WHAT:
Transatlantic Wireless Message
WHERE:
Transmitted 2,137miles (3,440km) from Poldhu, Cornwall, UK.
Received at Signal Hill, St Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
LOCATION:
WHEN:
12th December 1901
WHO:
Guglielmo Marconi
DETAILS:
Home to a monumental world first in global communications, the Marconi Centre at Poldhu on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall is managed and curated by the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club as an active radio hub and visitor centre celebrating wireless pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. It was from this site in 1901 that Marconi’s team achieved the world’s first transatlantic radio transmission, sending three Morse code dots for the letter S over 2,000 miles across the ocean to Signal Hill in Newfoundland, Canada. To mark the 125th anniversary of this historic breakthrough, a World Origin Site .Org plaque was unveiled by guest of honour Lord Robin Teverson (Baron Teverson), former MEP for Cornwall and West Plymouth, alongside club president Carolyn Rule (M0ADA).
The commemorative ceremony brought together around 46 visitors, including local Councillor Rory Gow, members from both the Cornish Radio Amateur Club and Radio Operators Cornwall, and attendees travelling from as far as Scotland, Norfolk, Leicester and Canada. The event featured a Marconi speech delivered by Jim Woolford (G8GLL) and a live broadcast to St. Johns, Canada, led by club chairman Neil Whitham (G4SEN) to recreate the original world-changing transmission. Key attendees and organisers also included vice-chairman Robin Ridge (M0RRX), secretary Clifford Malcolm (G3UYN) and committee members Chris Pascoe (M0TIK), Nigel Bennetts (M7NGL), Karl Ford (G1BBI) and Richard Benton (G4WKW).
LINKS:
Plaque Unveiled at the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall – October 2026
The Marconi Centre on the Lizard Peninsula at Poldhu in Cornwall UK remains an active radio hub and visitor centre marking the work carried out by the wireless pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. Here in 1901 his team repeatedly sent three morse code dots (the letter S) across the Atlantic Ocean to be heard by Marconi himself at Signal Hill in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, over 2000 miles beyond the horizon. To mark the 125th anniversary Lord Robert Teverson and Carolyn Rule, president of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club, unveiled the World Origin Site .Org plaque. Event organiser and chairman of the club Neil Whitham spoke live by radio to participants of the event in St. Johns, Canada recreating this truly world changing transatlantic moment.
