Uher reel-to-reel symbols?

[Evan Kubota]

Anyone familiar with the operation of an Uher 4000 S such as this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 5874515553 ?

I'm not sure which is the line out, if any - 'radio phono' or the delta-symbol marked connection? The mic also has two plugs: a three pin, which goes into the mic input on the front, and a five pin, which goes in the 'delta' connection on the side. It seems like maybe this is a control connector for on/off using a button on the mic itself, but I'm not sure. Also, the mic has a switch that appears to do nothing. It's not an on/off switch, since it works in either position. The levels appear to be the same also.

I need to get an output to capture the audio into my computer, so any help is appreciated.

[Seppo.T]

The delta marked input is for the charger / net adapter (and remote control, it may possible that You can use the microphone as an off/on switch, but am not sure)

Radio/phone is a multipurpose jack. It is both for input and output. My papers say the line out is 1V / 15 ohms at full load for mono and 2X1V / 15 ohms for stereo at full load.

If You want to feed the audio to some other device, Uher's internal speaker should be switched off pulling the volume knob.

If Your microphone has two switches, the other one should bear mark
M/S, indicating Music/Speech. If the S-position is selected, some of the higher dynamic range is damped. This is to cut off striking "SSShh"s in many persons' speech in an interview situation.

Some other Uher's of the family have 5-pin inputs for the microphone on the front panel.

[flatwood]

Also, the mic has a switch that appears to do nothing. It's not an on/off switch, since it works in either position.

If theres a couple of screws holding the switch in place it is probably bypassed. A lot of guys back in the day would do this to make sure the mic wasnt off at the wrong time.

[Evan Kubota]

Thanks for the help - unfortunately the label on the mic is worn off, so I can't tell which switch position does what.

Since it's a mono mic, why would 5 pins be necessary?

I've noticed quite a bit of wow/flutter. I have a service manual but it doesn't mention how to adjust this.

[Seppo.T]

Thanks for the help - unfortunately the label on the mic is worn off, so I can't tell which switch position does what.

On Uher M516 S is up and M is down when holding the mic in the normal vertical position.

Since it's a mono mic, why would 5 pins be necessary?

I've noticed quite a bit of wow/flutter. I have a service manual but it doesn't mention how to adjust this.

If it is the mic in the pictures, it looks like M514 or M516.
I do not know which mic it is, nor which plug is the 5-pin and which one 3-pin, but I guess the mic is capable of remote controlling and the remote control is wired to the two additional pins to keep it in a circuit of its own preventing possible interference problems. The three-pin plug may be a later addition to make the mic usable on the player with three-pin jack.

The belts and rubber wheels are the first to suspect in an old recorder with irregular tape transport and playback. The main belt is likely to be triangular in cross-section, but it CAN be substituted with a carefully chosen O-ring if You can not track down a source for original spares.

[skahde]

Since it's a mono mic, why would 5 pins be necessary? I've noticed quite a bit of wow/flutter. I have a service manual but it doesn't mention how to adjust this.

It's a DIN-plug which provides 5 contacts and with a tape-recorder one such plug for playback and recording instead of four RCA-plugs will be enough but the device connected may use less contacts. Wow and flutter points to the belts which most likely need replacement.

Stefan

[Evan Kubota]

"The three-pin plug may be a later addition to make the mic usable on the player with three-pin jack."

It looks like the five-pin plug is the one added, since its cable is much thinner and branches off of the main three-pin plug's cable.

I took the unit apart several times and the belts seem OK, although maybe one is slightly stretched. The belt doesn't appear to be slipping in normal playback, though. I read that the clutch is made of felt, so I took both spindles apart and checked these - it appears to be in reasonably good shape. I suspected that there may be too much tension on the supply side spindle, making the transport irregular during recording/playback - when I unspooled a few feet of tape and let it play at its own rate (spooling on to the take up side) the wow and flutter disappeared.

This could also be caused by the take-up side not being able to supply enough tension to reliably transport the tape, so I checked the clutch there also. It looks fine, but unfortunately I broke a circlip putting it back together.

Looks like this project is on hold for now... any idea how to determine if it's the clutch or the belt causing the problems?

[Seppo.T]

"The three-pin plug may be a later addition to make the mic usable on the player with three-pin jack."

It looks like the five-pin plug is the one added, since its cable is much thinner and branches off of the main three-pin plug's cable.

Okee, here is another attempt to explain it. The active pins on the 5-pin plug are not in the same position as the three pins in the 3-pin plug. I have the schematics for the other 4XXX series recorders and it looks like that's thew case. So, it is reasonable to think the mic has been fixed to be used with some other equipment in the past. Not necessarily another Uher but any piece with a 5-pin jack.

Edit: When the mic was new it was not cheap. I have an old price list and the price for mic was equivalent to many days' salary of a worker. Take care of it and do not keep the cord wound around the body of the microphone. The rubber in the cord breaths softening chemicals nowadays and the fumes will leave ugly marks on the plastic body.