Trip to Cornwall
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Cornwall 2012 Richard Langford M6RIK We completed the three hundred and ninety five miles in a little under eight and half hours after making three stops. The weather on the journey was much better than had been forecast but from Brighouse to Man- chester there was a thick fog, thankfully the fog cleared as the sun rose and from Manchester to Worcester the weather was very good indeed. Unfortu- nately it then started to rain and continued to do so all the way to Exeter where condition became far more acceptable. The bad weather conditions meant that i had to reduce my speed for much of the journey to around 50 miles per hour, a real pain for the journey time but meant i could average nearly 50 miles per gallon of fuel used, meaning half a tank of diesel was all that was needed to make the journey down an ex- cellent achievement for a fully laden estate car de- signed in the early 1990's. We had chosen to hire a cottage for our stay and had chosen the village of Mullion which is on the Lizard Peninsula. Mullion is a large village with three general stores, two pubs, a small number of eateries and other shops. Mullion is also just one mile away from Poldhu Cove and the site which is famous for being the place where the very first transatlantic transmissions were made by Marconi. This is Poldhu Cove, the photo was taken from the coastal path just below Poldhu Care home. The Photograph is a scan of a print taken using an Olym- pus Trip 35 camera and FujiFilm 35mm Superia 200 film. Poldhu Cove is a lovely setting. Louise enjoyed spending time on the beach while i set off exploring the coastal paths and the Marconi Wireless Centre. At the cove is a pay and display car park which is situated behind the beach. On the beach is a lifeguard station, cafe and shop. The cove seems to be quite popular with surfers. The Marconi Wireless Centre is at the top of the cliffs be- hind Poldhu Care home and is signposted from the road. However the signs do say to park in the pay and display car park at the bottom. This should be disregarded as the centre does have a small car park next to it. The Centre s a mu- seum but is also the home of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club. This is the Marconi Wireless Centre at Poldhu, The Poldhu care home is the white building in the back ground. Two ra- dio towers are visible one is fitted with a HF beam and the other with a six metre beam and large collinear antenna. The Photograph is a scan of a print taken using an Olympus Trip 35 camera and FujiFilm 35mm Superia 200 film. The museum itself was quite interesting. It features a theatre which shows a film explaining what Marconi did at Poldhu and at the receiving station in Canada. The museum has some excellent wall displays and features a simple working example of a spark gap transmitter. The museum is great but i was a little disappointed when i learned how under used it is receiving just fifteen hundred visits last year. The mu- seum is free and wheelchair/pushchair friendly. This is the Marconi Wireless Centre, the photo was taken from the coastal path near to the Marconi Monument. Note the extended lattice tower, it is one of a pair. The Photograph is a scan of a print taken using an Olympus Trip 35 camera and FujiFilm 35mm Superia 200 film. Both of the Photographs are scans of prints taken using an Olympus Trip 35 camera and FujiFilm 35mm Superia 200 film. This is the Marconi Monument, the photo was taken from the coastal path and Poldhu Care home can be seen on the right of the upper picture. Note the extended lattice tower which is partner to the one shown in the previous photo- graph. The monument displays four plaques, what they each say is reproduced here: The POLDHU wireless station was used by the Mar- coni company for the first trans-oceanic service of wireless telegraphy which was opened with a second Marconi station at Glance bay in Canada in 1902.When the Poldhu station was erected in 1900 wireless was in its infancy, when it was demolished in 1935, wireless was established for communica- tion on land, at sea and in the air. For direction find- ing, broadcasting and television. One hundred yards north east of this column stood from 1900 to 1935 the famous Poldhu wireless sta- tion designed by John Ambrose Fleming and erected by the Marconi company of London from which were transmitted the first signals ever conveyed across the atlantic by wireless telegraphy. The signals con- sisted of a repetition of the morse letter 'S' and were received at St Johns Newfoundland by Guglielmo Mar- coni and his British associates on 12. 12. 1901. From the Marconi company's Poldhu station in 1923 and 1924, Charles Samuel Franklin, inventor of the Franklin beam aerial, directed his short wave wire- less beam transmissions to Guglielmo Marconi on his yatch 'Electra' crusing in the south atlantic. The Ep- och making results of these experiments laid the foundation of modern high speed radiotelegraphy communication to and from all quarters of the globe. To commemorate the pioneer work done by Gug- lielmo Marconi and his research experts and radio engineers at the Poldhu wireless station between 1900 and 1935, the Marconi company presented this historic land to the National Trust. Some six acres of cliff land were given in 1957 and four acres behind the cliffs, on which stood the sta- tion and mast, were given in 1960. For more images and information please visit the following websites: http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/memorial.html http://gb2gm.org/ The Lizard Before Marconi made the first transatlantic radio transmis- sions he already had a commercial radio company and was operating from his wireless station at Lizard point. Thank- fully this wireless station survives to this day and if you are willing to make the effort you can visit, there is no entry fee but access is very difficult by the coastal path. Marconi’s wireless station at Lizard Point. This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400. The sheer simplicity of the equipment which is inside the Liz- ard wireless station was something I found difficult to com- prehend, how can this equipment which is so basic by todays standards work? The realisation that the apparatus found in- side the station was once state of the art really opened my mind to how far things have come on since the days of the ra- dio pioneers. Inside the Wireless Station at Lizard Point. These photographs were captured by an Olympus E400. The Spark Gap Transmitter at Lizard Point Wireless Station This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400 . Lizard point is the most southerly point in England and this made it an excellent place to build the wireless station. I’m not sure how much credit can be given to Marconi for choos- ing Lizard point as Lloyds signal station was built and in use long before he came along, however it used flags and sema- phore as a means of communication. Lloyds Signal Station as viewed from the Wireless station. This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400 . Lizard Point Lighthouse as viewed from the Wireless station. This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400 . Lizard village was very nice too with ample food outlets of reasonable quality and ample donation only parking , much better than what we discovered at Lands End when we made the trip there. On the way back from Lands End we visited Porthcurno. Porthcurno. Porthcurno is famous for being the place where submarine telegraph cables come to shore and is the home of the Porthcurno Telegraph museum. The Porthcurno Telegraph museum. This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400 . The telegraph museum is very interesting and has a large collection of historic artefacts. The museum is split into two sections, the building pictured holds working exhibits of cable technology both old and new including fibre op- tics and interactive demonstrations. Hidden behind the building is a pair of tunnels which date back to WWII. Inside these tunnels are a large number of exhibits and more interestingly an educational talk about the early his- tory of the submarine telegraph cable. After looking around the museum we set off in search of the cable house, we found it but there was nothing to see other than a small square building near the beach which was locked up. However the beach was truly idyllic but unfortunately was not pushchair accessible. Porthcurno Beach. This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400 . Goonhilly Earth Station. Located on the Lizard Peninsula is the Goonhilly Earth Sta- tion. The station was constructed to link with the telstar sat- ellite and make live transatlantic television feeds possible as well as relaying telephone and fax signals. Telstar began op- erating on July 11th 1962, exactly five decades prior to my visit. One of the many dishes at Goonhilly on 11th July 2012. This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400 . One of the many dishes at Goonhilly on 11th July 2012. This photograph was captured by an Olympus E400 . Poldhu Amateur Radio Club. Poldhu Amateur Radio Club had organised a special one day only event station GB5TEL to commemorate five decades of Telstar. Unfortunately I was unable to join them at Goonhilly but I did make contact with them on both 20m and 40m while out working portable.