12/14/2021

ARRLÿ The National Association for Amateur Radio[1]¨ and the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB[2]) have announced winners of the 160-Meter Transatlantic Centenary QSO Party[3]. The December 12 on-air event commemorated the 100th anniversary of the successful second Transatlantic Tests which contributed to the dawn of international amateur radio communication. Participating stations operating on CW attempted to contact the two official call sign activations, W1AW from the Hiram P. Maxim Memorial Station in Connecticut, and GB2ZE, activated by a team of stations in Scotland. GB2ZE recalls and commemorates the call sign of Paul Godley, 2ZE, whom ARRL sent to Scotland to be on the receiving end of the tests in 1921.

The GMDX Group[4] of Scotland announced that it would award a quaich - a traditional Scottish drinking cup representing friendship - to the first stations in North America and the UK, including the Crown Dependencies, to complete contacts with both W1AW and GB2ZE during the QSO Party.

The cup winners are Frederick D. "Rick" Niswander, K7GM, and Bob Barden, MD0CCE.

Logs from those taking part in the 6-hour event included 496 contacts, 261 from W1AW. Each participant recorded in the official W1AW and/or GB2ZE logs is eligible for a commemorative certificate[5] designed by ARRL and RSGB. Participants do not have to submit their logs.

During the event, W1AW enjoyed a visit from Bruce Godley Littlefield, Paul Godley's grandson. Littlefield presented ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, with a full-size gallery-quality copy of the resolution awarded to his grandfather by ARRL, dated February 17, 1922.

"The large certificate was given to Godley for his historic achievement of engineering and operating the receiving system that was installed in Ardrossan, Scotland, where the first amateur signals were successfully heard from North America," explained ARRL Director of Operations Bob Naumann, W5OV. "On the journey to Scotland, Godley was coincidentally on the same ship with a brilliant young engineer named Harold Beverage. Beverage and Godley spoke during the journey, and Godley incorporated the Beverage antenna in his receiving system to great success. The chance meeting is but one piece of this wonderful story and historic achievement."

Naumann pointed out that preparing W1AW for the event included the installation of two Beverage antennas, with a third at a remote receiving site, all aiding greatly in hearing transatlantic signals on Top Band. W1AW logged stations in 19 countries and several of the commemorative operations in the UK, including GB2ZE, G6XX, and others.

Volunteers operating W1AW included NA2AA, NJ1Q, NQ1R, W5OV, and W9JJ. Stations operating as GB2ZE included GM3YTS, GM0GAV, MM0ZBH, MM0GPZ, and GM4ZUK.

Minster used his 1914 Vibroplex bug to attempt a planned initial contact from W1AW with GB2ZE. While conditions were not good enough to complete the contact between Connecticut and Scotland, the stations finally made contact at 0405 UTC when GB2ZE was being operated from GM0GAV.

Other events and activities marking the anniversary are listed on the ARRL and RSGB websites --ÿarrl.org/transatlantic[6] and rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests[7]. The sites also include links to many previously published articles and presentations covering the historic tests.


[1] http://www.arrl.org/
[2] https://rsgb.org/
[3] http://www.arrl.org/transatlantic
[4] https://www.gmdx.org.uk/
[5] https://contests.arrl.org/transatlantic2021.php
[6] http://www.arrl.org/transatlantic
[7] https://rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests

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