QSL Card

Introduction

Saltford Brass Mill is situated on the banks of the River Avon in the village of Saltford, 5 miles west of the City of Bath in the South West of England. Its postal address is Saltford Brassmill, The Shallows, Saltford, BS31 3EY. However, there are some specific details that will be of interest to radio hams:

  • Lat/Long (WGS84 Geoid): 51.401316°,-2.451456°
  • IARU: IO81sj
  • IOTA: EU005 (UK Mainland)
  • WAB: ST66 – England
  • ///unravel.transmits.rely

Location

Operation

After 2 years of COVID restrictions it was good to get back to Special Events and to reacquaint ourselves with the volunteers at the Saltford Brass Mill. There had clearly been some work within the site but as this was the first opening to the public for some time there was much work within the grounds to prune and otherwise tend to the garden area.

Location of the Operating Position

GB0SBM Operation

We were billeted within the grounds of the Mill on the island between the two mill leats as shown above, our hosts kindly erected a gazebo to provide shelter from what turned out to be a lovely warm and sunny weekend and mains power was taken from inside the Mill building.

The Station

  • Yaesu FT-991 HF/VHF/UHF Multi-mode transceiver
  • Nissei DPS-300 Linear Power Supply
  • MFJ 993 Auto ATU
  • Behringer 302USB audio mixer (splits audio out from the FT-991 to operators headphones and external amplified speakers)
  • Logitech USB powered amplified speakers
  • 80m doublet fed with 450Ω ladder-line
  • Fiberglass telescopic mast to support centre of doublet in an inverted vee configuration at approximately 12m
  • Acer Aspire 8942G Laptop running Ubuntu Studio 21.10, logging with PyQSO

Headlines

Mills on the Air marks the start of the Special Event season for the South Bristol ARC, a chance to get the equipment out of the cupboard connect it all up, test it and brush up on those pile-up handling skills. We managed to connect with 16 of the 36 registered Mills on the Air stations giving us about 44% of the participating operations. The map below indicates where we worked another participating Mill.

Location of Participating Mills Worked

The Details

The team on Saturday comprised (in no particular order): Mark M0SKV, Greg MW7BUF, Robin G3TKF, and Andy G7KNA.

The operation started with Mark and Andy arriving on site almost exactly 20 minutes later than planned, those who are familiar with our Special Event operations will know that this is business as usual! There have been a number of changes around the mill following lockdown and the redevelopment of some of the houses opposite the Mill site which has led to a change of parking restrictions, or more accurately the imposition of parking regulations where none have existed before. As a result, having unloaded the equipment from the car it was necessary to move out of the residents parking area and use the free public car park some 200m to the north of the Mill site, this car park is popular with the water sports enthusiasts who park here whilst: kayaking, canoeing and paddle boarding on the River Avon. The moral of this is that if you want to get parked in this small car park you should consider getting there earlier than Mark and Andy!

Mark M0SKV setting upDoublet antenna

Setup went more or less to plan. Erecting the antenna was a little tricky with just two people, a third person would have been a great asset and of course as both people present were busy setting things up then there are no video, audio or photographic records of the setup process, although given that both Mark and Andy were a little rusty after two years of lockdown this might be for the best anyway.

Our TWEET history suggests that we had the station pretty much assembled by 10:37 when just the doublet remained to be erected, by 11:16 everything was in place and connected. These timings may be a little off as there was poor network coverage at the Brass Mill site which might have delayed postings. According to our log the first station worked was GB2CW, Chesterton Windmill operated by Stratford and District Radio Society. Our log has this at 10:28 UTC (11:28 BST) although Twitter suggests 11:39 BST which might give you an indication of the lag on social media.

Greg MW7BUF and Robin G3TKF turned up later in the day. Greg, who had not visited the site before, used the “What3Words” identifier which brought him to the front gate of the Mill, however as parking was some distance from here and the characteristics of the local road were almost as medieval as the Mill itself he had to scurry off and turn around before actually getting himself into the site to take on some logging.

Mark M0SKV operating with Greg MW7BUFMark M0SKV operating with Greg MW7BUF

We remained on 40m more or less throughout the day, there was a brief foray onto 20m where there was a contest taking place and we looked at 80m but found this to be much nosier than we remembered at this location. By the end of the day we had made 54 contacts including 11 special event stations registered as participating in Mills on the Air.

The team on Sunday comprised (in no particular order): Mark M0SKV, Robin G3TKF, and Andy G7KNA.

Having bagged Mark 2D0MUP/QRP on the Saturday we were hopeful to try to collect all of the valid Regional Secondary locators. This is something we have always had a mind to do in each of our Special Events and there is some debate which is worthy of a separate assessment and analysis as to whether or not we have ever achieved this. The usual “problem” RSLs are those associated with the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey (the latter including Alderney and Sark) and the Isle of Man. Having managed to secure the Isle of Man on the Saturday we were keen to work the Channel Islands to complete the set. After much calling we secured the Bailiwick of Guernsey thanks to Malcolm GU0UVH on Alderney but sadly we were unable to collect the remaining Bailiwick of Jersey callsign. Just as we were shutting down Robin was convinced that he’d heard a “GJ” station calling in the pile-up but despite pausing and calling specifically for this station nothing came back.

Mark M0SKV operating with Greg MW7BUFMark M0SKV operating

Despite this we did manage to work a further 78 stations including another 5 participating mills operations. This brought our total for the weekend to 132 stations including 16 registered mills stations. As we typically manage around 100 stations over a typical Special Event weekend this was a good number of stations to work and we were the target of a pile-up of varying intensity more or less throughout the day.

Overall we consider this a good opening Special Event and look forward to both Lighthouses on the Air in August and Railways on the Air in September.

Log for Mills on the Air 2022

Date (UTC) Time (UTC) Station Worked Band or Freq'cy Mode RST Name QTH Notes
Sent Rec'd
07/05/22 10:28 GB2CW 40m SSB 59 59 Stratford and District Radio Society Chesterton Windmill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesterton_Windmill
07/05/22 10:37 GB0TWM 40m SSB 59 59 Sid    
07/05/22 10:48 G8HBS 40m SSB 59 59 Peter    
07/05/22 10:53 G3TKF 40m SSB 59 59 Robin    
07/05/22 10:56 G4UUQ 40m SSB 59 59 Terry    
07/05/22 11:00 M0ZDD 40m SSB 57 59 Alan Northumberland QRP
07/05/22 11:11 GB6GEM 40m SSB     Howard Davis Gainsford End Windmill https://www.qrz.com/db/GB6GEM
07/05/22 11:16 M0MNG 40m SSB 59 59 Ed    
07/05/22 11:20 GB1GSM 40m SSB 59 59 Bittern DX Group Gunton Saw Mill www.guntonparksawmill.co.uk
07/05/22 11:27 M0HEM 40m SSB   59 John London  
07/05/22 11:31 GB1RY 40m SSB 59 59 John Gloucestershire  
07/05/22 11:36 GB0MWM 40m SSB 59 59 Ben   Kidderminster Military Wireless Museum
07/05/22 11:39 G6YWL 40m SSB 59 59 Tony    
07/05/22 11:41 G4MKR 40m SSB 59 59 Richard Sandy Bedfordshire  
07/05/22 11:43 M0IJW 40m SSB 59 58 Steven Ipswitch  
07/05/22 11:47 G6TEQ 40m SSB 59 59 Ian Torquay  
07/05/22 11:52 GB4DM 40m SSB 59 59 Martin Childs Daniels Mill https://www.danielsmill.co.uk/
07/05/22 11:56 M0KCV 40m SSB 59 59 Kevin Gatwick  
07/05/22 11:58 M0WPJ 40m SSB 59 59 Peter Canterbury  
07/05/22 12:02 M0WYB/P 40m SSB 59 59 Ross Swanage  
07/05/22 12:06 GB1TMI 40m SSB 59 59 Denby Dale Amateur Radio Society Thwaites Mill Island (used when access to the mill is restricted) www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/Pages/Thwaite-Mills-Watermill.aspx
07/05/22 12:13 GB2GW 40m SSB 55 57 Furness Amateur Radio Society Gleaston Water Mill http://watermill.co.uk/
07/05/22 12:14 M0RWL 40m SSB 59 59 Bob Hull  
07/05/22 12:18 GB0LM 40m SSB     Cwmbran Radio Club Llanyravon Mill https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=llanyrafon-mill-cwmbran
07/05/22 12:20 GB0SXW 40m SSB 59 59 G1FBH and M0KIL Stonecross Windmill https://www.stonecrosswindmill.co.uk
07/05/22 12:23 GB0CHW 40m SSB 59 59 Downland Radio Group Chailey Heritage Windmill www.chailey.org/amenities/chailey-windmill-museum
07/05/22 12:29 PA1AT 40m SSB 59 59 Gerry Gronow  
07/05/22 12:36 GB0SPN 40m SSB 59 59 Otley Amateur Radio Society Speeton Windmill https://www.qrz.com/db/GB0SPN
07/05/22 12:39 2D0MUP 40m SSB 54 59 Mark    
07/05/22 12:42 GI0KMX 40m SSB 59 59 Chris    
07/05/22 12:43 M0CTC 40m SSB 59 59      
07/05/22 12:47 M0TZR 40m SSB 59 58 Paul    
07/05/22 12:51 GW6STQ 40m SSB 58 58 Robert Colwyn Bay  
07/05/22 12:54 M7NHC 40m SSB 58 59 Nick Eastbourne  
07/05/22 12:56 G3OKA 40m SSB 59 59 John The Wirral  
07/05/22 12:57 ON2KP 40m SSB 59 59 Karel Belgium  
07/05/22 12:58 M0BJX 40m SSB 58 59 Robert North England  
07/05/22 13:01 G4AHO 40m SSB 57 59 Ken Worcester  
07/05/22 13:03 ON4WVK 40m SSB 59 59 Wim Belgium  
07/05/22 13:15 G0BFJ 40m SSB 59 59 Brian Huddersfield  
07/05/22 13:18 G0NIQ 40m SSB   59 Phil Felixstowe  
07/05/22 13:21 GB2ERW 40m SSB 59 59 Phil Cromer  
07/05/22 13:26 G0SPF 40m SSB 58 59 Terry Paignton  
07/05/22 13:28 G1PIR 40m SSB 44 57 Dave Manchester  
07/05/22 13:31 G7WKH 40m SSB 59 59 Paul Nottingham  
07/05/22 13:34 GB6WWM 40m SSB 58 58 Cliff Polden Hills Street  
07/05/22 13:37 G0PMJ 40m SSB 59 59 Dave County Durham  
07/05/22 13:40 G0ORG 40m SSB 59 59 Neil Ipswich  
07/05/22 13:44 GB0SNM 40m SSB 59 59 Martin Sturminster  
07/05/22 13:48 G4NXL 40m SSB 59 59 Malc Derby  
07/05/22 13:52 G8PTD 40m SSB 57 58 Nick    
07/05/22 14:11 IQOPG 20m SSB 59 59      
07/05/22 14:28 GB0SPN 40m SSB 59 59 Otley Amateur Radio Society Speeton Windmill https://www.qrz.com/db/GB0SPN
07/05/22 14:43 GB2RM 40m SSB 58 59 Mark Dudley  
08/05/22 09:58 G3VBE 40m SSB 59 59 George Hove  
08/05/22 10:05 G4BGX 40m SSB 59 59 Derek Poole Stonking signal clean audio. 300W into inverted vee at 50 feet. TS890 15W into Aecom linear
08/05/22 10:10 G1VNB 40m SSB 59 59 Dave Bedworth (5 miles north of Coventry) TS 2000 and half wave end fed antenna
08/05/22 10:16 GB0SPN 40m SSB 59 59 Otley Amateur Radio Society Speeton Windmill https://www.qrz.com/db/GB0SPN
08/05/22 10:21 G4CFP 40m SSB   59 Bill   IC7300 to long wire
08/05/22 10:24 M0WPJ 40m SSB 59 59 Peter Canterbury  
08/05/22 10:26 GX0RGH 40m SSB     Jonathan G0VDJ Colchester Radio Group of Harwich. Observatory
08/05/22 10:30 G7UYD 40m SSB 59 59 Peter Lowestoft  
08/05/22 10:37 MW0LKX 40m SSB 59 59 Wayne Knighton  
08/05/22 10:40 GB2RWM 40m SSB 59 59 South Essex Amateur Radio Society Rayleigh Windmil https://www.rochford.gov.uk/leisure-and-tourism/visit-rochford-district/heritage-attractions/rayleigh-windmill
08/05/22 10:42 G7SWS 40m SSB 59 59 Olly South Lincolnshire  
08/05/22 10:47 M0XCZ 40m SSB 59 59 Mark Bognor Regis  
08/05/22 10:51 G7VKP 40m SSB 59 59 Adrian 20 miles north of Derby TS850S into military wire dipole
08/05/22 10:55 GB2TMI 40m SSB 56   Denby Dale Amateur Radio Society Thwaites Mill Island www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/Pages/Thwaite-Mills-Watermill.aspx
08/05/22 10:59 G4PDF 40m SSB 59 59 Bob Lincoln  
08/05/22 11:02 G4TJK 40m SSB 59 59 Malcolm Surrey  
08/05/22 11:04 GB4DM 40m SSB     Martin Childs Daniels Mill https://www.danielsmill.co.uk/
08/05/22 11:08 G0FRL 40m SSB 59 59 Bob Bolton  
08/05/22 11:15 M0PBR 40m SSB 57 58 Peter South East of London  
08/05/22 11:20 G3UCA 40m SSB   58 Peter Chorley Lancashire  
08/05/22 11:23 MM0GHM 40m SSB 58 57 Graham    
08/05/22 11:28 PA3BOE 40m SSB 59 59 Reni    
08/05/22 11:31 MI0DJM 40m SSB   59 Joe    
08/05/22 11:36 G7AER 40m SSB   59 John Chester  
08/05/22 11:38 M0BKV 40m SSB 59 59 Damian North Coast of Cornwall  
08/05/22 11:40 M0JGK 40m SSB 59 59 Andy Colchester  
08/05/22 11:45 PC5Z 40m SSB 59 59      
08/05/22 11:48 2E0HVE 40m SSB 57 59 Martin    
08/05/22 11:51 GX0BRC 40m SSB 59 59 Phil Breadhurst near Medway Breadhurst Receiving and Transmitting Society
08/05/22 11:58 GB6DLB 40m SSB 57   Patrick    
08/05/22 12:00 2E1TAF 40m SSB 59 59 Dave RAF Coltishall Norfolk  
08/05/22 12:02 GU0UVH 40m SSB 59 59 Malcolm Alderney  
08/05/22 12:06 2E0XBT 40m SSB 57 59   Worthing West Sussex Some QSB
08/05/22 12:09 EI2EWM 40m SSB 57 59 M88 Shannon Basin Radio Club Elphin Windmill https://elphinwindmill.ie/
08/05/22 12:11 GB2WTM 40m SSB 59 57 Felixstowe and District Amateur Radio Society Woodbridge Tide Mill https://woodbridgetidemill.org.uk/
08/05/22 12:13 EI7HDB 40m SSB 59 59 Dale 50miles south of Dublin  
08/05/22 12:17 M0RMY 40m SSB 57 55 Tom Nottingham  
08/05/22 12:20 ON6ER 40m SSB 59 59 Rick    
08/05/22 12:23 GB0LM 40m SSB 59 59 Cwmbran Radio Club Llanyravon Mill https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=llanyrafon-mill-cwmbran
08/05/22 12:25 M3KQJ 40m SSB 58 59 Charlie Birmingham  
08/05/22 12:27 G3SCZ 40m SSB 59 59 Ray Halfway between Reading and Basingstoke 100W FT5000
08/05/22 12:32 G4RAC 40m SSB   59      
08/05/22 12:39 M0CGF 40m SSB 59 59 Ian South of Croydon  
08/05/22 12:39 M0TRJ 40m SSB 59 59 Simon Longwell Green  
08/05/22 12:45 G3TKF 40m SSB 59 59 Robin    
08/05/22 12:46 PA3GWO 40m SSB 59 59 Tony    
08/05/22 12:50 GB0ASH 40m SSB     North Bristol Amateur Radio Club Ashton Windmill https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashton_Windmill
08/05/22 12:54 G4YCA 40m SSB          
08/05/22 12:56 M3YSB 40m SSB     John Barnstaple  
08/05/22 13:01 G1SSL 40m SSB 59   Melvin Didcot  
08/05/22 13:03 G2NV 40m SSB 59 59 Tom    
08/05/22 13:05 PA1MV 40m SSB 57   Jaap    
08/05/22 13:07 F4EPU 40m SSB 57   David    
08/05/22 13:08 G4XIX 40m SSB 58   Michael    
08/05/22 13:27 GB2WMS 40m SSB 57 59 Loughborough and District Amateur Radio Club Shepshed Water Mill https://www.shepshedwatermill.co.uk/
08/05/22 13:29 GB1RY 40m SSB 59 59 Neil RAF Lansbury – Wiltshire WAB – SU27. FT10DX 100W 40m inverted vee
08/05/22 13:38 G1BLJ 40m SSB 58 59   NW of Birmingham  
08/05/22 13:42 2E0YPM 40m SSB 59   Stuart    
08/05/22 13:48 G0FVH 40m SSB   59 David Poole  
08/05/22 13:50 G0VGB 40m SSB 59 59 David    
08/05/22 13:53 M6KRI 40m SSB 58 59 Kenny Middlesborough  
08/05/22 13:56 ON7AH 40m SSB 59 59      
08/05/22 13:58 G4OBB 40m SSB 59 59 Des Bury St Edmonds  
08/05/22 14:02 2E0MTR 40m SSB 57   Mike Folkstone  
08/05/22 14:04 PA1MV 40m SSB 59 59      
08/05/22 14:05 G3RXQ 40m SSB 59 59 Stewart Lancaster  
08/05/22 14:06 GW4TUD 40m SSB 59 59 Wyn Aberystwyth  
08/05/22 14:12 G3MXH 40m SSB 59 59 Terry Mid Suffolk  
08/05/22 14:13 M7GTL 40m SSB 47 59 Iain    
08/05/22 14:17 G8XLH 40m SSB 58 57 Alan Peterborough  
08/05/22 14:20 M0HHG 40m SSB 59 59 Gary Bishops Stainton  
08/05/22 14:22 M0STN 40m SSB 59 59 Steve Northampthon  
08/05/22 14:23 GM4MTI 40m SSB 58   Stuart    
08/05/22 14:27 MW0CND 40m SSB 59 59 Martin Swansea  
08/05/22 14:30 G3NKS 40m SSB 59 59 Derek Cheltenham  
08/05/22 14:34 M1AOB 40m SSB 57 57 Richard   SS30
08/05/22 14:39 G3LUA 40m SSB 59 59 Alan    
08/05/22 14:41 G1SSL 40m SSB 59 59 Melvin Didcot  

Those “Pesky” RSL’s

The Regional Secondary Locators are letters altered or added to an individual or club amateur radio callsign to denote which part of the United Kingdom the station is operating from, the map and table below indicate the principles:

Location Foundation Callsigns Intermediate Callsigns Full Callsigns Club Callsigns Special Event Callsigns
England M#☐☐☐ 2E#☐☐☐ G#☐☐☐
M#☐☐☐
GX#☐☐☐
MX#☐☐☐
GB#☐☐☐

Typically Special Event Callsigns are of the form GB + 1 Number (0-9) and 3 letters.
However, Special Special Event Callsigns can have 1, 2, 3 or even 4 letters after 1, 2 or even 3 digits following the “GB” prefix depending on:
1. Ofcoms disposition,
2. Who you ask,
3. Who you know, and
4. How much “clout” you can bring to bear.

Guernsey MU#☐☐☐ 2U#☐☐☐ GU#☐☐☐
MU#☐☐☐
GP#☐☐☐
MP#☐☐☐
Isle of Man MD#☐☐☐ 2D#☐☐☐ GD#☐☐☐
MD#☐☐☐
GT#☐☐☐
MT#☐☐☐
Jersey MJ#☐☐☐ 2J#☐☐☐ GJ#☐☐☐
MJ#☐☐☐
GH#☐☐☐
MH#☐☐☐
Northern Ireland MI#☐☐☐ 2I#☐☐☐ GI#☐☐☐
MI#☐☐☐
GN#☐☐☐
MN#☐☐☐
Scotland MM#☐☐☐ 2M#☐☐☐ GM#☐☐☐
MM#☐☐☐
GS#☐☐☐
MS#☐☐☐
Wales MW#☐☐☐ 2W#☐☐☐ GW#☐☐☐
MW#☐☐☐
GC#☐☐☐
MC#☐☐☐

Map of RSL's

We have long harboured the ambition to work all RSL’s on a single Special Event or contest but have yet to manage this (although we did come close this time, where were all the Jersey operators?). We didn’t manage it this time, but we live in hope!

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