Mea Culpa
 

Well, I've gotten it to work as both the camera and the VCR are supposed to! As the younger generation might say, "My bad!"
Turns out there is a tiny switch on the VCR labeled TUNER/EXT. The switch needs to be in the external mode in order to accept an incoming signal.
Doh!
Thanks for all the help - digging out the manual as suggested was the answer.
jay