TK-30A lives again

[Ralph S]

Thanks for the questions. Here are the answers:

Yes I do have a standard RETMA test pattern which I have used for setting the initial size and linearity of the camera, but I had to work fast as this tube burns-in rather rapidly and then I have to shoot something like a white wall or similar to get ride of the burn. So, I haven't taken the time to shoot a still photo of what it looks like now. Same goes for taking a shot off the 8 inch monitor. I'll get to these requests a little further down the road.

The usual warmup time for an IO is about 1/2 hour, but the longer the better for oldies like this one. I've got about 8 IOs but I haven't gone through to rank them yet. I just pull this one out of the box at random and stuffed it into the camera; did a moderate alignment. I was just as surprised as the next guy to find that it worked as well as it did, burn-ins aside.

I am not using the original TG-1 sync generator as this is a monstrous 2-case affair (which I've worked with in the past) which is just too much to handle in this day and age. I bought a Shibasoku generator off Ebay for about $25.00 which has all the necessary outputs to run the camera and weighs about 5-10 lbs versus 200 lbs for the TG-1. A TG-2 (about 60 lbs.) would do the trick, but even that is more weight than I care to lug around. Moreover the Shibasoku is an NTSC generator which makes it possible to insert burst so I can record it on any of the analog or digital recorders we have, from VHS to DCT and all in between. I suspect I'll probably use our VPR-5 (1", Type C analog,) as it's relatively light and easy to move around get quality results.

And yes, the output can be fed into most common amateur and professional monitors which have a BNC or UHF (broadcast type, not RF) connector.

More questions are welcome.