Cross measurements in magnetic recording: A new way of determining head performance

A description is given of how to separately the recording and playback performance of an inductive head relative to that of a "reference" head. The resulting relative recording and relative playback figures are completely insensitive to azimuthal differences between recording and playback head and are independent of errors in track adjustment. Second order effects can now be measured. In addition, when the measuring system carries out the simple calculations necessary for obtaining these figures, a considerable amount of time and effort for interpretation is saved.