Not sure how this is going to go.

So,  we've had our "January Thaw",  and no,  I didn't make up that term,  I heard it on the Weather Network.
And now,  it's supposed to get cold again.  Usually,  the month of February is cold and nasty.  Some sort of "short month"  syndrome.

Of course,  first it has to snow a bit,  just for good measure,  which is exactly what it's doing right now.  Like,  gobs of it.  Coming out of the East.

The title for today refers to a Stereo Receiver that these days resides out in my garage/shop.  It's somewhat old school,  with nary a digital component in sight.   It's still a great working piece of kit,  and only got relegated to the shop,  as I had nothing out there to listen to.  It did reside in a somewhat cumbersome cabinet once upon a time but sadly,  that cabinet outlived its usefulness.

So the problem?

Well,  the tuner won't tune.  Being old school,  there's something called  "Dial Cord"  that runs around a wheel on the tuner,  then back to the indicator that is visible from the front,  over to another couple wheels,  and then around a shaft on the control knob that gets turned from the front of the unit.
Problem was,  the dial cord was so worn that it no longer would do squat,  and I wanted to go back to a station that I listen to the most,  and couldn't.

I decided to take a look.

I've opened this thing up before,  mostly to clean it.  It needed another cleaning,  among other things.  I noticed that three of the 10 volt lights at the front are burnt out,  and generally,  the controls are all scratching and gross. I'll pick up some Contact Cleaner possibly tomorrow and sort out the pots and switches. 

The dial cord dilemma is another issue.  I'm not so sure I can find the proper cord,   unless I resort to fishing line or some such thing.  I'm going to give this a good try,  and as a last ditch,  I might just try and source out someone in the repair business who is willing to look at it. 
I suspect it's a dying art.

Let's just say,  I could have bought a half decent car for what I paid for this receiver back in 1975  (yes,  1975!)  and the fact that it still works and only has this somewhat perplexing issue is pretty much just a minor hiccup. 

I suspect it will outlast.... me,  basically.

Meanwhile I've tuned it manually to a station that I listen to just about 100% of the time,  put the wood cover back on and put it back in its spot over the drill press.   Oh,  and by the way,  the wooden "jacket"  that it sits in?  Honduran Mahogany!   Ha!   Of course,  I didn't really know or appreciate that at the time that I bought it. 

Ah,  youth.

I'll try and do some sort of update at some point since,  you know,  I got nothing else.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep that stick on the ice.



.