RAFAC-CAP HF Radio Exercise
Marconi is recognised for proving that radio waves could span continents when, on 2nd December 1901, the letter “S”, transmitted in Morse Code from Poldhu in Cornwall, was heard at Signal Hill near St John’s in Newfoundland.
It was not until 10th January 1906 that the first transatlantic radio telephony transmission took place.
Reginald Fessenden set up radio stations at Brant Rock, Massachusetts USA and Machrihanish Scotland and regularly exchanged voice messages across the Atlantic from that date into early summer on frequencies in the 80-100 KHz band.
To Mark the Centenary of the event, on Friday the 14th of April 2006 a party of RAF Air Cadets set up an HF Radio station on the site of the Fessenden radio tower near the former RAF Station at Machrihanish in Scotland. Across the ‘Pond’ Cadets from the US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) set up a similar HF Station at the Brant Rock Massachusetts.
Their Fessenden 100 Radio contact on this day the marked the beginning of an Annual RAF Air Cadet – Civil Air Patrol HF Radio Exercise.
CIVIL AIR PATROL – RAFAC 80 proposed HF Radio Exercise.
Details of 2021 Exercise TBA