Hello, I'm new to this society...

[cbenham]

Hello,
I'm a new member and this is my first post. I'm looking for answers to some questions and will try to answer others.
This is my background:
My username is cbenham [Cliff Benham] and I am very interested in reading all I can about disc recording lathes
and cutters.

I am retired from working as an engineer in the broadcasting industry
for 47 years and I played with disk cutters for 12 years previous to
that time in school. I was the "AV" kid in grade school, middle school and high school.

My work in broadcasting was as an engineer for three television stations and four radio
stations where I maintained and repaired broadcast equipment, and designed and built
studios and transmitter sites. I also built several commercial satellite uplink sites and did
some work on the video system at Cape Canaveral for NASA.

I am also a RABID AUDIOPHILE!

I got my first 'professional' disk cutter system, a Presto 6-N and then a portable unit,
a Presto K-10 from one of the radio stations I maintained.

After using them to cut disks for friends and my church, I eventually donated the 6N to
the John Herbert ORR Museum in Opelika, Alabama, now the Museum of East Alabama, and the K-10
went to a friend's used record store, Bananas Records and Tapes, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

I currently own two 'amateur' crystal cutting recorders and one magnetic
cutter recorder and I'm hoping to find in your pages sources for blank discs
and styli, and to offer my knowledge and experience to this society.

I am a musician and have spent a major part of my life working in amateur theater,
church music, opera and popular music as a singer.

I am currently working as a volunteer maintaining the color wheel television sets and equipment at
the Early Television Museum in Hilliard Ohio. http://www.earlytelevision.org/dumont_industrial_monitor.html

Hope all this tells you of my interests in music, television, audio and electronics.

Cliff Benham

[Steve E.]

Welcome, cliff! honored to have you here!

[opcode66]

Welcome!

[Stevie342000]

Hi Cliff

You might wish to try looking at this link: http://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3601

There is the Morrison book as well Disk Recording 1930 to 1960. Yes that would Morrison as in STL.

I got both books on eBay.

There is a Wiki for this group as well which holds lots of information, as well as the reference and schematics sections. There are links for BBC research documents as well, lots of Fairchild, Presto info on the group. Have fun taking your time to catch up.

Great to see you here

Steve in the UK

[powerstrip]

very interesting work. I am a bit envious. I work on RF engineering projects for cellular radio networks.

I go about my work daily wishing i was part of the golden age of radio communication; Western Electric antennas, Presto 6N cuts in the mail, no safety harness...

I feel the radio tower work and disc recording go hand in hand...I have worked quite a bit around the Columbus, Ohio Markets as well, been through Hilliard a few times working there. I always have tons of respect/jealousy for the older generation of RF engineers; I collect my cutters while fantasizing about being a Bell System Engineer.

I'll have to drop by the museum some time and say hello.