The IBM 728 magnetic tape drive was used on the SAGE
AN/FSQ-7
The AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central, referred to as the Q7 for short, was a computerized command and control system for Cold War ground-controlled interception used in the USAF Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense network.
The ...
computer. It was physically similar to the
IBM 727
The IBM 727 Magnetic Tape Unit was announced for the IBM 701 and IBM 702 on September 25, 1953. It became IBM's standard tape drive for their early vacuum-tube era computer systems. Later vacuum-tube machines and first-generation transistor c ...
, but with significantly different specifications.
This is one of several
IBM 7 track
IBM's first magnetic-tape data storage devices, introduced in 1952, use what is now generally known as 7-track tape. The magnetic tape is 1/2" wide, and there are six data tracks plus one parity track for a total of seven parallel tracks th ...
tape drives.
Tape Word Bit Positions
-----------------------------> Tape travel
LS L6 L12 R2 R8 R14
L1 L7 L13 R3 R9 R15
L2 L8 L14 R4 R10 P
SYN SYN SYN SYN SYN SYN
L3 L9 L15 R5 R11 EOF
L4 L10 RS R6 R12 EOF
L5 L11 R1 R7 R13 EOF
-----------------------------> Tape travel
728
Tape 728
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