- 2023
- Dec
- 17
December 2023’s Scott Antique Market.
There wasn’t quite as much at the December show as opposed to the November show, but there was still a lot to look at. I picked up an oil lamp to match one I already have, and took the Humble Oil tiger with the horse pee stickers home. The stickers came off with some coaxing from a heat gun, so I’m pleased with that. My fellow show-goer bought some cheesy Christmas LPs because you can’t have Christmas without random “Why the eff is that?” records playing on the turntable. A Stoneman Christmas, anyone?
The next show is in January. There’s a small hamfest happening about the same time, so I will probably go to that instead, unless they are happening on different weekends (which they are!)
- 2023
- Dec
- 11
2024 Hamfest List
I try to plan out the shows I want to attend early, that way I have time set aside and don’t need to move things around. This is my tentative list (no means exhaustive for even Ohio shows!) that I may try to attend, weather and time permitting. I’ll post more about the shows as they approach and dates are set.
Dayton, of course, is a will-go no matter what. See you there!
Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation Hamfest
Shade Community Center
2380 Old U.S. 33
Shade, OH 45776
January 14 2024
8A-2P-ish
Admission $6
https://www.arrl.org/hamfests/sunday-creek-amateur-radio-federation-hamfest-3
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … ek-arf-hamfest-2024/
Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Emidio & Sons Party Center
48 E. Bath Road
Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
April 13 2024
8A - 1PM
https://sites.google.com/cfarc.org/cfarc/hamfest
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … ahoga-falls-hamfest/
TUSCO ARC Hamfest
Commercial Building at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds
295 South Tuscarawas Ave
Dover, OH 44622
April 27 2024
8A - 1PM
https://www.w8zx.net/hamfest
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … 4-tusco-arc-hamfest/
Dayton Hamvention
Greene County Fair and Expo Center - The Whole Thing
210 Fairground Road
Xenia, OH 45385
May 17 18 19 2024
Hours vary by day, opens at 9AM
https://hamvention.org
Friday photos: https://wereboar.com … 24-fridays-pictures/
Saturday photos: https://wereboar.com … -saturdays-pictures/
Sunday photos: https://wereboar.com … 24-sundays-pictures/
Breezeshooter’s Hamfest
Butler, PA
Butler Farm Show (Kind of a fairgrounds thing)
625 Evans City Rd
Butler, PA 16001
June 9 2024
8A - 2PM
https://breezeshooters.org/ns/
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … ooters-2024-hamfest/
Van Wert (OH) Hamfest
Van Wert County Fairgrounds
1055 S. Washington Street
Van Wert, OH 45891
July 21 2024
8A - When it’s done
https://w8fy.org/hamfest.html
Event photos: Sorry, didn’t make it to this one, life got in the way.
Columbus (OH) Hamfest
Aladdin Shrine Center
1801 Gateway Cir
Grove City, OH 43123
August 3 2024
8A - 1PMish
https://aladdinshrine.org/hamfest/
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … lumbus-2024-hamfest/
Johnstown Swapper’s Day
Johnstown Community Sportsmen’s Club
7357 Sportsman Club Rd NW
Johnstown, OH 43031
Labor Day Weekend (Fri Sat Sun)
7A - 6P
https://jcscohio.org/swappers-day/
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … nstown-swappers-day/
Findlay Radio Club Hamfest
Hancock County Fairgrounds
1017 E. Sandusky St.
Findlay, Ohio 45839
September 8 2024
8A - 1PM-ish
https://www.findlayradioclub.org/
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … o-club-2024-hamfest/
The Cleveland Hamfest and Computer Show
Berea Fairgrounds, Eastland Entrance
160 Eastland Rd
Berea, OH 44107
September 22 2024
8A - 12P
https://www.hac.org/
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … 4-cleveland-hamfest/
The Scioto Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Pike County Fairgrounds
311 Mill Street
Piketon, OH 45661
October 5 2024
8A - 12P
https://www.arrl.org/hamfests/scioto-valley-amateur-radio-club-hamfest-2
Event photos: https://wereboar.com … o-club-hamfest-2024/
MARC Hamfest
Military Air Preservation Society Hanger (MAPS)
2620 International Parkway
Green, OH 44232
October 27 2024
8A - 1P
http://w8np.net
Event photos: Coming soon
Fort Wayne Hamfest
Allen Country War Memorial Coliseum
4000 Parnell Ave
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
November 16, 17 2024
Hours vary by day, opens at 9AM
https://www.acarts.com/hfmain.htm
Event photos: Coming soon
Scott Antique Market - November
Ohio Expo Center (State Fairgrounds)
717 E 17th Ave
Columbus, OH 43211
November 30 and December 1
Hours vary by day, check before you go.
https://www.scottantiquemarket.com/
Event photos: Coming soon
Scott Antique Market - December
Ohio Expo Center (State Fairgrounds)
717 E 17th Ave
Columbus, OH 43211
December 21 and 22
Hours vary by day, check before you go.
https://www.scottantiquemarket.com/
Event photos: Coming soon
Swapper’s Day and the Scott Antique Market aren’t really hamfests, but you still get a lot of electrical goods at these shows. Swapper’s Day is a large flea market, and Scott is an antique show. The November show is the season opener for the antique market, and you’ll usually have the greatest number of vendors at this show - and will have the best selection of merchandise.
All of the shows have announced time and date, but check before you go!
- 2023
- Nov
- 29
Pictures from the November 2023 Scott Antique Market
This show takes place monthly at the Ohio Expo Center (State Fairgrounds) and runs from November to April. There’s generally not a lot of electrical goods here, but this time I was surprised. A lot of radios and other technology related goodies showed up. I suspect this is in part due to the show being the first one of the season, and being close to the holidays - everyone is looking for that perfect gift.
While not all of the pictures I took were of electrical things, I found the stuff to be interesting (or strange!) enough to take a picture of. I’ll probably hit next month’s show as well, so stay tuned!
- 2023
- Nov
- 29
Pictures from the Fort Wayne Hamfest 2023
This year’s show seemed to be a bit smaller than normal, but it may have been just my imagination. Regardless, there was a lot to see and the show was, as usual, busy. I tried to limit what I brought home to things that were on my want list, and I mostly did so - only diverging for a book that looked interesting. I’ve written about one of the pieces, a meter from Heathkit, so check out the posts just previous to this one for a look at that piece.
- 2023
- Nov
- 27
November 2023’s Scott Antique Market
I was quite surprised, there were a lot of electrical and other related technology items for sale at the show. While none of them really wanted to go home with me, they were fun to look at and talk about with the vendors. I’ll probably head out there for the December show as well, perhaps the holiday shopping season will bring the really odd stuff out of the woodwork.
I’m currently processing the pictures from the show, so stay tuned!
- 2023
- Sep
- 22
Pictures from Findlay 2023
The Findlay Radio Club 2023 Hamfest was just a bit muted this year - the skies threatened rain but none appeared, so there were quite a few vendors. This year, a lot of late-model Hallicrafters SW radios showed up, I assume because people who purchased them in the 1960s are finally letting them go for various reasons. Unfortunately, with nothing to listen to on shortwave except Radio Havana, these radios aren’t of much use other than as a curiosity. The proliferation of SDR boxes hasn’t helped, considering you can get a direct entry radio that sounds good and runs on a common LiIon prismatic cell for a bill.
There was plenty of good stuff to look at regardless, and some good things to take home. Here’s my memories of the show, some of which were of unique pieces where the photo ended up on other sites.
One of those shots was a relatively rare signal generator from a long-dead company, Measurements Corporation of Boonton, NJ. According to the site admins, this was the only in-the-flesh image they’ve seen. I was happy to contribute to the community’s knowledge base. Check that entry out here: https://www.radiomus … rd_generator_82.html
Now, on to the good stuff!
- 2023
- Sep
- 7
Neat things at the Johnstown Swapper’s Day 2023
I usually don’t take any photos at this event, because it’s just a general flea market - but things of interest do show up there from time to time. While these items aren’t all related to electronics, I still found them interesting enough to snap a shot.
Someone found some a variety of late 1960s and early 1970s Skidoo snowmobiles and brought them for sale.
A “Mercedes Gazelle” built on a VW chassis. The Bug was a popular platform for modification and, at one point, you could make it look like just about anything you wanted.
A nice Sparton 667 radio. Everything was present, and the chassis looked unmodified and clean. It had what appeared to be a number of gel electrolytics, so hopefully whomever brought this home doesn’t just plug it in.
I didn’t get the model of this Zenith console, but the chassis was similarly clean and unmodified. The record player had been removed, however, but that’s not a terrible loss - chances are the stylus was long dead and unobtanium.
The rest of the trip was just your standard flea-market stuff, and I ended up going home with a small album of 78s and a few tools.
- 2023
- Aug
- 29
The Findlay Radio Club Hamfest AND The Johnstown Swapper’s Day
Two events that always happen the week of Labor day are Johnstown (Ohio) Swapper’s, and the Findlay Hamfest.
Johnstown started out as a gun swap but turned into a general flea market. While not necessarily electronics related, you do tend to find some electronics related stuff there - typically more of a consumer nature.
Findlay, of course, is a hamfest that’s been going on since forever ago. It always has some good deals, even if it’s raining and not many vendors show up.
I doubt I’ll have any pictures from Johnstown, but there will be plenty from Findlay in the coming month or two.
Johnstown Swapper’s Day
https://jcscohio.org/swappers-day/
September 2-4 (Labor Day Weekend)
9A-6P Rain or Shine
Admission is $6, parking is free in surrounding fields.
Midway has multiple food vendors on site.
The show grounds are located on roads that are not meant to carry this much traffic, and will back up. Go early, if you’re not there when they open it may be difficult to get there. Last year it was so backed up some friends I know didn’t get in.
The Findlay Radio Club Hamfest
https://findlayradioclub.org/hamfest
September 10th, 2023
8A-1P Rain or Shine
Admission is $10, parking is free on site.
Usually 1-2 food vendors on site.
This is easy to get to, but good deals are early. Usually open a little before 8AM.
See you there!
- 2023
- Aug
- 15
Pictures from the 2015 Dayton Hamvention
2015 was the second to last year that the Hamvention was in Dayton.
One of the things I’ve noticed after looking at pictures from the last 20 years, is how the stuff that shows up has changed. In the 90s (no pictures, sorry!) there was a lot of your typical radio gear, but also a lot of golden age computing equipment and a lot of junk PC parts. Boxes of CPUs, hard drives, boards, etc. Early 2000s, the golden age computing stuff vanished to be replaced by a lot of audio gear, CBs, things of that nature. Consumer radios and televisions from the 1950s were in high supply and not that high of demand. 10 years later, consumer electronics from the 50s, 60s, and somewhat of the 70s was plentiful, but fading. Finally, the last few years, all of that old plastic radio stuff from the middle of the 20th century seems to have dried up, to be replaced with gear from the 80s (what’s still working,) and a lot of test equipment from the 60s and 70s, and some from the 80s.
As always, there are plenty of the normal “things” you find at a show like this - old Hallicrafters gear, R390s, etc. - but there’s nothing to listen to so they don’t go as quickly. But they’re still there.
What surprised me about the last show was the lack of those little $100-150 DSP SDR radios that are all over the online shopping sites. Who knows why, maybe they just aren’t as popular with the amateur crowd.
Here’s the pictures I took of the 2015 show, you can see lots of 1950s-1960s radio gear, and some oddball things that have vanished from view these days. It was an excellent day, warm, sunny, and as always, filled with people tripping over the charmingly broken pavement at Hara - hoping the sewer lines didn’t explode again!
My camera here wasn’t the best, and had a lot of trouble with anything that wasn’t full sun. A few of the pictures are slightly blurry, so my apologies in advance.
.
This is a panoramic shot of one of the booths. I believe this guy had a bunch of equipment from the Western Electric North Carolina Works, but I can’t be sure. Some of that stuff tends to all run together.
Finally, the stuff I brought home. A CountyCom radio that was purchased from a dealer that was local to me(!), a book on 555s, some solder, LEDS, tape, and an Atari 2600 joystick. The radio was probably the most expensive item out of all of the stuff, and I still have it sitting on my desk at home. (Pay no attention to the biscuit mix in the background, that didn’t come from Dayton!)
While I do kind of miss the old venue, it’s time had come and gone, in part due to the owner’s neglect. It just seemed to attract a slightly different kind of vendor - Mendelson’s didn’t attend the Xenia show for the few years they had left, and some of the big “stuff on racks” vendors vanished. I’m not going to cry for the latter, however, those guys were a lot more expensive than they should have been, and I’m guessing companies like Rigol put them out of business.
Regardless, things change, and the new venue certainly has better food!
The next show is the Findlay Radio Club event at the Hancock County Fairgrounds in Findlay (of course!) This is always a good show assuming it doesn’t rain. Good stuff shows up without the prices you see at the bigger shows. Stay tuned for those pictures, as well as some from Fort Wayne if I can drag myself up there in November. I also have a few pieces of equipment on the bench, and will be talking about those as soon as I can.
Stay tuned for more stuff.
- 2023
- Aug
- 14
Pictures from the 2015 Findlay Radio Club Hamfest
More digging around in archives revealed a bunch of pictures from the 2015 show in Findlay. I can’t remember if this was the first or second year I went to this show, but it was quite large, and had a lot of things to see and buy, if you were so inclined. The weather was superb, a bright, sunny day.
While I didn’t have the best of cameras at the time, I still took a few good (and some blurry) shots of equipment and items at the show. This one was definitely worth the trip, and we stuck around until the show ended and vendors were packing up.
Next up is some photos from Dayton of the same year.
