Club POTA Activation of Windmill Meadow (GB-4306) via HF and QO-100 Satellite

On Saturday 26th April 2025 a team of BARC Members visited Windmill Meadows in Bracknell to activate the park (GB-4306) as part of the ‘Parks On The Air’ activity.

There were a couple of firsts for the club, using the club ICOM IC-7300 recently donated to us by Frank G3GRY(SK) and attempting an activation via the QO-100 Es’hail2 Satellite.

Our regular POTA activators are now very efficient at setting up the power supply, Radios and HF antennas, on this occasion mounted on the roof of Paul G4HLF’s Car. Gopan M0XUU set-up and finely directed his dish to the QO-100 Satellite, positioned in a geostationary orbit above the equator over central Africa.

The team took turns in putting out the calls and logging oiur contacts via the HF station. Gopan activating the park via CW on the satellite.

The weather was kind to us, it was warm and stayed dry for the afternoon, allow almost 4 hours of activity. It was great to see so many members attending to take part and support the activation, making the event a fun social activity too. It was also good to meet some of the non-members that dropped-in to see what we were up to.

Although HF conditions were not particularly good, a successful activation was achieved with over logged 40 QSO’s.

Thank you to Paul G4HLF, Paul 2E0PNL and Gopan M0XUU for all their hard work and skill in ensuring a successful activation.