EI100CQD

During the weekend of 23-25 January, EI100CQD was active from the Vintage Radio Museum in Howth to commemorate the centenary of the first use of wireless telegraphy to send a distress message at sea.

On 23 January 1909, the RMS Republic was severely damaged when rammed by the SS Florida off Cape Cod in
Massachusetts. The Republic eventually sank, but not before its 1600 passengers and 300 crewmembers were firstly transferred to the Florida and from there to the SS Baltic, which eventually arrived at the scene as a result of the distress call.

Jack Binns was the radio operator aboard the Republic and, despite the radio room being damaged and being exposed to the elements, he managed to patch up the equipment and continue to transmit for almost two days summoning help and guiding rescue ships to the scene. The Baltic was the first vessel on the scene having searched in the dense fog for over 12 hours.

CQD was the international distress call used at that time. To commemorate the event, EI100CQD took part in the celebrations, along with other stations around the world.

As was considered fitting, CW was the preferred mode of
operation. However, on Sunday, the station was also QRV on phone listening for EIs on 2 and 40 metres. Forty was almost unusable for EI but several QSOs were completed on 2 metres.

Tony, EI5EM was interviewed about the event for Seascapes on RTE1 radio and the programme was transmitted on the date of the centenary. A podcast of the programme is available on the RTE web site. There is also a video clip on YouTube, which can be seen below

For more details on the disaster, see www.jackbinns.org

Source: IRTS