- DMR Demonstration Evening
If you’ve been DMR-curious for a while (or you’ve a radio sitting there with a half-finished codeplug), this is a great chance to see a full setup done properly, step-by-step. On Tuesday, 24th March 2026, South Dublin Radio Club, in collaboration with TOG Hackerspace, will host a DMR Demonstration Evening at the club in Rathfarnham. What’s happening on the night Jeffrey Roe (EI7IRB) will give a practical demonstration covering: This session will suit: Want to contribute? Members who’d like to give a short demo or presentation on other parts of DMR are very welcome to get involved — different radios, … - 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 …Continue reading “TOG Hackerspace at the Phoenix ARC “Coolmine” Radio Rally 2026”
- Back On Air: Repairing a Broken Encoder on a Yaesu FT-857A 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 …
Continue reading “Back On Air: Repairing a Broken Encoder on a Yaesu FT-857”
- More Philips Boombox Tinkering
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 … - 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 …Continue reading “A Christmas Miracle Repair, Bringing a 1970s Tape Recorder Back to Life”
- 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: If you … - 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: The same …Continue reading “Radio Experiment Day at Tog Hackerspace – Tuning In to the ISS”
- A Cycle to Hamfest 2025
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 … - Tog at IRTS Hamfest 2025
We’re excited to announce that Tog Hackerspace will be taking part in IRTS Hamfest 2025! The Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) is hosting this year’s Hamfest on Saturday & Sunday, September 6th–7th, 2025, at The Showgrounds, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath (Eircode: N91 HXH0). Hamfest will be one of the highlights of the amateur radio calendar with a weekend full of hands-on activities, workshops, demonstrations, and plenty of radio fun. Whether you’re a seasoned operator, a newly licensed ham, or just radio-curious, this is the perfect event to get involved. What Tog Will Be Doing Our members, Jeffrey (EI7IRB) and Ben (EI9IUB), … - Tog Hackerspace Now On the Air: Say Hello to EI0TOG!
We’re buzzing with excitement to share that Tog Hackerspace has officially joined the airwaves! After months of behind-the-scenes work, we’re now a registered radio club with both the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) and ComReg. That means we’ve been issued our very own club call sign: EI0TOG. This marks another great step for our growing radio crew. Just a few weeks ago, we hosted a brilliant radio day in the space, tuning into satellites, making contacts, and chatting all things RF. With the new call sign in place, there’s plenty more radio fun ahead. In the coming weeks, we’ll be …Continue reading “Tog Hackerspace Now On the Air: Say Hello to EI0TOG!”
The Dublin Hackerspace