[vcf-midatlantic] WTD: PDP-11 tape drive?

[W2HX]

Hi friends,

I am building my first PDP-11. It is a 11/23+ It is a nice set up with 4 RL02's lots of boards, two half-height racks, spares, you name it.  I would really like to get a real-to-real 9-track tape drive, the manual loading kind. I see many autoloading types but they just don't have the panache of what I used to use in the 80's and 90's at my places of work.

I have been watching on ebay for a while and those few that come up seem expensive. I did locate these (not cheap but cheaper than others).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/192745726868
and
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264099860161

The first one says "wiltec" but I am guessing that wiltec was just the reseller. It looks very similar (if not identical) to the second one which is listed as a fujitsu M2444AC.

For some reason the "wiltec" one is cheaper. It seems to have some  nice connectors on the back.  The fujitsu is more expensive, has rack mounting hardware (a plus) but no back connectors. It isn't obvious how to connect this to something. Also shipping for some reason, is $100 more.

I found a manual to this on bitsavers (thank you to whomever did this). It says it the fujitsu has 3 modes of operation.
MODE A: CDC 9218S COMPATIBLE MODE
MODE B: CIPHER F880 COMPATIBLE MODE
MODE C: PERTEC FSlOOO SERIES COMPATIBLE

Can they be made to interface with a PDP-11 Qbus system? Anyone have any opinions on these?

I should also ask if anyone has an open-real tape drive they would like to part with (preferably known working) let me know.  I am in NY, willing to drive a few hours or pay for shipping.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

73 Eugene W2HX