By BBC News Online's Helen Briggs 
 
On 12 December, 1901, three faint clicks tapping out the Morse code for the 
letter "s" were picked up by an aerial held aloft by a kite on the coast of 
Canada. 

The signals had been sent for the first time across the Atlantic from a 
makeshift wireless station on a cliff at Poldhu in Cornwall, England. 

The Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi masterminded this visionary 
experiment, earning a place in history as the father of wireless. 

This week's centenary of the first transatlantic radio signal will be marked 
by the opening of a museum dedicated to Marconi and his achievements. 

DAWN OF RADIO 

A few days short of the 100th anniversary, Carolyn Rule, chair of the Poldhu 
Amateur Radio Club, sits in front of hi-tech radio equipment looking out at 
the field from which the first transatlantic radio signal was sent. 
 
All modern day telecommunications, including radio, TV, mobile phones and 
satellites can be traced back to this milestone of wireless communication. 

"It's quite an emotional thing to be sitting here looking out on to the 
wireless field," she says. "You can see the ruins over there just ahead of us 
which is the actual remains of the original wireless building that Marconi 
would have used." 

On 11 December, 1901, the first attempt at transmission from Poldhu took 
place - and failed. 

Marconi, who was in Newfoundland, had sent a message back to England, via the 
underwater telegraph cable, to tell the Poldhu transmitter to send radio 
signals between 12 noon and 3pm local time. 

POLDHU PILGRIMAGE 

A weak signal was received in Canada but the wind was so strong that the 
balloon holding the aerial aloft was swept away. 
 
The following day, after losing one kite, a second was launched with the 
aerial attached and the signal from Cornwall was heard by both Marconi and 
George Stephen Kemp, his assistant. 

"The chief question," Marconi said at the time, "was whether wireless waves 
would be stopped by the curvature of the Earth. All along, I had been 
convinced that this was not so. The first and final answer came at 12:30 when 
I heard...dot...dot..dot." 

In an age when transatlantic radio and television broadcasts are routine, 
Marconi's Atlantic success seems unremarkable. But it was a scientific 
milestone that changed global communications. 

Each year, hundreds of radio enthusiasts from all over the world make a 
pilgrimage to Poldhu to pay homage to Marconi. 

HISTORIC REMAINS 

The ruins of the original building built by Marconi to send the signal across 
the ocean are still visible in the cliff-top field at the edge of the Lizard 
Peninsula. 

All that remains are the scars left by the main mast, crumbling chunks of 
brick and some of the original floor tiles of the hut. 

Beyond that, over a dry-stone wall, lies a memorial to Marconi and then the 
ocean stretching more than 2,700 kilometres (1,700 miles) to Canada. 

"It's hard to believe that these ruins started it all - radio, TV and 
internet," says Debbie Peers, of the National Trust, which owns the land. 

"[The original station] was actually taken down in 1934 and demolished," she 
says. "But it's quite evocative - you can still see on the ground plan parts 
of the transmitter and the original rooms the engineers worked in." 

DUE RESPECT

To celebrate the centenary, the National Trust has constructed a new building 
on the site with the help of Marconi plc and a local grant. 

"It's been built in the spirit of Marconi rather than an actual replica of 
the buildings that were there," says Debbie Peers. "It's made entirely of 
wood and it's been built so that it takes in environmental considerations but 
also so that it blends in with the background." 

The building houses radio equipment, an exhibit on Marconi and computers that 
link with Marconi plc's archive collection on their founder. 

"This building is a permanent memorial to his great work," says Carolyn Rule. 
"Amazing things went on here and we can now mark it in a proper way." 

The 100th anniversary will also be commemorated by a re-enactment of 
Marconi's historic transmission. 

SIGNALS FROM MARS 

Members of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club will send the "s" signal across the 
water to radio enthusiasts in Newfoundland, just as Marconi did all those 
years ago. 

Carolyn Rule admits that it is a little easier nowadays. "We can cheat a 
little with e-mails and mobile phones," she says. 

Marconi proved what many respected scientists doubted - that a signal could 
be picked up thousands of kilometres away in Canada. 

At the time it was thought that wireless communication over long distances 
would never be possible because electromagnetic waves, which travel in 
straight lines, would be radiated into space or absorbed by the curve of the 
Earth. 

Marconi achieved his dream of seeing a network of radio stations linking the 
world. 

But he could scarcely have imagined that one day it would be possible to 
stand on the same Cornish cliff-top and send a fax, e-mail or text message 
anywhere in the world; or that giant telescopes would be tuning in to radio 
waves sent from deep space. 

Marconi was often asked whether he had ever heard signals from Mars. He 
always replied: "I am concerned enough at present with business upon Earth." 
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Photos: 
(1) The remains of Marconi's wireless station in Cornwall and, beyond, his 
memorial
(2) Marconi's station at Poldhu, which sent the signal...
(3) ...to Newfoundland, where Marconi picked it up
(4)  Carolyn Rule: "Amazing things went on here"
(5)  Debbie Peers of the National Trust outside the new Marconi centre
(6)  Two pound Marconi memorial coin 

Comments: 
Royal Navy's Thunderer Squadron will take part in the celebrations 
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