The 2026 Cincinnati Hamfest happened this weekend, and size-wise it was about as big as last year’s event. I spent just under 2 hours wandering the grounds a couple of times, and picked up a few things.
While it did rain, it held off for quite a while. Prices were generally pretty good, but there was one guy that was selling stuff that made me question what was going on - including someone’s printed-from-the-internet manual copies for $10. I guess you were paying for the “Estate Sale” sticker. not sure what that had to do with it, but it’s free on BAMA. I seem to remember this booth from last year, and it was the same…my companion and I both looked at the stuff and said what? There was also the usual assortment of “I bought it at this price!” prices on things, but you can get it for less new.
There was one of those little tester boxes I wanted to take with me, but the guy said you have to take this big box of consumer cables with you. I didn’t want to carry 30 pounds of F-connector and RCA cables away just to toss them in the trash - and in the trash they would have went.
There wasn’t much else I wanted to take home other than a HP334A, but I have no use for that. So it stayed.
A couple of anchors. I took the rowboat anchors.
These weren't well priced.
Some big old rack mount units.
A lovely Majestic console.
I took the little Welch ammeter.
Still plenty of these around.
Some Tek chassis units.
I wanted to take this but not the giant box of cable with it.
In all, a pretty good show. I went with a friend, we went to a local place for lunch that we both like, and ended the trip with a stop at Jungle Jims.
The Cincinnati Hamfest is happening this weekend, Saturday, August 15th at the Clermmont County Fairgrounds, just east-ish of Cincy. I went to this show for the first time last year, and it was a good regional, with enough different stuff that I’ve decided to go back this year. See you there!
Cincinnati Hamfest
Saturday, August 15th, 2026
8A-4P
Clermont County Fairgrounds
1000 Locust Street
Owensville, OH 45160
The Columbus hamfest didn’t have many outdoor vendors this year, there was rain on the way. It held off until later in the day, but things were still muted. There was still plenty to look at, and a decent enough turnout. I picked up a few items, so the day was pretty good.
Free books. I always get a few.
A license is required. Really?
The LED version of the nixie tube IMD-202-1.
I took a few of these old-timers home.
PACO stuff. I took the RC bridge.
He had some longer strips, but they sold.
RadioPhone!
A table of random things.
A box of unusual resistors. I took it for $1
Supplies!
A magnifying glass was purchased today.
These have become stupid price.
Next show is the Cincinnati Hamfest, happening August 15th. See you there!
While those of us here in the states celebrate our country’s 250th birthday, Projects from the Bottom Drawer celebrates a much more humble acheivment - that of it’s 5th birthday.
On July 4th, 2021, I set up pygg.xyz as a way to move my personal dealings off of a very breached gmail address. It had recently been in the 2021 LinkedIn breach, something I still get fallout from 5 years later as mailers insist that I’m actually a business and do I need help with employees/receivables/publishing/etc.
At the same time, I decided to re-open this blog - it had been hosted on blogger.com. I quicky found that .xyz domains had little trust in the internet world and set out on a search for another porcine-related site. Wereboar.com had recently been released by it’s owner, so I made the purchase and here we are.
Pull up a chair, have a slice of cake, and thank you for joining me these past 5 years. I hope to present strange junk and weird projects for many more.
We weren’t sure what the day was going to bring, it looked decent but was promising rain later.
While the rain did hold off, it started raining shortly after we left. Later that afternoon, it became dangerous, including a tornado touchdown somewhat north of the area. This was followed by torrential rains, and then a lovely cool evening.
There was some good stuff at the show this year, with more of the kinds of things I go for than I saw at Dayton this year. I picked up more at this show, things I can actually use (and one project) so it was a pretty decent show. In all, I think the threat of rain kept some away, but there was a good turnout nontheless.
here’s what i saw at the show:
An ignoble end to the Bell System.
Some Atwater-Kent goodies.
Right off the boat from Hong Kong.
One of Heathkit's FM Deviation Meters. It was rough inside.
A rather unusual piece of Heathkit equipment.
A wonderful example of a “Majestic” style console.
I can't remember what house brand this was.
I took this one home.
I also took this one home.
A nice Heathkit bench supply w/manual.
I took some banana plugs (not shown) home.
Some cool old RCA component trays.
A slide rule S-38.
One of the few boombox devices I saw.
More rat shack stuff.
Boom? Boom.
Some waveguide bits n bobs.
The Heathkit Distortion Analyzer came home with me, I have a better chance of getting this one operational than the EICO unit i had earlier (Later me says it works, and seems to work quite well!) Stay tuned, that one will show up on the bench at some point. I also brought home the Heathkit supply, as well as both of those Radio Shack benchtop meters. There were a few parts in there as well, in all it was a good show for me.
Next show is Columbus, Ohio at the Shriners Temple on August 1st. See you there!
This is a great mid-sized show that happens at the Butler Farm Show, an event area just outside of Butler, PA. There’s usually quite a few vendors, with indoor and outdoor exhibits. Rain kept last year down a little, so hopefully this year things will be a bit sunnier. There’s a food building on site if you want to grab a snack, and plenty in the general area of the show.
I’ve pulled some interesting things out of this show, and hope to again this year. See you there!
Breezeshooters Hamfest
Butler Farm Show Grounds
625 Evans City Road (Route 68)
Butler PA 16001 June 14th 2026
8AM - 2PM
$10 admission Click here for the show website.
We mostly toured the buildings, but I went away disappointed as there were no test equipment vendors present - in fact, the only real TE vendor there was Bird, but they aren’t selling to me. The guy I was with was interested, however, as he needs a commercially available handheld SpecAn that isn’t a Chinese company.
I did pick up a few things here and there, but not much. Mostly rain discount stuff.
Here’s what I saw at the show:
A meter with the Niagra Power sticker on it.
Did I photograph this already?
I took it home. Gotta have a voltmeter at a show.
One Dollar Rain Discount. It has a burning smell.
UNIX, anyone?
110VAC single phase. Unusual.
Lots of reel-to-reel players.
A very precise balance beam scale.
Stacks of stuff, why we are here.
We left probably close to 1PM, as many of the flea market vendors had started to pack up. I skipped Sunday as there wasn’t anything I wanted to see, I was aching, and I wanted to play with some of the things I bought.
Next show is Breezeshooters in Butler, PA. See you there!
Friday turned out to be a just slightly damp day at the show, we had a little rain but it cleared off quick. We toured the flea market, and saved the buildings for Saturday due to the forecast of heavy rains. The steak tips and mashed potatoes vendor wasn’t here this year, so bourbon chicken and a banana milkshake subbed in it’s place.
This year, the mobile AM CB stuff was almost all gone save a few units here and there. Hobby-level test equipment, i.e. the EICO/Knight/Heath/etc. was almost not present, save for a bunch of those crappy RF generators that no one really wants - the bridges and tracers and things are pretty much no longer for sale. At least, not at Dayton. Of course, the piles of plastic radios and old televisions are long gone, and even the big boat anchor radios are vanishing. I think I saw maybe 1 Hallicrafters S-38 unit for sale…
Things are changing, but there was still a lot to see:
A nice A-K speaker.
A basket of Apples.
Just some audio stuffs.
A nicely restored cathedral radio.
Choke the Chicken…not here please.
An old Data Precision meter.
Many DEC Rainbow computers.
New, old-stock desoldering irons.
My favorite brand of tools?
Designed for butane flow measurements.
Some tunes for the ants.
No idea what this model was.
Someone's pride and joy, dumped in a bin.
I eventually took the scope for $1.
The old way of measuring standing waves.
Just some random HP things.
Ok, if you insist.
Loudenboomer!
Some info on the Loudenboomer.
Would you like to play a game?
It's not tourist season without a thumb.
Some military equipment.
Telephone B.C. (Before Cellular)
How many of these were made?
Moto comm analyzers.
A really nice condition scope.
Some old computing horsepower.
A really old opto counter.
This scope was in bad shape elsewhere.
Parts. I took a few transistors.
High voltage?
Used to be piles of this stuff.
These are vanishing as well.
Some more radios.
And some more radios.
A scope that was part of a school course.
Even if it was good, this showed bad.
Some sort of receiver.
A tape deck. Friend wanted it, you carry it!
Lots of these, no one wants.
Some of those funky round speakers.
I took the Sabtronics unit for a sawbuck.
Semiconductor testing devices…in peach.
A Shango Special.
I have no idea.
A table full of stuff.
Hallicrafters SX-62.
It's a radio that's a table that's a radio.
Teletypes for your 110 baud needs.
A cool old terminal.
daytonf26-terminalsettings-wereboar.jpg
The only signal tracer I saw.
A giant TRF radio.
A nice looking TRF unit.
Warm soda and melted candy anyone?
Surprising, more W-J stuff this year.
Some W-J stuff.
We spent pretty much the entire day, heading out at 4:45 a few minutes before closing. We went Saturday as well, but I skipped out on Sunday.
If you want to mail order a Dayton Hamvention ticket, now is the time! You have until May 1st, after which tickets will be held will-call at the gate. This is for domestic orders, international orders are being held will-call right now.
Mail order ticket sales have ended. All sales are now will-call.
The first ‘fest of the season has come and gone. Notably, the dearth of CB radios from the past few years has started to fade. Unfortunately, all of the older stuff has started to fade away. There was still some interesting things to be seen, and I picked up a few interesting things for later projects and checkouts.
A Commodore 64, now 40+ years old.
These machines were not cheap, that's ~800$ today.
A unique clock kit. I took it home.
I don't know, some…thing with cool meteres.
cf2026-diskettes-wereboar.jpg
cf2026-equipment-wereboar.jpg
Another table of random things. These are getting rare.
OSHA? No sah!
A homemade flight sim rig.
Nothing much to hear these days.
Just junk on the floor for your parts needs.
People love those deaf-as-a-post Knight radios.
Some old meters. I took the Keithly and Heathkit.
A Hong Kong special. Probably deaf when new.
I never understood those weird Mac packages.
There's the orange “T” from Coshocton.
A lamp for your porch. Welding goggles not included.
A box of probes. I took the “EICO” style for my tracer.
Rat Shack Radios for days.
These used to be $10 all day. Not no mo!
A nice RCA radio.
A 27MHz RF curing machine. Could be someone's new linear.
Look at the size of that tube.
The business end of the cure. Cures…life, probably.
Almost got this and the next one as a real challenge project.
In bad shape…
Gimme one of those S-Pecans.
These are always a lovely piece of history.
We topped the day off with a stop at Arthur Treachers’ Fish and Chips, and then headed home.
Next up is Dayton, I’m planning on going all three days this year. As a reminder, you can still mail order a ticket - internationally until Wednesday, and domestically until May 1st. See you there!
