Rocky Point NY – W2RC/IMD
| Rocky Point, New YorkW2RC/IMD | ||
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Once again, W2RC/IMD will be operating from this tiny radio shack built back in 1902. However, it looks as if the size of their antenna farm makes up for the small size of the building !!! Measuring only 12 feet x 14 feet, the building was used by Marconi to transmit his first successful shore-ship wireless message. It will come as no surprise to learn that the home of W2RC is thought to be the oldest structure to be used for radio in North America – although I am sure that there will be others who will wish to claim that distinction Also of interest, is the height of the L shape operating tables from the floor, leading one to believe that the operators operated from a standing position or sat on stools!
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The ‘home’ of W2RC/IMD taken in 1998 |
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W2RC/IMD is sponsored by the Radio Central Amateur Radio Club, Rocky Point, NY,and was sanctioned by the Cornish Radio Amateur Club of Cornwall, England, to participate in International Marconi Day taking place around the world celebrating Marconi’s birthday.
The event includes a number or other operating sites around the world where Marconi did significant work as the father of commercial radio.
The 12 by 14 foot “Shack” housed the first wireless telegraph receiving station in the United States and is thought to be the oldest structure used for radio in North America.
It was built in 1902 on a farm in Babylon (Long Island), New York for Guglielmo Marconi.
The Italian physicist used the small structure to transmit the world’s first shore-to-ship wireless message. The Shack stands on the grounds of the Carasiti Elementary School, in Rocky Point, NY. Originally in Babylon, NY the building was purchased by Edwin Armstrong (the inventor of FM Radio) and given to the RCA Company, in Rocky Point, NY, where it stood for many years, as a symbol of RCA’s continuation of the pioneering American Marconi Company in the United States. In 1971, RCA gave the shack to the Rocky Point School system. In 1987 the Eric Trojahn Memorial Amateur Radio Club, N2HNZ made the first wireless transmissions from the building since Marconi
Radio Central Amateur Radio Club itself takes its name for the same nexus of historical events that attended the operation of the RCA Global Communications in Rocky Point (originally the American Marconi Company). It is therefore most appropriate that Radio Central’s call, W2RC, should be heard around the world operating from this historic sitein Rocky Point.
Radio Central wishes to thank the Rocky Point Board of Education, the Rocky PointSchool system and Mr.Henry Bookout, N2FCZ for making this event possible
