Another Great WVDXA Meeting!

Last night's WVDXA Meeting at the Museum of Radio and Technology was another stellar affair! Garry, W8OI, gave a presentation about the last radio transmission from the Titanic which included an actual recording of the spark signal as received at a Marconi shore-based station in New Jersey in 1912! That gave a lot of us cold chills! Also, Hal, W8HC, had a pair of special guests, Joe, 4X6KJ, and his wife, Ruth, 4X4CM, who are visiting West Virginia for the first time. Here are a pair of shots showing W8OI sending "SOS" with a spark transmitter and 4X6KJ answering many questions about Amateur Radio in Israel.
Hal, W8HC, had earlier in the day picked up a Proclamation from West Virginia Governor, Joe Manchin, making 4X6KJ an Honorary Mountaineer!
Attendance was a whopping 22 including a couple of new faces - Bob, W8GU, from Charleston and Matt, AA8P, from Ashland, KY. Also, Jerry, K8OQL, drove all the way from Romney in the Eastern Panhandle to attend! With the sheet cake Hal brought and Evelyn's famous mint Brownies, no one left hungry!

I've posted the actual SOS (CQD) of the Titanic at the following location as an MP3 file.

Titanic SOS

Here is what is being transmitted:

"ITSA CQD OM DE MGY POSITION 41/46N 40/14W SINKING CANNOT HEAR FOR NOISE OF STEAM DE MGY CQD SOS CQD"

This is just awesome! CW from 96 years ago! BTW, "MGY" is the radio callsign for Titanic.