Hi All,

I've had this thing (photos admin?) for years. I'm told it came out of a Brisbane radio station and was made by the in- house engineer to control tape machines. Anybody recognise it or have any thoughts/comments?

You can e-mail your photos to me and I will upload them to your post.

A lot of custom-made things have come from radio and television stations over the years.

Yep, the in-house broadcasting techs often lashed up gear in their workshops to make this run with that, especially in the remoter areas.

Brad, do think if you made point #6 flash in bold red font that people would still ask how to post photos?

Thanks Brad... I've emailed pics to you.

Milliamp, photos are received and will go up shortly.

GTC, I reckon so. There used to be a function that allowed that, surrounding the relevant text in HTML tags but it only worked in the now-defunct Netscape Navigator.

My question was tongue-in-cheek. Any flashing text is terribly distracting.

BTW: how are you progressing with the provision of a DIY image upload function?

My question was tongue-in-cheek. Any flashing text is terribly distracting.

Don't worry too much - I'd never do it. Animations on a web site are a big no-no to old time web developers like me. It's probably one of the reasons Microsoft never bothered with including it in IE's rendering engine.

BTW: how are you progressing with the provision of a DIY image upload function?

I am playing around with a major software upgrade at the moment and have a few minor touches that will roll out soon, in addition to what was added last week. I'll provide more details once it looks like it can go live.

Photos uploaded.

Nice bit of work by someone.

Looks to be a 4 channel stereo mixer with remote control of up to 3 Rola and Byer reel-to-reel tape decks, with a studio to control room intercom/monitor and a time of day clock control.

As this sort of functionality is usually built into studio desks, this is maybe from an radio station outside broadcast van?

I remember the old OB van that 2RRR had years ago. It was chock full of home brewed stuff like this. Although there was a commercial mixing desk and a Revox half inch tape machine and two 33.3/45rpm turntables, the brand of these I forget.

Using DIN for Mic inputs? When broadcast quality Mics & cables are XLR? (back panel)

Edit: I see the Mics are actually the RTS jacks (still weird)(and unreliable)

XLR (more commonly referred to as Cannon plugs/sockets in Australia) is certainly not a recent development though it wasn't in common use here until about 30 years ago. DIN, RCA and in the case of permanent installations screwed terminations were far more common.

Cannon plugs and sockets were once also very expensive. Unless reliability was absolutely paramount it wouldn't have been cost effective to use them for something like an OB van. I once bought a 240v plug and socket for a transportable mobile phone I set up and I recall paying about $70.00 for the set, although these were genuine Cannon-branded items, made here by Alcatel-STC I believe.

Granted, when Cannon was purchased you got what you paid for. The quality was excellent.

Oh yes the ones that said Cannon (Aust) on them and had that grey rubber cable restrainer on them. Other versions were the ITT Cannon USA and Cannon (JAE) Japan. Being made by STC for Aust would make sense, ITT being the discreet parent company. So very much a Pacific Rim thing (don't know what they were doing in Europe). Actually I purchased an AKG D-202 pro mic from AWA in 1974 (AKG distributors) and it had a DIN connector as they tried to make that a standard but it could be ordered with XLR (which I retrofitted it to as it was sold off to staff after '74 flood).

AWA Hi Fi line also had DIN connectors but came with RCA adapters to bail out confused consumers.

Other XLRs were Switchcraft and Neutrik (Swiss) . The Cannon (Aust) AC plug/socket was called the LNE and only seen in Aust? on some pro gear (its origin is obscure)(did not have much current rating)

I just read an article on Wikipedia about Cannon plugs. It looks like they were only made in the US, Australia and Japan so I'd say Europe was supplied from Japan.

"article on Wikipedia about Cannon plugs"

Just looked at this myself, they have a picture of the rare XLR LNE but nothing of its mysterious history. So I click on picture and see pins are designated L-N-E (a curious mixture of UK & US terminology)(I had always thought LNE simply meant "Line" as in "AC-line-cord"(US) but these were not seen in the US! I think it speaks to the independence ITT granted STC. Furthermore the picture was uploaded by a chap in Scotland implying these were exported from Aust to UK?

These AC connectors were used on Cuemaster broadcast Cart machines (Melbourne) and some small Astor B&W monitors? Australia being just about the only place outside the US with extensive commercial radio & TV broadcasting 1920s - 1970s spawning manufacturing and requiring truckloads of audio connectors.