Sestri Levante, Italy
IY1TTM
|
|
Operation from the Marconi Tower
On the Italian Riviera at about 40 Km south east from the city of Genoa, is located the small town of Sestri Levante, one of the most famous tourist resorts in the area. From this small town, in the early 1930’s, Marconi conducted his first important transmission experiments, studying propagation and direction finding systems on VHF and UHF.
|
 Click at the bottom of this page to see an early Chart giving the relative positions of the ELETTRA, the Miramare Hotel and the town of Sestri Levante at the time of the experiments. |
|
.jpg)
|
A complete HF and VHF station is permanently installed in the tower which is activated only for very special events using the exclusive call IY1TTM. The suffix letters mean : Tigullio (the name of the gulf facing the location), Tower, Marconi.
Many historical documents and pictures are kept in the Club showing the activity of Marconi from the Tower. It is impressive to enter the lonely Tower that stands at the top of a small hill, surrounded by thick Mediterranean flora. Access is possible only from a footpath through the Sestri Levante peninsula (private park) after a 10 minutes walk. On entering the tower a feeling of respect is felt: few can forget that the great Scientist whom the world ham community regard as the first radio amateur, once operated from this place .
There is a wonderful panorama from the top level of the Tower, and on clear days you can see Westward to the Alps and Southward to the Island of Corsica. Ahead and about 10 Km away, is the other side of the Tigullio Gulf, also named Marconi Gulf , with the beautiful promontory of Portofino.
Marconi carried out experiments between the town of Santa Margherita on the Portofino promontory and the Tower. From the terrace at the entrance of the Miramare Hotel at Santa Margherita, he made the first two way contact with the Tower on 60 cm wavelength, and also towards the open sea with the “ELETTRA”. A marble tablet (see picture below) commemorating these events is placed on the terrace of the Hotel.
|
Link to IY1TTM Website
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
|
 |
|
Miramare Hotel at Santa Margherita
|
|
View from the terrace of Miramare Hotel
|
|
|
|
The Motor Yacht “ELETTRA” moored off Sestri Levante
|
Information kindly supplied by Roberto Craighero, I1ARZ
|
| In the spring of 1934, along the Ligurian coast between La Spezia and Genoa, Guglielmo Marconi continued his studies on navigation aids. |
| On the promontory, which rises about 100 meters above the fishing village of Sestri Levante, installed a microwave beacon, operating on a wavelength of 60 cm. |
|
On board the yacht Elettra, with the portholes of the bridge tends to be obscured to simulate a dense fog, he sailed “blind”
between two buoys placed at the narrow mouth of the harbor.
|
| The promontory was none other than the “Peninsula” (or “Island”) of Sestri Levante and the beacon was placed on top of a tower, dating from the thirteenth century, which has since taken the name “Marconi Tower”, so like the Gulf of Tigullio was
renamed the “Gulf Marconi.”
|
| The Radio Amateurs of Sestri Levante, meeting in this Association, have the honor and the responsibility to fulfill the task of preserving from the ravages of time and men of the historic site, from which they continue to spread the same
electromagnetic waves in the ether of the time with the special name Marconi station IY1TTM . |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Web Hosting with Just Host
|
