FYI
73
Clemens
DL4RAJ
Subject: Special on 486 kHz imminent
Paul Dobosz: Upcoming LW Opportunities from today's ARRL Letter;
Fessenden Commemorative Transmission Set for Christmas Eve
As he's done in years past, Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, of Forest,
Virginia, will commemorate what may have been the first radio
broadcast to include speech and music by experimenter Reginald
Fessenden on Christmas Eve 1906. Justin will fire up his vin-
tage-style transmitter operating on 486 kHz under Experimental
license WI2XLQ to mark the 112th anniversary of Fessenden's
accomplishment. Justin will begin his transmission on December
24 at 1700 UTC and continue until December 26 at 1659 UTC.
Historic accounts say Fessenden played the violin--or a recor-
ding of violin music -- and read a brief Bible verse, astounding
radio experimenters and shipboard operators who heard the broad-
cast. For his transmitter in 1906, Fessenden used an ac alterna-
tor modulated by placing carbon microphones in series with the
antenna feed line. Justin's homebuilt station is slightly more
modern, based on a 1921 vacuum-tube master oscillator power
amplifier (MOPA) design, using a UV-202 tube. The transmitter
employs Heising AM modulation, developed by Raymond Heising
during World War I.
Send listener reports directly to Brian Justin, WA1ZMS.
(MARE Tipsheet 21 Dec via DXLD)
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