5G and Satellite RF
and Optical
Integration

Mr Marconi and Mr Fisk
100 YEARS OF RADIO

This is a longer version of an RTT April 2018 Technology Topic on Beam Radio (how short wave beam radio served the empire and laid the foundation for today’s RF beam shaping technologies.)
The article focusses on the 100th anniversary of the first radio transmission between the UK (Waunfawr near Caernarfon) and the Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA) radio station at ‘Logan Brae’, Pymble, originally an adjacent suburb to Wahroonga, near Sydney, part of a local authority area named after the aboriginal tribe, the Gurringai.

The Ku-ring-gai Historical Society is organising a celebration on September 22 2018 to mark the centenary of the transmission and reception of the first direct wireless message from UK to Australia.

Mr Marconi and Mr Fisk - 100 YEARS OF RADIO
can be downloaded here

Three Kings and a Queen

The idea of producing this short study came from The Kings Speech, a film which has rightly received an array of awards but which has also raised public awareness of the impact of broadcasting technology on the British Royal Family and the British political system.

The study traces the technology and related social changes that have occurred since 1922 spanning the reigns of George V, Edward VIII, George VI (the three Kings) and the present Queen Elizabeth and ends with a reference to the technology being used at William and Kate's wedding on April 29 2011 and the Queen's opening speech at the London Olympics on the 27th July 2012.

Over the past ninety years, Public Service Broadcasting has had a dominant role in shaping how others perceive the UK globally and how we see ourselves locally as a sovereign nation. In this respect technology change can be shown to be closely coupled with substantive shifts in present and future social and political ambitions and expectations. We argue that radio and TV are becoming more rather than less important over time as an agent of political and social change, a process that can be directly linked to technology innovation.

Three Kings and a Queen can be downloaded here

We are indebted to the Science Museum for providing us with access to relevant documents and artefacts that help us to tell this story. The Science Museum has one of the most extensive collections of broadcast and radio artefacts to be found anywhere in the world. Only a very small fraction of these objects are presently on permanent show to the public.

Lancashire Constabulary's Developments in Mobile Communications
by John Davies.

John joined the Lancashire Wireless Workshops in 1948 as a radio engineer.
He describes the pioneering work undertaken by Lancashire Constabulary on wide area coverage systems and the parallel evolution of mobile and portable transceivers.
The innovations introduced by Lancashire had tangible benefits in terms of operational efficiency.
John's story, a mix of personal and professional observation, provides a fascinating insight into forty years of radio design experience

John Davies retired in 1984 and lectured for a number of years on private mobile radio system design and implementation. He remains exceedingly active and has maintained a very close interest in radio engineering including recent involvement in a local radio planning enquiry.

A pdf. of his article (with some wonderful archive photographs) is available to download here.

If you have a 'story to tell' please contact us