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Banks of Autex 100
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Autex Printers and Trend Paper Winders
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Case MSX Rack
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WB400 receiver found with the MSX gear
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WB1400 or 400 CCP Key Cupboard found in a filing cabinet in Main Operations
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WB1400 CCP power and distribution unit found in a drawer in Main Operations
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Day One:
There is a lot going on at the bunker today and all the recourse is busy getting prepared for the new seasons opening. I have been into the containers to check what we need to do, there is a lot to move from Container 4 to get decent access to the MSX gear and most of it is either wedged in or very heavy. James has put some additional containers above and these have power, light, de-humidifiers and shelving so will provide clean safe storage of the electronic gear.
In the mean time we have bought a couple of additional Wi-Fi access points, these very nice Linksys outdoor devices came with power over Ethernet injectors and can be fitted with external antennas to improve performance. Additionally we have another 2wire unit to go in the guardroom. The first job is to move the ADSL router from the manager’s office up to the bar, we will then back feed Ethernet down the cat7 cables rather than taking the DSL right into the bunker. Of all the things not to have are Ethernet sockets, so James pops out to get a couple which even still proves difficult as the shops have very limited supplies, I guess it is always the simple things that catch us out!
To begin with I have connected the sockets to one of the cat7 runs and checked the connection with a tester, now I can move the DSL line box, router and filter upstairs, this will cause a disconnection to service for a few minutes. Once the router is back on line I connect the Ethernet back down to the switch in the manager’s office and reconnect the fax line to the machine. Apart from losing essential screws and finding several bad krone connections the operation is a success!
The new 2wire box is connected to an Ethernet socket under the counter in the bunkers shop and the 2 Linksys AP’s are tested by hooking them up to the back of the router, all the Wi-Fi goes well, interestingly the signal from the AP’s cannot penetrate the bars walls, there must be screening in place. With an AP hung on the door I can get service at the distant boundary f the car park, this is a good sign. We will put the AP’s in the guardroom roof with an outdoor antenna on top of the chimney at a later date. Now most of the place is Wi-Fi enabled, just hook up to any of the secretbunker AP’s and surf away.
DayTwo:
With a day of hard physical labour ahead I get a good breakfast and plenty of orange juice!
Peter and I begin the work of clearing the gear from the front of the container, it soon begins to move, James and Tracy join us to help move the gear to one of the upper containers, and this helps no end as we can pass tuff up rather than carry it up the ladders. After a couple of hours we reach the MSX gear, first thing we find is piles of Autex 100’s and more Autex 1600 racks, funny to think it is my search for these that started, I just wanted one no we have the whole of the Scottish Offices stock! Moving these is easy work 2 at a time head up to be place on shelves, next are Trend Teleprinter 800, although not exactly heavy (I can easily pick up 2 at once) they are unmanageable and getting them up the stairs then passing to James or Tracy is a killer. The piles of these seem endless; we have the stacked 3 high the full length of the container and more to go. Completely exhausted we take a well earned break. On return there are boxes of printers, Autex terminals, cables, you name it…. A fantastic discovery is a load of spare parts, this includes some STC cards for the DCX all of which have batteries that have not leaked and damaged the PCB’s. An unusual find is a WB400 receiver and boxes of various coloured ink. Perhaps the most exciting find are some Cipher terminals in very good condition, some are boxed so I hope these will work. A typical Comcen would have at least 5 along with 6 to 8 Trend 800’s. Finally with all the small gear moved we can easily get to the remaining 6 MSX racks, initial inspection shows them to be in better cosmetic order then the ones we already have. It is late now so we lock up; I also have some work to do for the company work for. In the evening Peter and I have some food and watch District 9 on the television, it is good to relax after that amount of work.
Day Three:
Fired up with the discovery of some good MSX racks I start trying to work out where each rack actually came from but cataloguing the DCX slot configuration and noting any labels regarding circuit designation (of all our racks), this generates more questions rather than delivering answers. One thing is for sure these MSX racks are from the ROC network and not the RGHQ. With the help of a Communications Tote board in our ROC display I was able to guess at the original locations of some of our racks. Each rack has a number written in marker pen on the cabinet front, I think these are assigned when they were returned to stores after the network closed however they are useful for identifying each rack.
1000 Ayr
1001 Ayr
1002 Ayr
1003 Aberdeen
1004 ?
1005 Missing
1006 ?
1007 Dundee
1008 Edinburgh
1009 Edinburgh
1010 Inverness
1011 Dundee
1012 Dundee
Now to a question, why am I seeing 3 racks at some sites, this is not right there were 2 racks per site, one has a CAPS (CPU) and DCX the other has dual DCX and Fallback Switching. The MSX can let users connect to a remote CAPS should the local unit fail to work. I can only assume that somewhere in a store or workshop there was a duplicate perhaps for spares or perhaps there was a model network for loading new software to test before deployment, I simply do not have an answer yet.
Leading on from this is my connections to other groups of people who are interested in preserving this equipment. Over the past year or two I have been in regular contact with them and we have amassed some useful information with regards the MSX network. James has agreed that I can arrange an exchange of equipment with them; this will benefit all as I know they have other artefacts that we would like.
Day Three:
In preparation to beginning the Tape Relay Centre restoration I have cleared the cinema of junk and removed the signs from the door. I have found all the TRC cabling routes and the marks on the floor where the Mekons and tables stood. I have started setting up my workshop in this room too as this is where most of the work will take place. I will post a specific article of the bunkers electronic workshop soon.
I then went on a hunt to find anything TRC related and turned up some other interesting things too. The bunker is slowly giving up its secrets, I am sure much of what we have came from other places (Barnton Quarry for sure) but still these things have providence.
I went back up to the container to further investigate the fallback switching but it is very hard to see how this worked as the cables in most cases are removed.
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