Rugby Radio Station
of Hillmorton, near Rugby
When it began service on 1 January 1926 the Rugby station was the most powerful radio station in the world.
The design of station was entrusted to a technical commission chaired by Lord Milner with Dr. W. H. Eccles, Edward Herbert Shaughnessy and Mr. L. B. Turner as members. The commission recommended the construction of a valve station, although at that time no high-power station of this type was in existence or contemplated. Mr. Shaughnessy, as executive member of the commission, was responsible for the construction, a task which he accomplished with complete success. He read a paper describing the station before the Wireless Section of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1926.
A tuning coil was used to tune the antenna to the right frequency.
1926 Transmitted the "British Official Wireless News Messages" to the Empire and to ships on all the seas. This was the first time this had been possible.
1926 Demonstration of two-way telephone conversation across the Atlantic involved 2 different circuits:[1]
1) From London speech was carried by underground telephone wires to the to the Post Office's Rugby radio station, and thence by wireless to a receiving station at Houlton, Maine and from there by telephone circuit to New York City.
2) From New York, speech was carried to the sending station of the Radio Corporation at Rocky Point, Long Island and from there by wireless signal to a receiving station at Wroughton, near Swindon, and then by telephone circuit to London.
1928 The transmitter was used to send a message to Mars at the request of Dr Mansfield Robinson, a London lawyer, who believed that he had been in contact with Mars. The Post Office accepted it as a commercial transaction – Dr Robinson was charged 1s 6p per word, the same as a standard message.
Post-WWII Used to transmit secret information to ships and submarines during the Cold War. Very high powered very low frequency (VLF) transmitters were installed at Rugby, Criggion and Anthorn Radio Stations providing worldwide coverage on VLF (very low frequency).
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer 1926/03/12
- [1] Science Musseum