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On 12 December the Italian station AM Italia broadcast a special program
to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the first transoceanic
communication between Poldhu (UK) and Terranova (Canada) by Guglielmo
Marconi. AM Italia (formerly Challenger Radio) operates from Villa
Estense(Padua, northern Italy).
This program was transmitted on 207 kHz, 918 kHz and 1323 kHz and
consisted in a loop with an announcement in English, followed by a
speech in Italian by Guglielmo Marconi himself describing his
experimental communications and by 20 "S" letters in Morse code, the
signal sent on air during that historical contact.
I posted a video of my reception on my YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/wokPOwDB-xE
While 918 and 1323 kHz are now off the air, the 207 kHz LW frequency is
still operating and might be received overseas, in spite of its low
power (about 1 kW into a wire antenna). Voice is hard to be heard even
from my QTH, only 100 km from the station, but the CW "S" letters ( ...
) stand clear above the background noise on the band. The station is
considering to leave 207 kHz on air continuously and without a precise
final date, so have your try!
May I suggest to try and tune into the Morse code characters for your
best chance to hear the station. The CW tone is 660 Hz, and during the
CW section of the program you could consider the station as a simple A2A
NDB and listen in CW mode, with as narrow a selectivity as possible, on
207 kHz +/- 660 Hz (207.660 kHz or 206.340 kHz).
Reception reports to info at am-italia dot it -- Fabrizio Magrone
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