Mills on the Air - 9th and 10th May 2009
A very enjoyable weekend at the now usual venue of Cattells Windmill, Willingham. The weather warm and dry. The sails are removed at present, undergoing maintenance and repainting, so the Mill was not operating this year.
A record number of visitors kept the Mill owner, Richard G8FTE, very busy this year, many climbing the Mill staircases to the top and some 30 club members and families visited over the weekend as well. Thank you for taking the trouble to come.
On Saturday morning we were rewarded, after setting up the station, by extra large portions of coffee cake, I think somebody had cut it into 8 rather than 16, but nobody told Sarah Cowley. She worked hard, the on-site cafe proved very popular throughout the weekend.
The station was the club's G5RV driven by the FT 840 via the MFJ atu, set up inside the very informative and interesting visitors centre. When Lawrence 2E0LCM arrived the rig was changed to his ICOM 7000, which performed very well. We worked 35 Mill stations, 5 Special event stations, in all 92 contacts were made.
After event logging was used since the laptop was badly affected by RFI
The logging program used was G0MDO's Easilog EL6, click here to download this and much other useful FREE software.
Click here to see how the log looks in EL6 format.
In case you use some other logging program, here is the log in 3 other formats.
Here is a text file of the log. Here is log in XLS format. Here is the log on ADIF format. (operator and band information not present in ADIF format)
History and more information
Mills On The Air - 9th and 10th May 2009
Over this weekend radio amateurs set up stations in windmills and watermills all over the country. This promotes both the site itself, and also amateur radio since members of the public encounter enthusiasts at work. More than 300 wind and watermills each year open their doors to the public and more each year have an amateur radio stations.
Co-ordinated by Denby Dale Amateur Radio Society (DDARS) Mills On The Air started some nine years ago, with a proposal of six groups of amateurs at six buildings. As the word spread however this number rocketed to 30 and has increased yearly since then. DDARS has created a certificate to be awarded to any individual or group who has worked ten stations or more over the weekend. A donation of at least £5.00 is required for the certificate. Proceeds go to the SPAB Mills renovation fund.
SPAB
SPAB is the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. It was founded by William Morris in 1877 to counteract the highly destructive 'restoration' of medieval buildings being practised by many Victorian architects.
Today it is the largest, oldest and most technically expert national pressure group fighting to save old buildings from decay, demolition and damage. The Society is a charity, with a small staff, most of the Societies work is carried out by members voluntarily and enthusiastically. Many are experts in their field.
SPAB Mills Section
The SPAB Mills Section is an autonomous section of the Society. It protects traditional Windmills and Watermills from proposals to demolish or damage them. Campaigns for the sympathetic repair of mills, and to return buildings and machinery to working order. SPAB works to raise public awareness of the need to save and conserve the country's dwindling number of wind and watermills. As part of this SPAB co-ordinates and publicises National Mills Weekend on the second weekend in May each year.