Mills on the Air 2015

Mills on the Air again was a great success.
This year, the GB2WM ‘shack’ was in the White Mill proper, one flight up on very steep stairs. That weekend, 9-10 May various crafts and culinary demonstrations were going on in addition to the permanent museum display, and all those climbing higher up in the mill passed by our operating position and quite a few stopped to see what we were doing. Contrary to last year there was plenty of food and drink to be bought on site.

Setting up on the Friday, our crew of eight, Ian G0PDZ, Ian M6WFI, Clive G1WCR, Bob M0ZRF, Bob Rogers G6KKW, Matt M0LMK and Nick 2E0POS raised the HF antenna without problems but the hard gusty wind was too much for the light mast with rotator and 144MHz beam. though the damage was slight, the hard wind lasted through the weekend and the plans for a VHF stations had to be abandoned.On the Saturday morning 7 MHz proved very noisy and with deep QSB taking S9+ stations down to barely detectable. Later conditions improved. M6WFI worked the mike hard and soon the logbook was filling up as various Mills and a few other special event stations were logged. Stations the length and breadth of the UK were worked along with a good smattering of European stations. Various club members visited the station during the day and a few spent various periods in the operator’s chair, even Len G0GNQ popped up from his lathe for a short visit. All in all a good day of ‘playing radio’ was had by all. Many members of the public who were ascending and descending the rather steep steps of the mill took a breather on ‘our’ floor and were engaged in conversation by club members on what we and the many other Mills being similarly ‘activated’ by other radio groups were doing. The Sunday went much the same. In the afternoon conditions deteriorated again and we decided to close down early.

In spite of the weather and 7MHz conditions all participants had a good time and the club thanks them for their efforts. We wish Ian G0PDZ a rapid healing of his aching back!