9-track alignment (skew) tapes for R/W-head adjustment

Pierre, Full disclaimer?. I seen this done once, and was merely an active spectator. There ends my expertise. Here's what we did: If you don't have a alignment tape, you might try simply creating a /dev/zero tape from a known good drive. Scope the pre-amp signal you should get a sine wave on a PE deck, and see some blocking effect when you zoom out. You'll have to take your time to dial in a internal trigger signal to pick this up, since the drive may take all clocking from the tape. Once you get that far you continue more or less akin the process of focusing a lens until you get the best possible signal. You will ideally want to do this while scoping both centre and outside channels, and swapping periodically for the other outside channel. A secondary alignment effect will include skew. The wave forms for these outer channels should be roughly the same level of advance or retard from the central signal. Vertical rotation of the head will affect the skew. Vertical position will affect centring on best signal. You might then make fine adjustments if accessible on this model to get an even amplitude from the amplifier itself. I'm not expert, but we've been having a play with something similar recently in mounting a new head on an old deck. Those rough adjustments should help you get a base alignment before doing manufacturer software diagnostics to dial in fine-tuning. -Colin On 6 Apr 2013, at 14:00, P Gebhardt <p.gebhardt at ymail.com> wrote: