Radio landmark is celebrated in IoW
Radio landmark is celebrated in IoW
A LITTLE piece of history was re-enacted at Knowles Farm on the Isle of Wight last week. It marked the 100th anniversary of an exchange of radio signals between the Knowles Farm Radio Station on the southernmost tip of the island at St Catherines Point, Niton, to the new Marconi Lizard Radio Station 196 miles away in Cornwall, the furthest distance radio waves had travelled at that time.
The message tapped out on Jan 23, 1901, was sombre – Queen Victoria had just died and it sent condolences to people on the mainland – but its success must have been cause for jubilation for Marconi who had been experimenting with radio equipment on the island for several years. It proved the commercial viability of transmissions from land to ship and within months Marconi had personally installed his latest breakthrough in tuned circuits on the Cunard ship Lucania, testing it by transmitting to the station at Knowles Farm in June, 1901.
Today Knowles Farm is owned by the National Trust and farmed on a tenancy by Jack Ellis, whose cattle graze in sight of the sea, undisturbed by the flashing of the Trinity House lighthouse on the Point.
Marconi and his staff lived in the cottage next to the farmhouse and this is available for holiday lets (tel 0870 4584422) but you wont need to be a radio buff to enjoy a stay in this lovely spot. TG
Radio waves: Marconi and his staff lived in this cottage overlooking the sea at Knowles Farm. Tony Tutton and Carol Cadman of the National Trust donned Victorian costume for the re-enactment of
the historic signal, organised with West Wight Radio Society.