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More Test Equipment from Testwall

🇮🇪 · TOG · tdr

Back in 2024 , we wrote about a generous donation from Testwall that supported our electronics lab, Repair Cafés and member projects. We are delighted to say they have supported TOG again, with another collection of professional test and measurement equipment. This latest donation includes an Advantest R3754A network analyser, an HP 75000 Series B modular test system, an Anritsu data transmission analyser and other RF and communications test equipment. The equipment has already made its way onto the benches. Members have been carefully checking each unit, powering it up and opening up some of the equipment for inspection where needed. The next job is to find out what can be brought back into regular use. Older test equipment can still be extremely useful. It gives members hands-on access to specialist tools that would otherwise be difficult for a community workshop to purchase. It also creates plenty of opportunities to learn about fault-finding, repair and how professional test systems are put together. Keeping useful equipment in service is also much better than seeing it become electronic waste. A big thank you to everyone at Testwall for thinking of TOG again. Their continued support gives equipment a second life and gives our members new tools to learn, repair and build with. Testwall works across a broad range of RF, communications and electronic test equipment, making this a particularly fitting donation for the space. Companies sometimes have equipment, tools, components or materials that are no longer needed but still have plenty of life left. If you think something could find a useful home in a community workshop, please get in touch with us.

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EI0MEOW: TOG’s Cats Take to the Air

🇮🇪 · TOG · tdr

TOG Hackerspace has registered the special event callsign EI0MEOW , and throughout August we will be getting on the radio in support of cats. With around 100 members in the TOG community, it will probably come as no surprise that many of us are cat people. For the month of August, our radio operators will be taking part in two international amateur radio activities celebrating cats and raising awareness of animal welfare. Cat Day on the Air Cat Day on the Air runs from 1 to 31 August, with amateur radio stations around the world getting on the air to support cats and the organisations that care for abandoned, abused and homeless animals. Listen out for EI0MEOW during the month and give us a call when you hear us. Find out more on the Cat Day on the Air website . Cat Pix on the Air We are also taking part in Cat Pix on the Air , an SSTV activity taking place on International Cat Day, Saturday 8 August. SSTV, or Slow-Scan Television, allows amateur radio operators to send pictures over the air. Instead of only exchanging callsigns and signal reports, operators will also be exchanging pictures of cats. TOG members have contributed photographs of their own cats, and we have created a gallery of 14 special EI0MEOW SSTV images . We are revealing the first one here: Swanson, Cat 01 . To see the other 13 cats, you will need to find EI0MEOW on the air and receive the images yourself. More information about the activity is available from the Cat Pix on the Air website . Find us at Hamfest EI0MEOW will be operating from Hamfest in Mullingar on Saturday 8 August , where we will be transmitting images from the gallery throughout the day. Come over and meet the TOG radio operators, see SSTV in action and find out how pictures can be transmitted using amateur radio. Everyone else can listen for EI0MEOW on the bands throughout August. Have a QSO with us, exchange a signal report and see which of TOG’s cats arrives through the noise. Can you collect all 14?

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