On Tuesday the 5th of April 2016, members of the Chelmsford ARS gathered to hear an interesting talk on radio’s history and the birth of UK broadcasting, from radio historian and author Tim Wander.
Tim last gave a talk at CARS 28 years ago, and he quipped that it had taken some time for him to be asked back, before diving into the history of radio by highlighting some unexpected names:
Mahlon Loomis – Made the first wireless communication in the 1860s, but the world wasn’t ready
Henry Joseph Round transmitted the first speech radio in 1904
Tim them moved on to the first radio station, OTL1914, which operated in Belgium before the first World War. Next, to 1920 in Chelmsford for experimental station MZX running a private test of train timetables and newspaper articles.
Then, the talk moved to the more familiar part of the history – Dame Nelle Melba in Writtle in June 1920, Peter Eckersley and the team starting their Tuesday evening broadcasts in 1922 as 2MT.
After a well-paced talk including pics and audio clips, Tim reminded the attendees that time is running out to visit the Hall Street works – The world’s first wireless factory.The exhibition runs for 3 months, and is the last chance to walk on “hallowed ground” before Hall Street becomes residential flats.
After the tea break, with some great cakes courtesy of Ann Salmon (as featured at the Essex Sills Night), it was raffle time, with Tim drawing the lucky tickets.
Finally for the meeting, we heard from Richard who give a short overview on his recent successful high altitude balloon launch. Richard is part of a team at the University of Bristol, and his most recent flight got close to circumnavigating the world, making it as far as the US
CARS reminded members that the next chance to visit the 2MT hut at Sandford Mill is on the 23rd April 2016.
