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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 getting the station properly set up in the space. Once it’s live, members and guests will be able to hop on the airwaves and try out EI0TOG (with a licensed operator supervising, of course).

Stay tuned for more updates as we power up EI0TOG!

Curious about amateur radio or want to get involved? Swing by an open night or give us a shout, we’d love to get you on the air.

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The Rocking Chair that Came Back to Life at Laois Repair Café

Over the weekend, we hit the road and went to Laois, and what a weekend it was! We managed to fix over 45 items, ranging from toasters to clothes to a whole host of quirky gadgets. People came in with broken stuff, and by the end of the event, many of them were walking out with their favourite items fixed and ready for another lease of life.

But the real heartwarming story of the weekend? It has to be Pauline’s rocking chair, which got a fresh lease of life thanks to our very own Shane Phelan. Now, this wasn’t just any chair; it had history.

Pauline shared a bit about it: “Thanks a million! Chair is fantastic work—my husband is currently sat on it watching a match! It was purchased for my dad (by my mother—they married in 1973) in 1968 for his 21st birthday in June 1968, in Roches Store, Patrick St. Cork! I got it recovered, sanded, varnished, and refurbished (!!🤡) in 2021 but it wasn’t right. Today my husband said he feels more secure in it, so thank you Shane!!”

The rocking chair had been through a lot, but with a little TLC and a touch of Shane’s magic, it’s now back in action and more solid than ever.

The Laois Repair Café was filled with similar stories. There were people bringing in everything from old radios and lamps to stuffed toys and even kitchen appliances, all with one goal: to keep it out of the landfill, and give it another chance. And that’s exactly what we did.

As always, it wasn’t just about repairs. The event was a great chance for people to learn a few tricks, share some stories, and connect with their community. The event was hosted by The CUBE – Low Carbon Centre of Excellence in their lovely building.

These special Repair Café events were only possible with the support of Laois County Council, in collaboration with the Eastern-Midlands Waste Region, and with the generous backing of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.

Massive thanks to everyone who came along, and to the volunteers who made it all happen. Check out some of the photos from the weekend in our gallery, and we can’t wait to do it all again soon!

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Tog Hackerspace Receives Support from the Local Enhancement Programme 2025

We are excited to announce that we have received support through the Local Enhancement Programme 2025, an initiative from the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. This grant will play a key role in enhancing our facilities and ensuring the continued success of our community-driven projects.

The Local Enhancement Programme 2025 is designed to assist community organisations, particularly those serving disadvantaged areas, by providing funding for capital improvements and operational costs. For Tog, this means we will be able to improve our infrastructure, expand our offerings, and continue providing a space for innovation, creativity, and hands-on learning. The grant will help ensure that Tog can continue to serve as a collaborative hub for individuals to explore and develop their skills in technology and problem-solving.

With this support, we can offer even more opportunities for our members and visitors to engage in a wide range of workshops and activities, from electronics and 3D printing to IoT and programming. It’s an exciting time for the hackerspace, and we look forward to welcoming more people into our vibrant community.

We encourage everyone to visit Tog Hackerspace during our open nights! Whether you’re a maker, tech enthusiast, or just curious, there’s always something new to discover. Come see what we’re working on and find out how you can get involved in shaping the future of innovation and creativity in our community.

For more information about the Local Enhancement Programme and to see the full list of other projects supported, check out the press release.

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Laois Repair Cafe

We’re excited to be taking our Repair Café on the road again, this time to Laois for a weekend filled with fixing, learning, and community spirit!

Join us at The CUBE – Low Carbon Centre of Excellence in Portlaoise on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June 2025, from 11 am to 3 pm each day. We’re teaming up with a fantastic new partner to help give your broken items a second chance.

What can you bring?

We’ll be ready to tackle repairs on a wide range of household items, including:

  • Clothes and accessories
  • Toys
  • Small electrical appliances and electronics
  • Small furniture
  • …and more!

We’ll even have PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) available to ensure repaired electrical devices are safe to use.

Whether it’s a wonky toaster, glitchy switch, or a teddy missing a limb—don’t throw it away! Our volunteers will work with you to diagnose and repair your items, all while sharing tips and advice to help you learn new skills.

While you’re waiting, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and take a tour of The CUBE, a national centre of excellence focused on innovation and sustainability in the low-carbon and renewables sector.

Event Details
🛠️ When: Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th June 2025
⏰ Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm each day
📍 Where: The CUBE, 18 Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, R32 TP89
🎟️ Admission: Free, but booking in advance via Eventbrite is essential.

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/laois-repair-cafe-tickets-1409501188999?aff=oddtdtcreator

This special Repair Café event is only possible thanks to the support of Laois County Council, in collaboration with the Eastern-Midlands Waste Region, and with the generous backing of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.

Continue reading “Laois Repair Cafe”
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CB Radio Repair – Philips 369 22AP369

Read about this repair by our own Jeffrey, fixing an old-school CB radio setup.

A member arrived at the space one evening with a pair of CB radios: a Philips 369 (22AP369) and a MARC/CB base station (AP569). It’s hard to pin down the exact year of manufacture, but they likely date back to the 1980s. The two radios and the base station were mostly working, but with a few issues. One radio had no sound from its speaker, and the base station wasn’t outputting any power. Time to open them up.

Power Problems

Four screws and we’re inside. The base station revealed a transformer, an audio amplifier, and a nice fuse holder — with a clearly blown fuse, I could see without even taking out the meter. It was a 220V / 100 mA fuse, which I didn’t have on hand, so the repair was put on hold for a while.

Once I sourced a new fuse and installed it, it blew straight away. So did the next three.

In the end, I increased the rating on the fuse from 100 mA to 200 mA, and it held up. I adjusted the output to 13.8 volts, and it seemed to settle down. Maybe it’s just the age of the components that’s causing it to draw more current than expected?

Radio Repairs

Next up: the speaker issue. The sound worked perfectly on an external speaker, but nothing from the internal one. I noticed two mystery wires someone had added to the radio at some point. Curious, I opened it up.

I found a spare speaker in my stash with the same resistance (8 Ω) and rated for 0.5 W. It looked similar in size — the wattage might not be an exact match, but it was worth a test. A few crocodile clips later, and I had sound. Turns out the original speaker was just blown.

A little soldering and the new speaker was in. As for those mystery wires? I chose to embrace a little bit of mystery and just taped them up safely. Sometimes it’s okay not to know everything.

Antenna Adventure

Maybe I look like a radio person now. At the last Repair Café in Blanchardstown Library, someone randomly offered me a CB radio antenna — without me even mentioning radio! It was missing a few parts, but it worked well enough for testing.

With that, both radios were working again. I might be a few decades late to catch any actual CB chatter, but this was a fun little repair project. To actually transmit between the two radios, I’d need another antenna — but that’s a task for another day.

Check out our gallery for even more photos of the repair. Photos here.

Got something old and broken?
Join us at a future Repair Café or electronics night at Tog Hackerspace and bring it back to life, or at least enjoy taking it apart!

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Another USB-C upgrade

USB-C conversions are becoming a bit of a thing around here. We repaired a faulty work light earlier this year, and we took the opportunity to upgrade the charging socket to USB-C. A few other items have had the same treatment over the last few months. This latest one is an old-school light box for viewing film negatives and slides. We’re still keen on our film photography at TOG, and we still have all of our dark room equipment. 

As-built, this particular light box came with with a foot-long fluorescent tube. Inside, there is a driver PCB for the tube, and a 6x D-cell battery compartment. It also has a 3.5mm power input socket if you want to run it from some kind of adapter.  

The small driver PCB inside takes the ~9V battery voltage and bumps it up to the high voltage required to to run the fluorescent tube. The switching transistor on the driver has already failed once in the past, and its heat sink gets very hot during operation. Probably not a very optimal design or power efficient.

A bit of work with a Dremel and we have a nice oval hole for the new USB-C socket. A few touches with a soldering iron to melt the plastic, and the socket is now joined firmly to the case. The intention was to feed in 5v, and then bump it up to something closer to 12v to charge the batteries via a current limiting resistor. A cheap voltage converter sourced from the usual websites would look after that.

That was the intended upgrade, but a bit of feature creep came along last night. We thought that it would be nice to replace the fluorescent lamp with a more power efficient LED one. This would also allow us to eliminate that iffy driver PCB. Rummaging around the space, an old emergency light fitting had a nice LED strip ripe for harvesting. Check back in with us over the next while to see the finished article. If you have anything that you think might benefit from a USB-C upgrade, drop in to our regular Monday and Tuesday open nights.