Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: from QST. "illegal station" listed as transatlantic contact  (Read 476 times)

WA2ISE

  • Member
  • Posts: 1488
from QST. "illegal station" listed as transatlantic contact
« on: December 01, 2021, 11:08:30 AM »

I wonder if that "illegal station" 1AAW was a miscopy of or missend by 1AW? (which later became W1AW)
« Last Edit: December 01, 2021, 11:10:38 AM by WA2ISE »
Logged

WA9AFM

  • Member
  • Posts: 978
Re: from QST. "illegal station" listed as transatlantic contact
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2021, 11:24:08 AM »

More than likely, a pirate.  "The Old Man" would have had the '1AW' call by then and would have confirmed if it was really his station.
Logged

K0UA

  • Member
  • Posts: 9589
Re: from QST. "illegal station" listed as transatlantic contact
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2021, 01:35:09 PM »

Even then we had pirates. It is so deflating and concerning working those guys, and we seem to have more than ever.
Logged
73  James K0UA

KH6AQ

  • Member
  • Posts: 9292
Re: from QST. "illegal station" listed as transatlantic contact
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2021, 05:24:58 AM »

I think 1AAW was not 1AW because 1AAW did not send the required verification code, 1AW (Maxim's call in 1922) was not one of the 20 chosen transmitting stations, and (I speculate here) 1AW ran CW, and not spark, in 1922. From the article, A Transatlantic Radio Centenary, by Dr. Bruce Taylor, HB9ANY:

"From 1.30am on 8 December Godley and Pearson started hearing what were probably US stations and in spite of severe QSB they finally identified spark station 1AAW on 270 metres, although the operator sent no verification code for he turned out to be a pirate!"


1922 callbook with 1AW:  http://leehite.org/callbooks/The_Consolidated_Radio_Call_Book_1922.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355980652_A_Transatlantic_Radio_Centenary
« Last Edit: December 02, 2021, 05:32:25 AM by KH6AQ »
Logged

K3TN

  • Member
  • Posts: 1014
    • My Blog
Re: from QST. "illegal station" listed as transatlantic contact
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2021, 06:44:04 AM »

You can see the February 1922 QST article with details about 1AAW (originally copied as 1AAY) and the entire process here.

It's a bit confusing - only a few of the stations that made it into the "finals" seem to have made the list of those actually heard.

I was amazed to see one of the finalists, 2EL, was from my hometown of Freeport NY and looks like his station was on a farmhouse on a block that eventually became houses where my high school girlfriend lived. Never knew any of this when I lived there!

73 John K3TN
Logged
John K3TN

KH6AQ

  • Member
  • Posts: 9292
Re: from QST. "illegal station" listed as transatlantic contact
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2021, 09:02:20 AM »

I stand corrected. 1AW was an entrant and ran spark. The QST article posted by K3TN says "...1AAW in Roxbury hadn't operated a transmitter in six months! We thot we were up a tree at first but 1AAW and numerous Boston Amateurs advise that the call has been heard on the air around there and that somebody else has appropriated the call."

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/History/History%20of%20QST%20Volume%201%20-%20Technology/QS02-22-TransAtlantic.pdf
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up