The AM Forum

In december 1923 the Dutch radio amateur station PCII made the first contact between the USA and the netherlands. The frequency was approx 3 MHz, later 3,8 MHz with a power of 100 Watts. The mode was FSK. The key was connected in the grid tuned circuit shorting a few turns. The HV rectifier was a chemical rectifier made of a row of jelly jars visible at the picture at the floor left of the table.
Attached the schematic diagram and a(unfortunately bad quality) photo of the station.
It should be nice to know who was the station in the USA, I do not have information about that.

Wonderful history!   So many of us modern hams forget or do not realize that early hams often used 'wet' chemistry as part of their station components.  

I searched the ARRL QST archives for 1923 and 1924 using the keywords: PCII, Netherlands, Holland and Dutch.  I found only one indexed post which is an editorial from June 1924 noting the importance of station PCII and including a photo.  73, Bill

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According to this webpage (http://www.ermag.com/docs/halli_part_6.htm (http://www.ermag.com/docs/halli_part_6.htm)) it may have been George J. Etter, 1AJA in Dorchester, Mass:

"George’s recent accomplishment of holding steady communication with PCII, a Dutch amateur station, has put him well in the lead of local radio amateurs in DX radio communication. He uses 100 watts rectified AC and a short wavelength something near 150 meters. For receiving he is using the 9-ZN tuner described in “QST” the official American Radio Relay league organ."

However, according to this webpage (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMJ5PV_FIRST_Transatlantic_radio_connection_between_The_Netherlands_and_North_America (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMJ5PV_FIRST_Transatlantic_radio_connection_between_The_Netherlands_and_North_America)) it was "U2AGB" although that doesn't sound like a U.S. call.

HUP!

Thanks a lot for the nice information and pics of PCII. Better pics than I have!!
Indeed it was quite embarrassing that radio amateurs in the Netherlands were treated like criminals I have several Dutch books were this problem is addressed.
I have quie a lot of pics in old books and information of transmitters and receivers of that time, including the Marconi ship spark transmitters. If someone is interested, I will sent
Nico

**t was "U2AGB" although that doesn't sound like a U.S. call.**

Prefixes were not established at that time so ops would unofficially add something to try to identify their country.  "U" might have been intended to represent USA.

Very nice to know the ham. Is there some information available about the station of U2AGB ?

night of 26/27 December 1923 he managed a radio connection (QSO) with U2AGB in North America. He was the third European who accomplished this after G2KF from London on 8 December and F8AB on 27 November from France.

I also see that at one time, same u2 station held the transatlantic DX record. 6 transatlantic contacts.

Still researching him.

--Shane
KD6VXI

At least one station in the Netherlands copied 1BCG during the "Transatlantic Tests" in December 1921. Did it really take two years for a QSO to occur between the US and NLs given the excitement generated by that event?

"Back in London, Coursey1 kidded Paul Godley about freezing up north in soggy Scotland while he and the other British hams relaxed comfortably in their warm, cozy London homes, receiving signals using small aerials. British amateurs had indeed heard many northeast US stations, and 1BCG was also heard in Holland and on a ship docked at Hamburg. Godley spent ten hours at Coursey’s office documenting details of the test."

Of course, zeg nooit nooit ;-)

http://w2pa.net/HRH/crossings-iii-accolades/ (http://w2pa.net/HRH/crossings-iii-accolades/)

I guess I had not noticed it before, but in reading the QST account of the first Transatlantic amateur reception, I realized that you, Clark, and George
Burgard of the original 1BCG station team, have the same surname, was he your grandfather?

(http://www.davisarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Thinking_Face_Emoji_grande-150x150.png)

George E Burghard has an H in his name.  Still could be a relation, as there have been cases where surname spelling has changed.  We will have to wait for Clark to enlighten us.  Suspenseful!

I noticed the slight difference in the spelling of the names only AFTER my post.  It was a long day and my brain was semi-fried when I posted.  Great that Clark put up the link to the story about the Transatlantic tests.  That must have been an exciting time to be a ham, and/or to be working in the new field of radio professionally!