PA6IMD background information

Wireless made its entrance in Holland in 1902, when  communications were established between Hook of Holland and the lightship “Maas”. The equipment was supplied by Ducretet. In the following year the newspaper “Handelsblad” in Amsterdam concluded an agreement with the Marconi Company for the installation of a Marconi station in its offices in Amsterdam, callsign ADM,  to communicate with a wireless Marconi station in Broomfield (Kent) callsign BR. An agent of the “Handelsblad” collected interesting bits of news from English newpapers and sent them to Amsterdam via Broomfield.

 In 1904 a Dutch agent of the Marconi Company offered wireless telegraph services to a number of Dutch firms using the same route which did not particularly please the Dutch PTT.

The List of Wireless Telegraph Stations of the World, of 1 October 1906 issued by the U.S. Navy Department, gives the following details of the station in Amsterdam in its entry Holland: Name of station and location: Overtoom near Amsterdam (n.b. the Overtoom is a still existing street in Amsterdam); Call letter: BRBR (n.b. this does not seem to be correct as the call letter BR is also mentioned in the entry: Great Britain and Ireland; Name of station and location: Broomfield (?)). Range in kilometers: 350; Remarks: Whether open to public service, rate, signaling method, personnel, etc.: Operation suspended May 1, 1905, on protest of English Govt.; English personnel.

The wireless station in Amsterdam closed down in 1908 and according to a newspaper article its assets were put up for auction on 22 December 1908.

 The BR-ADM operation can be considered as the start of commercial wireless telegraphy in the Netherlands.  

 To commemorate that unique event and the important role Mr. Marconi’s inventions had, the Gouda & District Section of the VERON operates PA6IMD. As it is not possible to operate an amateur radio station from the site where ADM once “sparked”, PA6IMD usually has its QTH somewhere near the city of Gouda.