The ITEE Society Radio Foundation Day Dinner

Dawn over Storm Bay near Hobart Tasmania 

On 12th December each year, Guglielmo Marconi's historic achievement of sending the first wireless transmission across the Atlantic Ocean by Morse Code has been honoured and contrasted at a Radio Foundation Day Dinner, held in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia by the Hobart Chapter of the Information, Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering Society in association with The Tasmania Division of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and The Institution of Radio and Electronic Engineers Foundation.

Turn up your speakers and click on the Morse Code audio message below and use the Morse Code table below to decipher it.

Morse Code Audio Message

A typical dinner scenario was the December 1998 dinner held at the CSIRO Marine Laboratories, Hobart which started at 7.30 pm (air temp 20 deg C), with a 6 am breakfast by Len Zedel and the others at St John's (air temp minus 5 deg C). In 2000 we cruised the Derwent River in the historic ferry MV Cartela and communicated with St John's via a ship-to-shore link using a digital mobile phone. In 2001 we celebrated 100 years of radio at the Mt Nelson Signal Station (see photos below).  

Using modern communications methods through a special equipment display and communication link between the ITEE Society in Hobart and the historic signal station in Cabot Tower, Signal Hill, St Johns, Newfoundland the following communications methods have been achieved.

*  Amateur radio (Morse and voice), set up by courtesy of WIA.

*  HF communication with Signal Hill VO1AA using Morse on 7018KHz

*  Digital mobile phone via base station

*  Internet E-Mail

*  Facsimile via ship-to-shore

*  1998  Internet phone

*  1998  Internet video phone         

*  1999  Semaphore lamp signal flashed across Derwent River in Hobart Tasmania

*  2000  Ship-to-shore link from Derwent River via digital mobile phone

*  2001  Signed half-size replica of the kite Marconi used at St Johns (not enough wind to fly)

*  2001  Infra-red light beam across Mt Nelson Signal Station restaurant to control Morse key

*  2001  Digital mobile phone directly to Globalstar satellite from Mt Nelson Signal Station

*  2002  Informal breakfast at the Amateur Radio Hut on The Domain in Hobart

Celebrating 100 Years of Radio

In December 2001 we celebrated 100 years of radio. David Edwards is pictured above holding a half-size replica of the kite that Marconi used for the first radio signal sent across the Atlantic Ocean on 12 December 1901. The satellite dish represents 100 years of technology achieved since then. Richard Rogers is pictured at the Mt Nelson Signal Station communicating with Newfoundland by Morse Code.

In 2001 His Excellency, The Governor of Tasmania, Sir Guy Green spoke to Franco D'Alessandro the operator of the microprocessor controlled semaphore lamp via satellite phone just before the lamp signal was flashed from Tranmere (see photo) across the Derwent River to Mt Nelson, thus linking the old and new technologies.

Guglielmo Marconi Invents Radio Transmission

In 1895 Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) built the equipment and transmitted electrical signals through the air from one end of his house to the other, and then from the house to the garden. These experiments were, in effect, the dawn of practical wireless telegraphy or radio.

Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy. His father was Italian, his mother, Irish. He was educated first in Bologna and later in Florence. Then he went to the technical school in Leghorn, where he studied physics.

Following the successes of his experiments at home, Marconi became obsessed with the idea of sending messages across the Atlantic. He built a transmitter, 100 times more powerful than any previous station, at Poldhu, on the southwest tip of England, and in November 1901 installed a receiving station at Signal Hill St John's Newfoundland Canada. On December 12, 1901, he received signals from across the ocean, the first transatlantic wireless transmission of the Morse letter "S" (dot-dot-dot).

News of this achievement spread around the world, and he was acclaimed by outstanding scientists, including Thomas A Edison. Marconi received many honours including the Nobel Prize For Physics in 1909. He was sent as a delegate to the Peace Conference in Paris in 1919, in which capacity he signed the peace treaties with Austria and Bulgaria.

When Marconi died in 1937 there was a global 2 minute radio silence which will never occur again.

Where is Tasmania?

International Morse Code Table

A    dot dash                                        J    dot dash dash dash                     S    dot dot dot

B    dash dot dot dot                        K    dash dot dash                           T    dash

C    dash dot dash dot                      L    dot dash dot dot                        U    dot dot dash

D    dash dot dot                             M    dash dash                                 V    dot dot dot dash

E    dot                                           N    dash dot                                  W    dot dash dash

F    dot dot dash dot                        O    dash dash dash                         X    dash dot dot dash

G    dash dash dot                           P    dot dash dash dot                      Y    dash dot dash dash 

H    dot dot dot dot                         Q    dash dash dot dash                    Z    dash dash dot dot

I    dot dot                                      R    dot dash dot            

1    dot dash dash dash dash            4    dot dot dot dot dash             7    dash dash dot dot do

2    dot dot dash dash dash              5    dot dot dot dot dot               8    dash dash dash dot dot

3    dot dot dot dash dash                6    dash dot dot dot dot             9    dash dash dash dash dot

SOS    dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot                                   0   dash dash dash dash dash

Hobart is pictured here looking from Mt Nelson

Featured are the Tasman Bridge and the largest ship ever to visit Australia

The haze was caused by bushfires

Click on the following links for more information

Marconi Radio Club of Newfoundland VO1MRC

Annual Commemorations Marking the First Transatlantic Wireless Signal by Marconi in 1901

100 Years of Radio            Poldhu Radio Club            Mullion            Sonra            Len Zedel

Tasmania Online            Newfoundland            Tasmanian National Parks

Australian Communications Authority - Licensing Morse Code Signals

Morse Code Translator                Audio - Letter 'S' in Morse Code

Globalstar Australia            Globalstar World Coverage Map            Globalstar Canada

The ITEE Society

The Information, Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering (ITEE) Society

of the Institution of Engineers, Australia

Head Office: Engineering House
11 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
Phone 02 6270 6530    Fax 02 6273 2358

Correspondence: ITEE Society, Hobart Chapter
C/- IEAust, 2 Davey Street, Hobart, Tasmania 7000

Webmaster - Dallas Stott

Last updated 11 December 2003

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Program for December 2001 - Celebrating 100 Years of Radio