CVC News and Events

The Advanced chassis repair classes are on Wednesdays at 6 - 8PM, headed by John Wallin. The Beginner repair classes are on Thursdays at 6 - 8PM, headed by Larry Gonsalves, both at Larry's Farm located at 4812 Bradbury Road in Turlock (corner of Bradbury
& Washington). Any questions, call Larry at 668-0261

The "My Favorite Radio Contest" ended on November 19, 2011. All contestants turned in their entries and the radios were judged for best chassis/cabinet/overall. The winners were announced at our Annual Christmas Potluck Dinner on Saturday, December 17th, 2011 which began at 4:30 PM Saturday December 17th at the CAF Hanger 1-S, 700 Tioga Dr. Modesto. The winners were as follows:

1st Place: Ron Vidkund

2nd Place: Scott Scheidt

3rd Place: Matt Thompson

Best Chassis: Wayne Light

After the winners were announced, we watched a Power Point presentation created by Rich Lane of all the radios in the contest, showing before, during and after restoration with pictures and descriptions. This presentation will be posted on our site, watch for the link soon. Click here for some highlights from the Christmas Potluck.

The CVC October 2011 Swap Meet and Vintage Electronics Sale on October 1, 2011 was a huge success. For pictures of the event click here! Here is an email Rich Lane wrote regarding the meet: Hello CVC Swap Meet Volunteers - I wanted to pass this email along as an example of what a good job you folks did yesterday at the swap meet. My feeling is we hit a home run yesterday and I got several comments to say that we need to have the meet at the same location next year. So many compliments and the general feeling was people had a lot of fun. We who worked the meet know who did what and teamwork was the key to it's success. I talked with Eddie and he thought we really showed other CHRS club members and the general public that we are an active group. When we next get together we will need to discuss the meet experience and how to make next years better. Rich CVC Communications. Here is an email from one of the contest winners: Hi Rich, Just wanted to thank you and the club for the swap meet and the raffle. I won the grand prize of the GE console radio. It sounds great and looks great in my home. This was the 3rd year in a row I attended this event and would not have known it was happening unless your emails kept me up to date. The fellowship and positive attitude of all the staff made the event enjoyable. Thank you again, Tony Marshall  

Turlock Amateur Radio Club Auction

Date: October 22, 2011

The Turlock Amateur Radio Club holds an auction one to two times a year. The auction is held at the Turlock Youth Center (1030 East Ave.) in Turlock, CA. Everyone is welcome to attend as well as auction any amateur radio related equipment. For more information click here

The CHRS Central Valley Chapter is having its first annual radio restoration contest. Club members who wish to participate will now get to use their education from our radio cabinet and chassis classes for a fun competition and chance to win! The contest officially kicks off on Saturday June 25, 2011 at our club meeting. Members wishing to enter the contest must show up to this club meeting with the radio they wish to enter and the entry fee. Detailed pictures will be taken of each radio to document it's "before" condition as well as a photo of the member with their radio. The pictures are posted here!

For several months the CHRS's Central Valley Chapter Antique Radio Club had a museum display of antique radios, devices, pictures and memorabilia related to local radio history of the Central Valley of California. This unique display was at the Turlock Historical Society Museum, 108 S. Center St., Turlock, CA and ended on June 4, 2011. Our museum display was featured in the February 23, 2011 edition of Turlock Journal newspaper. To view the newspaper article and pictures of this beautiful and informative display click here.

The CHRS's Central Valley Chapter Antique Radio Club had a booth at the Turlock Model A Swap Meet in Turlock, CA . We had radios for sale and members on hand who answered many radio questions, took many repair orders for radios and membership information. The Turlock Swap Meet is one of the premier events in California in the hobby of restoring and collecting antique and classic automobiles. For pictures of the event click here.

Larry's geared up and ready to start the Thursday radio troubleshooting class on Thursday Dec. 2nd, 2010 at 6pm. Get into the hints and kinks of finding those pesky repair problems. This class will be ongoing every week and so bring your voltmeters, repair tools and parts and your radios to this very interesting class. When this class gets going I hope to have a reliable and reasonably priced supply of tubes available for the class or any other members. The class will be on every Thursday @ 6 PM at Larry Gonzalves' farm located at 4812 Bradbury Road in Turlock (corner of Bradbury & Washington).  Any questions call Larry at 668-0261

Attention new members: The CVC Radio Club meets on the 3rd Saturday every month at 2:00 PM. The meetings are at Larry Gonzalves' farm located at 4812 Bradbury Road in Turlock (corner of Bradbury & Washington).  DON'T FORGET: The cabinet repair class is still ongoing prior to our meetings and starts at 11 AM, same location. 

Date: October 2, 2010
Time: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 
Location: Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, Turlock, CA

There were some very nice items for sale at the meet! You can see some pictures of the meet in our Photo Gallery if you click here. We also have some video of the meet in our CVC Video Gallery (towards the bottom of the page), to go there just click here. If you were a buyer attending our meet, you may have won one of the nice items we gave away during our raffle, which can be seen if you click here!

The CHRS has concluded their premier radio auction KRE! Radio by the Bay and it was a big financial success for the CHRS and its partner organization, The Bay Area Radio Museum.  President Steve Kushman made the partnership official, signing the contract during the lunch break at the auction.  This coupling of organizations is sure to bring bigger things to both groups.  To go to the CHRS main website, click here.

The CVC Chassis Repair Classes have been going on since January 2010 and instructor Larry Gonsalves reports that the month of July has seen between 5 to 6 members showing up for class weekly.  Larry says July is a month that many people vacation and do other things.  He expects the class to pick back up after the Labor Day holiday.  When the class started in January, 16 members were taking the class, prompting the CVC to discuss measures to either limit the number of students or offer another class to break up the congestion in the shop.  Larry and the other instructor, John Wallin, are making steady progress with the smaller class size and find it easier to give students the needed attention.

CVC radio cabinet refinishing instructor Jim Silva doesn't mind giving out advice to anyone who needs advanced help on tackling a tough restoration job, he’s counting on someone needing his help. Jim has been restoring radio cabinets of all sizes for over ten years and he knows that the skill of cabinet refinishing can’t be learned easily. For that reason, Jim teaches a cabinet restoration class before each Central Valley Chapter general meeting starting at 11 am on the third Saturday of the month at the CVC clubhouse. “Hands- on is everything when you are restoring cabinets,” Silva says, “ there are many steps and ways to get a finished product, but it’s worth it when you see your work turned into a beautiful thing.” Three to four members attend Silva’s monthly class.  View some class photos here.

Anyone interested in learning the fine points or radio cabinet restoration should attend a class and learn what is needed to get started. The CVC does require that one become a member to attend the regular class, however, just a look and see and a little advice costs nothing. Yearly dues to be a CVC member is $30. For additional information you can call 209-605-0290 or email Rich here.

Sometimes it's time to do some clean up and the CVC's no different than anywhere else. CVC members dragged out items that have been in storage at the clubhouse and for a little cash took home lots of parts, tubes, chassis and radios. There was something there for everyone and the pile was the accumulation of about three years worth of stuff. "We wanted to make a little cash to help finance our upcoming October meet", said Larry Gonsalves, whose farm is where the flea market was held. "We condensed three bins worth of stuff down to one and made a home for stuff that otherwise would collect cobwebs."  "This may be the start of a regular event at the CVC", said Gonsalves. And as things progressed it looks as though it was a success. The remaining collectables will be available to buyers at the October 2nd meet.  See photos of the event here.