Guglielmo Marconi

GB4MHS Marconi exhibit opens in Oxford
Amateur radio special event station GB4MHS will celebrate opening of Marconi exhibit

A special exhibition, at the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University in England, will be opened on 24 April at 6.30 pm.

The exhibition covers the history of radio from Marconi's early demonstrations in the 1890s to the beginning of regular public broadcasting in the 1920s.

For those interested, an amateur radio special event station GB4MHS will be on the air from 25th April - 28th April on all bands 80-10 with a special event QSL. It will celebrate the exhibit which is being opened by the Chancellor of Oxford University at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford next week in the presence of Princess Elettra, Marconi's daughter

According to Chris Stephens, G3MGS, virtually all the original equipment used by Marconi has been preserved and will be on public display for the first time. (It took 5 trucks to move the archive to its new home at Oxford from Marconi's old Headquarters at Chelmsford) The Trustees of the UK
Wireless Preservation Society were responsible for

(a) saving the Marconi archive from being broken up and then

(b) finding a suitable home for it following the collapse of Marconi place in 2001.

The Wireless Preservation Society Trustees have also funded a three year research assistant to catalogue the huge amount of equipment, papers and other ephemera including copies of all the original telegraphic messages passing between the ships involved in the Titantic disaster.

At first the major purpose for 'wireless' seemed to be for sending individual messages in Morse code, with much greater flexibility than the established telegraph system, which relied on connections by wires.
'Wire-less' would have military applications and would be especially valuable for communications at sea. However there was nothing to stop people 'listening in' and, with the coming of voice messages, enthusiasm grew for a completely
different concept in communication - broadcasting.

The exhibition concentrates on these dramatic and memorable events in the early story:

a.. Marconi's celebrated early demonstrations, including cross-Channel signals
b.. the achievement of a trans-Atlantic signal in December 1901
c.. the Titanic disaster and the use of radio to rescue the survivors
d.. the development of radio in World War One
e.. the birth of broadcasting, up to the foundation of the BBC

These are illustrated by original instruments and documents of outstanding interest, including:

The microphone used on 15 June 1920 by Dame Nellie Melba for her famous broadcast from Chelmsford, the first live public entertainment broadcast. She has signed it ‘Nellie Melba 1920’

a.. apparatus from Marconi's very first demonstrations, including the trans-Atlantic signal
b.. famous original experimental notebooks and patents
c.. 'Marconigram' messages sent from the Titanic and between ships in the vicinity after the fatal collision; this material, not displayed before, is of the greatest public interest
d.. early radios and broadcast equipment, including the microphone used in Dame Nellie Melba's celebrated recital on 15 June 1920, the first live public entertainment broadcast.

The exhibition uses a number of unique objects and documents relating to the early history of radio, some of which are on public display for the first time. The overall narrative of this exhibition is divided into four chronological time periods sections.

The first section explores Marconi's early experiments and development with wireless. Objects displayed in this section include a Grasshopper Send-Receive Morse Key (c. 1899) as used in early wireless experiments, Marconi's Parabolic Transmitter and Receiver (1896) from his demonstrations
on Salisbury Plain, Marconi's Tuned Transmitter (1899) as used for the basis of his famous '7777' patent, and an early experimental Fleming valve (c. 1889).

Documents include the first commercial wireless message as sent by Lord Kelvin, and sections of the diary and notebooks of G. S. Kemp, Marconi' s technical assistant. The later part of this section deals with Marconi's 1901 transatlantic transmissions and includes the receiver, Billi condenser,
self-restoring coherer, and signal kite used in this historical event.

The second section investigates the applications and use of early Marconi radio technology. Objects in this section include the first portable wireless transmitter used in the British Army (1907), and a Marconi Crystal Receiver Type 31C (1910). A major subsection explores the dramatic involvement of wireless telegraphy in the Titanic disaster and includes a number of key wireless messages.

The third section deals with the use of Marconi radio in the First World War. Objects include a Marconi Crystal Receiver Type 16 (1916), a Forward Spark 'B' Wavemeter (c. 1918), and a Marconi Bellini-Tosi Direction Finder (c. 1916). Documents include an intercepted message announcing the outbreak of the war, and a Zeppelin tracking chart from 1916.

The fourth and concluding section explores the birth of public broadcasting and includes a number of unique and exciting radio sets relating to this dramatic development in the history of radio. These include a Marconi Crystal Junior Receiver Type RB2 (1922), a Marconiphone Universal Baby Crystal Receiver (c. 1924), and a Marconiphone Two-Valve Receiver Type V2 1923). Also included is the Telephone Microphone No 100L (1920) used and signed by Dame Melba broadcast during her historic broadcast from Chelmsford on 15 June 1920.

For more information, here is a link to the Museum of the History of Science website.
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/

Chris Stephens, G3MGS

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