- 2022
- Mar
- 23
Dayton Hamvention - May 20, 21, and 22 2022
The granddaddy of radio events, the Dayton Hamvention, is scheduled to happen this year after two years of being afraid of our own shadows. This year, as before (starting in 2017,) it will take place in the Xenia Expo Center, a clean and modern venue.
There was always a certain excitement about arriving at the past venue, Hara Arena. Coming up Needmore Road (ha!) to see the event, with those trucks from vendors that always seemed to be there parked out front. But Hara was suffering under the weight of a bickering family, and it showed. A broken parking lot that was difficult to walk on, toilets that would burst their lines and flood the event area, an inside event area that was “Tolerable” at a charitable best, and food options that amounted to hot dogs and nachos that would make even the most hungry of hams go “Maybe I should just wait…”
But it was our event, and we went because of what it was, not where it was. It still amazes me that this cash cow, a venue that had nothing else like it for miles, was allowed to fall into ruin and eventually meet it’s end at the hands of a small tornado that passed through.
The Xenia venue is clean, modern, has an easily walkable area, and has food choices that rival a small fair. It’s everything that Hara wasn’t, but…you know what I mean.
This year’s event is scheduled for May 20th, 21st, and 22nd of 2022, the weekend before Memorial Day. Tickets can still be purchased via mail (as of the date of this post,) but that is quickly coming to an end and online sales will be held at the will-call office.
Hope to see you there, and pictures will be here as soon as I can upload them.
- 2022
- Mar
- 23
Pictures from the Columbus Hamfest 2021
The Columbus, Ohio hamfest happened on August 7th, 2021 after a year’s hiatus because someone got scared. There was lots of good stuff to be seen, and a lot of good bargains to be had. I picked up some parts, and a couple of pieces of test equipment including the Eico signal tracer and the Realistic Patroman radio (what am I doing to do with this?) shown in the pictures.
It was a beautiful day, and seeing all those smiling faces with “We wanted to get out, we’re happy there’s a show going on!” on everyone’s lips made for one of the best small shows I’ve been to in a long time.
This is by no means everything, just a small sample of things that caught my eye. Looking forward to the show in 2022.
- 2022
- Mar
- 23
Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club Hamfest - April 9 2022
I’m debating on attending this show. It’s a bit of a drive, but I’m itching to get out of the house and drag home more junk.
If I do end up going, I’ll post some pics of the “good stuff” I bring home.
Where: Emidio & Sons Banquet Center, 48 E Bath Rd, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223
When: April 9th 2022, 8A-1P EDT
- 2021
- Jul
- 21
Columbus, Ohio Hamfest 2021
After being cancelled in 2020 due to circumstances, the Columbus, Ohio hamfest returns to the Aladdin Shrine Temple in Grove City on August 7th, 2021.
This is a small show, maybe about 2-3 hours at the most, but I’ve always pulled some good junk out of here. I’m hoping with this being the first show in a few years, it will have even more good junk. Check back for pictures of the event and the finds (er, junk) I drag home!
Time, date, and location of the event.
- 2021
- Jul
- 20
Getting set up.
Welcome to Projects from the bottom drawer and wereboar.com. This blog used to be hosted on pygg.xyz, and was hosted on blogger.com before that. Pygg has since been relegated to a (poorly performing) redirect to here, and the blogger links are long gone.
If you’ve arrived at this page by scrolling through my blog, thank you. This is currently both the beginning and end, check back soon for more posts about hamfests, projects, and the random ramble about tech things.
If there’s something you’d like to see more of (or less!) then LinkedIn is a good way to contact me. If you’d like a more user-friendly venue, you can find me on Mastodon. That avenue is fairly new to me, it will generally follow new posts as they appear here, with comments and conversation.
I also post infrequently on satellite.earth, a nostr instance. This is a federated, decentralized social network that doesn’t limit what you can see. Anyone can post in this forum (with signup,) check it out if you’re interested.
Again, welcome, and thanks for stopping by. See you at the hamfest!