Ninety-five years ago on Tuesday February 14, 1922, a small group of young, gifted, charismatic - and perhaps slightly irreverent, Marconi employees turned on a medium wave transmitter in a 'long low hut' in a waterlogged field in Writtle, Chelmsford. This began a year long experiment which is now regarded as the birth of broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Led by the irrepressible Captain Peter Pendleton Eckersley, the 2MT team broadcast regularly every Tuesday evening, and what started as a request for a station for 'calibration purposes' for the fast growing number of amateur radi operators, transformed into an entertainment program like none before.
A small group of us are celebrating the upcoming 95th anniversary of 2MT - 'Two Emma Toc,' with a combination of amateur radio transmissions and an internet radio service. On February 12, and 14th, members of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society will be operating a special event amateur station using the callsign GB95 2MT. These transmissions will emanate from the very same 'long low hut' now preserved at Sandford Mill Museum in Chelmsford, United Kingdom.
On the 12th, 13th & 14th February, radio enthusiast Jim Salmon will be running an internet radio service 'Radio Emma Toc' with radio related documentaries, vintage comedies, and five hours of live programming each day including a visit to the long low hut. We are not attempting to re-create 2MT, more a case of having fun, paying tribute and looking ahead to greater celebrations for the centenary in 2022.
We invite amateur radio operators, to join us on the bands and listeners to join us on 'wired wireless' (Peter Eckersley's futuristic 1930's phrase for what we now call the Internet) to remember 2MT and pay tribute by having fun on the radio. Email us at Radio Emma Toc with your radio memories during our live programming and we will say hello to you !
For details of Radio Emma Toc including how to listen, and our three day schedule at www.emmatoc.com
Email: emmatoc1922@gmail.com
For details of Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society go to: www.g0mwt.org.uk
(Jim Salmon 2E0RMI / Chelmsford Calling Network)