Early Radio Days & Arctic Expeditions (Plus a few thoughts)

Hi All,

Hope you're keeping well and above all enjoying your radio.  


Recently I came across a story on the ARRL, (American Radio Relay League), covering the Centenary celebration of an Arctic exploring Schooner sailing vessel :-

http://www.arrl.org/news/sailing-vessel-with-ham-radio-history-marks-100-years

There were many such explorations at that time often equipped with early radios who also conducted radio experiments.
The one I fondly remember the story of is the 'Effie M. Morrissey' which began her maiden Arctic voyage in 1926 and continued doing so for a subsequent number of years.

Why the Morrissey? Well take a look at a magazine from back then albeit a few years later.....


The front cover of a typical radio interest magazine of its day which included the following 'spot' or place to listen for all the radio operators out there....



Have a look down the lower right and look for the then call sign of W10XDA noting it's frequency.......27.100Mhz!
(Or rather M/cs, MegaCycles as it would have been known then.)

Yeah, always stuck in my memory just for their choice in operating frequency.

They also sent cards out to people that had either listened and reported their radio activity or even indeed transmitted back to them......



Fantastic stuff eh? Remind you of anything?


The 'Morrissey' also reported back then on one of it's voyages that,

"While located along the northern coast of Baffin Island a very large black sunspot was noted, the resultant emanation from the sun caused a sensational manifestation of the Aurora Borealis Northern Lights and also a total radio blackout that lasted for two weeks."


Yeah, made my hairs on the back of my neck, (there's not much on my head!), stand to attention too.


If I haven't bored you enough and you maybe want to find out more about some radio history here's a few links :-

https://ukspec.tripod.com/rf/cb/index.html

https://worldradiohistory.com/index.htm

...and a brief write up on the 'Morrissey' here :-

http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-greenland-story-good-ship-morrissey.html


Well anyway, after so many years of radio history you'd have thought it'd ALL be 'radio' and we'd embrace every other upright monkey whose brain sparks at the mere mention of radio too.

At least we do here at Charlie Tango, "The home of ALL things Radio".


All the best,
Victor

Nice find, Victor.

Fantastic Victor, thank you. A lot to look in to their.