Last updated
20 Oct 2019
This is a special event station usually based at the Isle of Wight Community Club, Cowes.
Guglielmo Marconi was born at Bologna, Italy, on April 25, 1874, the second son of Giuseppe Marconi, an Italian country gentleman, and Annie Jameson, daughter of Andrew Jameson of the Jameson Whiskey Distillery, Daphne Castle in the County Wexford, Ireland.
So perhaps you can guess the 'JAM' in our special event call sign is for Jameson. GB4JAM blank QSL cards. QSL route is via eQSL only for historic calls.
These are the only dates our club has used GB4JAM : April 2003, April 2002, April 2001, April 2000, Nov 1999, April 1999, Aug 1998, April 1998, Dec 1997, April 1997, April 1996, April 1995 (click on links for more details)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Click previous numbers for paper QSL cards received.
A selection of eQSL "cards" Europe 1, Europe 2, UK, World.
Some antenna photos - 20m quarter wave vertical (used up to 2001), long wire in 2002, 15m quarter wave vertical (used from 2001).
Operations have coincided with IMD (Marconi's birthday) or other Centenaries associated with the Isle of Wight.
4 August 1898 Cowes. First Royal use of Wireless. See Royal messages. See the Royal Yacht with aerials. (Picture from here)
The Queen wished to be able thus to get frequent bulletins in regard to the Prince's injured knee, and not less than 150 messages of a strictly private nature were transmitted, in the course of sixteen days, with entire success. By permission of the Prince of Wales, some of these messages have been made public; among others the following:
| August 4th. From Dr. Tripp to Sir James Reid. H. R. H. the Prince of Wales has passed another excellent night and is in very good spirits and health. The knee is most satisfactory. |
August 5th. From Dr. Tripp to Sir James Reid. H. R. H. the Prince of Wales has passed another excellent night, and the knee is in good condition. |
The transmission here was accomplished in the usual way with a 100-foot pole at Ladywood Cottage, in the grounds of Osborne House, East Cowes, supporting the vertical conductor and a wire from the yacht's mast lifted eighty-three feet above deck. This wire led down into the saloon, where the instruments were operated and observed with great interest by the various royalties aboard notably, the Duke of York, the Princess Louise, and the Prince of Wales himself. What seemed to amaze them above all was that the sending could go on just the same while the yacht was plowing along through the waves. The following was sent on August 10th by the Prince of Wales while the yacht was steaming at a good rate off Bembridge, seven or eight miles from Osborne:
On one occasion the yacht cruised so far west as to bring its receiver within the influence of the transmitter at the Needles, and here it was found possible to communicate successively with that station and with Osborne, and this despite the fact that both stations were cut off from the yacht by considerable hills, one of these, Headon Hill, rising 314 feet higher than the vertical wire on the "Osborne."To the Duke of Connaught.
Will be pleased to see you on board this afternoon when the "Osborne" returns.
"In August, 1898, I was invited to install my wireless system between the Royal yacht Osborne and Osborne House, Isle of Wight. The late Queen Victoria wanted to communicate with the then Prince of Wales, during his cruises in Cowes Bay and the Channel. When the Prince of Wales sent the first message to the Duke of Connaught, he asked me if that was the very first ever sent from English soil. 'Oh, no, Your Royal Highness,' I replied; 'The first message from the English soil I sent to my aged parents to Italy,' and the prince shrugged his shoulders." Marconi.
Eaglehurst, a large residence looking across to the Isle of Wight, has in its grounds a building known as Luttrell's Tower, so called after Simon Temple Luttrell, a former owner of Irish descent. Eaglehurst was purchased by a member of the Drummond family, who let it to Marconi. It was from this tower that the first radio signals were sent out to Marconi's yacht, Electra, anchored in Cowes Roads. (Date not known).
In August 1927, as a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, he took Maria Cristina to the regatta at Cowes, Isle of Wight. Aboard the Elettra, the only yacht flying both the white ensign of the Royal Navy and the Italian tricolour with the crown of Savoy, they entertained royalty and nobility, tycoons and Hollywood film stars.
There are many other historical links between Marconi and the rest of the Isle of Wight. See Marconi , put "isle of wight" in search.
Not quite Wireless but! Bell demonstrated the telephone to Queen Victoria on 14th January 1878 at Osborne House, East Cowes with calls to London, Cowes and Southampton. These were the first long-distance calls in the UK.
Hear IMD recording from OE75M Intermedia 213.
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: Last updated
20 Oct 2019