1BCG.org

In 1921, on December 9, 10, 11, radio amateurs who were members of both the Radio Club of America (RCA) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) successfully spanned the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, from the United States to Ardrossan Scotland, with Morse code signals. Not only were the signals heard in Scotland, but also in Amsterdam Holland (3600 miles), England, Germany, Puerto Rico, Vancouver British Columbia in Canada, Catalina island California (2470 mi.), and the State of Washington.

The transmitter on the U.S. side, station 1BCG, was located in a 10 ft. x 14 ft. wooden hut in a farmer’s field in Greenwich Connecticut. The transmitter had an input power of 990 watts, a T cage antenna, 100 feet long and 70 feet high with a radial counterpoise, and the wavelength used was 230 meters (1.3 MHz).

This Transatlantic Test Project, which was conceived of by radio amateurs, proved that even with modest equipment, the Atlantic Ocean could be spanned with shortwave signals, opening up improved communications for many more purposes. These "short" wavelengths below 200 meters had been considered useless by commercial and governmental interests, resulting in the Radio Act of 1912 banning amateur activity in the wavelengths longer than 200 meters. As a result of the successful efforts of radio amateurs in Transatlantic Test Project , over the last 100 years many experimenters and inventors became focused on continually improving wireless technologies and devices. The direct results of that inventing are the smart phones, smart watches, smart TVs, wireless Internet routers, GPS tracking devices, and Bluetooth headsets, all of which depend on wireless technologies. Those pioneers 100 years ago could never have envisioned the way society has been enabled and transformed by wireless!