This Story below I first posted in March of 2016.
For those who have already read it there is nothing new here.
But for some that don't want to read the entire content on Nagra Stories Sound men won't ever tell,
this one, pretty much says it all.
The Story of the "Yellow Recorder"
Note: I am showing these vintage tape recorders as part of my collection only. They are out of service and no longer used in the manner they were designed, but remain a part of audio recording history. It should not be considered in any way as endorsing or promoting any activity contrary to applicable laws and regulations.
This story has nothing to do with Nagras, Film or Sound.
It sounds like it's about my story collecting recorders. But It’s really about just one recorder.
I call it, the mystery of the “Yellow Recorder.”
Since 1993 94 I was trading emails and phone conversations with a friend a few times a year more or less over the last 21 years on and off, mostly in the early years. For the first eight years, I didn’t know he worked or was associated with the CIA. We exchanged emails, bought and sold tape recorders with each other in that time. We both were collectors of tape recorders. He knew so much more than I about recorders back then. He would send me information and pictures over the years of different vintage tape recorders, old ads of tape recorders, what to look for and other related collectibles.
In all that time he never let on that he was associated with the CIA in some way. I remember telling my wife when I found out - you know that guy I have been talking and dealing with? Well, all this time he was with the CIA. I still don’t know at what level or what he did even today.
I learned about this somewhere in 2002 - can’t remember the exact date. The only reason I even know about this is because in 2000, 2,619 names were leaked, called the Crowley files. I won’t reveal his name, but he is one of the 2,619 names outed. Even then he never came right out and told me. What he did was, he told me out of the blue to do a Yahoo search of his name, sure enough there he was. ( I guess Google was new back then)
Robert Trumbull Crowley, former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Clandestine Operations Division, died in October of 2000. Before he died, Crowley, who had been with the CIA since its beginning in 1948, gave important portions of his large files to several journalists. Among these valuable papers is an alphabetical listing of persons considered to be sources for the CIA.
Never met him in person to this day. I know who he is, I know what he looks like, nothing is secret about him now. Still in contact with him. In fact, I ran this post by him first.
The only reason I believe he contacted me in the first place was that he heard that I bought out the remaining leftover Fi-Cord items at The Karl Heitz Co. in New York. The only Fi-Cord distributor in the USA
Otherwise, I don’t even think he would have contacted me. He also collected tape recorders as I said.
I traded or sold him just about one of everything I bought from the Fi-cord dealer that year from machines to parts to screws to stickers, carrying cases, manuals, and documents, etc. Later on, I traded him two different early spy recorders - the kind on my top shelf, the very early very rare ones, none of which he had. He knew about them but didn’t have them.
The Fi-cord 101 and 101S (the difference is the speed) made in Switzerland by Stellavox for Fi-Cord, a real nice unit. Gold anodized aluminum, beautiful machines. Guess who was the largest US customer? the US Government. What happen to them all? Every now and then one would come up on Ebay but thousands were destroyed. Most likely because they were outdated once the cassette came out, so they threw them away.
What I had to do to find these Fi-Cord 101’s below 20 years ago is another story.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
Of all the items I bought from that Fi-Cord Distributor, there was not one Fi-Cord 101 shown above in the bunch. The reason I went to NY that day in the first place was to get a 101. Nope, I got screws, cases, belts, parts, paperwork, Government orders, repair manuals, special tools, microphones the later 303 tape recorders, etc. but not one single 101 machine.
What I did get in some of the material was a US Dealer directory list of all the Fi-Cord dealers in all 50 states in 1965. No phone numbers just the address, I had to call information on each one in every state to get the number.
Some were still in business some weren't. Hit and miss.
I called every dealer in that directory. Phone call after phone call, the 19-year-old girl would say Fi-what? We have Olympus would you like some of those? I felt like a fool; nobody knew what the hell I wanted.
I just kept repeating myself. Fi-Cord! !! Fi———-Cord, Fi-Cord you know Fi_cord its a tape recorder.
The dealer list was from 1965, the year I called over 50 or so dealers was 1994, almost thirty years later.
Finally one of the last calls the guy said I know what they are, I think I still have some in the warehouse. Whats your number I’ll call you back. I gave him my business name and phone number to him. He thought I was another Stationary Store. Which could not be further then what my business was. But because Service was in the name, it could mean anything.
He called me back, yeah I have a few units on the shelves, Do you want them all, YES send me all of them, everything you got. What is your address I send them to you and you can send me what you think they’re worth? A few days later I received two large boxes full of old Fi-Cord stock right off the shelves from 1965 all 101 ’s not a lot of parts like I got from the Distributor. I got about 12, 101 machines new and used (not all in boxes) with many new never sold accessories, very rare speaker units, the Sennheiser pen microphone, leather cases, etc. All in original Fi-Cord boxes. The guy never even asked for shipping up front it was like a sale between dealers.
A gold mine a collector could only dream about.
Anyway back to the story.
I remember my friend (the first contact in this story) telling me 21 years ago over the phone about this little tape recorder that was milled out of a “solid block” of aluminum, with little colored metal reels. The way he described every little detail from the polished screw heads, to the little-jeweled meter with the bubbled crystal glass, to the thin and small size of it, all over the phone. It was like he was describing food, some sort of a delicacy, I might be exaggerating a little here but after speaking with him I knew I wanted one, site unseen.
This small mysterious little tape recorder he was talking about at that time was the Nagra SN. (Let’s face it, there is nothing like an SN, even today)
I think the Nagra SN in the years to come will become the most sought-after vintage tape recorder ever made (mark my words).
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
The way he talked about all the different recorders that I didn’t know about, made me want to find them. The Minifon wire recorders also were introduced to me through him. It took me a long time to get the first one, and over the years I bought each model as I found them. Minifon started in 1951 I believe its where the phrase “wearing a wire” came from.
Over the years I found one example of each, all but one, the prototype? Even found the clear see-through store display models marked not for sale.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
From left to right a Sennheiser M 61 Pen microphone and cuff link microphones. A Not To Be Sold P55 clear display model, tie clasps microphones, and watch microphone.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
Even a salesmen giveaway Minifon cigarette lighter. A clear 1951 Minifon demo model and a 1951 picture of Minifon spy recorder in use hidden with watch microphone.
One would say - He was “wearing a wire” in the picture.
The internet was new back then, at least for me. I never even heard of any Nagra or saw a Nagra SN before. I just had a few toy and three-inch recorders at the time, us collectors always looking for the smallest one.
This was before I was on the internet. What’s eBay? Radio shows and flea markets were where I got my information in the late eighties and early nineties. Where I lived, finding a 3-inch portable reel to reel was really mission impossible. I placed an ad in a Radio Magazine “Wanted: miniature reel to reel tape recorders.” I would receive letters from all over the U.S. (hundreds of letters) I don’t know, it was a lot, I didn’t save the early letters - nobody wanted the recorders, but everybody seemed to have one. I got most recorders real cheap, and a couple (two)were even sent to me at no charge. Imagine getting a package unexpectedly, opening it up and finding a note inside “This is for you. It’s too good to throw away” Of course there were always dealers who wanted more, but most people just wanted a token amount for the recorders.
In the early nineties, It was a very different time back then; someone would write me a letter and sometimes include a picture, some even drew pictures of the recorder they had.
Then I would send a check, wait another week for the check to get there. Then wait another week or more for the check to clear, then the package was sent, taking another week for me to finally get the recorder. Wow, I must have had a lot of patience back then. I didn’t, but what else could I do. That was how it was done. Here are some letters shown below. On one (enlarge it) the shipping was less so he sent me back two 19 cent stamps, those were the days.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
Some drew pictures, I later found that recorder that he wanted 175.00 for I paid 10.00 for it new in the box. I still have it today. I did not buy anything from him, but it shows what people did before eBay. Sellers have it made on eBay now. Look what this guy had to do to sell his items.
Around this time, everyone was into transistor radios, even me. Although I thought reel to reels were much more exciting. You could record and play it back plus you didn’t have to compete at top dollar for them - at least you could watch the reels turn, and I could get them so cheap.
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So I started buying small reel to reels recorders. There was hardly any competition. A couple of people did send them to me for no charge because they thought they were too good to throw away and they’d rather see me have them instead.
But another thing about buying reel to reel recorders is what was reordered on the tape it was never music always voice.
I have tapes from covert recording, (from the sixties) to This is Christmas morning 1965 testing, test, test, test, then putting the recorder back in the box and never used again until I bought it.
I remember getting a tape recorder with a bunch of 3-inch reel tapes. The son, was in Vietnam sending tapes back home to his parents and the parents would record and send tapes back to him. I would listen to the tapes and hear stories from the father telling his only son serving in Vietnam what was going on back home like the father saying today I cleaned out the basement etc. I just can’t get into anything these days etc. The father says now your mother wants to say a few words its just conversation, but it puts you right in the time period and what people felt and said back then. It was sort of sad. The son was asking about his girlfriend etc. It went on and on reel after reel. His father would say on the tape things like McNamara said today they were sending another 25 thousand troops doesn’t sound like it will end soon etc. etc. I remember quickly trying to load the next reel to find out what happened to him and the girlfriend? Did he ever come home? What happened to him? Etc. It was pretty interesting. Even was a tape of his girlfriend speaking to him. It was mostly tapes the son received from his family. Finally, from what I can tell, he did end up coming home, and there were tapes with him back home with his girlfriend, and they were about to get married.
That is where the bunch of tapes left off.
I really couldn’t believe someone would sell these tapes and the recorder of such an important time in their lives and history. I still have the tapes, it been twenty years since I played them.
Another was the 1967 World Series. I bought a nice little Roberts 3 inch reel to reel recorder with the 1967 World Series and commercials from the day, really interesting but I sold that recorder and the tape, maybe I should have kept it.
Here is a video I made to sell it. Recorded Tape can be very Interesting if you have the time to listen, it’s a recording of what was happening back in that moment, in time.
It was the only time this recorder was used, used to record the 1967 World Series then put back in its box. The recorder as you see it is now in a technology museum in Texas.
Here is the video I made late last year of the recorder and tape playing, to sell on eBay. I had the recorder for years. (another one I should have kept.
Listen to a part of the 1967 World Series Someone recorded on their brand new Roberts recorder.
Unfortunately, the ones I collect now aren’t that cheap anymore, are they?
It’s hard to imagine not looking something up on the internet today, but back then what did I have? Books? Other collectors? I had nothing for research.
Now think of it - if you were collecting all these types of Japanese, German, etc. tape recorders shown below, and that was all that you knew, can you imagine having someone describe a Nagra SN to you for the first time in such great detail over the phone?
What would you think?
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
The next week after him telling me about the Nagra SN I bought one from a Los Angeles sound company which I can’t seem to find the name right now. I don’t know - it was stamped all over the manual and over the years I sold the manual because I had one without the name stamped all over it. The amount I paid for the Nagra SN was 1200.00. It was the most expensive recorder I ever bought at that time by far. This was 1994. As much as my mortgage payment.
So it was in Jan 1999 when things all started to change - I started on eBay January 1999. Over the years the Nagra SNST - that was just a rumor, a stereo version of the SN and it had this little amplifier for playback. But no one ever saw it. My friend never saw it either or would not tell me he did. He did tell me the SNST with the amplifier was the price of a small car.
I did get a spec sheet on eBay before ever seeing the SNST recorder. Over time the SNST started showing up on eBay as the price came down and I was able to pick one up. Same with the JBR recorder PS-1 etc. You heard about it, but never saw it or could buy one, until they moved onto the next latest recorder at the time, that’s how it worked, if they were using it, you don’t know about it. When they were done with it, it slowly leaks out over time.
I wonder how many SNST’s were destroyed before someone said: “Hey wait a minute, these are too nice to destroy.”
As far as I know, the Nagra CBR is what they use today, but you can’t buy one. I’m sure there are other models that we don’t know about also.
Ok, so what’s my point most are probably saying if you got to read this far.
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The point of this story is,
There was this one other recorder my outed CIA friend told me about - he didn’t know the name of it, or who made it, just this copy of a picture he sent me through the mail in a stack of other stuff 18 years ago.
He told me it was a precision built recorder better built than a Nagra. I always thought that was hard to believe, better than a Nagra? Sure it was, I thought. But he was the one who told me about the SN so he should know. I always thought wow, it would be nice to find that someday. If I ever come across it, I would buy it. Unfortunately, I never saw the recorder anywhere over the last 18 years.
This is the picture below that he sent me 18 years ago - he called it the “Yellow Recorder.” He told me he was gifted the photo, the ashtray, and the recorder but didn’t know anything else about it. The contact that gave him the picture and recorder had no idea about it either . . . It has been a mystery now for 18 years.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
.
After all these years, I found it on eBay back in December 2015. As I said I have been buying on eBay since January of 1999 - I have seen a lot of recorders on eBay since then.
As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was. I quickly dug out that old picture above from a pile of stuff that I had for 18 years, sure enough, that’s it. I haven’t been looking that much for recorders lately. Came upon it by sheer luck. Another recorder just waiting for me, I guess.
The eBay seller never sold anything on eBay before from what I could tell. He has no selling feedback. I never bid on an item until the end. I’m not one of those guys on eBay that keeps bidding up an item watching the price go up just to say I’m winning. Or to place a high bid at first just to let others keep bidding it up until they are the high bidder. To this day I will never understand why two or more people just keep bidding each other up back and forth like idiots a week before it goes off, idiots! Anybody that bids more than once on an item with five days left to go is an idiot, why is he raising the price he will have to pay.
I never bid on an item until the end. (Unless it has no bids) Then I will place a minimum token bid. I do this so the seller won’t end the auction. The problem was the first bid on this recorder was starting at 1,000.00. The only reason I would place the first bid is so there would be much less of a chance the seller would take the auction down if it had a bid on it.
If it sits there for five days with no bids, someone could message the seller and make an offer without me knowing and it's gone. If there is a bid on it chances are the seller would just let it go on. But on this recorder after seven days I was the only bidder, no one else bid on it. Of course, a second bid was placed by me in the last seconds. I’m pretty good at eBay by now. 17 years last month.
For one, I don’t think anyone knew what it was (they certainly have not seen it before) and with it being priced so high could have been a turn off for most. And two, it was in Argentina. That's sucks, always a bigger deal, shipping translating, etc. But that's where it was, and I was not going to pass it up.
Sadly I was prepared to pay much more; luckily I didn’t have to. Once finally finding out the name of the recorder from the picture on eBay I was able to locate one paragraph of information about it. Just one paragraph. The article was written in 1974. Made in the UK in 1974 by the same people that originally designed the cigarette pack recorder that I have.
The article stated several hundred were made and sold to the intelligence community around the world for 420.00 British Pounds. That is it; no other information exists about this recorder that I could find.
Here it is.
http://tinyurl.com/zfkoptz
I know from experience buying something small in size internationally to use FedEx International priority three days or overnight, so it doesn’t get stuck in customs for a week a month or more.
I no longer have the patience of 25 years ago writing letters, mailing payments and waiting and waiting. Not to mention sending 1,000.00 bucks to Argentina. At least with 1 to 3-day FedEx priority, it’s moving, worth the price in shipping and peace of mind at 83.00
Before it was writing letters and sending checks in the mail. Today its Ebay, Buy It Now and Paypal instant payment, overnight shipping, and priority delivery, what a difference from two decades ago.
So 18 years after first seeing this little-known recorder in the picture my friend sent me, I finally have one. I told my wife don’t get me anything for Christmas, and she didn’t.
It’s a very nice little recorder, very rugged aluminum frame covered in nice fine leather. The nameplate is missing on the recorder in the picture, that is why no one knew the name. This one clearly shows the name. It’s not better than an SN, but it’s certainly smaller and better quality by far than any other covert recorder I have.
Shown here with the picture.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
Why it was nicknamed the “Yellow Recorder” between the people who knew of it, is still a mystery. It’s not yellow.
One strange thing about mine, a yellow painted band on top the recorder is still visible where the owner tried to remove since taking the picture for eBay and shipping it. Clearly put there to mark it. It means something, Does it have something to do with the name yellow recorder?
I asked my friend about the yellow mark.
His words
I had told you that when I was gifted the "Yellow Recorder" I was also given the photo. I told you that the "operative" (at that time) source called it the "Yellow Recorder". Also I informed you that he claimed to know nothing about it. Not where it was made, etc. I certainly believe him. He did not know why it was designated "Yellow". (My recorder has NO yellow markings at all)What I DO know without any doubt is that this individual has zero history outside the US.
I can not provide anymore info on this. I have his contact information but I am certain he knows nothing more about it, other than where he got it ...... of course. Like I said, if the info you received on it is accurate then you know more than I about it.
Happy New Year.
Let me know if you want to possibly talk late next week.
xxxxxxxx
Once the seller shipped the recorder, I asked if he had any history on the recorder. Where was it from? What was it used for? (I always wait and ask some questions after I bought, paid and was shipped so the seller can’t back out if he determines it was sold too cheap.
I have told too many sellers what they have, before they knew what they had, just by asking questions.
He replied with this back in 5 minutes time. I copied and pasted his response below in red.
It was manufactured in England. It was used by the SIDE (Servicio de Inteligencia del Estado or State Intelligence SERVICE) during the Argentine military goverment in the 70s, after overthrowing the weak government of Maria Estela Martinez de Peron (wife of Peron Grl).
Hmm….I did a little search,
Isabel Martínez de Perón President from July 1, 1974 - March 24, 1976, her term, before being removed by the military and held under house arrest for five years then exiled to Spain. I searched for some pictures and bought this on Ebay after I received the recorder, just to go with it.
So Isabels's President husband dies,- she takes over as President of Argentina - and from what I have read she just had one hell of a time from day one.
Just think, some of you Soundmen were using your Nagra 4.2 or IV-S recording sound for movies, joking with your boom operator, watching the scenery and the beautiful people. Recording the sound of some great movies in history.
While others at that time, were not that nice, in that same time period were using this little recorder for very different reasons.
I don’t want to mention the name of the war they called it back then. (because I have no proof)
The tape has since long been wiped clean, its blank. One can only guess what it may have been used for. For me that's ok, blank is better than missing that very tiny reel or the tiny tape.
I have no proof other than what the seller has stated above; I see no reason he made it up since he already had my money and the recorder left his hands. A simple answer would have been; I don’t know what it has been used for. But that is not the answer he gave.
The time period is right, the country is right, its what the recorder was designed to do, and it’s so very rare.
Another interesting thing about this little recorder is the size of the tape it uses.
The tape on a full-size Nagra is 1/4 inch wide, the tape on a Nagra SN is 1/8 inch wide, the tape on this recorder is 1/16 of an inch wide.
Imagine if it took 18 years to find the recorder how long would it take to find a missing reel? Or for that matter 1/16 inch reel tape?
Of all the recorders I have or know about, I have never seen tape of this size. It’s extremely hard to load the recorder with this tiny tape; the tape path is shown on the directions etched into the lid.
It’s a tough little recorder to load the tape even with the lid directions.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
I first ended the story right here.
I wrote all of the above over a month and a half ago to this point.
I debated whether or not to post this at all. I didn’t know if I wanted to post this much detail and I did want to know more about the name Yellow Recorder.
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So a few days after what I wrote above, I contacted my second “three letter source” from a different agency, I assume, they never really say, just references made in the past and present conversations like “the agency” “the target” etc. led me to conclude he was somebody. I could be wrong, but I seriously don’t think so.
(to make it easier to follow my second contact in BLUE, (note this is Not my Nagra contact) and the eBay seller in RED )
I sent my second contact an email with pictures of my new recorder and the picture my friend gave me 18 years ago, I asked, have you seen this little recorder and this picture before? And do you know why it was called the “yellow recorder”?
His reply : I have seen this recorder, they are rare, Were people speaking or writing when people mentioned “Yellow” to you. The reason I ask is that I have not heard the “Yellow" part before.
I said both, writing and speaking. He got back to me the next morning with this.
The Daily Telegraph (UK) took the recorder photo on a conference table to go with one of their corporate espionage stories. That photo was used with multiple stories (many of which I should have in storage). It was also the cover photo for a 32 page children's book by Theodore Rowland-Entwistle called THE SECRET SERVICE published by Wayland Ltd (UK) in 1987. A scan of the cover is attached, and you will notice that the book cover is yellow.
Wow… he is pretty thorough, what a complete and detailed answer, with scan included.
I kinda get the idea this is what he does for a living. It reminds me of the movie Meet The Parents when Jack (Robert De Niro) asked his source for info. The guy had all the detailed info at his fingertips and was rattling them off before Jack even finished asking.
My source goes on and informs me the same seller in Argentina has listed another same type recorder for sale at twice the price I paid with no nameplate on this one.
This new information does not diminish the rarity and importance of this little recorder, but it does make for a funny unexpected ending to a very long story that lasted for over 18 years. And proves, others were paying attention also to this little recorder and collecting information on it. Finally ending up on the cover of a Children’s book.
The recorder was made in 1974, 42 years ago and had plenty of serious use between 1974 and 1978 10 years before the UK press published pictures of it for their stories in the mid to late 80’s
So after 18 years, I have the little mystery recorder and now the most likely answer of the “yellow recorder” nickname.
I ordered two of these children books on Amazon right after my contact sent me the information above and will be sending one of them to my first three letter friend at the beginning of this story the one who gave me the picture of the yellow recorder 18 years ago.
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I have since received the books. Here’s a couple of pages of what’s it like on the inside. Not a bad little bound book, Children's book?
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
The story does not end here.
Now the seller in Argentina has lowered the price on the second recorder like mine on Ebay from 2000.00 to 1300.00 and re-listed it. But the pictures either time did not show the cover of the recorder, so I can’t tell if it also has the yellow mark.
I decided just to contact the Argentina seller at this point to ask if the current recorder he is selling has any yellow marks on it and if so what does it mean.
His answer
Hi, I was under investigation and the yellow mark served to identify teams of the companies counterintelligence or electronic intelligence belonging to the Intelligence Service of the
State here in Argentina between 1975 and 1978, after the ousted democratic government of Maria Estela Martinez Peron by General Videla. Hope that helps ... Greetings XXXXXXXX
Now remember this comes to me through eBay already translated, so I’m not sure if he means he was investigating or he was being investigated or maybe he meant I did some investigation. Ebay translation is not always perfect.
I replied
Thanks for getting back to me.
The reason I ask about the yellow marks was someone I know called this recorder the “ yellow recorder” many years ago. This was the first time I saw the recorder. That is why I bought it from you.
The person that told me about the recorder did not know why it was called the “Yellow recorder."
Did all the recorders like this belonging to the Service of the State have yellow marks on them? Or just the ones you have?
Is that why it was called the Yellow recorder? Or is this the first time you heard it called the yellow recorder?
I'm very interested in these types of recorders that's why I ask.
Thank you
His reply
Honestly it's the first time I hear they call "the yellow tape recorder" and I do all that belonged to the SIDE have that brand.
Same reply my other contact had. I have not heard the “Yellow” part before.
I replied to the Argentina seller.
Did you use the recorder back then? Or did you get them at a government surplus sale?
Are all the ones that belong to SIDE have yellow on them? Or just the one I bought.
I like the history.
His reply
Hello Roger
All teams have of this type has the yellow mark, I bought them at auction lag of govierno, and all I know is what I discuss in the previous messages.
I was trying to find out if he used the recorder back then, but I gave him an out by asking did you buy them at a government sale? I think he knows a little more than he is saying but I’ll leave it at that.
So according to the seller, all recorders of this type used by SIDE in Argentine back then were marked with yellow. (like you would know this information from being an average guy at a government auction?)
Is this why it was called the yellow recorder? Or something to do with the book or both?
Whatever the reason, I finally got that long sought-after little recorder, with the book I never knew existed and some history of how and where this little yellow marked recorder was used.
Now off to find that Nagra ISS.
Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
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