Fessenden

Friday, October 6, 2006 was Reginald Fessenden's 140th Birthday (born 1866)

A Celebration of Fessenden's World
The Story of Trans-Atlantic Radio

Told Largely in The Words of
Helen and Reginald Fessenden

FESSENDEN, Reginald Aubrey (1866-1932) Canadian radio engineer and inventor, born in East Bolton, Quebec and educated in Canada, moved first to Bermuda where he developed an interest in science and then to New York (1886) where he met Thomas Edison and became the Chief Chemist in his research laboratories in New Jersey. By 1892 he had returned to academic life, first at Purdue University and then as Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh (1893-1900) where he began to pursue his major research interest in radio communication. Of his more than 500 patents the one of most fundamental importance was his invention of amplitude modulation, through which, on Christmas Eve 1906, he was able to broadcast the first ever American radio programme from the transmitter he had built at Brant Rock, Massachusetts.

From Brant Rock to Machrihanish
and
From Machrihanish to Brant Rock

Map 'borrowed' from a French website celebrating Fessenden

Following Fessenden - ("The Campbeltown Courier", Friday, August 18, 2006, Page 2)

A historic link between Campbeltown and Massachusetts took place last weekend when a radio link was set up as part of the Reginald Fessenden centenary celebrations in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

Duncan McArthur and Duncan McMillan of the local (Campbeltown) Fessenden group along with James Cairns, a pupil in Drumlemble Primary School and Nancie Smith from Campbeltown Community Council spoke to the Americans.

On the other side of The Atlantic was Scott Wheeler of the group from the radio station WATD-FM who is responsible for producing a souvenir booklet to honour the first century of broadcasting.

The first voice broadcast across the Atlantic was received at Machrihanish in 1906, where a huge 450ft mast was erected by Reginald Fessenden to match a similar mast in Brant Rock near Marshfield.

Pupils at Drumlemble Primary School visited the site at Machrihanish where the mast had been built, as part of a project on Fessenden and James Caims told Scott Wheeler of the interview conducted by the children when Duncan McArthur played the part of Reginald Fessenden and answered the questions prepared by the pupils.

Part of the souvenir programme by Scott Wheeler and his wife are pictures retrieved from a box found in June 2006 on property owned by the Fessenden family. The photographs were presented to the Fessenden Committee in Marshfield and were found to be priceless.

Described as a 'treasure trove', they chronicled the work of Reginald Fessenden and the crew of engineers who worked with him in Massachusetts on his inventions.

Also included in the programme are photographs of Machrihanish showing the construction of the station at Uisead Point in 1905, a picture of the Fessenden enthusiasts at the remains of the site this year and a picture of Drumlemble pupils on their visit to the site.

Communication between Daniel Webster Elementary School in Marshfield and Drumlemble Primary School , just outside Campbeltown, has already begun using The Internet.