Fujitsi 2444AC 9-track tape drive/PDP-11

[W2HX]

Hello friends,

I recently acquired a NIB 9-track for use in my (someday to be operational) PDP-11/23+ or PDP-11/73 (I've lost track of the details).  I got it on ebay for $150 but the shipping from CA to NY was not insubstantial :). The ebay ad showed a well-used unit but when it arrived it was clearly new in box! Nice when that happens :) Some pix:

http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/Fujitsu-2444AC/

It is VERY heavy! Took me and my 17 year old (and a lot of sweat and swearing) to get it up to the attic where my burgeoning little vintage computing lab is shaping up.

I should mention, I'd like this tape drive to be able to work in either the various DEC OS's available (RT-11/RSX/others?) and also Unix/BSD which I plan (hope) to get up and running.

Now for some questions.

1.      I've been told the QT13 is a very good card to interface here. I've been looking for a while on ebay without luck. I do see a QT14 on ebay right now at a good price, but I am not familiar with the "S" card business and what that means for use in a PDP-11 backplane.

2.      Anyone have a QT13 for sale? Or based on my dec and unix interests, is there a better/recommended card?

3.      Anyone have the 50 pin cables/connectors available? If not I feel confident I could make these up. But I thought I'd ask in case someone has a set getting in their way

4.      Anyone ever make a pertec to USB project? Might be interesting to get access to old tapes on more modern computers?

Thanks all!

73 Eugene W2HX