TDK Synchro E Magazine Tape ET-11

[SCMuseum]

Hello,

I've come across several TDK Synchro E - ET-11 Magazine Tapes (image attached) and can find pretty much nothing about them. They are some sort of endless tape and the best I've come up with, beyond an online auction, is https://tangiblemediacollection.com/artifacts/synchro-e-cartridge.html. The linked web page shows a similar cartridge, but not identical. On some of the tapes we have the tape is looped out through the unit and back in. I'm guessing this is the standard operating setup versus the attached image. There is also a few different colours of tapes ranging from black/grey to brown.

I'm guessing that the tape is standard 1/4" audio, but I have no idea. I haven't been able to find an image of a player anywhere so I'm unsure which side of the tape goes against the heads. Short of finding a used player, I'm thinking the tape could be cut at a splice and wound on a reel for a reel-to-reel player.

Any information would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[oldvinyldude]

I recently watched a video covering lost\forgotten old magnetic formats. While most were computer storage designs, there were quite a few audio dinosaurs that I had never seen, and I have seen quite a few. I would cut and wind onto a standard reel, and see what you get. Or you can play the long game and wait a decade or two until you find a player.,

 

[Okke 70s]

Maybe used for repeated public announcements or something? As it would appear the "synchro, endless" tape is looped. Like, telling the folks it's closing time, or the do's and don'ts on this airport, or to head for the emergency exits, not using elevators etc.

 

[SCMuseum]

I recently watched a video covering lost\forgotten old magnetic formats. While most were computer storage designs, there were quite a few audio dinosaurs that I had never seen, and I have seen quite a few. I would cut and wind onto a standard reel, and see what you get. Or you can play the long game and wait a decade or two until you find a player.,

I took the plunge. Luckily, I noticed one of the units was broken so it was easy to find the splice and cut there. I wound it onto a reel (what a pain to not get it knotted up). The big unveiling.......it is either blank or some proprietary format. I'm thinking blank as I ran it multiple times trying different directions and sides of the tape. I would assume that if there was some information of some kind it would register something on the metres even if the audio coming out sounded like a dial-up modem.

I'll have to see if I can find one with some information on it to figure out the playback details.

 

[SCMuseum]

Maybe used for repeated public announcements or something? As it would appear the "synchro, endless" tape is looped. Like, telling the folks it's closing time, or the do's and don'ts on this airport, or to head for the emergency exits, not using elevators etc.

I'm thinking so. There are some accompanying reel-to-reel reels that seem like they would have been played at the entity's entrance so this may have saved them flipping the reel two or three times an hour. Or, they used these in an unmanned area.

Once I find out I'll certainly post here and hopefully solve some mystery for a future person that comes across these.