ARLA/CLUSTER: GB0CMS contacta com 36 entidades durante o International Marconi Day

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Caister Marconi radio station contacts 36 countries

Radio hams at the Caister Lifeboat Visitor Centre in Norfolk managed to
contact 236 other radio amateurs in 36 different countries on Saturday 25
April when they took part in the annual International Marconi Day to mark
the inventor's birthday.

Using the call GB0CMS and a mixture of Morse code and telephony (speech),
contacts were made with other radio amateurs across Europe, Australia,
Canada and the USA.

Notable contacts were with other special Marconi stations in the UK, Italy,
Sweden, and Spain.

The Norfolk Amateur Radio Club (NARC) ran the all-day special event station
at Caister Lifeboat to commemorate the village's original Marconi Wireless
Station, which was established at Caister in 1900. The station was in a
house in the High Street known as Pretoria Villa and its original purpose
was to communicate with ships in the North Sea and the Cross Sands
lightship.

On Saturday, the closest to Guglielmo Marconi's birthday, stations around
the world are set up at sites with historical links to the inventor's work.
These include Poldhu in England; Cape Cod Massachusetts; Glace Bay, Nova
Scotia; Villa Griffone, Bologna, Italy and many others.
Colin Hendry (G0ODR) and his daughter Leanne (2E0OCL) talk to other radio
amateurs in the UK on International Marconi Day, 25th April 2015, from
GB0CMS at Caister Lifeboat, Norfolk

Visitors to the station including many other local radio amateurs and
members of the public.

NARC public relation officer Steve Nichols, who organised the event, said:
“Conditions were not very good this year – after a good start with contacts
into Australia and California the bands then took a dive.

“ But nevertheless we managed to make contact with lots of other radio
amateurs around the world using the same amount of power as an incandescent
light bulb (100W). The highlight was working into Melbourne, Australia.

“ Our thanks go to Caister Lifeboat for letting us set up the station.�
*Technical information*

The equipment used was 100W from an Icom IC-756 Pro3 (40m) and Icom IC-7400
(20, 17m and 10m). Antennas were a W5GI dipole on 40m and G0KYA-designed
monoband end-fed half-wave verticals for HF.

*About Norfolk Amateur Radio Club:*

The club has more than 100 members, a strong history dating back to the
1950s and has a very active calendar of talks, events, special event
stations and courses.

It meets at 7.00pm on Wednesdays at the Sixth Form Common Room, City of
Norwich School, Eaton Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 6PP, with formal
proceedings starting at 7.45pm.

The programme alternates weekly between talks or club challenges, and
informal meetings with Morse tuition, electronic construction and “Bright
Sparks� events for youngsters.

*Further history of the original Marconi Wireless Station*

The Caister station was connected by land line to Gt Yarmouth Post Office
and the Caister Coast Guard Station. The main aerial mast behind the house
was 150 feet high, the aerial wire being suspended between this and a
slightly shorter mast situated on land where Lacon Road was later built.

The large front room of the house contained the main apparatus and was also
used as the operating room. The engine for charging the accumulators was
situated in a shed adjoining the house and the accumulators themselves were
housed in a specially constructed annex.

The remainder of the premises were used as a dwelling house for the
officer-in-charge.

The range of communication was 150 to 200 miles on the long wave (600m) and
100 miles on the short wave (300m).

In 1909 all the Marconi coastal stations were taken over by the Post
Office. In 1911 the Caister station was used to train lightship men in the
use of telegraphy equipment.

In January 1915 the telegraph equipment on the Cross Sand lightship was
transferred to the Parlour lightship and the Caister station was changed to
‘general working’ and not used for ship-to-shore work. Public use of the
telegram facility provided at Caister was suspended for the duration of the
WW1.

In 1921 plans were made for the reinstallation of wireless on Trinity House
lightships, but this time the new wireless telephony was to replace
telegraphy (Morse). New technology made the Caister station out of date and
it finally closed in 1929. The masts were taken down and a few years later
the house became the village Police Station.

(Historical details with thanks to local historian Colin Tooke.)
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