At least 20 club members were in attendance at Meopham Windmill for
part or all of the day for Cray Valley RS’ Mills On The Air event on 10th May. This was a good turnout, and several more members worked the station on 2m or HF.

We were blessed with lovely sunny weather and blue skies throughout the day.

The station got on the air just before 10am, with Guy G0UKN starting on 20m and put 69 QSOs into the log in the first hour. The best DX was VO1 and UA9, all other QSOs were within Europe. We then moved to 40m, always the ‘bread and butter’ band for special events.

We made a total of 224 QSOs on 40m SSB, but around midday the noise level increased which we suspect may be down to cookers being turned on in the Cricketers pub nearby. We were loud and getting out well, so pulling some of the callers out through the QRM was rather a challenge, made worse by deep QSB. Five CW QSOs were also made on 30m CW so the HF total is 301, not bad for a single day’s operation.

The 2m FM station was kept busy with generally longer, ragchew QSOs with a total of 35 on that band. We worked 14 other mill stations, including two in Holland. The last mill to be worked was GB2MM near Chepstow, operated by club member Tony G4WIF.

We ceased operation at 5pm and with plenty on hand to help, we were all packed and ready to leave site fifty minutes later. The club is garteful to all members that contributed to the success of this Special Event.

The new Trustees of the Windmill were very happy with our visit and we’re optimistic that we can repeat the event next year.

Here are a few more photos from the event, taken by Jakub M0KUK: