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Heading to Belfast: Tog Visits Farset Labs and Reuse & Repair Week

We’re packing up and heading north on May 30th for the next part of our All Island Maker Mobility project.

This time, a big group from Tog will be travelling to Farset Labs in Belfast for a full day of making, sharing, and community connection. We’re really looking forward to the visit and to spending more time with our friends in Farset as this project gets underway.

Our hosts will be giving us a tour of the space, along with an overview of how they run Farset Labs and how their community works day to day. It will be a great chance to learn from each other, swap ideas, and see how another makerspace tackles the joys and challenges of running a shared creative space. We’ll also be sitting down together for a community dinner, which should be a lovely way to keep the conversations going.

To round out the visit, there’ll also be a Clay Printing Workshop, adding a hands-on creative element to the day. Between the tour, the chat, the workshop, and the food, it promises to be a packed and enjoyable visit.

To make the most of our trip to Belfast, we’ll also be taking part in Reuse & Repair Week. As part of that, some of us will be rolling up our sleeves and helping out at a Pop Up Repair Cafe in Belfast Grand Central Station. The event is a chance for people to bring along broken items and get help fixing them, while also meeting local repairers and learning a bit more about repair culture in action.

We’re really looking forward to meeting the Belfast repair community, lending a hand, and being part of such a positive public event. Repair Cafés are always a great way to connect with people, share practical skills, and keep useful items in use for longer, so it feels like a very natural fit for Tog.

If you’re curious about the Repair Café side of the trip, you can find out more about the Pop Up Repair Cafe Belfast Grand Central Station here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pop-up-repair-cafe-belfast-grand-central-station-tickets-1988476991209?aff=oddtdtcreator

You can also read more about Reuse & Repair Week here:
https://crni.ie/news/reuse-and-repair-week-saturday-30-may-to-saturday-6-june-2026/

This visit is part of our All Island Maker Mobility project, which is helping build stronger links between maker communities across the island through shared visits, workshops, and public activities.

This project is made possible with support from the Shared Island Civic Society Fund through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We’re very grateful for that support, which is helping Tog Hackerspace and Farset Labs build stronger links through making, shared learning, repair, and community collaboration across the island.

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Tog Hackerspace at Security BSides Dublin 2026

We’re delighted to say that Tog Hackerspace is once again a Community Sponsor of Security BSides Dublin, taking place on Saturday, 23rd May 2026, in Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin.

Security BSides Dublin is a community-driven information security conference, bringing together security professionals, researchers, students, hobbyists, and the generally curious for a day of talks, demos, workshops, and great conversations.

It is very much our kind of event: people sharing knowledge, learning by doing, and occasionally asking, “I wonder how that works?”

As part of this year’s event, TOG will be bringing along a lockpicking challenge and a selection of projects from the hackerspace. Drop by our table, have a go, and chat with TOG members about what we get up to.

Lockpicking is a fun hands-on way to explore physical security. It gives a better understanding of how locks work, why good security needs layers, and why curiosity is often the best starting point for learning something new.

We’ll also be showing off some projects from Tog Hackerspace and chatting about the many things that happen in the space, from electronics, radio, 3D printing and laser cutting, to repair cafés, coding, workshops, and all sorts of hardware hacking.

A big thank you to the BSides Dublin team for inviting us back and for putting together another great community event.

Come say hello on the day. We’d love to meet you.

For more information, visit:
https://www.bsidesdub.ie/

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Amateur Radio & Connected Tech at Dublin Tech Week 2026

South Dublin Radio Club, in collaboration with TOG Hackerspace, will be taking part in Dublin Tech Week 2026 with a free, family-friendly drop-in event at Ballyroan Library.

Amateur Radio & Connected Tech: Making the Invisible Visible will explore how radio and wireless technology connect people, devices and even space.

The event takes place on Saturday, 23rd May 2026, from 12:00 to 16:00.

Visitors will be able to explore a range of short, hands-on demos throughout the day, including live radio spectrum displays, Morse code, digital radio modes, satellite signals, simple IoT workflows and more.

There will also be a beginner-friendly radio “fox hunt”, a fun direction-finding game where participants use radio signals to track down a hidden transmitter. It is a great way to learn how radio waves move through the world around us.

We will also be showing how modern amateur radio can be operated remotely, with a station in Dublin controlling radio equipment elsewhere over the internet. If conditions allow, we hope to make a live HF radio contact and speak with operators further afield.

No radio knowledge is needed, just curiosity. Drop in, ask questions, try a few demos and discover the invisible signals all around us.

You can find the event listed on the official Dublin Tech Week website here:
Making the Invisible Visible: Amateur Radio & Connected Tech

Event Details

What: Amateur Radio & Connected Tech: Making the Invisible Visible
When: Saturday, 23rd May 2026, 12:00 – 16:00
Where: Ballyroan Library, Orchardstown Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin, D14 VY33
Cost: Free
Booking: Drop-in event, all welcome

This event is hosted by South Dublin Radio Club EI2SDR in collaboration with TOG Hackerspace as part of Dublin Tech Week 2026, which runs from 22nd to 29th May.

Come along and see how amateur radio, connected devices and a bit of curiosity can make the invisible visible.

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TouchDesigner Dublin Meetup – May Event

We are hosting an open TouchDesigner meetup with demos, hands-on learning, and space to share work with others using the software. This is part of a series of monthly events in collaboration with @noid_lab typically on the last Wednesday each month in the space, so this month it’s 27th May, 7-10pm.

Tickets are free – but registration via Eventbrite is required to secure your place.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/touchdesigner-meetup-dublin-tickets-1989876226359

Workshops:

In this session we will be hosting two workshops. The first will be run by Dan Kinlay, using MIDI input or keyboard input to manipulate a grid of points generated using Particle Operators and Instancing. This audio reactive animation will be demonstrated using an electric MIDI drum kit which will be open for participants to try themselves.

Following this, Serdar Buhan will be demonstrating how to use TouchDesigner for live coding performances with Strudel. In this workshop we’ll explore ways to connect Strudel and TouchDesigner over MIDI and OSC.

Format:

The session will run for around three hours in a relaxed, hands-on setting. With multiple rooms available at TOG Hackerspace, we can host beginner and advanced activities simultaneously, ensuring everyone gets the most out of the evening. The event will focus on learning, with a combination of scheduled short and long presentations/demonstrations. The last hour will take a more flattened and open approach, allowing the space for people to chat, share, learn, and explore TouchDesigner. Expect an informal, community-driven environment where the format adapts to participants. So if you would like to bring your laptop and learn the basics, share your projects, or connect with other using the software, this meetup offers a welcoming and supportive space to do so.

The event is also a great opportunity to meet other creative technologists and artists, and to continue building the growing TouchDesigner community in Ireland.

Contact us at noidlab.collective@gmail.com to share ideas for future sessions or to express interest in presenting your work.

A special thanks to TOG for allowing us to use the space for these events, and Derivative for supporting the project. The meetups are hosted each month by a group of artists and creative technologists:

https://www.tog.ie

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🚴🔧 Bicycle Maintenance & Advice Meetup for Bike Week

It’s Bike Week from Saturday 9th – Sunday 17th May, and we’ve another event lined up at TOG.

Many of us are keen cyclists and e-bikers, and tinkering with our bikes is business-as-usual around the space. So we’re opening things up for a relaxed Bicycle Maintenance & Advice Meetup.

🗓️ When

Saturday 16th May
🕒 From 15:00

🔧 What to expect

We’ll have tools available for basic bicycle maintenance, including:

  • cleaning
  • lubrication
  • adjustments

If your bike needs a bit of attention, bring it along and we’ll help you get it sorted. If everything is running smoothly and you just want some advice or a second opinion, you’re very welcome too.

👥 Who is it for?

  • Anyone with a bike
  • Beginners welcome
  • People curious about maintaining their own bike

No pressure, no workshop format — just a chance to learn, fix, and chat.

🍕 Stick around

We’ll be rolling straight into our regular monthly Open Social from 19:00, so feel free to stay on or drop back later.

Expect the usual:

  • pizza
  • good chat
  • and a bit of cycling talk

🚴 Bike Week

This event is part of Bike Week and is supported by Dublin City Council.

If you want to explore even more Bike Week events happening across the city, check out the full programme here:
https://www.dublincity.ie/Bike-Week-2026

No need to book — just bring your bike (or your questions) and drop in.

If fixing bikes isn’t enough, we’ve also put together a Bike Treasure Hunt for Bike Week:
https://www.tog.ie/2026/04/%f0%9f%9a%b4%f0%9f%a7%a9-cycles-clues-making-a-bike-treasure-hunt-for-bike-week/

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POTA Rover Day: Five Parks, One Day

Our radio crew in TOG have really gotten into Parks on the Air over the last few months. We’re a little bit hooked.

For anyone new to it,Parks on the Air, or POTA, is an amateur radio activity where operators head out to recognised parks and make contacts from the field. It is a great mix of radio, portable operating, problem solving, and getting outdoors. It also has plenty for SWLs and curious newcomers, so it is not just for the people behind the mic.

We have already had great days out at Bull Island, the Botanic Gardens, and Ticknock outings, and now we are setting our sights on something a bit more ambitious.

On Sunday, 31st May, TOG Hackerspace and South Dublin Radio Club are planning a POTA Rover Day around Dublin.

The plan is simple enough on paper and a bit mad in practice: activate five parks in one day. If all goes to plan, that should qualify for the POTA Rover Warthog award, which is given for activating five unique references in a single UTC day.

We will be starting at 8am at IE-0213 — The Grand Canal Way Conservation Area, right by TOG Hackerspace, and then moving on to:
IE-0229 — Phoenix Park National Park/ IE-0250— Farmleigh Estate Historic Site
IE-0164 — Merrion Square Park National Historical Park
IE-0226 — Iveagh Gardens National Park

Because this is a rover day, we cannot promise exact times for each park. A lot will depend on how each activation goes, how travel works out, and how much chat we get dragged into along the way.

This could be a great idea, or it could totally fall apart, but that is all part of the fun. Amateur radio has always had that experimental side to it, and a day like this has a real sense of adventure.

Part of the fun of the day is that it overlaps with some of the regular Sunday radio activity too. We hope to make use of the South Dublin Radio Club weekly 40m net, which gets going from 08:30 local time and the IRTS Weekly News goes out nationally at 11:00 on 7.123 MHz SSB and in Dublin at 11:45 on 145.525 FM.

Some of our members are even hoping to complete the rover by bike, which feels very on-brand for us, but you do not need to cycle to take part. You are very welcome to join us for the whole day, or just drop in for one of the parks if that suits you better.

You will also be able to track our rough location live on APRS.fi by searching for EI0TOG.

What we really like about POTA is that it gets radio out into the world. It brings together portable antennas, operating skills, experimentation, a bit of fresh air, and plenty of chances for curious passers-by to ask what on earth we are up to. It also makes space for SWLs and newcomers to come along, listen, learn, and get involved without any pressure.

So if you fancy a day of parks, radios, and a slightly over-ambitious plan to bag five activations in one go, get in touch. We would love to have company for all or even just part of the route.