CARRICKFERGUS Amateur Radio Group (ARG) was formed in 1980 and since that time Club members have been actively involved in many radio related events throughout Northern Ireland and beyond. The Club is an active and vibrant club with a healthy and diverse range of members and associates – all with a keen interest in amateur radio.
Marconi was once an amateur
Junior Wireless Club of New York, New York Herald, October 1911
Carrickfergus Co. Antrim is a large town on the north shore of Belfast Lough in N. Ireland, not far from the Harland & Wolff shipyard (in Belfast) where, among many ships, the White Star Line’s RMS Titanic was designed and built.
After construction, the Titanic sea trials were conducted in the Irish Sea and Belfast Lough near Carrickfergus on April 2, 1912. This included testing and adjustment of the Marconi International Marine Communications Company Ltd (MIMCC) seaboard wireless radio system (‘MGY’*) by Marconi wireless operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, while sending test messages to Malin Head (‘MH’) and Liverpool (‘LV’). Less than a fortnight later on April 14 & 15, 1912 Titanic would be required to send CQD and SOS distress messages while on her maiden voyage to New York, prior to sinking in the Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg, with an estimated and dreadful loss of 1,500 lives. Around 710 survivors were eventually rescued by the RMS Carpathia (‘MPA’), which was summoned by wireless from Titanic.
While wireless radio failed to prevent Titanic’s collision with an iceberg, it helped increase the number of survivors by acting as the only link to the outside world in the middle of the Atlantic. The Titanic disaster indirectly led to the creation of the Radio Act of 1912, which required ships to maintain a 24-hour radio watch for distress signals, a separate frequency for distress calls, and mandated licensing of all radio operators.
*RMS Titanic wireless callsign – ‘MGY’ – assigned by the Marconi Company, MIMCC
The Club meets every Tuesday evening during normal school term time from 7pm (until 9pm) in Carrick Elim Church, North Road, Carrickfergus, BT38 8ND. All visitors are welcome.
The Club hosts an RSGB registered teaching and examination centre for all classes of amateur radio licence examinations. Morse (CW – continuous wave) tutoring is also available (on request) for proficiency testing.
The Club callsign is GIØLIX and QSL information is available on the tab above.
Carrickfergus Amateur Radio Group is a Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) affiliated Club
Carrickfergus Amateur Radio Group 