Mills 2012
Introduction and Background
Dave G7BYN and Don G0NQJ have taken part in this event for a number of years as individuals. This year we agreed as a club to support the event which would give the regular team access to additional equipment and operators.
Building on the experience of Don and Dave the selected Mill was Saltford Brass Mill. This Mill is situated on the banks of the River Avon in the village of Saltford about 5 miles west of the City of Bath. The Brassmill is the only surviving building still with a furnace and working water wheel remaining from a group of eighteenth century mills making brass and copper goods in the Avon Valley between Bristol and Bath.
Saltford Brass Mill
The site at Saltford Mill has been in use since the time of the Domesday record when two watermills were listed in Saltford. The mill is known to have been used for the manufacture of brass from 1721. From then many additions and alterations took place. Photographs from the late 1800s and early 1900s show the mill stretching from the present roadside almost to the river.
Saltford Brass Mill was one of a series of Mills working in brass in the Avon Valley during the eighteenth century. Many of these Mills, as at Saltford, employed waterwheels to power processes used by the company. River transport was used to deliver brass ingots and coal up to Saltford; Weston Mill, Bath and other mills of the company.
At its height, Saltford Mill housed five undershot waterwheels: two driving battery hammers; two driving rolls; and a fifth driving a grinding wheel. One of these wheels remains functional, driving a dynamo installed in 1928 after the Mill ceased operation as a brass mill.
The newer Birmingham brass works adopted many more modern methods in the early nineteenth century, which the local company ignored and so lost its complete supremacy in the trade. Many of their mills closed but the old Saltford battery hammers continued working until 1908, the last in this country. Their rolling mills, still powered by waterwheels, kept working until 1925.
Radio Operations
The Mill lacks any real space to set up a viable radio station that won't be in the way of other visitors and demonstration activities so building on the past experiences of Dave and Don we set up a temporary station in Daves van just outside the entrance to the Mill.
We kept the system simple reflecting: the temporary nature of the station, a desire to be unobtrusive, the requirement to operate from battery power. The equipment comprised:
- Icom IC-706 HF/6m/2m Transceiver
- 12V Car Battery
- Pro Whip Delta Loop Antenna on tripod base
- SGC Smart Tuner at feedpoint
One of the inherent problems associated with the positioning of a water mill is that they are, of necessity, always adjacent to rivers which in turn means that they are always in valleys. Naturally this tends to compromise their effectiveness as sites for the operation of radio, something even a special event callsign is unable to fully compensate for. Despite this we happily ticked off contacts over the two days, successfully contacting more than the required 10 Mills to obtain a certificate for the event.
Logbook
| Date | Start | Finish | Frequency | Mode | Power | Station Worked | RST Sent | RST Received | Mill | Operater | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/05/2012 | 10:40 | 10:52 | 7.151 | J3E | 100w | GX6LD | 5 9 | 5 9 | Dave G7BYN | ( Richard) Golcar Brewery | |
| 12/05/2012 | 11:09 | 11:14 | 7.175 | J3E | 100w | PA6DEZWAAN | 5 9 | 5 9 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Geert) The Swan Mikll Ouderkerk |
| 12/05/2012 | 11:15 | 11:19 | 7.092 | J3E | 100w | GS5NB | 5 9 | 5 9 | Dave G7BYN | (Ed) Ness Battery from WW1 and WW2 Orkney Island | |
| 12/05/2012 | 11:22 | 11:26 | 7.09 | J3E | 100w | PI4ET | 5 9 | 5 7 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Yaap) De Witte Molen Mill Netherlands |
| 12/05/2012 | 11:28 | 11:31 | 7.087 | J3E | 100w | PI4ETL/P | 5 5 | 5 7 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Paschl) De Oude Molden Mill Netherlands |
| 12/05/2012 | 11:35 | 11:42 | 7.067 | J3E | 100w | PD6MILL | 5 9 | 5 9 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Bernard) The Eendracht Windmill, Netherlands |
| 12/05/2012 | 11:35 | 11:42 | 7.067 | J3E | 100w | PD7BZ | 5 9 | 5 9 | Dave G7BYN | Home call of above requ QSL Card | |
| 12/05/2012 | 13:04 | 13:06 | 7.139 | J3E | 100w | ON2CYV | 5 4 | 4 4 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | Mill WIM 2025 |
| 12/05/2012 | 13:10 | 13:20 | 7.142 | J3E | 100w | GB4MPW | 5 9 | 5 9 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Cliff) Mount Pleasant Mill |
| 12/05/2012 | 13:34 | 13:38 | 7.12 | J3E | 100w | G0BJX/P | 5 9 | 5 9 | Dave G7BYN | Barry in North Essex | |
| 12/05/2012 | 13:39 | 13:52 | 7.12 | J3E | 100w | GQ8CKK | 5 9 | 5 9 | Dave G7BYN | Tony normally G8CKK | |
| 12/05/2012 | 14:32 | 14:37 | 7.112 | J3E | 100w | GB0CMW | 5 9 | 5 9+40 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Mike) Cattells Mill Willingham |
| 12/05/2012 | 15:10 | 15:14 | 7.15 | J3E | 100w | GB0LSM | 5 9 | 5 9+40 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Mike) Lynn Slitting Mill |
| 12/05/2012 | 15:30 | 15:33 | 7.111 | J3E | 100w | GQ0OOO | 5 9 | 5 9 | Dave G7BYN | Nick in Scarborough | |
| 13/05/2012 | 10:00 | 10:02 | 7.105 | J3E | 100w | GB2GW | 4 7 | 5 7 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Bill) Gleaston Water Mill |
| 13/05/2012 | 11:05 | 11:07 | 7.095 | J3E | 100w | GB2BHM | 5 9 | 5 5 | Mill | Andy G7KNA | (Eddie) Benholm Mill Aberdeen |
| 13/05/2012 | 12:44 | 12:45 | 7.84 | J3E | 100w | GB100GGM | 5 9 | 5 9 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | Geligroes Mill RX Station Artie Moore received Titanic's CQD |
| 13/05/2012 | 12:52 | 12:54 | 7.12 | J3E | 100w | EI2EWM | 5 5 | 5 5 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (Bryan) Elphin Wind Mill County Roscommon |
| 13/05/2012 | 13:50 | 13:51 | 7.143 | J3E | 100w | GB2WPM | 5 9 | 5 9 | Mill | Dave G7BYN | (David) Wrawby Post Mill Brigg North Lincolnshire |
| 13/05/2012 | 14:35 | 14:37 | 7.11 | J3E | 100w | GB2TMI | 5 9 | 5 9 | Mill | Andy G7KNA | (Gerald) Thwaits Water Mill |
| 13/05/2012 | 14:37 | 14:39 | 7.11 | J3E | 100w | GB4DM | 5 9 | 5 9 | Mill | Andy G7KNA | (Mark) Daniel's Water Mill Bridgnorth Shropshire |
