Author: tdr

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Radio & Retro Weekend at TOG: 24–25 October 2026

Join us at TOG Hackerspace for a weekend of amateur radio, hands-on workshops, old technology and a bit of messing.

On Saturday, we’ll be building satellite ground stations, trying packet radio, making callsign patches and putting soldering skills to the test. There will be live demonstrations and afternoon talks, followed by our October Open Social and pizza night.

Sunday starts with radio in the park, before we return to TOG for an afternoon of vintage radios, retro computers, consoles and restoration projects.

Radio amateurs, shortwave listeners, makers and curious newcomers are all welcome. You don’t need a radio licence to attend.

Book your place

There are three separate Eventbrite listings, so you can book the parts of the weekend you’d like to attend:

The Sunday morning Parks on the Air session is an open outdoor meetup and does not need an Eventbrite ticket.

Saturday 24 October: Radio Day

10:00–11:30 | Build Your Own Satellite Ground Station

Start the weekend with a hands-on introduction to TinyGS, a network of small ground stations receiving satellite signals using LoRa hardware.

Learn how these stations work and get started with building your own. This workshop has separate booking from the afternoon Radio Day.

Book the satellite ground station workshop

From 12:00 | Live radio demos and callsign patches

Drop in from noon to explore the equipment, meet the operators and try some making.

Pump-up mast with Ben Field, EI9IUB

Ben will demonstrate his trailer-mounted mast, built around an ex-MOD Sankey trailer and a Clark SCAM 12 mast. The setup normally carries a hexbeam antenna and rotator, with a dipole for the lower bands.

Come and see how it works and chat about setting up a portable radio station.

Packet radio with Victor, EI5IYB

Earlier this year, TOG joined the packet radio network. Vic will give practical demonstrations of connecting to and using it, and introduce the applications built on top of the network.

Discover how computers communicate over radio, with uses including messaging, group chat and news and weather services. Thanks to the Online Amateur Radio Community (OARC) for supporting this part of the programme.

Make your own callsign patch with Tree

Tree will be on hand throughout the day to demonstrate TOG’s new industrial embroidery machine and help visitors make their own callsign patches.

Learn how the machine works and see your callsign turned into a patch. Thanks to the Irish Radio Transmitters Society for part-funding the consumables through its Promoting Amateur Radio Fund. Donations towards material costs are welcome.

13:00 and 14:00 | Advanced soldering workshops

Already know how to solder and want a new challenge? We have a range of kits for you to try, with instructors on hand to help you get started and work through the tricky bits.

These informal workshops start at 13:00 and 14:00. Kits cost €10–€20, depending on which you choose, and soldering irons are provided.

Afternoon | Radio talks

Three talks will bring us together for a closer look at different sides of radio in collaboration with Engineers Ireland Electronic and Computing Division . The programme includes

15:00 | Making Room for the Whimsical in Amateur Radio – Jeffrey Roe, EI7IRB

From Toilets on the Air to sending cat pictures with EI0MEOW, amateur radio has plenty of room for a bit of messing. Jeffrey explores playful projects, lightbulb antennas and Halloween Morse events, asking how we can encourage unusual ideas in our clubs.

A talk about curiosity, experimentation and enjoying radio simply because it makes us smile.

16:00 | Radiosondes: Radio and Weather Balloons – Met Éireann

An introduction to radiosondes, the instruments carried by weather balloons, and how radio is used to send atmospheric measurements back to the ground.

17:00 | Radio skills, skills for life – Vic, EI5IYB

Amateur Radio is a technical hobby but not only. It is a hobby of many hobbies, from mechanical engineering and communication skills to project management. In this talk, Vic will explore the skills that are gained in the ham radio hobby and how they transfer into your personal and professional life.

See the Saturday Eventbrite listing for the current talk timetable and full speaker line-up

From 18:00 | TOG Open Social & Pizza Night

Stay around after the talks for TOG’s October Open Social. We’ll fire up the pizza oven, meet members and visitors, show off projects and keep the radio, electronics and making chats going into the evening.

Book your free place for Saturday’s Radio Day, talks and social

Sunday 25 October: Radio in the Park & Retro Day

10:30–12:30 | Parks on the Air at Lansdowne Valley Park

We’ll start Sunday outdoors with a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation at Lansdowne Valley Park Recreation Park.

Come and see a portable amateur radio station in action. We’ll get on the air, including calling into the South Dublin Radio Club Sunday net and listening to and checking in after the IRTS Sunday News on 2 metres.

It’s a chance to see how a station can be taken out into a park and put on the air, or to join other operators for a morning of portable radio.

14:00–18:00 | Retro Radio & Computing Day

Sunday afternoon is for old radios, glowing screens and technology that still has plenty of stories to tell.

Our Retro Day returns with a special focus on vintage radio and communications equipment, alongside retro computers, consoles, games, test equipment and unusual electronics.

Members, radio clubs, collectors and visitors are invited to bring equipment to demonstrate and restoration projects to talk about. Working machines and projects still in progress are both welcome.

Have something to show? Email info@tog.ie with what you’d like to bring, how much table space you need and any power or display requirements.

Come along to exhibit, try some old technology or simply have a look and a chat. Please ask the owner before operating any equipment.

Book your free place for Retro Radio & Computing Day

Getting to TOG

All activities take place at TOG Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V, apart from Sunday morning’s POTA session at Lansdowne Valley Park.

TOG is a short walk from the Kylemore stop on the Luas Red Line. See our location page for directions. For access questions or other event enquiries, email info@tog.ie.

Radio Day and Retro Day have free entry. Advanced soldering kits cost €10–€20, and donations towards callsign patch materials are welcome. Check the separate satellite workshop listing for its ticket details.

With thanks

The weekend is made possible with support from Dublin City Council.

Thanks also to the IRTS Promoting Amateur Radio Fund for part-funding callsign patch materials, and the Online Amateur Radio Community for supporting the packet radio activities.

Come for a workshop, bring an old radio, join us in the park or stay for the whole weekend. We look forward to seeing you.

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Sharing TOG’s Citizen Science Story

We’re delighted to congratulate TOG member Jeffrey Roe, who has co-authored a chapter with Jack R. Lehane in Care, Health and Housing: Crisis, Experiences and Answers.

Edited by Lidia Katia C. Manzo and published by Policy Press on 28 September 2026, the book explores the connections between housing conditions, health and care. TOG’s citizen science workshops are part of that story.

Jeffrey and Jack’s contribution is Chapter 8, “Grassroots citizen science and indoor air quality networks: tools for understanding inadequate social housing conditions.” It looks at how affordable sensors and community involvement can help people understand conditions in their homes and gather evidence to support calls for improvements.

For Jeffrey, it all started with a citizen science workshop. Sharing the practical work we were doing led to conversations about housing and health, an invitation to contribute, and eventually this collaboration.

If you have taken part in one of our air quality workshops, some of the chapter will feel familiar. It describes people coming together to assemble their own sensors, learn how they work and share environmental data. There are also photographs from TOG workshops, showing participants building enclosures and putting their devices together.

Over the years, we have brought these activities to different communities, including our work with the Abbeyleix Climate Action Project and our Build Your Own Air Quality Sensor workshop for Science Week. Participants learn practical electronics skills while contributing to a shared understanding of the air around them.

The chapter connects that hands-on learning with a wider question: how can communities use the knowledge and tools they build together to improve the places where they live?

It’s lovely to see work that starts around our workshop tables become part of a book. Congratulations to Jeffrey and Jack, thank you to Lidia for bringing the publication together, and thanks to all the volunteers and participants who make these workshops possible.

The whole book is open access, so you can read it online for free. You’ll find Jeffrey and Jack’s chapter on pages 147–164. A paperback edition is also available.

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TOG Repair Café at BuzzFest in Phibsboro

We’re taking the TOG repair tools to Phibsboro this Saturday, 3 October, for BuzzFest.

BuzzFest is Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns’ community, sustainability and biodiversity festival. We’ll be running a Repair Café where you can bring along a small broken item and sit down with a volunteer to see what can be done. Small electrical appliances, electronics, toys, jewellery and clothing are among the things the Repair Café can look at.

The idea is to work on the item together. We can’t promise every repair will succeed, but we’ll give it a good look and help you understand what might be wrong.

The festival is free to visit, with stalls, talks, workshops, music and food throughout the afternoon. Please book a Repair Café slot in advance, as space at the repair tables is limited.

Event details

  • When: Saturday 3 October 2026, 12:30 pm to 4 pm
  • Where: Panama Scout Hall, Royal Canal Bank, Phibsborough, behind Phibsboro Library
  • Cost: Free

Book your Repair Café slot here, or find out more about BuzzFest.

Thanks to Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns for inviting us. We look forward to seeing what turns up on the repair tables.

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TOG at the Kildare Amateur Radio Buy & Sell Extravaganza

The TOG radio crew will be heading to County Kildare on Sunday, 18 October, for the Kildare Amateur Radio Club Buy & Sell Extravaganza.

We will have a TOG and EI0TOG table at the event, so come over and say hello. We will be happy to chat about the hackerspace, our radio shack, our amateur radio activities and the projects our members have been working on.

The event brings together amateur radio operators, CB operators, shortwave listeners, clubs and traders from across the island of Ireland. It is an opportunity to buy, sell or swap surplus radio equipment—or simply meet old friends and talk radio.

There should be a wide range of equipment available, including radios, antennas, receivers, power supplies, SWR and power meters, antenna tuners, handheld radios, repeaters, cables, fittings and plenty more.

Event details

Date: Sunday, 18 October 2026
Time: 11am to 1:30pm
Venue: Kill GAA Football Club, Kill Village, Co. Kildare
Eircode: W91 XP95
Admission: €5 per person; children under 12 go free

There is ample parking at the clubhouse, with easy access from the N7 and M7.

The clubhouse bar will open at 12 noon for refreshments, with lunches available from 12:30pm onwards.

Anyone who has surplus equipment to sell can book a table free of charge by emailing info@kildarearc.com. Traders will be admitted from 10am to allow time to set up.

Further details are available from the Kildare Amateur Radio Club:

Kildare Amateur Radio Club – EI0K

We are looking forward to meeting everyone on the day. We will also try not to return to TOG with more radio equipment than we brought—but no promises.

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The Autumn Reset: Repair Café in Clondalkin

We are taking the TOG repair tools on the road again.

On Thursday 17 September, TOG volunteers will be at Ace Enterprise Park in Bawnogue for a free Repair Café. The event is part of The Autumn Reset, Ace Enterprise Park’s Circular Economy Week.

Do you have a broken household item sitting at home? Bring it along and see if we can help give it another chance.

At a Repair Café, the idea is not simply to hand something over to be fixed. You sit down with a volunteer repairer, open it up together and try to work out what has gone wrong. We cannot promise that everything can be repaired, but we will give it a good look and hopefully share some useful skills along the way.

Repair Cafés help keep useful items in service for longer, reduce waste and make repair a little less mysterious.

Event details

  • Date: Thursday 17 September 2026
  • Time: 12:00 to 16:00
  • Location: Ace Enterprise Park, Bawnogue, Dublin 22
  • Eircode: D22 P6E8
  • Cost: Free
  • Free parking is available on site.

Full details and free registration are available on Eventbrite.

The Autumn Reset continues on Friday 18 September with a Community Clothing Swap.

Thanks to Ace Enterprise Park for inviting us. We look forward to seeing what turns up on the repair tables.

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Repair, Radio and a Bicycle: Clonmel to Waterford

Read all about our member Jeffrey‘s trip to The Circular Square.

On Saturday 5 September I put my bicycle on an Irish Rail train in Dublin and headed south to Clonmel. With the bike safely in its rack and the panniers packed, it was a pleasantly straightforward start to a three-day trip running through to Monday 7 September.

The main reason for travelling was a weekend of repair and Linux workshops at The Circular Square. Around that, I had plans for some cycling, portable amateur radio and a little monument photography. It sounds like several different weekends packed into one, but they fitted together rather well.

Continue reading “Repair, Radio and a Bicycle: Clonmel to Waterford”