Today’s repair is on one of my radios – a Yaesu FT-857. While testing a new headset and tuning around the bands, the select knob twisted its last and came out of the front panel and into my hand: disaster!
This encoder is vital to using the radio, so its breaking rendered it a paperweight. The radio itself has been out of production for a number of years now, but unlike most “consumer” devices, amateur radios have very good technical documentation available to end users.
I dug up a PDF copy of the technical supplement, which contains a complete readout of the internals, block and circuit diagrams and servicing information. Reviewing the parts layout showed the front panel PCB and revealed the encoder pinout .
Searching for the Yaesu part number returned a number of retailers offering the part for 30 EUR a piece, and further digging revealed that the original part is an ALPS EC12E24244A4, which is appears to be out of production, but thankfully not an issue.
Breaking down the encoder specification – the replacement part needs to be:
Horizontal Mount
24 Detents, 24 Pulses per revolution
30mm shaft
with a push momentary switch.
Mouser to the rescue! A Bourns PEC12R-4230F-S0024 meets these requirements, and comparing it on the data sheet with the layout shows that it is a drop-in replacement.
I ordered 25 to make the shipping worthwhile, but the satisfaction of paying about a euro for a replacement part made up for it and ensured that I have a good supply for when I break it again!
I zeroed in on the exploded parts diagram and planned the repair; only a few screws were in the way.
After removing it, you can see the remains of the shaft inside the encoder body.
Unfortunately, I did not take any further photos after this point – I was in a rush to make and test the repair. Thankfully, it worked without a hitch, and I’m now back on air at home.
Having recently fixed the Philips boombox CD player, we decided to review the battery compartment mod, done at least 20 years ago, and still working.
The original idea was to fill the battery compartment with 8x rechargeable D cells and arrange that they would be constantly trickle-charged while the mains lead was plugged in. The battery compartment’s positive terminal was connected via a current-limiting resistor to the power supply section of the PCB. This trickle charges the cells at about 10mA. This is enough to charge them up over a few days, but not enough to cook them.
Good quality branded rechargeable D-cells are relatively expensive…. about €10 a pop for a ~10Ah cell, so it’s about €80 to fill the battery compartment. Given that the thing is not used that often on battery, this was a bit much. So instead, 8x AA cells were used in holders, and soldered to the existing connections in the battery compartment. The cells were NiMH made by GP and rated at 1.2V, 1500mAHr. This mod was done, we guess sometime around 2000.
So today, ~25 years later, new cells were fitted and we measured the capacity of the original cells. Discharging at 200mA to a cutoff voltage of 0.9V, the original cells tested at 599mAHr…. about 40% of their original nameplate capacity. The new cells fitted are from Lidl and are rated at 2500mAHr.
We got a message in the run-up to Christmas with a simple ask. Could we pull off a last-minute repair of a vintage tape recorder and save the day?
When the request came from our long-time friend Claire Downey, the person who first introduced us to Repair Cafés over ten years ago, we knew we had to give it a proper go.
The patient from a charity shop on the bench was an ITT Schaub-Lorenz SL54 Automatic, a Taiwanese-made radio cassette recorder from the mid 1970s, roughly 1974 to 1976. A proper bit of kit, and the kind of thing you do not want to see quietly written off and binned because “sure it’s old”.
Ambrose stepped up to take on the challenge.
If you have ever opened up something like this, the first suspect is nearly always the belts. Those rubber belts drive the moving parts, and after decades they tend to stretch, go shiny, or crumble into sticky bits. You open the case expecting the usual mess, then you cross your fingers that you have a belt in the right size somewhere in the spares box.
This time we got a surprise.
Instead of a belt that had perished with age, we found… a hair bobbin.
Somebody, at some point, had tried to get it going again using whatever they had to hand. Fair play for the creativity, but a hair bobbin is not going to keep the timing and tension right, so the tape speed was off and the audio came out warped.
The good news is we did have the right belt to hand. A straightforward swap, and while we had it open, it turned into a lovely teaching moment. That is a big part of what we do at TOG. It is not only about fixing the thing; it is about sharing repair skills and helping the owner understand what is going on inside their device.
Half an hour later, with the belt fitted and everything buttoned back up, it was time for the real test.
Out came a vintage Beatles mixtape. We hit play. Clean sound through the little speaker. Job done.
Another repair complete, another device saved from landfill, and Christmas officially rescued.
If something breaks over the Christmas stretch, or you unwrap a “project” by accident, do not panic. Bring it along to our next Repair Café on Sunday, 18 January 2026.
We have a shiny new addition to our amateur radio setup at Tog Hackerspace.
A huge thanks to Niall Donohue EI6HIB, from our friends in South Dublin Radio Club, for the generous donation of a cobweb antenna. In true Tog fashion, it has already been renamed the “TogWeb”.
Over the next few weeks we will be installing the TogWeb at the space and getting it tuned up for our HF station. The cobweb design gives us multi-band HF coverage in a compact footprint, which suits our city location nicely.
Once it is up in the air, it will:
Improve our HF receive and transmit performance
Give us more reliable contacts across Europe and beyond
Make it easier to demo HF to visitors during open nights and events
If you are interested in amateur radio, HF operation, or you are curious what all the wires and boxes are about, drop by the space on one of our open evenings. We are always happy to show people the station and talk radio.
We hope to log many more QSOs under our club callsign EI0TOG using the TogWeb. With a bit of luck, you might even end up in the log yourself.
As part of National Space Week, Tog Hackerspace in Dublin will be hosting a Radio Experiment Day on Sunday, October 5th, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This isn’t a class or formal demonstration — it’s a hands-on day of experimenting, tinkering, and learning together. The focus will be on trying out different ways to receive signals from the ARISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV) event taking place that weekend.
The Space Week SSTV Event, Series 29, will feature six images transmitted from the International Space Station (ISS) on 145.800 MHz (PD120 encoding). Two transmission windows are scheduled:
First Window: Oct 3–4, Start Fri 14:00 UTC, End Sat 10:00 UTC
Second Window: Oct 4–6, Start Sat 11:00 UTC, End Mon (time TBD)
The same set of images will be sent in both windows, so there will be plenty of opportunities to catch them. On the day, we’ll also be calling in to the Dublin-area IRTS news broadcast on 2M, with two especially good ISS passes around 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Everyone is encouraged to bring along their own radios, antennas, and setups — the more variety, the better! Feel free to just drop in, have a chat, and join the fun.
📍 Location: Tog Hackerspace, Unit 1B, Motorcity, Kylemore Rd, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V 🅿️ Lots of free parking available 🔗 More info: https://www.tog.ie
Come join us, meet fellow amateurs, and help us see just how many ISS images we can pull down from space!
This year’s IRTS Hamfest, our member Jeffrey cycled down to Mullingar and wrote this post.
Instead of taking the train or car, I decided to cycle the 95 km from Dublin, following the Grand Canal out to Adamstown, cutting across, and then joining the Royal Canal all the way west.
The journey had its challenges, with closed sections, impassable barriers, and detours that stretched a 10 km road section into 17 km. But there were plenty of highlights too. I love a good bundle, so along the way, I decided to take photos for the Wiki Loves Monuments project, trying to make sure everything on the national monument registry has a photo. That had me stopping at landmarks such as Ballyfermot Bridge and the 12th Lock Bridge, and enjoying a lunch break at the Boyne Viaduct, complete with a battery swap on my e-bike. I was even joined from Leixlip by a fellow club member for the journey.
By late afternoon, I arrived in Mullingar and settled into Hamfest.
Activity at Hamfest
Hamfest this year was buzzing with activity, with a wide range of groups and demonstrations:
Collective Communication Radio Club had their trailer-based mobile station on show. It’s a fantastic setup designed to bring amateur radio right into the heart of communities, complete with HF and VHF/UHF capability, antennas, and a neat operating position. I had a great chat with their members about how they deploy it for outreach events.
The Galway Radio Experimenters Club showcased Morse code trainer kits based on ESP32 boards. These little devices allow budding operators to learn and practise CW with built-in keyers, displays, and sounders with modern microcontrollers helping keep the oldest digital mode alive.
The RAYNET Emergency Communications Group gave a live demonstration of AREDN mesh networking (https://www.arednmesh.org), linking radios into a network carrying VoIP, messaging, and data services. Seeing voice calls and file transfers moving seamlessly over amateur microwave links was a great reminder of the role radio can play in resilience.
The EIDX Group had a stand full of stories and photos from their DXpeditions. They’ve activated rare locations around the world, giving thousands of operators new countries in the log. Their passion for bringing remote places onto the bands was inspiring.
My own club, Tog Hackerspace (https://www.tog.ie), had a stand showing packet radio from Ben (EI9IUB). We had good discussions about how the hackerspace community overlaps with amateur radio with experimentation, DIY builds, and curiosity.
For me, a real highlight was sitting down to do some hands-on soldering. I had people drop in to chat while learning how to solder for the first time, and with others who were more experienced, sharing advanced techniques and discussing why we should all be switching to lead-free solder.
Social Side
Hamfest is not only about radios and equipment, but also about community. On Saturday evening, I joined the YOTA Ireland team and their invited guests. We played games late into the night, before moving on to share stories well past midnight. While there was no campfire this year, we improvised with hot water bottles (thanks to Ana!) to keep warm.
On Sunday morning, the car boot sale was a highlight. After rummaging through the tables, I found an adjustable bench power supply for just €15, a proper bargain, and a reminder that Hamfest always has surprises in store.
The Return Journey
After two full days of activity, it was time to cycle home. I had company on the way down for the chats, and an audiobook kept me going on the solo cycle back. The return trip began under grey skies, with a 45-minute rain shower outside Kilcock. After a battery swap at 54 km, the sun reappeared, and I made good progress along the Royal Canal. I arrived back in Dublin about an hour quicker than on the outbound trip, helped by fewer photo stops and no sit-down lunch.
Thanks also to Ben (EI9IUB) & Conor(EI3020) for bringing down the soldering gear and my tent, which allowed me to cycle bag-free. It made the whole adventure a lot more manageable.
This being the first-ever IRTS Hamfest, it was fantastic to see such a strong turnout, a variety of engaging stands, and plenty of opportunities for learning and socialising. It was a fitting start to what I hope will become a regular highlight of the Irish amateur radio calendar. You can see even more photos of the event in our gallery.
