here is the deal with this deck.....it is built like a tank. it uses the old tascam da30 transport and has full size heads. it is the same deck as the teac dap-20 except that it sports 1/4" in and outs while the teac has xlr's. powering in the field can be tricky, but definitely can be done. it only records at 48khz. it has no backlight for the meters. but really the kicker with this deck and the whole line of old denon, casio, and teac decks is PARTS!! they are hard to come by and even if you do find them you better be handy because i don't think anybody will do the benchwork on them. i could be wrong, but i doubt it because of their age.
since you say you are broke and would be using this as your primary and only DAT deck i would definitely not waste your time or money on this deck.
good luck,
dave