Pepperbox Hill, Wiltshire

GB2MDI

On 2nd June 1896, Guglielmo Marconi applied for – and was duly granted – the world’s first patent for Wireless Telegraphy (British Patent Number 12,039). The complete specification was filed on 2nd March 1897 but prior to this, Marconi had made himself known to the Post Office and the War Office.

After initial tests and (equipment) demonstrations in London, Marconi demonstrated his apparatus to Postal Telegraphy, Navy and Army observers on 2nd September 1896 from a site on Three Mile Hill, Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The objective of the tests was to establish feasibility of the directional control of signals by means of metallic reflectors; a range of one and three quarter miles was recorded.

Discarding metallic reflectors in favour of wires kept aloft by kites and balloons, and later experiments on Salisbury Plain achieved ranges of up to four and a half miles.  By October 1897, communication was established between Salisbury and Bath, a distance of thirty-four miles.

Pepperbox Hill (GB2MDI) is located four miles south east of Salisbury:  Marconi used this site as a receiving station for his demonstrations and experiments to the Services during his time at Salisbury.  The station formerly operated  by members of Salisbury Amateur Radio Club until the Club’s demise, is now operated annually by Andover Radio Amateur Club by kind permission of the National Trust.

The rest, as they say, is history !

The above article was kindly provided by Jamie Donaghy (M0CLI), former Secretary Salisbury Amateur Radio Club