We’re excited to share that Tog member Jeffrey Roe (EI7IRB) will be heading to HamCon Belgium 2025 on Saturday, 26th April, where he’ll be hosting a hands-on workshop titled:
🚀 Build Your Own Satellite Ground Station
HamConBE is Belgium’s premier forum for engineers, scientists, radio amateurs, researchers, and students to exchange ideas on radio technology and beyond. It’s a great mix of innovation, technical talks, and hands-on learning and Jeffrey is thrilled to be part of the lineup.
📡 Workshop Details In this exciting session, Jeffrey will guide participants through building and operating their very own satellite ground station. Whether you’re a radio amateur, into electronics, IoT, antenna design, or just love space, this one’s for you.
During the workshop, you’ll:
🔧 Build and Program a TinyGS ground station and a quarter-wave ground plane antenna
🛰️ Receive Data from satellites and other flying objects
🛠️ Get Hands-On with all materials, tools, and components provided on the day
👉 Don’t miss this chance to dive into the fascinating world of space and radio tech.
🎟️ Admission to HamConBE is free, but registration is required: Register for HamConBE Note: The workshop requires a separate ticket via Eventbrite.
Can’t make it all the way to Belgium?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! The same workshop will also be run here in Dublin at Tog Hackerspace as part of Dublin Tech Week.
Tog Hackerspace member Eduard Garanskij is hitting the road again—this time to Swindon for RetroFest 2025! The event will take place in the Hawksworth Room at STEAM—Museum of the Great Western Railway, and it will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 31st, and Sunday, June 1st.
Eduard’s exhibit, titled “Journey Through Time: Exploring the Legacy of 80s Programmable Calculators and Soviet-Era Computers,” will dive deep into the fascinating world of vintage Soviet computing. Visitors will get a rare chance to see how Soviet computers were built using original CPUs, often engineered for compatibility with the PDP architecture. Alongside this, Eduard will showcase iconic programmable calculators from the 1980s, offering live demos and insights into their historical context and functionality.
If you’re in the UK or fancy a retro tech weekend away, don’t miss this chance to see Eduard’s hands-on exhibit and explore the roots of Eastern Bloc computing history!
📍 Location: STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, Fire Fly Ave, Swindon SN2 2EY 🗓️ Dates: Saturday 31st May – Sunday 1st June 2025
Here’s a project write-up by our member Jeffrey Roe, who recently built a Slow Scan TV (SSTV) demo using a Raspberry Pi Pico. He showed it off during the IRTS AGM weekend and radio rally—blending hardware, software, and radio in true hacker fashion.
For the IRTS AGM weekend and radio rally, I wanted to put together a fun little demo to show off something radio-related that combines both hardware and software tinkering. The result? A working SSTV (Slow Scan Television) transmission system using a Raspberry Pi Pico. The aim was to send images over audio and decode them via amateur radio equipment—or in this case, a phone and an oscilloscope during testing.
Like all great projects, this one started with the classic struggle: trying to avoid soldering… and thinking it would only take an hour. How wrong I was!
Eventually, I gave in and soldered up a 3.5 mm audio jack breakout to plug into the breadboard cleanly. From there, things started to fall into place. I used a universal PCB with header pins and cut it to a smaller size.
With the jack connected and audio output sorted, it was time for some proper testing. I had an app on my phone I’d always thought might come in handy one day—and it finally did! Phyphox is like a mini lab on your phone. It can generate audio waveforms, which are perfect for our use case here. I used it to generate tones and verified the signal with an oscilloscope.
Once the circuit was wired up on the breadboard, the project used the following parts:
Part
Quantity
320×240 ILI9341 display
1
Raspberry Pi Pico
1
10kΩ resistor
2
100nF ceramic capacitor
1
3.5mm Stereo Socket
1
With everything connected, it was time to dive into the code. I followed the fantastic SSTV code by Jon Dawson, written for the Raspberry Pi Pico. The setup was straightforward, and before long, I had the system sending out a test image—a cat from @choiceIrregular, naturally—via SSTV.
If you’ve never heard SSTV audio before, it’s… unique. I captured a short video of the transmission. (Fair warning: it’s not exactly soothing—so maybe turn the volume down. Bonus: you can decode the audio from the video too!)
The final step was hooking the system up to a radio for real over-the-air transmission. On the transmission side, I used a USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter connected to my phone (using the SSTV Encoder app), paired with a “Kenwood” 2.5 mm TRS to 3.5 mm TRS connector-to-bare-wires cable. Using a connector block, I had a rough-and-ready USB-to-mic cable.
On the receiver side and another radio, I used another “Kenwood” adapter—this time to a 3.5 mm female socket—and then a simple 3.5 mm audio cable into my device.
And it worked! 🎉 Bonus: The photo below is a selfie of the project itself.
This little project was a great way to showcase digital image transmission using amateur radio, with a modern twist via the Raspberry Pi Pico. It sparked some fun conversations at the rally and hopefully inspired a few fellow hams to try it out themselves.
There’s also lots of scope for improvements. Here are a few ideas:
Moving it off the breadboard to make it more robust for events
Adding shielding—if I transmit too close, the screen goes white (I suspect interference on the SPI bus)
Saving received images—the screen has an SD card slot
Automating the sending side—currently, I have to hold the PTT button manually
Sometimes, the best sessions are the ones you don’t plan.
During a recent open evening at Tog Hackerspace, a visitor walked in carrying a curious bit of vintage tech – a Quickshot Studio 4 Sound Mixing System from the 1980s. Sadly, it had seen better days and showed no signs of life. But its retro charm and potential to make funky noises quickly captured the imagination of everyone in the room.
Within minutes, a team of members and visitors formed around the mystery machine. Tools came out, screws were undone, and curiosity led the charge. Once opened up, the source of the silence became clearer – the wire to the battery compartment had failed, and the switch for toggling between the 6V adapter and battery power had also given up.
So, what to do?
The owner casually mentioned, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could convert it to USB-C?” Well, challenge accepted.
First, we needed to see if the system would even work with a slightly lower voltage. We hooked it up to an adjustable power supply, dialed in 5V, and… it worked beautifully! That was all the encouragement we needed.
Luckily, visitor Gary had a spare USB-C power module and breakout board from a previous project. Ambrose unearthed a Dremel for a bit of tasteful case modification, making space for the sleek new power port. Rod (yes, that Rod from YouTube!) took on the soldering duties with the steady hand of a seasoned pro. The rest of us stood by in awe, offering encouragement, jokes, and possibly questionable advice.
And just like that, the Quickshot Studio 4 was alive again – now powered by modern USB-C and belting out bleepy ’80s goodness. The room was filled with sound and smiles. Everyone was delighted, especially the original owner, who left with a working piece of musical history… and a great story to tell.
If you’re into repairs, love solving problems, or just want to be part of spontaneous hacker magic like this, why not come along to one of our Repair Cafés or get in touch about becoming a fixer? You never know what will walk through the door next.
👉 See more photos from this repair session and others in our Tog Gallery
We’re excited to open bookings for our upcoming 5-part Physical Computing Course, proudly funded by Dublin City Council’s Informal Adult Education Grant Scheme 2024. This hands-on course is specially designed to introduce adults to the world of electronics and programming in a fun, engaging, and supportive environment.
Led by makers Ambrose and Jeffrey, the course will explore how to control the real world using code and electronics. Whether you’re curious about how everyday devices work or you’re ready to dive into your first project, this course is for you.
🛠️ What’s Included:
A complete Arduino Starter Kit to keep and continue your journey at home
5 structured sessions, each building your knowledge and skills
Hands-on activities and small group support
A final session focused on creating a project based on a real-life challenge or interest of your own
📅 Course Dates: You must be available for all 5 sessions, which run from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm on the following dates:
Tuesday, 6 May
Thursday, 8 May
Tuesday, 13 May
Thursday, 15 May
Tuesday, 20 May
💶 Booking Fee: €10 per participant (includes all materials)
Places are limited, so early booking is essential!
Are you fascinated by space and want to learn how to receive data from satellites and weather probes? Join us in this TinyGS Station Workshop where you’ll build and program your ground station and antenna to receive data from space. This hands-on, beginner-friendly workshop is perfect for anyone interested in radio, electronics, IOT, antenna design, and space exploration.
About TinyGS: TinyGS is an open community-run network of Ground Stations distributed around the world to receive and operate LoRa satellites, weather probes and other flying objects, using cheap and versatile modules. With a TinyGS ground station, you can receive data from a variety of sources, such as CubeSats.
What You’ll Learn: During the workshop, you’ll learn how to build and program a TinyGS ground station and a quarter-wave ground plane antenna. No prior experience is required, and we’ll provide all the necessary materials, tools, and equipment to guide you through the process.
Materials Provided: All necessary materials, tools, and equipment will be provided for the workshop, including a quarter-wave ground plane antenna kit, a TinyGS base station kit, and a USB cable. You don’t need to bring anything except a WiFi device(computer or phone) configure and create a Telegram account. At the end of the workshop, you’ll take home your very own TinyGS ground station and antenna. You’ll be able to use your ground station to receive data from satellites and other flying objects and explore the fascinating world of space and radio. If you have any questions or want to continue learning after the workshop, we’re here to help.
Date: Sunday 25th of May 11 am to 1 pm
Location: Tog Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V
Cost: €85 plus fees. Profit from ticket sales goes to fund Tog.
This event is part of Dublin Tech Week, a week-long celebration of innovation and technology that unites tech lovers, professionals, and communities across the city.