A group of radio amateurs gathered on December 11 at W1AW to mark the 98th anniversary of the successful ARRL Transatlantic Tests. On December 11, 1921, a message transmitted by a group of Radio Club of America members at 1BCG in Greenwich, Connecticut, was copied by Paul Godley, 2ZE, in Scotland. Reporting on the accomplishment, ARRL Secretary Kenneth B. Warner, 1EH, declared “Excelsior!” Clark Burgard, N1BCG — who lives in Greenwich and fashions his call sign as n1BCG to honor the original 1BCG — was among those on hand at the Maxim Memorial Station.
“We completed a successful special event yesterday at W1AW commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Transatlantic Tests,” Burgard recounted. “This was particularly important historically to amateur radio as it was originally organized by the ARRL in 1921 to determine if low-power amateur radio stations using shortwave frequencies could actually be heard in Europe. Until then, it was thought impossible.”
Burgard pointed out that the 1921 event changed radio history, took three issues of QST to cover, and opened the door to the first two-way transatlantic tests a couple of years later. The 1921 transatlantic success marked the beginning of what would become routine communication between US radio amateurs and those in other parts of the world — literally the birth of DX.
Those pitching in to take part in the day-long anniversary celebration were Michael Pfaeffle, K3FEF; Lisa Kress; Brian Kress, KB3WFV; Bob Allison, WB1GCM; Blaine Morin, N1GTU; Clark Burgard, N1BCG; Chris Codella, W2PA; Glenn Cooper, W2BK, and Greg Fiozzo, KD2HRD.
Source:ARRL
VHF
CHESS CubeSat Constellation to Carry FUNcube Transponders
In 2020, a project between AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-NL, and Swiss universities got under way with the aim of equipping two Swiss satellites — for now under the... Read more
The First Thing To Upgrade On Your Handheld Ham Radio
It’s true that the best thing to upgrade on your ham radio handheld is its antenna. However, there is something you should do before making that anten... Read more
AMSAT/Vanderbilt RadFXSat-2/Fox 1E Set to Launch
Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne is a go for launch on Wednesday, January 13, at 1500 UTC, carrying the AMSAT/Vanderbilt RadFXSat-2/Fox-1E CubeSat into spac... Read more
144 MHz signal from the Faroe Islands heard 3000kms away in Bulgaria during Geminid Meteor Shower – Dec 2020
Every year, the Geminid meteor shower peaks around the 14th of December and many VHF radio amateurs make contacts by bouncing signals off the meteor t... Read more
QYT KT-780 Plus 100 Watts 2 meter Mobile Radio Review and Demo
The QYT KT-780 Plus is a 100 watt mobile radio on the 2 meter Amateur Radio Band, and works on FM mode. Today we will walk through the menu of the rad... Read more
6000km TEP path on 144 MHz opens up between Buenos Aires and the Dominican Republic
Hot on the heels of the last post about the 5400km TEP opening on 144 MHz between Argentina and the island of Aruba, we have details of some more cont... Read more
Retevis RT95 Budget Dual Band Mobile Transceiver
Specifications GENERAL Frequency Range VHF:144-148MHz UHF: 430~440MHz Number of Channels 200 channels Channel Spacing 25K (Wide Band) 20K(Middle Band)... Read more
News
SuitSat loses its innocence in a new video short sci-fi thriller Decommissioned. “Inspired by true events,” the video short resurrects the 2006 spacesuit/satellite that transmitted messages on 2 meters as it circled Earth. The original Suit... Read more