On Saturday 10th May, members of Dragon Amateur Radio Club gathered at Melin Llynon / Llynon Mill on the island of Ynys Mon for the annual Mills On The Air weekend, which is held every May.
Thanks to the owner of the mill, Richard Holt we were able to set up on the lawn in front of the mill and operate four stations, two on HF, VHF and Wires X digital mode. The sun shone, ice lollies, coffee and cakes were consumed, the public showed interest and many contacts were made!
7 contacts on 2 metre VHF19 contacts using Wires-X digital mode including into the USA, Australia and Ireland82 contacts on HF, mainly around the UK, but also the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
A total of 108 relaxed contacts over 6 glorious hours in the sunshine.

Interestingly Melin Llynon, or Llynon Mill, is a gristmill built for £529, 11s in 1775–1776 and is located on the outskirts of the village of Llanddeusant on the island of Anglesey. It is the only surviving working windmill in Wales.

The windmills on the air event is not run as a contest. The aim is to bring together amateur radio operators and clubs to promote the hobby, whilst helping preserve some of the wonderful heritage of our Windmills and Watermills. including Tidal Mills, Treadle Mills or Horse Mills (with a wide variation of types within those!). To find out more about the event browse to https://nharg.org.uk/content/about-mills-air-mota

Like a lot of people John doesn’t have much time to spare but on the 80th anniversary of VE Day he took some time out to remember the ones that had fallen at a service at Parys mountain in Anglesey.

More than 500 people braved the chill evening air to gather in a car park, in the shadow of Parys Mountain, near Amlwch, as the sun set over the Irish Sea, on Thursday, May 8. A special programme of events included music, hymns, prayers, a parade by members of the armed services, speeches and the lighting of the beacon at 9.30pm –  just one of many across the country.

Of course we should not forget that throughout history, amateur radio has played an essential and often underestimated role in wartime, providing crucial communication links during military operations such as VE Day. Indeed from the early days of wireless technology to more recent conflicts, amateur radio operators—often unpaid volunteers—have risked their lives to help keep information flowing and ultimately save lives.

International Marconi Day is observed annually on the Saturday closest to April 25, which is the birth date of Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, inventor of the radio.

On Saturday, April 26th, 2025 operating as GB2IMD the Dragon Amateur Radio Club celebrated international Marconi day which marks the anniversary of the first transatlantic message being sent from the historic Marconi transmission site at Ceunant, near Waunfawr.

The operating site is rich in wireless heritage and was indeed the location from which Marconi sent first transatlantic message in the early 1900s which is recognised as being a true pioneering leap in global communication. To find out more about the site visit https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=marconi-transmitting-station-site-near-caernarfon

Location 3.6 miles (5.75km) East of Caernarfon (Click to view Google Map)
W.A.B :- SH56
IARU Location IO73VC
N.G.R (National grid reference ) SH53318 60738  Elevation 821 feet (250m) above sea level (to car park)

What do radio amateurs do with their old and unwanted equipment and components? They sell them!
Very often the big ticket items, expensive radios etc, are traded at one of the many amateur radio shops, or we sell them online. However for those smaller items and components we take them to the annual Dragon Amateur Radio Club Junk Sale!

On Monday the 7th of April 2025, members of Dragon Amateur Radio Club gathered for our annual sale of all things radio and electronic. Available to buy was a multitude of aerials, test equipment, handheld radios, antenna matching units, tuning capacitors, components, books and much more!
Hard at work as auctioneer was our Chairman, Danny GW7BZR who managed to extract every single penny he could from the assembled gathering of amateurs. This was no mean feat as amateurs do like to protect their wallets!
Many of us went home happy with new items for our shack.’

Article by Simon Taylor MW0NWM

Every year the Dragon Amateur Radio Club holds a construction contest with the aim of encouraging members to build either radio equipment or ancillary items which will enhance their radio operations and then to exhibit the builds to encourage others to follow their example. Read about the contest at https://dragonamateurradioclub.co.uk/darc-construction-contest-2024-18th-nov-2024/

On February 3rd 2025 the Dragon Amateur Radio Club chairman Danny Shurmer (GW7BZR) awarded the winners prizes to Les Hayward MW0SEC who won the senior section of the construction championship with his signal generator and to Jason Young MW0JYY who won the Junior section with his portable rotator and battery pack. Well done to both of you.

It’s March the 11th 2025 and it might look sunny outside, but it isn’t, it’s freezing —so cold that even penguins would be like, “Nah, I’m staying in.” But did that stop David Morgan (GW6MLI) and Martin Moyse (2W0NKS) because when the radio waves call, you answer, even if your fingers are so numb they feel like frozen fish sticks.

So there we were, braving the elements like a couple of poorly dressed explorers, determined to set up a radio station. Why? Because the world needed our voices! Or at least, someone needed to hear something other than static.

The wind howled, mocking our every move. The cables fought back, as if they had made a pact with the ice to stay tangled forever. And the metal equipment? Oh, it was colder than our will to live at that moment and on top of that the pump up mast had lost the will to live and kept dropping down thus allowing the G5RV antenna to droop on the ground!

Legends aren’t made in warm studios. They’re made in the freezing cold, holding a wrench with three fingers that still have circulation, and grasping a microphone in the other hand wondering why we didn’t choose a hobby like baking instead.

But we persevered. We battled the frostbite, we outwitted the stubborn connectors, kept pumping the mast back up, and when that first signal crackled through the air, we knew—it was all worth it.

During March of 2025 RSGB Cymru (Wales) have been running a 15m 21Mhz challenge contest for members and affiliated clubs in regions 6 and 7. Participants are encouraged to build a home-brew resonant antenna for the 21MHz / 15M band, and make as many QSO’s as possible during the challenge.

David initially built a long wire at the club but could not get the SWR down below 4 so decided to turn to a delta loop antenna instead.

Davids antenna is a simple delta loop mounted 20ft up on a simple pole with 4 to 1 balun at the bottom. It is 47ft long with a lighting arrester attached to the bottom of the balun so that an earthing wire can be run directly to a 1 metre copper earth rod directly below the antenna. David has been operating the loop using his Icom 7300 and has made contacts all over Europe and Russia including several Italian special callsign stations that are currently partaking in the Italian Navy Coastal Radio Stations Award contest.
II8ICN Italy flag Italy Italian Navy Coastal Radio Station Maritele Naples Distretto A.R.M.I. Caserta Team -IQ8XS- Via IV Novembre, 23 Calvi Risorta -Caserta-, IT 81042 Italy. This is the other station worked. IR0IDP Sardinia flag Sardinia Italian Navy Coastal Radio Station – Maritele Cagliari Special event station Cagliari 09126 Sardinia

We wish David good luck with the 15m 21Mhz contest.

On the 3rd of March Martin (2W0NKS) gave the club a talk on producing media for websites.

Martin explained that Good media is crucial for a website because it enhances user experience, engagement, and credibility, boosts engagement and retention, improves communication, enhances SEO and performance, builds trust and credibility, and attracts new interest in the club and members to the club.

In the context of websites, media refers to various types of content that enhance the user experience, including:

1. Images – JPEG, PNG, GIF, SVG, and WebP formats used for visuals like logos, backgrounds, and illustrations.
2. Videos – MP4, WebM, or embedded videos from platforms like YouTube or Vimeo.
3. Audio – MP3, WAV, and AAC files for background music, podcasts, or sound effects.
4. Animations – GIFs, CSS animations, and JavaScript-based animations (e.g., Lottie files).
5. Documents – PDFs, Word documents, or spreadsheets available for download.
6. Interactive Media – HTML5 games, VR/AR elements, and interactive infographics.

Media helps improve engagement, storytelling, and accessibility on websites but must be optimized for speed and responsiveness to enhance user experience.