In March of this year I was fortunate enough to be able to visit a virtually crowd free Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight and also to get

THE NEEDLES ISLE OF WIGHT MARCONI LINK

In March of 2006 I was fortunate enough to be able to visit a virtually crowd free Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight and also to get down on to the beach to see the coloured rocks. I have been there before and taken some pictures of the Marconi memorial site but do not recollect having filed a web report about this spectacular site. Indeed I did in fact see some other interesting Radios there as well and will tell you all about them in this article.

Firstly a rough guide to the location in case you would like to incorporate a visit when you are at the Isle of Wight next. iT It is located at Alum Bay, the nearest town being Totland. It is probably easier to access by car or on a coach trip if you use public transport.

You have to make your way through a rather commercialised set of buildings and almost to the cliff edge. To the right you will see the cable car which operates in season to take you down to the beach at Alum Bay and see the coloured cliffs, from which the famous coloured sands emerge. You need to move to the left and nearer to the cliff edge. Then move to the left of an observation platform for the Needles. Here you will see the monument above which has three informative notices covered over with wooden lids. Lift them up to reveal the notices. If you click on the first picture below you can read what one says, I thought it best to leave you to read the rest!

There are also a very long set of stairs which lead down to a hill and then to another set of stairs which lead to Alum Bay beach.

On a nice sunny day, or as we had cold and crisp but sunny day, you can have a jolly good read of the information about Maroni's pioneering work on this site and also enjoy a view of the Needles and visit the beach below.

When you have finished looking at the beach and Marconi site you may like to visit the Marconi restaurant in the complex for a beer, wine or cup of tea or coffee

If you like vintage radios you will like looking at the collection of old radios that somebody has mounted on high shelves around the bar.

So you will have something to appreciate when you get there I will merely include one close up picture for you to marvel at. Please click on the picture to see it in its full size glory.

Finally, I include extracts relevant to Marconi's work at this site, with a link to the full sites so that you can follow up from this article.

From http://www.theneedles.co.uk/history.html (also visit this for details of how to get there

The birth of wireless

Apart from its natural beauties and geological curiosities, Alum Bay has another claim to fame for its part played in the early days of radio transmissions. In early December 1897, to investigate and experiment with transmission to ships at sea, Gugielmo Marconi set up his revolutionary wireless equipment in the Royal Needles Hotel, above Alum Bay, and sent the very first wireless transmission.

A huge 168 feet high mast was set up outside the hotel and over the next couple of years Marconi conducted ever more complex experiments with wireless transmissions. In 1898 messages were received from Marconi at Queen Victoria's Osborne House and on the royal yacht. Little now remains of Marconi's experimental stations, as the hotel and masts have long since gone. However, a monument to him stands on the cliff top within the park and information lecterns provide a detailed history of radio, Marconi and the role played by Alum Bay.

From http://www.marconi.com/Home/about_us/Our%20History/Marconi%20Heritage/Marconi%20History

The Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, was the scene of many early Marconi experiments. In 1897 he set up an aerial and installed his apparatus in the grounds of the Royal Needles Hotel, Alum Bay, and succeeded first in communicating with two hired ferry boats and then with a station set up at Madeira House in Bournemouth on the mainland.

From http://www.invectis.co.uk/IOW/people.htm

Guglielmo Marconi - Marconi was born in 1874 and moved to England in 1896 after the Italian post office refused to test his new wireless equipment. His mother was a Jameson of whisky fame. He wanted to promote his work on the wireless telegraphy and England was the obvious place. In 1897 he chose Alum Bay as one of the sites for his experiment. He erected a 40 metre mast outside the Needles Hotel from where he transmitted to the Haven Hotel in Poole nearly 20 miles away. Experiments were carried out for about a year, including one involving a link-up between the Prince of Wales, on the Royal Yacht Osborne and Queen Victoria at Osborne House. Marconi then transferred his attention to cross-channel links. He experimented from Knowles Farm, Niton where there is a stone cut with the following inscription - "This is to commemorate that Marconi set up a wireless experimental station here in A.D. 1900". While in Niton he stayed at the Royal Sandrock Hotel (see the Undercliff photo pages for a picture of the hotel now, sadly demolished).

A good day out for the family, and if you are discreet a fantastic bonus of old radios and a bit of radio history for yourself as well! As us radio anoraks know, the rest of the family and world do not share the same enthusiasm or interest in the subject as we do.