Dover celebrates International Marconi Day with activites at the Maison Dieu, Market Square, South Foreland Lighthouse and in Wimereux, France!
Renowned inventor and pioneer of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, has many links to White Cliffs Country and on 25 April groups from across the area will come together to commemorate the early days of radio and wireless communication.
Centred on Dover’s historic Maison Dieu, where Marconi demonstrated his work in 1899, the day will feature short wave transmissions by Dover Amateur Radio Club who will also have ‘roving sets’ in Dover Market Square allowing members of the public to talk on air at certain times.
Six amateur radio clubs will be collaborating on the day with support from the Radio Society of Great Britain as well as one of the country's leading distributors of radio communications products who will use the event to launch new product.
There will also be a small exhibition, Semaphore flag workshops, artefacts from the Museum of Spy Radio near Dover, Crystal Radio sets made by local school and youth groups and performances of two, short light-hearted sketches.
The Maison Dieu will also link with South Foreland Lighthouse where both short wave and Morse code demonstrations will take place.
The first ever ship to shore radio transmission was made from the East Goodwin Lightship to South Foreland Lighthouse in December 1898 with the world’s first radio distress signal sent from the same Lightship in March 1899 the same month in which the first radio link between France and England was established at Wimereux near Boulogne. This year, Dover and Wimereux will be linked once more using the call sign GB8DW [UK] and TM8DW [France].