International Marconi Day

On April 23, 2021 a group of radio amateurs gathered at the Radio Technology Museum at InfoAge to participate in International Marconi Day. This 24-hour ham radio event is sponsored by the Cornish Radio Amateur Club in the U.K.. This event is held annually on the Saturday closest to Guglielmo Marconi’s birthday, April 25th. Being located at the former Marconi Belmar receiving site erected in 1914, W2RTM is one of about 40 Official International Marconi Day stations worldwide.

More about the event and our location can be found at http://gx4crc.com and http://www.rtm.ar88.net

Amateur radio station W2RTM was put on the air from 8PM Friday, April 23 to 8PM, Saturday, April 24. Al Klase – N3FRQ had built a spectacular radio setup consisting of a Dentron kilowatt amplifier, a matching Dentron tuner driven by a Yaesu FT-950 transceiver, the signal was radiated by a 100-foot doublet antenna above the Museum. It made a big impression on the bands, consistently getting strong signal reports up and down the east coast and out into the Midwest.

The improved station for 2021.

 

Ted – N2KPS working stations on 40-meters while Nev – N2GX keeps the log.

We made 438 contacts including the West Coast, Spain and Germany. Most were made on the 40-meter (7MHz) band with SSB radio-telephone. Radio propagation was so-so. Many times we were digging signals out of the noise while receiving strong signal reports form the other station.

Participants:

  • Nev Greenough – N2GX: Event Captain
  • Ted Copp – N2KPS: Ace Operator and Web Coordination Expert
  • Al Klase – N3FRQ station design
  • Robert Forte – K2RGM
  • John Ruccolo – KC2UAK
  • Gus Shirley – WX2M

 

John – KC2UAK and Gus – WX2M