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Just across Buzzards Bay from Falmouth was the original Marconi transmitting station for transatlantic communication to a receiver in Norway. My great-grandfather helped build it in 1914! At the time it was the most powerful transmitter in the world at 300 kW. There were 14 440-foot towers in a grid, and it was so powerful that apparently anywhere in town you would get zapped while hanging out the laundry on a clothesline, and you couldn't get a TV signal in town until the towers stopped operating. To avoid interference the receiver had to be located 40 miles away in Chatham.


Very interesting. Maine also has a significant transmitter array in Cutler with 30 or so antennas around 900 ft tall apiece. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLF_Transmitter_Cutler

I wonder what it's like to try to pull a signal up there.

Your comment brings up memories of Lighthouse Beach in Chatham, which has a ton of warnings about Great White Sharks due to the prevalence of seals in the waters. Beautiful place. If the sharks don't get you the radio frequencies will I guess.


Picking up TV and other RF signals near there should not be a problem. Modern transmitters are much different than in Marconi's time. Then they used a spark gap to generate RF, which have a DC to daylight kind of output that GP described. Much like a bad ground on a car ignition system can make a lot of RF noise that really gets around, a spark gap transmitter puts out a signal EVERYWHERE. Which is why it affected so much.

Modern transmitters are tuned and filtered so they can coexist with everything else.


Just further up the coast is Marconi Beach in the Cape Cod National Seashore - same sharks.




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