MARCONI RADIO GROUP LAUNCH NEW 70CM REPEATER

MARCONI WOULD BE PROUD OF BALLYCASTLE TODAY

NEW 70CMS AMATEUR RADIO REPEATER COMES ON AIR AT BALLYCASTLE FOREST.

A new 70cm repeater at Ballycastle forest (GB3KK) came live on the 23 May 2008 which was
developed and placed on scene by the Marconi Radio group. The work on this was commissioned
by the Marconi Radio group and carried out by club member Michael Kaskoush.

The repeater transmits on 430.975 Mhz and receives on 438.575Mhz with a CTCSS tone of
110.9Hz, its locator is IO65WT with a LAT of 55.191845 and a LONG of -6.243352. Full details
can be found at http://www.ukrepeater.net/repeaters/gb3kk.htm This allows communications on the
band between North East Antrim right across East Londonderry and out towards Inishowen, Co
Donegal.

The repeater also links into Campbeltown all the way up the mull of Kintyre to include parts of the
Isle of Arran, all of Islay, Jura and Gigha, and also parts of the Scottish Mainland. This is its natural
RF coverage area. However, it is now linked 24/7 hrs to the Ireland conference server via echolink
which brings coverage from all over the world right into a small hand held radio which you can
carry with you while walking within the RF coverage area of the repeater.

This has brought a whole new dimension to Ham radio in that it is now possible to talk all over the
world from a small hand held radio from anywhere in the area. Countries connecting to the Ireland
server include the USA, Australia, Japan, Germany, UK and, indeed, anyone who has a call sign
world wide can register.

An example of this the other day was a guy on his lunch break in a factory in Germany chatting to a
guy walking his dog in Manchester, UK, while a station from Australia called in as well so indeed
the world is a very small place in today's modern technology, brought right to your fingertips in
Ballycastle through the GB3KK repeater. Please note that hand-held coverage is only available in
Ballycastle, further afield you will require mobile or base station facilities to operate it.

This is the second repeater to be put in place by the Marconi Radio group as they have an existing 2
Meter repeater at West Torr (GB3PK). See http://www.ukrepeater.net/repeaters/gb3pk.htm for full
repeater details and coverage.

The Marconi Radio Group was set up in the town of Ballycastle, Co.Antrim, in Northern Ireland on
10th April 2001. It began with two Radio Hams, Kevin McAuley MIOCRQ and Paul Quinn
MI0CRR.

The group was formed to celebrate the early wireless signals made by Guglielmo Marconi where a
historic link was made on July 6th 1898 when experimental transmissions were made between the
east lighthouse on Rathlin Island and the ' White Lodge ' house situated at the harbour in
Ballycastle. This link by Marconi pioneered developments that were taking place in wireless
telegraphy.

Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy, on April 25th 1874 to an Italian father and an Irish mother - his
mother was Annie Jameson whose family owned the Jameson Whiskey Distillery in County
Wexford. His work on Rathlin Island and in Ballycastle covered a relatively short period from June
4th to September 2nd 1898; Marconi himself visited for four days during that time.

The experimental work was carried out by his assistant, George Kemp, who was in turn assisted by
Edward Glanville. Also employed was John Cecil from Rathlin Island. They carried out
experimental transmissions between the east lighthouse on Rathlin Island and the 'White Lodge'
house situated at the harbour in Ballycastle – and, in doing so, created the historical link between
the town and the pioneering developments that were taking place in 'wireless telegraphy'.

Heinrich Hertz ,who died in 1894, had discovered that electro-magnetic waves existed in the air and
that these could be detected over short distances, Sir William Crookes also predicted that these same
electro-magnetic waves could be used for communication.

Marconi had studied physics and took inspiration from the work of Hertz. He carried out a series of
practical experiments in wireless telegraphy in Italy and, although Sir Oliver Lodge and Dr
Alexander Muirhead claimed to have sent a 'wireless' signal between two Oxford buildings in 1894,
it was Marconi who registered the first patent of this technology. Sir Oliver Lodge had developed a
more efficient way of picking up these electro-magnetic signals than Hertz in the 'Branley coherer'
and Marconi developed this ability a
step further.

In 1885, a Captain H. B. Jackson (Royal Navy) had also succeeded in transmitting a 'wireless' signal
the length of ship which rang a bell and later in 1886 from ship to ship within the confines of a
harbour, repeating what Marconi had already done in 1894. Jackson later met Marconi during
experiments on Salisbury Plain.
At the time, many scientists were working in the same field but it was Marconi who had realized the
potential of the discovery, which led him to register Patent No. 12039, on June 2nd 1896 with a
specification for a 'wireless' system using Hertzian waves.

Some of his landmark achievements are as follows:

1894, Italy - first demonstrated the transmission of 'wireless' signals to sound a bell across a room.

1895, Italy - successfully demonstrated signal transmission and reception over a 2km distance
across fields.

1896, England - came to London and registered his patent - demonstrated transmission and
reception on Salisbury plain using an aerial developed by the Russian Prof. Alexander Popoff,
Captain H. B. Jackson was present along with the chief engineer of the General Post Office and also
representatives of the British Army.

1897, England - He achieved a range of 7km transmission and reception on Salisbury Plain -
achieved a new record distance of 14km when he send a message across the Bristol Channel from
Flat Holm, Weston-super-Mare to Lavernock Point, Cardiff - set up an aerial in the grounds of the
Royal Needles Hotel, Alum Bay, Isle of Wight and communicated with two hired ferries and later
with another station set up in the Medeira House, Bournemouth;
Italy - communicated from La Spezia, Italy with the armoured cruiser 'San Martino' a distance of 11
miles;
England - with his cousin Jameson Davis, he first registered his company as The Wireless Telegraph
and Signal Company.

1898, Ireland - transmission and reception between Rathlin Island and Ballycastle under
commission by Lloyds of London - sent the world's first live 'wireless' report of a yacht race from a
ship called 'The Flying Huntress' to a shore station at Kingstown (Dublin). This brought immense
publicity and interest for Marconi work and its commercial and military potential.

1899, England -The Goodwin Lightship which had been installed with a transmitter was rammed in
heavy fog by the S.S. 'R.F. Mathews' , it was able to send the first 'life saving' signal from sea, for
the assistance of two lifeboats.

1901 - Sent a signal 198 miles between the Isle of Wight and Lizard Point, Cornwall – defying
critics and the opinions of the scientific world he sent a signal around the curvature of the earth,
from Poldhu, Cornwall to Signal Hill, St Johns, Newfoundland.

1918 - first signal from England to Australia. These are just a few of the scores of events and
achievements during his lifetime - and we have not touched on the greatest aid that his work created
for shipping, namely the ability to sent 'wireless' distress signals which led to the saving of
hundreds of thousands of lives at sea.

How or why Marconi came to Ballycastle to undertake the trials for Lloyds is not completely clear,
it was certainly related to the fact that 'wireless telegraphy' promised to become the most important
development in tracking incoming and outgoing vessels. The possibility had come of age when,
with Marconi equipped stations all along the coast, all vessels within twenty-five miles of shore
could make their presence known and send or receive communications. So apparent were the
advantages of such a system that Lloyds in May, 1898, entered into negotiations for the setting up
of Marconi instruments at various Lloyds stations; and preliminary trials were commissioned
between Rathlin Island and Ballycastle.
Another factor may have been the location, as all transatlantic shipping coming and going from
Liverpool passed between Torr Head and the Mull of Kintyre and, like Malin Head, Torr Head
already had a signalling station - both of which relied on semaphore communication - therefore
Rathlin to Ballycastle would have been the ideal location. These early contracts from Lloyds along
with others from the Royal Navy, British Army and three shipping companies gave the new
company its first income and the foundations of what today is a multi-national company.

There are, however, some incorrect facts around the work that took place in Ballycastle - firstly the
cottage referred to as 'Marconi's Cottage' situated on the shoreline, at the end of the road before Fair
Head, was not where the reception of transmissions was received. As James O Kane, ex-Town Clerk
of Moyle District Council, pointed out in an article to the Irish News, the former Antrim County
Council, misled by local Post Office officials, put a plaque on the cottage. Not only was it at the
wrong location but the date on the plaque of 1904 was also wrong.

The other point is the fact that the transmissions and receptions were not, as some accounts claim,
the first transmission or receptions over water or indeed the first 'wireless' transmissions in the
world. They were a part of the development of 'wireless telegraphy' which would revolutionize
communications, especially for mariners.

Marconi's assistant, George Kemp, arrived in Ballycastle on June 4th 1898 and was assisted by
Edward Glanville, a young graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Kemp also employed John Cecil of
Rathlin Island to assist in the work they would undertake and I am sure several other local people
helped in the task of erecting and securing the mast at the east lighthouse and at Ballycastle.

Kemp identified the east lighthouse on Rathlin and the harbour area in Ballycastle to be the best
locations for the two signal stations. They set about erecting an eighty foot aerial at the east light
house on Rathlin. At first they could not get any reception at the harbour in Ballycastle and after
researching other locations in Ballycastle they eventually increased the mast size at 'White Lodge',
near the coal yards (where the present Ferry terminal car park is situated) to 104 feet. This seemed
to solve the problem and on July 6th Kemp recorded the first signals transmitted from Rathlin
Island by Edward Glanville.

They continued with their experimental trials until George Kemp was instructed to go to Kingston
(now Dun Laoghaire), Dublin. Marconi had been commissioned by the Dublin Daily Express to
report the progress of the Kingston Regatta (July 20 – 22, 1898). He did this from a steam tug,
sending 'wireless' messages back to the harbour where they were subsequently telephoned to
Dublin. Becoming what many believe to have been the first 'live' transmission of a sporting event in
the world, in the process he gained immense publicity for the technology and his Company.

There seems to be some confusion as to some dates and whether Edward Glanville actually
accompanied Kemp to Dublin or not. The Regatta was held on July 20 - 22,1898 which meant that
Kemp and Granville would have been away together. Yet accounts tell of the untimely death of
Edward Granville taking place on Sunday 21st July, 1898 when he tragically stumbled and fell
down a cliff on Rathlin Island.

Marconi is recorded as having arrived in Ballycastle on August 29th and spent four days here,
during which time he visited and checked the equipment and transmissions on Rathlin Island,
experienced the Lammas Fair on the 31stAugust and left for London on the 2nd of September.

Marconi went on to develop short wave radio, the basis for most long distance communications
before satellite. He was also awarded a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909 and, on his death in 1937,
was given a state funeral in his home town of Bologne.

The annual club dinner will be at the Marine Hotel on Sat 13 December 2008, tickets available from
any club member. Anyone with a interest in Short Wave Radio, Ham radio, Morse code or who just
wants to call in for a chat is very welcome to call on the first Thursday of any month at the
Ballycastle Museum, Top floor from 8pm onwards. The club also runs a number of special events
arround Ballymoney and Moyle and from the club rooms. Details will always appear in the press.