Category: Radio

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TOG Hackerspace at the Phoenix ARC “Coolmine” Radio Rally 2026

Last year we packed up a few projects, a pile of flyers, and the usual “sure we’ll only be there an hour” optimism… and had a brilliant day out at the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club annual rally in Coolmine.

Good news: it’s on again this year, and we’ll be back along representing TOG — EI0TOG — for a chat, a catch-up, and a bit of radio craic.

Radio rallies are for everyone

If you’ve never been to a radio rally, don’t let the name put you off. They’re not just for licensed amateurs or hardcore collectors — they’re for anyone who likes electronics, making, fixing, DIY, audio gear, test equipment, and learning how things work.

You’ll see traders with radios and antennas, boxes of components, the “maybe I’ll need that someday” adapters, and plenty of people happy to help you figure out what you’re looking at (or what you accidentally bought!).

The details

Date: Sunday 15th February 2026
Event: 2026 Phoenix Amateur Radio Club “Coolmine” Rally
Venue: Coolmine Community School, Dublin, D15 FW97
Doors open: 10:00

Say hello to TOG (EI0TOG)

Drop over and say hi at the TOG table. Whether you’re curious about getting started in radio, want to know what a hackerspace is like, or you’re deep into a project and looking for a nudge in the right direction — we’re always up for a chat.

And if you’re already on the air, give us a wave — it’s always great to meet radio friends in person as well as over the bands.

Photos from last year

Want a taste of what the Coolmine Rally is like? Here’s our gallery from last year’s visit — stalls, treasures, and the general rally buzz:

https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/all/phoenix-amateur-radio-club-annual-radio-rally-2025

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Back On Air: Repairing a Broken Encoder on a Yaesu FT-857

A repair story from our own Ben EI9IUB.

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.

73 de EI9IUB

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More Philips Boombox Tinkering

new AA cells

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.

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A Christmas Miracle Repair, Bringing a 1970s Tape Recorder Back to Life

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.

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/repair-cafe-tickets-1977495649721?aff=oddtdtcreator

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New “TogWeb” HF Antenna for EI0TOG

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.

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Radio Experiment Day at Tog Hackerspace – Tuning In to the ISS

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!