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POTA Adventure on the High Seas: Ireland’s Eye

Tog Hackerspace is teaming up with South Dublin Radio Club for another Parks on the Air adventure, and this time we are heading offshore to Ireland’s Eye.

Key info

Date: Sunday 21st June 2026
Meeting point: Howth, for the ferry to Ireland’s Eye
Ferry: 9:45 am ferry with Howth Cliff Cruises
Cost: Around €30.45 return, please check the ferry website for the latest price
Booking: Please book your own ferry ticket in advance
POTA references: IE-0266 Ireland’s Eye Conservation Area and IE-0267 Rockabill Conservation Area
Callsign: EJ0LGBT, using the June special event callsign EI0LGBT from the island
Bands: 20m, 40m and 2m, conditions permitting
Who can come: Radio operators, Tog members, SDRC members, walkers, island explorers and anyone curious about portable radio
Important note: Landing on Ireland’s Eye is weather and tide dependent, and the island has uneven ground and limited facilities.
Trip note: This is an informal club outing rather than a guided tour. Everyone joining is responsible for booking their own ferry, checking the conditions, and deciding if the island walk and boat landing are suitable for them.

On the day, club members will travel by ferry from Howth to Ireland’s Eye to activate two new Parks on the Air references:

The east edge of the island gives us a lovely POTA “2fer”, that’s right, two parks in one activation zone. We will be operating using the June special event callsign EI0LGBT, but as we will be on an island, we will be using EJ0LGBT on the air.

We plan to be active on 20m, 40m and 2m, conditions permitting. We also hope to call into the South Dublin Radio Club net and the IRTS 2m news from the island if timing and coverage allow.

Ireland’s Eye is a small uninhabited island just off Howth, with a mix of rugged coastline, seabirds, seals, the ruins of an early church, and a Martello tower. The island is part of an important protected coastal landscape, including the Ireland’s Eye SAC and the wider Rockabill to Dalkey Island SAC. We will be keeping well clear of nesting areas, taking all rubbish home, and leaving the island as we found it.

For a nice overview of the island and its history, have a look at this Irish Times walk around Ireland’s Eye.

Coming along?

We will be taking the 9:30am ferry from Howth with Howth Cliff Cruises. If you would like to join us, please book your own ferry ticket in advance. The return ferry is around €30.45, but please check the booking page for the latest price and availability before travelling.

Please note that this is an informal club outing rather than a guided tour. Everyone joining is responsible for booking their own ferry, checking the weather and ferry updates, wearing suitable clothing and footwear, and deciding if the boat landing and island walk are suitable for them. Landing on Ireland’s Eye is weather and tide dependent, and the island has uneven ground and limited facilities.

Please have a look at this Ireland’s Eye walking route on Wikiloc before booking, so you have a good idea of the mobility requirements.

This is not only for radio people. If you are a Tog member or friend who would just like a walk, a bit of island exploring, some sea air, birdwatching, or a look at what a portable radio activation involves, you are very welcome to come along.

What to bring

Please dress for the weather and the island terrain. We suggest:

  • Sturdy footwear
  • Rain jacket and warm layers
  • Water and snacks or a packed lunch
  • Sun cream and a hat if the weather looks good
  • A fully charged phone or power bank
  • Any portable radio gear you would like to bring
  • A bag to take all your rubbish home

As Ireland’s Eye is a protected bird sanctuary, please be mindful of wildlife, especially nesting birds. Keep to sensible walking areas, avoid disturbing birds or seals, and leave no trace.

We are looking forward to another fun POTA day out with South Dublin Radio Club, this time with a ferry trip, a bit of island radio, and hopefully plenty of contacts in the log.

Listen out for EJ0LGBT from Ireland’s Eye!

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Tog Hackerspace at Cork Carnival of Science 2026

Tog Hackerspace is heading south this weekend for the Cork Carnival of Science in Fitzgerald Park.

On Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of June, the park will be packed with family-friendly experiments, interactive activities, garden games, street food, live demonstrations, big top science shows, hands-on workshops and plenty more.

We will be there both days from 11.00am to 5.00pm on Discovery Drive with a range of interactive games and projects made by our members. Expect hands-on fun, blinking lights, clever builds and a chance to see what can be created in a community makerspace.

Tog is a volunteer-run hackerspace based in Dublin, where people come together to make, learn, repair, build and share skills. Events like Cork Carnival of Science are a great chance for us to get out of the space, meet new people and hopefully spark a bit of curiosity.

Cork Carnival of Science is supported by Cork City Council and Research Ireland.

If you are in Cork this weekend, come say hello. Bring your curiosity, we’ll bring the projects.

More info on the festival:
https://www.corkcity.ie/en/cork-carnival-of-science/

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From Dublin to Chemnitz: A Maker Exchange Through Vulca

In May, Jason Pettiaux and I had the chance to travel to Chemnitz in Germany as invited guests for Open European Lab Day at FabLab Chemnitz. Jason is a long-standing European maker and open source advocate, and was the other invited guest for the visit. The trip came about through the Vulca Network, which helps connect makers, hackerspaces, FabLabs and community workshops across Europe. It turned into much more than a single workshop, with visits to makerspaces, museums, research institutes, a radio club, and even a bit of hiking and amateur radio along the way.

It was a lovely reminder of how strong and varied the maker community is across Europe, and how much we can learn from visiting each other’s spaces.

Friday: Arriving in Chemnitz

I travelled over on Friday and met up with Jason and the local FabLab Chemnitz team. Maik Jähne and Babette Sperling were our main hosts for the trip and gave us a brilliant welcome. It was great to finally meet people in person after the usual run of emails, planning messages and travel arrangements. There is always something nice about arriving into a new city through a maker connection, as you immediately get a sense of the local community and the people who make things happen.

Chemnitz itself has a strong technical and industrial history, which made it a very fitting place for a weekend of making, workshops and community activity.

Saturday: Open European Lab Day at FabLab Chemnitz

Saturday was Open European Lab Day at FabLab Chemnitz, with lots of people coming through the space to see what was happening, meet the team and take part in hands-on activities.

I ran a workshop called Hidden Colors, where we built polarisation viewers and explored the colours hiding in everyday materials. Using layers of clear tape, plastics and polarising filters, participants could see patterns and colours appear that are normally invisible to the eye. It is a simple but very satisfying mix of science, making and “let’s try it and see what happens”.

The workshop started with a bit of the science behind polarisation, then moved into building the viewers from laser-cut parts. Once everything was glued together, we experimented with layers of tape to create different colours and patterns. The results were really beautiful, with some pieces looking almost like stained glass.

A big thank you to FabLab Chemnitz for hosting the workshop, to Maik and Babette for the warm welcome, and to the Stadtfabrikanten team for making the day happen.

Event details:
https://stadtfabrikanten.org/en/article/open-european-lab-day-fablab-chemnitz-09052026

Photos from FabLab Chemnitz:
https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/album/fablab-chemnitz

Saturday Evening: Museumsnacht and Chemnitz

After the FabLab day, we also got to explore a bit more of Chemnitz as part of the city’s Museumsnacht. We visited the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz, including a look at the natural history exhibits and some very impressive fossils.

It was a great way to round off the day: a makerspace full of hands-on activity, followed by a city-wide museum evening celebrating culture, history and science.

Photos from Chemnitz, Europatag and Museumsnacht:
https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/album/chemnitz-europatag-und-museumsnacht

Continue reading “From Dublin to Chemnitz: A Maker Exchange Through Vulca”
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Craft Night is back

Starting Sunday, 31st May, Craft Night will return to Tog. From 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm every second Sunday, drop by and join in, whether you make the yarn itself (we love spinners!) or noodle about with e-textiles and blinky quilts.

If you haven’t been to Craft Night before, it’s mainly people working on portable crafts like yarn-based and textile projects, but feel free to bring your current WIP (Work In Progress). We’ll take over the common area with crafting and conversation.

We might even try to bring a group Craft Night project to Dublin Maker (it’s been a while!).

You’ll find the nights on our calendar, so you don’t need to remember which every other Sunday it is. Newcomers to Tog are more than welcome to join us.

See you there!

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Tog at Bord Bia Bloom: Talking Repair, Reuse and Circular Communities

This June Bank Holiday weekend, Tog Hackerspace will be heading to Bord Bia Bloom in the Phoenix Park.

Bloom is always a lovely mix of gardens, food, flowers, sustainability, and community ideas. This year, we are delighted to be taking part in the conversation around circular communities in Ireland.

Our own Jeffrey Roe will be joining Eibhlin Fitzpatrick of Circular.ie and other familiar faces from Ireland’s circular economy and community space for a panel discussion on the Sustainable Living Stage.

The panel takes place at:

12:45pm
Monday 1st June
Sustainable Living Stage
Bord Bia Bloom, Phoenix Park, Dublin

At Tog, we spend a lot of time thinking about how people can learn practical skills, share tools, repair broken things, and keep useful items in circulation for longer. From our regular Repair Cafés to electronics nights, workshops, and community projects, we see first-hand how much can happen when people have access to a friendly space, a bit of knowledge, and someone willing to say, “Let’s have a look inside.”

Circular communities are not just about recycling at the end of an item’s life. They are about building local confidence, sharing skills, reducing waste, and helping people feel that they can understand, maintain, and repair the things around them.

We are looking forward to bringing a little bit of the hackerspace spirit to Bloom, among the gardens, flowers, and sustainability conversations.

If you are visiting Bloom on the June Bank Holiday Monday, do drop by the Sustainable Living Stage and say hello. We will probably be talking about fixing things, hackerspaces, and why we all seem to own far too many mystery cables.

You can find out more about sustainability at Bloom here:
https://www.bordbiabloom.com/sustainability-at-bloom/

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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.