Events in 2007

"Mills on the Air" weekend - 12/13-May 2007

OK, so who booked the weather then? It was a bit soggy on the Saturday whilst Martin G3SZJ, Don G3YOO and I were operating from a gazebo on the lawn in front of the Society's HQ. And it was hard-going trying to make contact with the clubs and groups who had set up stations in or near various water- and wind-mills for the weekend too as conditions on 80m weren't very good at all with S7 or S8 noise across 80m. We only made four - yes, four contacts will mills: Suffolk; Derbyshire; Yorkshire; and Nottinghamshire, in that order.

Sunday dawned late if only because of the slate-grey skies that welcomed us when we arrived at HQ for Day 2. Rather than get the gazebo wet again (having been left to dry overnight inside the Church's Large Hall) operations were set-up inside instead. The trap dipole aerial was put up again and the coax just reached inside to the table where the radio was positioned without it having to be extended. We'd only just got set up though when Don and I noticed that the rain had returned and this time it wasn't playing around. Pretty serious stuff with it bouncing some 6 inches plus off the surface of the car park! The plan of staying indoors was a good move then. Much more success on the radio too and between the three of us (Don G3YOO, Clive 2E1HVZ, and I) we worked a further 14 mills stations. Richard G3VGW, had responded to a request received from the Nunsfield House ARG for operators, and we heard him on the Sunday operating the GB5HW station at Heage Windmill, the station in Derbyshire we'd worked the previous day. Unfortunately we never heard them again after that one occasion and we hoped the station hadn't been washed out or blown away with the weather.

We had one or two other stations calling in to us too - one being Clive 2E1HVZ who grabbed the Society's callsign and put it in his log before coming to assist us, and Mike G4XPE a past-member of the Society who also seemed pleased we'd got the old callsign on the air from the HQ. We also contacted the Thorpe Camp Museum (GB4TCM) as well as GB2DHH, the De Havilland Heritage collection, so all in all an interesting weekend although wet and decidedly cold. By 17:00 we'd dismantled all the equipment, put all the toys back in the box, and made our way home to dry out after removing the aerial in pouring rain.

Thanks (in no particular order) to Martin, Don and Clive for their assistance, and to Denis G8BAV and Janet 2E1CZJ for the moral support on the Saturday.

We've submitted a claim for an award from the club who organise the 'Mills on the Air' aspect of the National Mills Weekend, as we'd worked more than the required 10 mill-based stations to qualify and we await that with interest. Thanks to the people of the Denby Dale ARS for organising the event once again.

"Electric Furniture" Exhibition - 2007

The Silk Mill, Derby's Museum of Industry and History, located by the river in the city centre, had a display during March of domestic radios and televisions from the early days of broadcasting up to the mid-1900s. To add a bit of amateur radio history, the Society's FT101ZD was included, and to show the difference between an amateur transceiver of the early 1970's and today's equipment, members ran an amateur radio station during some of the weekends the exhibition was open, using the Society's new transceiver, the FT897D to make contacts wherever they could on HF.

Picture shows Dave, G1VAB on the left with Clive 2E1HVZ sat at the logbook, and our regular visitor when we're at the Silk Mill, another Clive, obviously enjoying having his picture taken . The Rolls-Royce 'Kestrel' engine behind is a part of a large display of various engines made by the Company over the years.