kb2vxa

Are there any useful parts in and on the box? Since it was used as a repeater voice ID unit it's obsolete and quite old from the days of COR units. To the best of my knowledge repeater controllers with digital voice and CWID have been in use since 1995, possibly longer.

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You're a ham after my own heart, I took things apart to see what made them tick. Unlike little Ben Franklin I didn't take dad's pocket watch apart, I knew I'd never get it back together either. I also had enough sense not to fly a kite in a thunderstorm, I did however adjust a wire antenna arc gap as a storm was approaching and got a good whack, that was enough to prove lightning IS electricity. Now getting to that voice ID unit, headphones are 30 ohms and higher unless you have an antique 2K set kicking around, find the audio output terminals and listen for signs of life. You have piqued my curiosity mate.

I have a few voice IDs in the computer left over from digital experimenting, but I don't know how or if I can post a rather unusual one created with Micro$haft Sam, the second Windblows text reader that was illiterate. It couldn't pronounce individual letters or numbers, or much of anything actually. I typed my callsign phonetically several different ways until it finally sounded correct. Chinese is a sing song language, Micro$haft Sam is like Samsung, but what did Sam sing?