Members of the Secret Nuclear Bunker CG once again activated Upminster Windmill. The mill is currently undergoing a major renovation, with the project being managed by a company in Holland. The windmill has recently benefitted from the addition of a visitors center, and this will be used for education and community projects.
The friends of Upminster Windmill kindly allowed us to set up inside the newly constructed visitors center, providing us shelter, toilets and the ability to make a nice pot of tea – what luxury.
We set up both VHF and HF stations, using Icom 7100 radios. The VHF station was active on 433, 145 and 70 MHz using a vertical antenna, while the HF station used a doublet antenna at 9 meters. The HF bands provided quite a challenge, the conditions being quite poor although we still managed to contact over 200 stations from around the UK and Europe.
The VHF station contacted over 70 stations from the local area, including 8 other mills.
Fred G3SVK also worked a number of stations on CW using 7, 10 and 14 MHz.
Thanks to Fred G3SVK and Dianne we enjoyed a lovely home cooked curry on Saturday night, and a Lasagna on Sunday.
Thanks once again to the Friends of Upminster Windmill and look forward to seeing you in 2018.
QSL is via eqsl.cc this year to keep costs down. The eqsl.cc card has a picture of the mill, and can be printed should you so wish.
