Data Recorder

ZX Computing

Scott Lintern

MORWOOD COMPUTER DATACORDER The Morwood Datacorder is one of the latest computer cassette recorders to appear on the market. It incorporates a futuristic styling and advanced function controls. It is attractive, compact and lightweight. The Datacorder has all the normal functions eg, save, load, rewind, fast forward, stop and eject. Also, according to the manual. It has a pause key, which was so neatly concealed that I was unable to find it. Morwood have included an autoostOp mechanism for safety, just in case the user forgets to stop the tape once the program has loaded. A slide volume control is situated to the right of the function keys. The slide control makes the recorder more slimlined but it is sometimes less accurate than standard volume controls. They have also included a three digit tape counter so that you can take note of where your programs are located on a given cassette. It has a transparent cassette compartment which adds to its attractive look. The user can also hear the program being loaded but this can be muted by moving the monitor switch to the off position, on the side of the cassette recorder next to the monitor switch are two essential jack sockets, a rem socket and 3 din plug socket. The two essential sockets are the input and output sockets. Inside the Datacorder is an automatic cut out circuit which gives the user the advantage of not having to change over or disconnect lead when saving or loading a program. The Datacorder comes complete with a separate 6 volt power supply unit which plugs into any normal household socket but. If you prefer, batteries can be used. The Datacorder takes four 1.5 volt batteries but. I don't personally recommend the use of batteries as when they run low a program cannot be saved or loaded successfully. The power left in the batteries is indicated on the LED indicator. If the LED is bright, the batteries are satisfactory but, if it is dim, they should be replaced. An additional attachment is available for an extra £3.00 which will match the load/save signals to the ZX81 by boosting the signal during saving, and the Editor tells me that he tried it out and it worked perfectly for the brief time he had it. Although the head azimuth still needed to be adjusted occasionally on some tapes the signal tone and strength were perfect. Overall I am very impressed with this piece of equipment, loading and saving has been 100% successful, and I recommend it to all Spectrum and ZX81 users. Available from: Meow Micros [redacted] Cost £24.95 (£27.95 ZX81)