Hi Roy,

 RM> Last month's problem has gone into partial remission with the

I forget what last months problem was.

 RM> cooler weather (reinforcing my theory of a sick electro (you

Hmm, electro's are *usually* 'bad' when cold and get better as they
warm up.

 RM> reading this, Bob??)), but a more serious (IMO) problem has
 RM> appeared. It records tapes poorly. When played back, they have lots
 RM> of white dots and streaks, bigger than normal noise dots. Some of
 RM> the dots tend to concentrate on the trailing edges (right hand) of
 RM> vertical light/dark edges. It plays prerecorded tapes much better,

This is a 'classic' symptom of worn heads.  Errr...  on second
thoughts, maybe not....  the 'streaks' (if they are black) is a symptom
of worn heads.. the white dots symptom is usually and indicator of
ripple on the power supply, or, with the 777 faulty caps in the drum
servo circuit.

Hmm,  wasn't your previous problem shutting down or something ? If so,
then that is/was probably caused by the same caps..  the drum motor
failing to start.

The fact that its better with prerecorded tapes does indicate heads
though.

 RM> with only a few white bits. Close inspection of the video heads
 RM> shows what I think is the equivalent of coronary heart disease -
 RM> the heads don't look like each other....
 RM>
 RM> Side view of head 1:
 RM>
 RM>   --- ---
 RM>     / \
 RM>
 RM> Head 2:
 RM>
 RM>   -------
 RM>     / \
 RM>
 RM> I've never looked at a video head that closely before, but if
 RM> there's a visible gap in one, and none in the other, am I in
 RM> trouble, or serious trouble?

The gap in the videoheads are next to impossible to see with the naked
eye.  The gap you are seeing on one of the "heads" isn't the headgap at
all, it is the physical spacing between TWO heads.
The 777 is a 3 headed machine..  it has a single head on one side of
the drum, and TWO heads set at about 180% opposite.  That's why they
look different.

As for the caps which I suspect are at fault, I can't help with the CCT
reference numbers, but I can tell you that they are the 'pink' ones on
the servo board (this is the 'middle' board of the three layered ones).
There are 9 such caps on the board (6 for the capstan servo, 3 for the
head servo).  I suggest you replace them all...   Their values are
3x 0.22uf,  3x0.33uf and 3x2.2uf  (all electros)

They are a bitch to get to and replace though.


Cheers,
Rod

___ QWKRR128 V4.51 [R]
@EOT:

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