[Info-vax] Respooling a TK50 Tape

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2011-02-22 23:53, Rob Jarratt wrote:
> I have a TK50 tape which I am trying to read. I am having some
> difficulty and experienced a jam which required me to remove it while
> partly spooled on the take-up reel inside the drive. I had to respool it
> by hand which means the tape is not evenly wound onto the reel inside
> the TK50 cassette. Before trying to read it again I want to get it
> spooled evenly (ie no "steps" in the reel).
>
> Is there a way in VMS to get it to be fully wound onto the take-up reel
> and then rewound back into the cassette? I would prefer something that
> does not attempt to read the tape, just wind to the end and wind back
> again.
>
> If it makes a difference I am doing this on VMS 5.4, although I could
> install 7.3 if necessary.

I can't remember a way of doing that right now. But on the other hand, 
there is no real reason for you to do it either.
The tape is lead over rollers before passing by the head, so exactly how 
it is sitting on the reel is of no real relevance.
More important is to remember to hook up the takeup piece inside the 
drive. And you probably also want to clean the heads when you are in 
there, as that is in my experience the most useful thing to do.

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol