Datacorder issues.

[SW-880]

Hi guys. I dragged my old Speccy out of the loft last week and decided to dust the thing off and give it a go. It powers on fine and I get a signal on my TV but the datacorder is having issues.

I know I need to replace the drive belts as it skips where there is a kink in it. No issues finding them on ebay but the seller says make sure I purchase the correct ones as the +2 and +2A/B will have different sizes and numbers. The guide says if you have the Grey 128k +2 then there will be two belts while the black model will only have one.

Naturally my grey 128k +2 has one belt and a series of cogs so I'm not sure how to proceed. I've looked up images and videos online on how to service the mechanism and mine doesn't look like what I'm seeing on theirs.

Any help would be appreciated.

[RMartins]

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

But in the worst case, you can always remove the old belt and measure it.
Or replace the belt with a string, tie it tight, mark it with a pen, then remove and measure it.

With this info, you can buy the exact length of belt, that you need.

[PeterJ]

Hi,

Try this link for more information.

https://spectrumforeveryone.com/technic ... atacorder/

[SW-880]

Thanks for replying. I managed to get the correct belts for what turned out to be the Taiwanese model.

Turned out I have other issues, replacing the belts solved the skipping issues but I've been unable to the any games to work. I've cleaned the tape heads bu the sound quality is poor and no games have loaded successfully. Changing the azimuth got it as good as I can get it but there's no luck. Maybe it's just had it.

[1024MAK]

Check that all the screws on the tape deck are tight. IIRC one is used as a ground connection.

Do you have a digital multimeter?

How did you clean the head?

Mark

[PeterJ]

Thanks for replying. I managed to get the correct belts for what turned out to be the Taiwanese model.

Turned out I have other issues, replacing the belts solved the skipping issues but I've been unable to the any games to work. I've cleaned the tape heads bu the sound quality is poor and no games have loaded successfully. Changing the azimuth got it as good as I can get it but there's no luck. Maybe it's just had it.

Not sure how much you want to spend, but you could always buy a ByteDelight DivMMC card, then just load games straight off an SD card. They start at under £40 and you get all the old school gaming with modern convenience.
https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=br ... -mini-lite

There are also mobile phone apps which 'play' a virtual tape for many games. You just need an audio cable.

[Ast A. Moore]

You just need an audio cable.

For a +3/modded +2A, yes, but not for a +2. That would require a more involved mod.

[PeterJ]

Good point [mention]Ast A. Moore[/mention]. I was thinking of my +3, and had forgotten about the differences with the +2

I've not seen one of these before.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163907635186

They can apparently do them for all +2 models (according to the descriptions). Has anyone used one?

[Ast A. Moore]

They can apparently do them for all +2 models (according to the descriptions). Has anyone used one?

Yikes. I mean, the +2 mod is a little more involved, that’s true, but the +2A/B mod is as simple as cutting a trace and adding a single jumper wire. And you don’t need an “extra switch.” I did that to mine, and would be ashamed to charge any money for it. Granted, they’re probably just charging you for the cheap MP3 player they sell along with the modding “service.”

[SpaceFlightOrange]

Hi.

I've got my spectrum +2b running rather nicely now (see original thread here) the RGB output using a RetroComputerShack cable is astonishing, no ghosting whatsoever. and even some tapes (such as my 1st edition Great Escape) load flawlessly, they wont load on any of my 48k spectrums.

But I do have a question about the datacorder.

I tend to hear a lot of distortion through the speakers when loading. tends to be like a low tone, loud buzzing sound when the tape goes quiet. It was particularly apparent when loading Barbarian. once loaded the music started and was loud and distorted. The tape was still playing at this time, but there was no loading audio. as soon as I stopped the tape, the music went a bit quieter and the distortion went away.

I've already re-capped both the mainboard and the datacorder board, and this has made no difference. Could it be a ground issue?

I havent yet replaced the belt, but im certain this isnt the reason

EDIT

Forgot to mention, it's running on a modded Cisco PSU (https://spectrumforeveryone.com/technic ... -machines/) but I do have a standard +2b PSU which i've borrowed. I'll test it again, but I think it was having the same issues with that.

[PeterJ]

Posts merged by Admin.

[SpaceFlightOrange]

Posts merged by Admin.

Ah.

Though I was going mad then. Thanks

[Ast A. Moore]

I tend to hear a lot of distortion through the speakers when loading. tends to be like a low tone, loud buzzing sound when the tape goes quiet. It was particularly apparent when loading Barbarian. once loaded the music started and was loud and distorted. The tape was still playing at this time, but there was no loading audio. as soon as I stopped the tape, the music went a bit quieter and the distortion went away.

That’s more or less normal. The Datacorder uses a comparator after the amplifier, so all tape noises—even the faintest ones—will be amplified and distorted. Try playing a regular music tape through it and you’ll see what I mean.

[SpaceFlightOrange]

I tend to hear a lot of distortion through the speakers when loading. tends to be like a low tone, loud buzzing sound when the tape goes quiet. It was particularly apparent when loading Barbarian. once loaded the music started and was loud and distorted. The tape was still playing at this time, but there was no loading audio. as soon as I stopped the tape, the music went a bit quieter and the distortion went away.

That’s more or less normal. The Datacorder uses a comparator after the amplifier, so all tape noises—even the faintest ones—will be amplified and distorted. Try playing a regular music tape through it and you’ll see what I mean.

I figured as much, thanks.

After posting I dug out my friend's +2a that I still have here, and tried that. it was exactly the same.

[Ast A. Moore]

I dug out my friend's +2a that I still have here . . .

Does the friend know?

[SW-880]

Check that all the screws on the tape deck are tight. IIRC one is used as a ground connection.

Do you have a digital multimeter?

How did you clean the head?

Mark

I cleaned the tape heads using rubbing alcohol and cotton pads/buds and no residue came off that I could see and I do not own a multimeter.

Following the link I thought I could try recapping the PCB, I had three of the four capacitors already and replaced them, the C103 1uf 16v Radial should be here soon but as it stands there's no luck getting anything to load.

For all I know it could be the tapes themselves. The computer is acting like it did when I use to try an load a poor copy.

[SpaceFlightOrange]

how important is the tension on the belt?

The reason i ask is i noticed that on one of my tapes it was rather slow to rewind, but faster on my friends. I got a picked out a belt from the bag he left with his spectrum and matched it to the belt i removed (around 70mm) but when i fitted it, it still felt slack, so i put a smaller one on. The tension is a lot greater on this one, but the rewind was nice and quick and the tapes loaded fine (apart from Barbarian 2 128k, won't load on either machine).

[SpaceFlightOrange]

I dug out my friend's +2a that I still have here . . .

Does the friend know?

yeah, he's been great, letting me use it for testing/repairing mine. the price for this was a recap. he asked me to recap his +2. Not that it really needed it. a few were out of spec but generally ok.

[Ast A. Moore]

how important is the tension on the belt?

For loading games on a Spectrum—not particularly.

[iadvd]

Dear all, I am finishing the repairing of my second hand Spectrum 128k +2 grey, and now I am fighting with the datacorder. If I fix this would be a complete success. I have read the former posts, read online docs and checked youtube but I am not sure what happens with my unit. This is the status and some pics, any help is very appreciated!

1. The datacorder required new belts, I bought them, arrived today, so I changed them, this is a pic with still the smaller belt is old.



2. After the change I was lucky and it seemed to work for a while. The sound was awful but it was loading. Unfortunately it stopped after loading the loading screen of the game.



3. Then I though, ok let's clean again the header, etc. and touch the azimuth. Now the sound looks great to my ears, it arrives to the mono jack output so I can hear it through the monitor via the rca plug.

4. But even if now I can hear a sharp and nice sound, the Spectrum does not react to the loading signal of the game. It arrives to the pcb because I hear the sound through the monitor, but no loading, no loading yellow blue lines on the screen. Only the usual red frame blue frame red frame colors waiting for the game signal which indeed I am hearing but the pcb seems to be ignoring. I see these screens changing as when still there is not recognized sound in the cassette that is being played:




I have checked the pcb diagram (credits to Ian for his fabulous schematics) and it is pretty straightforward, if I can hear the sound through the mono jack output means that the sound is arriving to the pcb. And the sound is pretty strong and nice... what will be the reason?



Maybe even if the current azimuth position makes the cleanest sound does not mean that it is the best position to read correctly the signal as data. I will insist today with different azimuth positions.

Any ideas of tests that I could do are very welcomed! Thank you!

[1024MAK]

Have you tried other tapes?

Mark

[iadvd]

Oh I tested now and it worked! The only difference is that I am not connecting the mono jack sound output to the monitor; using simple headphones it worked! Maybe the jack to rca adapter is doing some wrong contact... but it is ok as far as I am loading I do not plug it and it works!! Cheers! [mention]1024MAK[/mention] yes I tried several...