Over the weekend of the 10th and 11th May 2008 members of Norfolk Amateur radio Club participated in special event station GB0WWW (Wherrymans Way Windmill) which was run by Terry G0BXL from the Harlow and District Amateur Radio Club, supported by Alan M0LSX from the NARC. The Station was taking part in Mills on the air weekend and was the only Mill participating from Norfolk. The mill is Hardly Drainage Mill and sits right on the river Yare, about eight miles South East of Norwich, and the Wherrymans Way walk runs between the river and the Mill. This marsh drainage mill was built in 1874 and is a rare example containing an internal turbine that lifted water from the marsh dykes to a height of over 3.5 metres before discharging into the River Yare, physically shaping the Broads landscape. The mill is currently undergoing extensive repair by the Hardley Windmill Trust. Once restored to full working order, the mill will be open for visitors demonstrating how the power of the wind has been historically harnessed to lift huge quantities of water. Location of the GB0WWW station was QRA (Maidenhead) Locator  JO Ø2 SN .Other members of NARC who took part were Nigel M0NWW, arriving by boat! Rex G0CLR, Stuart G7KBF, David G7URP, Kevin M0UJD, Paul G3VPT, Judi 2E0KNE and Marrianne M3UYY all enjoyed logging stations on 2 Meters FM and HF . Many good contacts were made and 13 other Mills were logged including Lymm Slitting Mill, which was used in the manufacture of Nails!
We had a slight hiccup with the coax on the Sunday morning, but this was rectified very quickly once we realised that it was getting rather too hot sitting in front of a spotlight! Other than that there were no technical hitches and things ran smoothly…well almost everything!!! (Don’t ask David!)

We were not operating from inside the Mill this year, as has been the case in previous years as the new Visitors Centre afforded more space and ease of operating.  The weather was fantastic, and that coupled with the wide-open quiet riverside location made it a very relaxing weekend. However it was un-nerving to say the least, to see that the passing boats were higher than us!!
Many of you have met Terry G0BXL, otherwise known as Titanic Terry due to his interest in the Titanic and the Marconi Radio equipment on that and the Sister ship. Due to ill health he was not with us this weekend as he had hoped, and we were unsuccessful in our attempts to work him at his home QTH. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Pictures from the event are availble to view in our Gallery .