Special MRD station – Tuckerton Radio c/s WSC
Dear Sparks,
during our Event OM Bob will be active with callsign W2WSC from “TUCKERTON WIRELESS Amateur Radio Club” to remember the coast radio station of Tuckerton Radio WSC.
From audio archive of HB9GCE website: http://www.hb9gce.ch/Galleria%20audio%20stazioni%20costiere.htm
And now Tuckerton Wireless – A Brief History
By Steve McGarry WS2C – w2wsc@comcast.net
Construction of the 250 meter Tuckerton Wireless tower began in 1912 on the vast salt marshes of Hickory Island in Little Egg Harbor TWP (LEH). The Homag Company of Germany, in a joint venture with France completed the high-power VLF station in 1914, just before the outbreak of WWI. Overlooked by the U.S. Gov., the world’s second tallest structure occupied a strategic location to monitor the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic and U.S. east coast. By 1914, the U.S. Navy inspected the station. Initially, a U.S. license was denied due to an ownership dispute, but for experimentation, it was issued the call sign WGG. Operated by German staff, the station in 1914 was equipped with a Goldschmidt 100-kw., high frequency, and reflection-type alternator operating on 18.4khz and utilized an umbrella antenna covering 23 acres of salt marsh. On Jan 14, 1914, President Wilson sent greetings from Tuckerton to Kaiser Wilhelm II to its sister station in Eilvese, Germany. Officially, its use was unclassified, but German intent may have been to support growing German naval power and and increase its global weight to counterbalance its rival European powers. Prior to U.S. entry into WWI in 1917, the station was shrouded in a fog of mysterious espionage, German U-boat activity in LEH waters and messages sent in deceptive double ciphers. Local folklore tells that while under control and censorship of the U.S. Navy it sent the message “get Lucy” ordering the attack to Lusitania on May 7, 1915 ( source to the Roy M. Nunn paper 1967). The Lusitania, a passenger liner, also carried arms to the U.K. The attack order from Tuckerton has never been proved and is merely a product of speculation by Tuckerton residents. Nor has any attck order By radio been documented. With WWI the US Navy, assumed operational control and later WSC became an asset of RCA. Marine Communications. In 1955, the tower was demolished making way for hundreds of waterfront homes. Known worldwide WSC served maritime communications from Tuckerton & later West Creek, NJ until the 1990’s. Today the original tower blocks, generator building and stack stand along Radio Road in LEH. Visit the Tuckerton Historical Society (THS) at Tuckertonlehhs.org; Visit SJDAX at sjdxa.org/ FOR MODERN DAY TOWER PICS; WSC logo courtesy Tuckerton Wireless ARC. QSL to W2WSC, TUCKERTON WIRELESS ARC, PO BOX 531, TUCKERTON, NJ 08087-0531. .
