Radio conditions were poor however shortly after 1300 hours a faint voice was heard and in the noise and the words 'Bravo Ocean' were logged.

During the afternoon radio conditions continued to improve and the Civil Air Patrol and Air Cadet radio operators were able to exchange radio messages describing the locations of their respective stations and the relics of the original Fessenden radio stations which were still visible at the Machrihanish and Brant Rock sites.

The first Air Cadet and Civil Air Patrol Radio Exercise

On Friday 14 April 2006 Air Cadet members of the Communications Flight from the Edinburgh and South Scotland Wing Easter Camp at MOD Machrihanish made contact with the Civil Air Patrol in the United States.

As a radio historian I was on site to assist in the radio exercise to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first transatlantic radio telephone call which was made in January 1906 by Canadian Radio Pioneer Reginald Aubrey Fessenden.
In the photo on the left the concrete base of the antenna can be seen beside my bus. The thin structure in the photo is one of a pair of TAC Masts used to support
a Classic Louis Varney G5RV antenna. The small figure with the white safety helmet is my Scottish Rigger Eoin, you will remember him from my teaching days at RAF College Cranwell.

In the United States members of the Civil Air Patrol set up their station at Brant Rock near Marshfield Massachusetts at the site of the Fessenden radio tower in the United States.

Using historical Callsigns 'Radio Machrihanish' and' Bravo Ocean' associated with the original 1906 transmissions and authorised by MOD-UK and the Department of Defence in the US the Cadet stations commenced operation at 1100 hours local.
At Brant Rock is was 0600 Eastern Standard Time

In the photo on the right I am examining another part of the antenna base. The tower was built in 1905 and blew down during a storm in November 1906.
The site was never rebuilt and the metal work was removed as scrap

The photo to the left shows me on the foundations of the coal fired boiler, this produced steam to power the HF alternator which produced the radio signal genuine coal powered steam radio!

The Air Cadet radio station was located at Uisead Point Machrihanish at the actual location of the original 1906 Fessenden radio tower and while the HF antenna was erected I took some time off to examine the remains at the Fessenden site . The photo below is me sitting on part of the concrete base which supported the 450 foot radio tower.

The things which look like fried eggs ..... oooh! are the remains of ceramic insulators