This is part of an upcoming article for RoadKing, so I’m not going to spill too many beans in this post. That being said, I spent last weekend driving up to Hillsborough, New Hampshire, for the specific purpose of investigating the remnants of a huge truck collection, assembled over the past forty years as a…
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Chuck the Writer takes stock of Trivia Season 2008
Everyone who knows me understands that I have a jones for competitive trivia competitions. Maybe it goes back to 1981, when my Street Academy high school team annihilated three other high schools on a local television quiz show. For the past three years, I’ve been playing trivia competitions at local bars, restaurants and taverns, playing…
Read MoreChuck the Writer debuts his new RCA mech boards
Okay everybody, here they are. These are the newly repainted RCA Victor mech boards (what the turntable and tonearm sit on) that will be used for my first two restoration / “Chuck-i-fi-cation” projects. First off is the “Petty” board, so named because the serial number on this RCA Victor 45-EY-2 phonograph has a “43” in…
Read MoreChuck the Writer recalls those departed
As 2008 winds to a close, I want to take this moment to remember those who have lived their life to the fullest. These are people who, in one way or another, have made an impact on my life. This nice lady is my sainted grandmother, Betty Miller. She passed away in March. For the…
Read MoreChuck the Writer and Repainting RCA Mech Boards
It was a very snowy weekend in Albany, a perfect time for me to work on my RCA Victor 45 RPM phonographs. Right now I’ve got two dissected and disassembled players – a 45-J-2 phonograph which I’m currently referring to as the “Sun” player (for reasons I will explain later), and a 45-EY-2 phonograph with…
Read MoreChuck the Writer and Three Weeks to Go in the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament
Well, I get a three-week break, actually. Due to the holidays, the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament won’t gear up again until the first week of 2009. There will be three more weeks of qualifying, and then the top eight teams go to the finals on January 29. That’s where the $2,000 prize comes in. As…
Read MoreChuck the Writer and the RCA Victor Restoration Project
Okay, this is the start of the restoration project. As you might recall, this is the unit in its original “purchased from eBay” condition. Note the copious amount of white paint droplets and rust pittings on the baseplate. As you can see from the serial number and information here on the right, this is an…
Read MoreChuck the Writer and the RCA Victor Restoration Project
So I tore apart the first player I received through the mail, using it for spare parts. What you see here is the first RCA Victor 45 RPM player I will attempt to restore. This is a 45-EY-2 player, with a built-in speaker and amplifier in its base. As you can see, the top plate…
Read MoreChuck the Writer's Long National Freezing Nightmare Is Over
Power has been restored to the Miller household. I would do the dance of joy, but I can’t move my frozen muscles. Damage assessment – all the food in the freezers and fridges must now be discarded. Also, my ViewSonic monitor got fried from the blackout and is now a piece of junk; I ended…
Read MoreChuck the Writer is still surviving the ice storm
It’s Monday. I haven’t had power in the house for four days. National Grid says that power should be restored to my neighborhood by Wednesday evening at the earliest. For the third straight night, I sleep under every cover I can find in the house, to make sure that someone is inside the house and…
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