Uher (brand)
Uher is a German brand of electronic equipment currently owned and licensed by Assmann Electronics of Bad Homburg.
The manufacturer, Uher Werke was based in Munich, Germany, and is probably best known for its former range of portable reel-to-reel tape recorders which were once widely used by professionals in areas such as reporting and film-making. Since digital equipment has become widespread, these older analogue recording machines are no longer produced and the company has focused on other equipment.
Report series
Report 4000 series
The "Report 4000" series of portables had a neat, compact design, about 11" wide, 10" deep, and 4" thick. They used 5" reels of tape, and came in three models:
- Report 4000 - 2-track mono, later 4-track mono
- Report 4200 - 2-track stereo (tape used in one direction), usable also as 2-track mono (tape runs in both directions)
- Report 4400 - 4-track stereo (tape used in both directions, being turned over in between), usable also as 4-track mono
They had 4 speeds: 7½ inches per second (i.p.s.), 3¾ i.p.s., 1⅞ i.p.s., and 15/16 i.p.s. With the longest variety of 5" tape (1800 ft. long), and using 4-track mono at 15/16 i.p.s., it would be possible to get about 24 hours' recording time on one reel of tape, albeit at poor quality suitable only for speech, and 6 hours' continuous recording time would be possible.
Other series
Based upon the mechanical design and chassis of the 4000 series recorders Uher also offered the professional
- Report 1000 (early model Rangertone sync, later Neo-Pilot)
- Report 1200 Synchro (Neo-pilot)
fulltrack (1-track Mono) recorders. These ran at a single 15 ips speed and provided a sync head for motion picture sound synchronization as well as dedicated record and playback heads. These models were not widely adopted. Even German and European television tended despite outfitting their radio reports with 4000-series machines to adopt Nagra or Stellavox recorders for film production.
The final model of the Report series was the Report 6000 introduced in 1986. They featured a more modern 3-motor design and electronic control.
Shared specs
All the Report recorders had small loudspeakers (mono) built into them, at various times either in the front, or on the top near the piano-key-style controls.
They had several sources of power:
- Mains power, using an internal fitting power transformer;
- Internal rechargeable dry-fit battery: both nickel-cadmium and gel lead acid were available
- 5 standard (non-rechargeable) D-sized batteries.
- External power via a range of power adapters for automotive power (models for 6v, 12v and 24v were available).
External links
- Uher official website
- Belt Replacement Tips Step by step instructions for replacing drive belts on the 4000 series