Instructions for operating VK100MARCONI

QSL card of the special event station, VK100MARCONI

Special Event Controller

Bob VK2KAZ is the controller/organiser of the operating rosters for the VK100MARCONI Callsign.

1. Before operation, ensure you have Bob’s authority. This is essential to ensure only one operator is on any one band and mode at any one time.
2. Logs to be recorded in UTC and returned to Bob as soon as possible after operation. A blank logsheet is provided in the links below.

Historical Background to the Event

The information links on the HADARC centenary page provide the historical background to the 1918 event. Contacts with VK100MARCONI might ask the reason for the special event callsign. In short:-

1. In 1918 Australia was reliant on under-sea cable and/or wireless relay stations for its communication links to England and the rest of the world.
2. It was the time of World War 1, these links were vulnerable to attack and if cut, Australia would be isolated.
3. Wireless experiments were conducted by Ernest Fisk (AWA) and Marconi which resulted in the first direct message sent from the UK being received in Australia.
4. The experiments, encouraged by “Billy” Highes, the Australian Prime Minister of the day, were to find ways of protecting Australia’s overseas communications links.
5. The message was sent from the Marconi transmitting station at Waunfawr, near Carvarvon, in Wales and received by Fisk at his experimental radio station in Wahroonga.
6. Although not thought possible by the experts of the day, the reception of the message demonstrated that wireless can actually propagate around the world.
7. The event had national significance because it was a step toward ensuring Australia’s communication links.
8. The event had technological significance because it extended the then known boundaries of wireless knowledge and significantly contributed to the development of early world-wide wireless communications.
9. The 1918 event used Long Waves. The Marconi transmitting station operated at 21kHz using 400kW. The receiver at Wahroonga was a ten valve (in cascade) “amplifying receiver” especially designed and manufactured by AWA.
10. Within a few years (after 1918), the efficiencies and better propagation conditions of short waves were discovered and short waves soon became the norm for world-wide radio communication (in lieu of long waves).

QSL

Stations contacting VK100MARCONI are to be advised QSL details are on the HADARC website:- (hadarc.org.au).

Links:

• VK100MARCONI operating roster
• VK100MARCONI Operator Log Sheet